Travel Guide |
July 15, 2010

Satellite TV resumes service after 24-day disruption

Ethiomedia | July 15, 2010


SEATTLE – The Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT), which is an independent news and information broadcasting service, has resumed service after it was disrupted for 24 days, the management announced in a press release on Wednesday.


Reaching the Ethiopian audience via Arabsat, ESAT services were discontinued due to what the management called “technical interference.”


“We are pleased by the extraordinary outpouring of public support for ESAT and the determination shown by our viewers and supporters to ensure that they will keep the flames of ESAT burining to illuminate the darkness that has descended on Ethiopia today. We are most encouraged and deeply appreciative of the high level of public support for ESAT,” the management said in a press statement.

Home to over 80 million people, Ethiopia is the second most populous nation in Africa that doesn’t have an independent television and radio broadcasting service of its own. Since coming to power of the tyrannical regime of Meles Zenawi, Ethiopians have been living in news blackout, only subjected to a dose of ruling party propaganda.

The ruling party jams international news broadcasts such as the Voice of America and Deutsche Welle, blocks pro-democracy websites, and even deports correpondents that slightly cross the official line.


“Therefore, amidst such gloom, the birth and launch of ESAT was received with a big sigh of relief by freedom-yearning Ethiopians around the globe,” one close observer told Ethiomedia.

Ethiopians around the globe cover the huge cost of running a satellite TV service by initiating various fund-raising programs.


Accordingly, various ESAT-supporting programs have been planned for July 31 this month in Amsterdam, where the annual Ethiopian Sports and Cultural Festival in Europe will be held. For details, visit www.ethsat.com.

Frequency: 11976
Polarization: Vertical
Symbol rate: 27.5
FEC: 3/4.

For Details:
Contact: Abebe Belew; [email protected].

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