Aljazeera Sport – great value also if you do not know Arabic

A friend originating in the Middle East recently told me about the Aljazeera Sport pay TV satellite channels. There are great value – street price in a country where the package is sold officially is about 70 USD per year. Yes, that is correct…, it is about the same amount that viewers in Southern Europe pays per month for similar packages.

The channels are broadcasted over Hotbird and Nilesat. The name of the provider/channel seems rather mixed up. Sometime the Provider (as seen from your satellite box) is called”Aljazeera” and sometimes it is called “JSC”.

JSC seems to be an abbreviation for Jazeera Satellite Channels. Jazeera is Arabic and means ‘peninsula’ – hinting at the Arabian peninsula…, but that was not what this article is about.

Apart from two “free to air channels”, called “1″ and “2″, there are currently (January 2010) almost a dosin channels in the pay package, those being “+1″, “+2″, … to “+10″ and also one HD channel, called “HD1″. THe HD1 channel is transmitting in 1080i quality.

In addition, JSC are also transmitting test picture for additional channels “HD2″, “Club”, etc, so there seems to be more in the pipeline.

So, what is in it for all us that do not speak Arabic?

First of all, there is one channel “+3″ that is somewhat focused on English speakers. For example, in between football matches the studio talk is done in English with really great guests, like Frank Rijkaard, Arsene Venger, Terry Venables, etc, etc. Also, practically all European football matches are broadcasted with commentary in both Arabic and English, so that you can select language from your remote control.

The content of the channels are mainly focused on football (soccer), but there is also some NBA basketball and tennis. I more detailed list is being kept at Wikipedia.

The football covered is basically everything, except the English Premier League, which is broadcasted in the Middle East by Showtime (a competitor). However, one can only hope that when that is auctioned again in the summer of 2010, JSC will put in a good bid…

Still, even the current content will keep most football fans pretty busy. You will have the matches of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter, etc, etc, broadcasted live, often in HD, every weekend. Also, te UEFA Champions League is there for the middle of the week, European Championships, World Cup, …

Now, for the English speaker it quite difficult to keep and among all those channels – particularly since the EPG (electronic program guide) content broadcasted over the satellite often seem to be out of sync with the actual programs show. However, there is now a website available JSC SPORT GUIDE that show the program listings also in English. This site will give you a good idea of if you should be canceling your old pay tv package and move to Aljazeera Sport, or not…

The channels are encrypted in Irdeto and Viaccess, on both Hotbird and Nilesat, but it seems most new cards being sold are Irdeto. Unless you live in the Middle East – or have a friend who do – these cards are also sold by variour resellers on the Internet…

All in all, Aljazeera Sport is a great value for all sports fans – also those who do not speak Arabic.

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