Future Media Group's Radio Orient  has become the first Arabic-language radio station available worldwide through satellite broadcasting. Radio Orient (or Izaat al-Shark) began transmitting to satellites for re- broadcast in North America and Australia in January, and this month it will launch programming designed to take advantage of its new coverage, said station manager Elie Rahme.

In addition to the new radio arrangement, Future Media Group will also witness a change at the top in March: Chairman Nadim Mulla will be replaced by Samir Hammoud, an executive at Bank Med, also controlled by the Hariri family, which owns Future. Future TV should also premiere its 24-news station Future News within the coming 30 days.

With Radio Orient and Future TV under one roof, it only made sense to expand the radio station's reach to match the television station's satellite penetration, said Future CEO Fayez Bizri. Future does not generate separate profit-and-loss statements for the radio and television stations, because the two share many of the same expenses for operations and technology, Bizri said.

The radio arm's move to satellite dovetails naturally with television, with all leading Arabic-language television stations broadcasting through free-to-air technology.

"The point is what's the next step for radio?" Rahme asked. "Local televisions, they all went satellite -the next step for local radio is to go around the world."

Technical issues also helped prompt the move -the station's web site began suffering buffering problems in the 2006 summer war with Israel, when so many listeners overseas tuned in to Radio Orient's streaming Internet broadcasts for news on the country, family and friends.

On the Internet, "we couldn't reach as many people as we want," Rahme said. "Via satellite, we can have millions."

Bizri would not reveal the cost of placing Radio Orient on the satellites, but he said Future had "for sure" paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to secure Radio Orient's global reach. Satellite spaces typically cost 200,000-300,000 US dollars annually for television broadcasters.

Future is also hoping to realize a profit on its investment - radio stations worldwide traditionally produce the largest profit margins of any medium, and Future views Radio Orient as a way to add to its audience those Arabic-speakers who are not soaking up Future TV.

"We thought it might be a good medium to reach people who aren't watching TV," Bizri said. "It's connecting our radio to all areas where our TV reaches.

"The return on this should be positive in the future. We are looking for profit centres on this issue," he added.

Bizri refused to divulge Future's 2006 results because he said he feared the numbers would be used for political ends.

Radio Orient will try to take advantage of its new global coverage through the programme "With a Star," scheduled to hit the airwaves this month. Each week will feature a different A-list star from the Arab world, and the station will sponsor weekly contests in the Gulf, Europe, Australia and Iraq -and possibly South America.

Source: BBC Monitoring Media