Future Television (, ''Televizyon al-Mustaqbal'') was a Lebanese

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

television station founded in 1993 by the

Future Movement The Future Movement () is a Lebanese political party affiliated with the Sunni sect. The party was founded as a coalition in 1995 led by Rafic Hariri which was known as the Hariri Bloc but was officially founded in 2007. The party is led by Saad ...

leader

Rafic Hariri Rafic Bahaa El Deen al-Hariri (; 1 November 1944 – 14 February 2005) was a Lebanese businessman and politician who served as Prime Minister of Lebanon, prime minister of Lebanon from 1992 to 1998 and again from 2000 to 2004. Hariri headed fi ...

, a former

Prime Minister of Lebanon The prime minister of Lebanon, officially the president of the Council of Ministers, is the head of government and the head of the Council of Ministers of Lebanon. The prime minister is appointed by the president of Lebanon, with the consen ...

. Future TV was also available via satellite in the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, but is currently broadcast on a frequency of the lebanese satellite service provider Cablevision. Politically, the channel supported the views of the

. The channel also had a sister channel, Future News, which is remains defunct.

History

Future Television was a Lebanese owned and operated company founded in 1993. In October 1994, Future Television started a trial satellite broadcasting over the footprint of

Arabsat The Arab Satellite Communications Organization (often abbreviated as Arabsat) is a communications satellite operator in the Arab World, headquartered in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Arabsat was created to deliver satellite-based, public and ...

1D. Shortly after, Future International was launched on the Arabsat 2A transponder. In 1996, in compliance with the new Lebanese audio visual law, Future Television restructured its ownership. Future Television presently has around 90 new shareholders. Future Television was forced into closing on May 9, during the

2008 Lebanon conflict The 2008 Lebanon conflict (or the 7 May clashes; Arabic: أحداث 7 أيار) was a brief intrastate military conflict in May 2008 in Lebanon between Hezbollah and pro-government Sunnis. After the 18-month-long political crisis spiralled out ...

. After moving its broadcasting headquarters, the station was back on the air on May 13 at 4:30 p.m (Lebanese Local Time). On May 16, the station went back to its original offices. In September 2019, Lebanese Prime Minister

Saad Hariri Saad El-Din Rafik Al-Hariri ( ; born 18 April 1970) is a Lebanese people, Lebanese businessman and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Lebanon, prime minister of Lebanon from 2009 to 2011 and 2016 to 2020. The son of Rafic Hariri, he ...

announced the suspension of work at his Future TV satellite television channel after 26 years of broadcasting, citing financial reasons for halting operations. In a statement issued September 18 by his media office, Hariri said: “It is with a heavy heart that I announce today the decision to suspend work at Future TV and settle workers’ wages for the same financial reasons that led to the closing of Al-Mustaqbal newspaper. The decision was not an easy one for me or for the men and women of the Future Movement nor is it for the generation of the founding personnel and the millions of Lebanese and Arab viewers of Future TV who had stayed loyal to the station for more than a quarter of a century”. The decision highlights the worsening financial crisis in which Hariri was trapped since the dissolution of Saudi-Oger, his father's construction and services company in Saudi Arabia. The company had been the pillar of the Hariri family fortune.

Competitors

The main and direct competitors of Future TV are

Murr Television Murr Television, marketed and known as MTV Lebanon, is a Lebanese television station based in Naccache, Metn District. It was founded in 1991 by businessman Gabriel Murr Gabriel Murr (; born 26 February 1939) is a Lebanese politician and ...

and

Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (), widely known as LBCI (), Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation () or LBC () is a private television station in Lebanon. LBCI was founded in 1992 by acquiring the assets, liabilities and logo of ...

Future Television brands

* Future TV Terrestrial: A localized channel dedicated to the whole Lebanese family, it was broadcast in Digital television format from Doha since 2003. * Future TV International: The channel is dedicated to Lebanese citizens in the

Arab World The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, currently broadcasting archived Future TV Shows * Future TV America & Australia: The channel is dedicated to Lebanese citizens in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

and

Defunct brands

* Zein TV: This channel had programs aimed at a younger adult audience, with discussions and content relevant to Arab youth. Reasons for shutting down this channel remain unclear. * Future News: This channel used to air news and political programs. The channel shut down on 20 August 2012 because the channel changed into a brand new version it was merged with the main future.

Programs

Future TV has produced many programs including

SuperStar A superstar is someone who has great popular appeal and is widely known, prominent, or successful in their field. Celebrities referred to as "superstars" may include individuals who work as actors, musicians, athletes, and other media-based profe ...

(Arabic version of

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and pa ...

), La Youmal لا يمل (a comedy/skit show), Miss Elite Top Model, El Halka Al-Ad'af (Arabic version of ''

The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which The Weakest Link (British game show), first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host ...

''), El Fakh (Arabic version of ''

Cash Trapped ''Cash Trapped'' is a British game show which aired on ITV from 1 August 2016 to 20 December 2019. Presented and based on an idea by Bradley Walsh, the show pits contestants against one another in a contest to amass and win prize money by ans ...

''), and Alakhbar (The News). Its most famous talk show was ''Sireh wo infatahit'' سيرة وأنفتحت (Arabic for ''Open for Discussion''). Future TV's longest running show was ''Khaleek bill bait'' خليك بالبيت (Arabic for ''Stay at Home''). The show interviewed artists and intellectuals from the Arab World.

Logos

File:Future 1993.PNG, Future TV original logo used from 15 February 1993 to 2003. File:Future Television.svg, Future TV second logo used from 2003 to 2007. File:Future logo.png, Future TV third logo used from 2007 to 20 August 2012.

Future TV personalities

Past

Najwa Qassem Personal Najwa Qassem was born in a Lebanese Druze family on 7 July 1967 in Joun, Lebanon, a few years before the Lebanese Civil War. Qassem initially aspired to study architecture but soon fell in love with media and televised broadcasting. ...

* Rima Maktabi

Present

* Zaven Kouyoumdjian * Maya Zankoul

Affiliated Media

Al-Mustaqbal newspaper, also owned by the Hariri family, closed its print operations in January for similar reasons, thus threatening the survival of Hariri's Future Movement as a political project while

Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...

's media empire remained very active despite the militant group's own financial woes.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1993 establishments in Lebanon Defunct television channels Television channels and stations established in 1993 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2019 Television stations in Lebanon International broadcasters Mass media in Beirut Companies based in Beirut Arabic-language television stations