Al Jazeera urges Nilesat to resume
2011-02-02 21:02
Dubai - The Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera called on the Egyptian satellite company Nilesat on Wednesday to resume broadcasting its signal or face legal action, according to the news channel's website.
Al Jazeera, whose coverage of the political unrest in Egypt is widely watched in the Arab world, has said that Nilesat cut off its signal after the Egyptian authorities ordered the channel to stop operations in the country on Sunday.
Al Jazeera has also said its signal on other broadcast satellites was jammed in parts of the Middle East, affecting its coverage of Egypt, where at least one million people took to the streets on Tuesday to demand an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule.
"Al Jazeera warned the Egyptian company [Nilesat] of legal action to demand compensation for serious damage caused to it and its audience," the television said on its website.
Jordan Media City had told Al Jazeera that it faced pressure from Nilesat to drop the channel from its package, it added.
Al Jazeera said on Tuesday that a dozen smaller Arab networks had interrupted their own programmes to carry its signal.
Launched in Qatar in 1996, Al Jazeera has more than 400 reporters in over 60 countries, according to its website.
It says it can reach 220 million households in more than 100 countries.
