On the last day of May 1996, an Egyptian Christian sat down in front of his television set and saw something he had never seen on Arabic TV before; it was an Arab female presenter with a cross around her neck. To see a representative of the almost invisible Arab Christian minority on screen was such a shock to the man that he called the station to say, Mish Ma'oul! (This is unbelievable!). What this viewer had seen was the first broadcast of the Christian Arabic satellite TV station, SAT-7. For more than 11 years now, this unique satellite channel has been a living contradiction of the commonly held prejudice in the Middle East that Christianity is a Western import, and that it is not possible to be an Arab and a Christian at the same time. Here, in the lands of the church fathers, Arab Christians are producing and broadcasting high quality television programmes that are in harmony with the cultural values of the region. In the words of the Rev. Dr Habib Badr from the National Evangelical Church of Beirut and Chairman of the SAT-7 international board: SAT-7 has changed the image of Christianity in the Arab world. People have discovered that Christianity is not as ugly as they believed. For the Christians, SAT-7 is a means to strengthen their faith. It introduces them to one another and helps them live through difficult times in the Middle East. Not your average Christian television station SAT-7 is very different from the stereotype that many Westerners have of Christian television. The station is more like a European public service channel, and it has a holistic approach to its programming: This is television for the whole family and the whole person. The programmes are entertaining, informational and educational. For 24 hours a day, seven days a week, SAT-7 broadcasts a wide variety of programmes, including dramas, documentaries, teaching, music, Christian worship, etc. Daily magazine programmes are dedicated to children, youth and women. Marriage counselling programmes are among the most popular, and the station is not afraid to talk about subjects such as violence in the family, respect between partners, communication between husbands and wives, mutual consent marriages, female circumcision, etc. These programmes are extremely popular and generate many responses from viewers. Central to the holistic agenda of SAT-7 are programmes with a social development message, such as caring for the environment, health awareness, the rights of children, disabled people, and other topics not often covered in local media, or even on many Christian networks. From a humble beginning, with two hours of programming a week, SAT-7 is now a 24-hour Arabic service. December 2006 saw the launch of an additional channel in the Farsi language, and in December 2007, SAT-7 plans to launch a special Arabic channel for children. Since the first broadcast of SAT-7 in May 1996, the children's programme As Sanabel (Ears of Wheat) has been the flagship of SAT-7's programming. As Sanabel is one of the very few Arabic children's programmes with a distinctly Christian ethos. The channel's 10-year celebration in May 2006 saw the first live broadcast of a SAT-7 production. A few months later, at the height of the war on Lebanon, a weekly current affairs programme, Nafitha (Windows) was launched, airing live from SAT-7's studio in Beirut. The programme continues to broadcast live every Thursday. Topics such as democracy, military service, euthanasia and racism are discussed with guests in the studio, and viewers can call in during the show or send mobile phone text messages with their comments. The majority of the station's programmes are produced in SAT-7's own studios in Cairo and Beirut. The rest are produced by other Arab production houses. Only a small percentage (less than 20 percent) is acquired from outside the Middle East and dubbed into Arabic, and this only after a thorough screening process has taken place to ensure that these acquired programmes are culturally sensitive and appropriate. …