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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 000147 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ELA - LAWSON, NEA/ELA - IRWIN, NEA/PPD, R, 
INR/R/MR, INR-PARENT, 
NSC - MCDERMOTT 
 
SIPDIS 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PREL KMDR OPRC KPAO KISL KPAL LE
SUBJECT:  Lebanon:  Murr TV (MTV) To Resume Broadcasting 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary: MTV announced it will resume broadcast on March 31, 
2009, seven years after its coerced closure.  Michel El Murr, the 
CEO, denied that the Lebanese Forces "or any other foreign or 
domestic party" was behind the reopening.  March 14 contacts, 
however, have been pushing for the reopening as a way to level the 
playing field in terms of media coverage for the June parliamentary 
elections.  El Murr indicated that the positive atmosphere created 
by the Doha Agreement encouraged the decision.  End Summary. 
 
MTV Announces It Will Resume Broadcasting 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U) At a press conference on January 28, CEO Michael El Murr 
told a gathering of former MTV employees, politicians and media 
representatives that MTV will resume broadcasting on March 31, 2009. 
 Michel El Murr is the nephew of the powerful Greek Orthodox 
politician of the same name, whom the Ambassador met on February 4 
(septel). Originally, according to El Murr, the station was to have 
resumed broadcasting in 2006 but the July war with Israel 
interrupted their plans; he indicated that the positive atmosphere 
created by the Doha Agreement encouraged the reopening of the 
station.  El Murr denied categorically receiving financial support, 
saying  their "own capabilities," allowed the re-opening.   (Note: 
We have heard that the Saudis, on Saad Hariri's request, are 
providing the financing.  End Note.)  Murr added: "MTV will be along 
the same lines (it used to pursue).  It will be independent, 
objective and neutral...but will have an opinion."  El Murr 
announced that the new slogan will be "The Voice of the Silent 
Majority."  The previous slogan was "A Free Voice in the Service of 
Freedom." 
 
Funding Sources 
--------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) The decision to re-launch raised several questions about who 
will finance the station and what policy it will have.  El Murr 
confirmed "there is no external funding from any embassy, country, 
people or political party at all...  We have the same capital 
structure, the same investors and board members (as before)."  El 
Murr also denied reports that an agreement was reached with 
advertising tycoon Antoine Choueiri who is known to be a staunch 
supporter of the Lebanese Forces Party.  He said "it (MTV) will not 
be the voice of the Lebanese Forces."  (Note:  March contacts have 
been pushing for MTV to reopen to balance Aoun's OTV and LBC, both 
perceived as being biased toward the opposition, to level the 
playing field for the June 7 paraliamentary elections.  End Note.) 
 
¶4.  (U) A MTV senior source told Embassy Public Diplomacy staff 
there are two main reasons for re-launching the station.  The first 
reason is that, during this election period, many politicians are 
willing to pay money and, therefore, this is the best time to raise 
funds.  The other reason is that Arab advertising tycoon Antoine 
Choueiri pulled out from LBCI (the major TV station in Lebanon) and 
is willing to cover MTV.  They can now guarantee at least ten 
million dollars in advertising revenues but they are still 
negotiating the deal.  MTV was involved in intensive negotiations 
with Choueiri and the Lebanese Forces Party to finance the station, 
but the negotiations collapsed because the Lebanese Forces wanted to 
control "editorial and news decisions."  The source told PD that MTV 
is currently negotiating a business, "purely commercial," agreement 
with Choueiri and is seeking 14 million dollars in annual 
advertisements. 
 
¶5.  (U) The source told PD that there are several March 14 
politicians who promised to help the station.  Some figures are MP 
Michael Pharaon, MP Farid Mekari, former parliamentary candidate and 
billionaire Sarkis Sarkis, and anti-Hizballah politician Ahmad 
Al-Assaad, who also reportedly is receiving funding from the Saudis. 
 The source also confirmed that the Lebanese Forces, similar to the 
other March 14 members, promised to provide them with certain funds. 
 He estimated the figure between five to six million dollars. 
 
Station Policy 
-------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) El Murr said "we will try to be as before, independent and 
professional allowing everyone the opportunity to appear on the 
screen..."  He said "MTV will not take sides with anyone...  We do 
not want to categorize it as being in the middle, as a media outlet, 
we do not have a political color.  Media outlets do not necessarily 
have to have a political color or do propaganda."  In response to a 
question, he said "we are working to prevent the return of the 
Syrians or the Israelis."  In a press interview, El Murr said "we 
 
BEIRUT 00000147  002 OF 002 
 
 
are here to play the role of a media that is not a propaganda tool 
for anyone or any party or current."  El Murr added "there is no 
doubt that we will affect Christian public opinion, but also 
Lebanese public opinion in general...  Lebanese here and abroad, to 
say you have a role you must fulfill, as we did in the past, to ask 
them to rise to their role again and not give up or lose hope, to 
know that this country is theirs and that we can all live together, 
build a nation of institutions and go back to the Lebanon we knew 
before, and this is what we saw in the past few months, after 
Doha." 
 
¶7.  (U) The MTV source informed us that MTV is against March 8 
winning the elections.  They believe that a victory for March 8 will 
mean "making the country Shiite", common code in Lebanon for those 
who oppose Hizballah or Iranian interference.  They will support 
March 14 as much as they can but will try to be as moderate as 
possible.  The plan is to work according to MTV owners' convictions 
in each district. 
 
¶8.  (U) El Murr also discussed the family disputes that led to the 
channel's closure in 2002.  He confirmed that the El Murr family has 
moved beyond their past differences (Note: His father, Gabriel El 
Murr, contested the parliamentary elections against the daughter of 
his brother MP Michel El Murr in Metn back in 2002.  The relations 
were tense between members of the family until the assassination 
attempt on the life of the Defense Minister, Elias El Murr, in 2005 
which helped reunite them.  End Note.)  The MTV source informed us 
that the family will most probably support the elder MP Michel El 
Murr in the elections in Metn (against the Free Patriotic 
Movement). 
 
Structure and Programming 
------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (U) MTV is planning to broadcast on the terrestrial and the 
satellite channels, eighteen hours a day, starting at 7:00 a.m. 
local time.  They will be airing twelve hours of live shows, many of 
them political and social.  The ground floor of a new building is 
equipped.  There will be established commentators on current 
affairs.  In September, the beginning of the second programming 
phase, entertainment shows will be broadcasted. 
 
¶10.  (U) MTV is expected to re-employ many of the people who used to 
work for them.  Some of the people whose names were mentioned by the 
media were journalists who worked with Al Hurra or are still working 
with Al Hurra.  Hizballah Al Manar TV's correspondent asked whether 
MTV was trying to "fill the failed role" of Al-Hurra by recruiting 
much of its personnel.  El Murr responded "Not at all...  Through 
our professional practice of journalism people will see that this is 
not true at all."  He added: "None of the people working in the 
editorial (news) department will be hidden, and the ones who will 
appear on the screen will be seen to everyone."  He added:  "we 
believe that most of the people whom we lost at one time or another 
will return to MTV." 
 
Conclusion 
---------- 
 
¶11.  (U) MTV was the second major Christian TV station in the 
country before its closure on September 4, 2002 by a court order for 
violating article 68 of the Lebanese election law.   The law forbade 
the use of a broadcast medium to advertise on behalf of candidates 
in elections.  There is no doubt that MTV's return will increase 
competition over the already slim advertising budget that TV 
stations have to share.  The number of Christian owned stations will 
be three, which raises questions about whether or not the divide 
among the already divided Christian community will increase or 
whether MTV will succeed in attracting Christians,  as it did back 
in 2002 when it spearheaded the campaign against the Syrian regime 
and its proxies. 
 
 
Sison