Algeria sees TV market growth

The Algerian TV market has undergone “significant changes” in the past two years, and is now host to 36 public and private TV channels, according to new research by the European Audiovisual Observatory.

The public service body says that since the introduction of a new law in January 2012 relating to information, the emergence of satellite channels has fostered ”considerable freedom of expression.”

As of March 2013, there were 31 private satellite channels of various genres  – including general-interest, news and current affairs channels – according to the Audiovisual Observatory.

“In spite of their status as companies subject to foreign law, the private channels are trying to promote an audiovisual landscape that meets Algerian viewers’ expectations. Law No. 14-04 of 24 February 2014 on audiovisual activities aims to regulate the audiovisual field and, for the first time, to permit private television channels to be set up in Algeria itself,” said the study.

It also claimed that 170 feature films, documentaries and short films funded by the Fund for the Development of the Arts, Techniques and the Film Industry (FDATIC) and the Algerian Agency for Cultural Influence (AARC) were produced between 2007 and 2013.