Al-Manar
 |
|
| Type | Satellite television network |
|---|---|
| Country | Lebanon |
| Availability | Webcast |
| Motto | Station of the resistance |
| Slogan | "A Flame that will not be Extinguished" |
| Owner | Lebanese Communication Group |
|
Launch date
|
4 June 1991 |
|
Official website
|
Arabic, French, Spanish, English |
Al-Manar (Arabic:المنار al-Manār;English: the beacon) is a Lebanese satellite television station affiliated with Hezbollah, broadcasting from Beirut, Lebanon.
Al-Manar was designated as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity," and banned by the United States on 17 December 2004. It has also been banned by France, Spain and Germany, and has run into some service and license problems outside Lebanon, making it unavailable in the Netherlands,Canada and Australia while it has not officially been banned in any of these regions.
Al-Manar first began terrestrial broadcasting from Beirut, Lebanon on 4 June 1991. By 2000, the station began broadcasting via satellite at a cost that was a couple of million dollars. The station was located in the Shi'a-controlled neighborhood Haret Hreik in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where the Hezbollah is also headquartered. Originally, the station employed only a few men that had studied media in London during the mid-1980s. But almost a year later, Al-Manar was employing over 150 people.
Initially, Al Manar would broadcast only five hours per day. Shortly before the 1992 election, it began broadcasting regular news bulletins in order to help Hezbollah attain more votes and spread its message to more people. In 1993, the station expanded its broadcasting to seven hours a day and extended its signal to the southern part of the Bekaa Valley. Ahead of the 1996 Lebanese parliamentary elections, additional antennas were erected in Northern Lebanon and throughout the Mount Lebanon range, so that the station could be viewed not only in Lebanon, but also in western Syria and northern Israel. Broadcasting was extended to 20 hours in 1998 but reduced to 18 hours in 2000.
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