The Middle East and Ratings

MMA Torch has a writer in Saudi Arabia who wrote some comments about UFC 110 that are getting some play:

- UFC 110 was a huge success over here being the highest rated program of the week (beating 24 Day 8 by over 30 percent). The most watched fight was Wanderlei Silva vs. Michael Bisping which was watched on around 40 percent of televisions in the country (according to Mobily who are the main TV/Phone/internet providers). I have no idea if that is an accurate figure as I have no idea if the company are trustworthy; that said, the verbal feedback I have received certainly point at it being the top end of the expected viewership.

First, by admitting that he has no idea of the validity of the numbers we have to view this as nothing more than rumor and should be treated as such.

Also, we don't know how the ratings are compiled. Do they take into account satellite viewers or is it just terrestrial based? If it is latter than the data is extremely inaccurate as most Arab households use satellite television. Terrestrial television in the Middle East is usually run by the state, which brings me to the next point, 

- UFC 112 is now a nightly news story on the main news network over here (unfortunately, my Arabic isn't good enough to understand what is being said, but each night they flash up a graphic of the arena and a graphic of the three main events).

The fact that the author said "main news network" most likely means terrestrial as if it was satellite he would've been able to say Al Jazeera or one of the other well known Arab satellite news agencies as oppose to "main news network".

If the "main news network" is terrestrial then it is owned by the state. In our culture that creates seriously reservations about objectivity.

For those that don't understand why:

Abu Dhabi owns 10% of Zuffa. Zuffa is bringing an UFC event to Abu Dhabi. Terrestrial news is owned by state. News agency talking about an entertainment entity coming to the country that is partially owned by the state. Hmmmm.......

Finally there is this,

each night they flash up a graphic of the arena and a graphic of the three main events

Pretty sure that sounds like a commercial.