CAIRO – Production and advertising managers in the official Radio and TV Building on the Nile are wringing their hands in desperation as the holy fasting month of Ramadan swiftly draws to an end; their colleagues in private television channels are no less unfortunate. It has been said that the proceeds from ads and commercials have only hit about LE125 million, far less than the LE400 million spent on Ramadan soap operas. The instability and violence since the recent revolution are to blame for the huge losses reported by Egyptian TV. Last year, the advertising managers licked their lips with extreme satisfaction, as they made net profits of around LE250 million. Since television sets became popular in Egypt in the 1960s, serials, soap operas, fawazeer (Ramadan quizzes) and other such programmes have become the main source of entertainment for tens of millions of Egyptians in the holy fasting month. The heated competition has created ‘sharks' in the local entertainment industry. It is unfortunate that things changed disastrously early this year. Since the revolution, the advertising agencies have signed fewer contracts with their wealthy customers. The nation's economy has been dealt a dazzling blow by foreign investors and tourists packing up and fleeing the country, haunted by fears that they lives could be jeopardised if they refuse to heed their Government's advice to quickly fly home. As for the official Egyptian Television, it has apparently lost much of the income it used to receive from Sout el-Qahira for Advertising Co. One of Egyptian TV's biggest advertising tools, Sout el-Qahira was disbanded weeks after the revolution. In his comment on Egyptian TV's huge losses, new Minister of Information Osama Heikal condemned the Government's decision to scrap Sout el-Qahira. The Minister said that more time should be given before making such strategic decisions, because of the sharp drop in revenue. Heikal regretfully declared that he'll have to congratulate the senior members of staff in Egyptian TV's advertising department, if they manage to make a profit of LE20 million this year, given the unfavourable circumstances. But, refusing to give in, the Minister says he has an ambitious plan to ‘improve the quality and content' of official television. There are rumours that Egyptian TV is falling apart and tens of thousands of its employees won't be paid.
