The television station that broadcasts in Amharic from the United States, ESAT, stopped its transmission a couple of days ago.

The channel was accessible through the ArabSat Panel and soon gained high popularity with viewers. Prior to the halt the station had expressed that the transmission was a pilot run and regular broadcast was yet to be started. However, it covered a number of issues during the election season including interviews with European Parliament officials, Hailu Shawel, Gebru Asrat of Arena Tigray, and other prominent political figures, among other things.

While it started a program focusing on the views of Ginbot 7 and OLF leaders, the television station made it clear that when it gets back on air it will air issues pertaining to social, economic, political circumstances in Ethiopia.
According to Addis Wore, a weekly Amharic newspaper published in the capital, Addis Ababa, satellite dish suppliers said the price of dish showed an abrupt upturn in connection with the increase in demand for the appliance owing to the ever-increasing number of viewers since the introduction of Esat. In the words of the businessmen, prior to the launch of the Esat Television Station, the price of the whole dish set was 1600 birr which has leapt up to 1900 birr after it started broadcasting.

Asked whether the Ethiopian government is aware of the television station, Bereket Simon, Minister of Government communication Affairs, expressed that he hasn’t ever seen it nor did he know who it belonged to.

Source: Addis Wore