AL JAZEERA CLAIMS IT’S BEING JAMMED

The Arab satellite news network al-Jazeera said Tuesday that its sports channel, which has exclusive pay-TV rights to the World Cup in the Middle East, has continued to be hit by saboteurs resulting in degradation — and sometimes complete loss — of signal. Last week it said that its signal, carried by Egypt’s NileSat and Saudi Arabia’s Arabsat were being jammed but provided no evidence for its claim. It did not identify the possible culprits. In a statement, al-Jazeera said that it “is taking every possible measure to uncover those behind the incident and to hold them responsible for the interruption of the signal that affected its audience in Middle East and North Africa region.” Early today (Wednesday) NileSat said that it is installing geolocation technology that can identify the location of the jamming signals. Newspapers in the region are providing a vent for viewers’ anger. Gulf Times, located in al-Jazeera’s base of Qatar, quoted one exasperated viewer as remarking, “It has been 12 days since the World Cup began and we still don’t know what is causing the signal problems nor do we know what al-Jazeera is doing about it.”