Various experiments have been tried locally to generate interest in HDTV in the Middle East, without much success to date. That might be about to change if the leader of a leading Gulf electronics distribution company, Eros Group, is concerned.
“The full HD service was supposed to begin last year, but was delayed.
One reason was that full content in HD is not available for normal
24-hour broadcasting,” Deepak Babani, chief of Eros Group, told Gulf
News. “Though the media has tried to highlight full HD, but just
because the software is not available, the interest is not there. But
once the software arrives, the demand for the hardware will
automatically grow,” he told the newspaper.
“We have been ready for HD for two and a half years now in terms of
infrastructure, but there isn’t enough content to broadcast to balance
the costs,” explained Humaid Rashid Sahoo, chief of Dubai and Abu
Dhabi-based cable and wireless pay-TV operator E-vision.
In the oil and gas-rich Gulf states, people are buying flat-panel
screens, frequently in full 1080p standard, but are only using their
HDTV sets for watching Blu-ray DVDs and for gaming consoles.
