Lebanon Culture: Future TV

Interview with Samir Hammoud, General Manager of Future TV

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How do you assess your performance since your founding in 1993 and what has been the evolution of Future TV?

In 1993 media laws were issued by the government and before that there was only one private media channel, Lebanese Broadcasting Channel (LBC).  After LBC we were established in 1992 and subordinated ourselves to the regulations issued in 1993 and these laws were very strict but clear that ownership could not be confined to one person, but a group that is composed of the greater Lebanese community.  We grew very fast following the growth by LBC. 

How would you define the Lebanese customer/viewer/reader compared to the rest of the world?

You have to address both oriental and western tastes.  Our programs touch on both backgrounds and adapt them to the people.  After 1993 we went from addresses our local audience to the regional Arab audience due to the use of satellites.  We were successful in entering the Arab Gulf in particular with our programming by targeting their tastes and then eventually their own media networks were established and they have been very successful and now maybe even are ahead of Lebanese networks.

What do regional tastes do you predict for the future? How will they change?

Tastes are changing: youth will have different tastes than the older population.  The youth are more interested in the western side as opposed to oriental.

Some people mentioned they are very interested in Turkish soap operas. Is there something special about them?

I think this won’t last too long, people will become interested in their home programming eventually and this gives us incentive to improve our drama production in the Arab world.  Turkish drama is extremely important but the language dubbing takes away from the emotion and meaning of the drama.

What are people’s programming interests?

People are interested in romantic and social messages in addition to beautiful actors, good cinematography, and skilled production.  The messages in the Turkish soap operas cover issues that are similar to the Arab world so this enhances the attraction.  In my personal opinion, however, this won’t last long once we make our programming more competitive.

You have four brands, Future TV, Terrestrial, Future News, Future TV International, and Future TV Australia.  Is there competition between these?

No there is no competition between Terrestrial and the satellite.  All of the people in Lebanon will see the satellite.  We don’t want to change Lebanon culture so there is no difference between them or a value added to one over the other.  The only difference is we have a new channel established in 2008 that covers the news and was aimed to transmit the news of the Lebanese community to the diaspora around the rest of the world.  Its success is still limited and we are reviewing and reconsidering our strategy. 

How difficult is it to operate in an environment with so many challenges?

Despite all of the things that have happened in Lebanon, the Lebanese are attached to the freedom of expression. Staying somewhat impartial while relaying the news and trying to get our channel into every home is one of our goals. We want to improve the overall position of our channel among our competitors and also the Arab world.

You have local competition in addition to GCC tv stations, how do you compete in this competitive market?

The competition is becoming very stiff and the market is becoming very difficult.  There is piracy in Lebanon where people get free TV on the satellite with low subscription fees and this is very difficult for us to deal with.   They distribute our channels without our permission.  Satellite penetration is very high in Lebanon and this adds to competition when it comes to commercials, particularly among international firms.  International firms are able to enter the Lebanese market for free through international channels that come through on the satellite.  On the local scene we compete with respect to the programs.  The Lebanese commercial market is very limited when you compare it with the expenditure for TV operating in Lebanon and this is why people go outside of the local network.  We need to go to the Gulf area where commercials are vast and then we face a lot of competition because they spend a lot of money and have a solid structure for this.  Future TV has an advantage for having special relationships with some companies in the Gulf that advertise with us and cover our expenses.

What is the distribution of your audience?

Jordanians and Saudis love our channel and they obtain it through the satellite, in addition to Lebanese.  We also have the Gulf region and Syrians.  60-65% are Lebanese and the remaining percentage are in the region.

What is your strategy to address all these issues?

We do not want to downgrade our standards.  We want to remain social, family TV that is not conservative but not extraverted. We are trying to improve our variety programs, social programs, and our comedy programs.  Comedy is the hardest to produce and is usually specialized to each community.  We are strong on the terrestrial and we try to address the diaspora.  We also want to address youth and women.

In terms of your expansion, are you looking to launch a fifth or sixth brand?

No. It is not in our plan for the upcoming years or so.

Do you have a final message to convey to our audience?

Presently we are facing our most difficult times in the market and we are striving to make our screen fit the standard.  The commercial side is poor and weak and may negatively effect us but we are trying our best and will continue to fight to maintain premium standards.  We are going to stick to good programs, production, and an image that meets the family and social needs.