Watching satellite TV in Tehran
Comment: How the disenfranchised channelled their energies to win one battle against a totalitarian government, and the reception they have received.
5 min read
13 Jul, 2015
Tehran has reportedly admitted defeat and stopped jamming satellite TV stations [Getty]
At last.
After 21 years of raiding private homes and apartment complexes to collect and destroy satellite dishes and receivers, and 12 years of jamming signals to interrupt satellite TV channels, the Iranian government has stopped interfering in the daily habits of Iranians - who watch hundreds of satellite TV channels.
There have been no official statements about the change of policy.
Although the law has not yet been changed, officials have been criticising the policy banning satellite TV - saying that 70 percent of Tehran and 50 percent of the rest of the country routinely ignore the ban, originally approved in 1994.
Rouhani has been very clear about opposing the government policy of raiding people's houses during his presidential campaign.
Even the head of the Basij paramilitary group, Mohammad Reza Naqdi, has disagreed with the ban in public.
"We should not collect satellite dishes by force," he is reported as saying - through the Basij organisation later denied the statement.
Actions speak louder than words. For months, the government has stopped jamming satellite TV stations, BBC Persian, VOA Persian, Andisheh and Man-o-To are again available, among more than 120 Persian-language channels.
The last raid on an apartment building was about two months ago in Tehran. This means a major loss for the religious establishment that has always supported any actions against satellite television - the only access point the vast majority of inhabitants have to information and entertainment not regulated by the authorities.
Even if the government resumes jamming and raiding in time of mass demonstrations and unrest, this is a lost war.
People power
The Iranian people have been adamant about using satellite TV stations. Whenever their dishes or receivers were confiscated or destroyed, they installed new ones the very next day.
This resistance, intended to loosen the government's tight grip over media and all modes of communication - especially TV broadcasts from outside the country - has carried particular significance for both the authorities and the Iranian public.
Now, even the "insiders" and Islamists are using this technology.
The main reason for the insistence on using satellite dishes is because of a government policy to force Iranians to follow the official lifestyle, ie: the way Shia clerics have lived for centuries.
The state-run media are propaganda machines for an Islamist lifestyle, instead of providing the news and entertainment toolboxes.
Iranians who had social freedom during the Pahlavi regime and asked for political freedom during the 1979 Revolution lost all when the regime consolidated its power.
The battle between the "lifestyle" of clerics and "lifestyles" of other Iranians began right after the establishment of the regime and is still going on. The people mostly won when technology has been on their side.
Banning fax machines
In the 1980s, the possession or use of Xerox or fax machines without a license was illegal in Iran. Video players and cassettes were also banned.
Basij members used to search cars and bags for audio and video cassettes and even blank tapes were confiscated.
The government stopped doing this when tens of millions of cassettes began to be exchanged on the black and underground markets. To provide for the war and associated expenses, the IRGC itself was one of the main importers of electronics to the country.
A decade later, IRGC ports began importing satellite receivers. Small factories are able to produce dishes and distribute them on the underground market.
Too big to deal with
Although the military and political establishments believe Persian-language satellite channels are the West's tools in a soft war against their rule, it is impossible for them to prevent tens of millions of people from watching them.
Despite tough action, satellite dishes have continued to proliferate across Iranian cities, urban areas and villages over the past two decades.
A policy hard to maintain
Authorities have also failed to justify raids and jamming to the Iranian public. Other than this, three factors have been important for the change government policy:
1. The cost of jamming TV stations has skyrocketed due to the expansion of satellite dishes all over the country. The government has invested massive financial and human capital into raiding homes and destroying and breaking satellite TV receivers and dishes.
Now, resources are stretched to the point that the government is not able to pay satellite companies such as Arabsat for relaying state-controlled stations.
2. Earning the lowest ratings reduces state programming's competitiveness in the market. Recently state TV has cancelled several shows, due to a shortage of funds and low ratings. Officials have begun blaming the failures of state stations for the rise in satellite channels.
3. At least some Iranian officials consider satellite jamming to be a health risk. Masoumeh Ebtekar, head of the environmental protection organisation, has repeatedly expressed concern about the effects of the jamming signals on citizens' health.
The meanings of victory
What does this de-facto submission to satellite TV broadcasting mean to the government and opposition?
1. The factional schism has not had any effect on reducing government pressure upon "different" lifestyles. The reformers usually consider this issue as secondary compared with political participation.
2. The cooperation of Iranians inside and outside the country has been a key factor. Without Persian-language satellite TV stations headquartered in London and LA, it was not possible to break the totalitarian media policy.
3. VOA and BBC Persian are both funded by foreign governments. Iranians alone were not able to break the monopoly of the Iranian government in broadcasting.
4. Private satellite TV stations - such as Andisheh - are still broadcasting, despite jamming, commercial boycotts, and threats due to their staff's opposition to government media policies. Most private stations are staffed by Iranian journalist communities living in exile.
5. Fighting against technology - from the microphone to Facebook and Viber - may be successful in the short term, but in the long term does not help totalitarian policies.
Shia clerics issued fatwas against radio and TV in the 1930s and 1960s - and now they are running dozens of radio and TV stations themselves.
After 21 years of raiding private homes and apartment complexes to collect and destroy satellite dishes and receivers, and 12 years of jamming signals to interrupt satellite TV channels, the Iranian government has stopped interfering in the daily habits of Iranians - who watch hundreds of satellite TV channels.
There have been no official statements about the change of policy.
Although the law has not yet been changed, officials have been criticising the policy banning satellite TV - saying that 70 percent of Tehran and 50 percent of the rest of the country routinely ignore the ban, originally approved in 1994.
Rouhani has been very clear about opposing the government policy of raiding people's houses during his presidential campaign.
Even the head of the Basij paramilitary group, Mohammad Reza Naqdi, has disagreed with the ban in public.
"We should not collect satellite dishes by force," he is reported as saying - through the Basij organisation later denied the statement.
Actions speak louder than words. For months, the government has stopped jamming satellite TV stations, BBC Persian, VOA Persian, Andisheh and Man-o-To are again available, among more than 120 Persian-language channels.
The last raid on an apartment building was about two months ago in Tehran. This means a major loss for the religious establishment that has always supported any actions against satellite television - the only access point the vast majority of inhabitants have to information and entertainment not regulated by the authorities.
 |
Even if the government resumes jamming and raiding in time of mass demonstrations and unrest, this is a lost war. |
Even if the government resumes jamming and raiding in time of mass demonstrations and unrest, this is a lost war.
People power
The Iranian people have been adamant about using satellite TV stations. Whenever their dishes or receivers were confiscated or destroyed, they installed new ones the very next day.
This resistance, intended to loosen the government's tight grip over media and all modes of communication - especially TV broadcasts from outside the country - has carried particular significance for both the authorities and the Iranian public.
Now, even the "insiders" and Islamists are using this technology.
The main reason for the insistence on using satellite dishes is because of a government policy to force Iranians to follow the official lifestyle, ie: the way Shia clerics have lived for centuries.
The state-run media are propaganda machines for an Islamist lifestyle, instead of providing the news and entertainment toolboxes.
Iranians who had social freedom during the Pahlavi regime and asked for political freedom during the 1979 Revolution lost all when the regime consolidated its power.
The battle between the "lifestyle" of clerics and "lifestyles" of other Iranians began right after the establishment of the regime and is still going on. The people mostly won when technology has been on their side.
Banning fax machines
In the 1980s, the possession or use of Xerox or fax machines without a license was illegal in Iran. Video players and cassettes were also banned.
Basij members used to search cars and bags for audio and video cassettes and even blank tapes were confiscated.
The government stopped doing this when tens of millions of cassettes began to be exchanged on the black and underground markets. To provide for the war and associated expenses, the IRGC itself was one of the main importers of electronics to the country.
A decade later, IRGC ports began importing satellite receivers. Small factories are able to produce dishes and distribute them on the underground market.
Too big to deal with
Although the military and political establishments believe Persian-language satellite channels are the West's tools in a soft war against their rule, it is impossible for them to prevent tens of millions of people from watching them.
Despite tough action, satellite dishes have continued to proliferate across Iranian cities, urban areas and villages over the past two decades.
A policy hard to maintain
Authorities have also failed to justify raids and jamming to the Iranian public. Other than this, three factors have been important for the change government policy:
1. The cost of jamming TV stations has skyrocketed due to the expansion of satellite dishes all over the country. The government has invested massive financial and human capital into raiding homes and destroying and breaking satellite TV receivers and dishes.
Now, resources are stretched to the point that the government is not able to pay satellite companies such as Arabsat for relaying state-controlled stations.
2. Earning the lowest ratings reduces state programming's competitiveness in the market. Recently state TV has cancelled several shows, due to a shortage of funds and low ratings. Officials have begun blaming the failures of state stations for the rise in satellite channels.
3. At least some Iranian officials consider satellite jamming to be a health risk. Masoumeh Ebtekar, head of the environmental protection organisation, has repeatedly expressed concern about the effects of the jamming signals on citizens' health.
|
Without TV stations in London and LA, it was not possible to break the totalitarian media policy |
The meanings of victory
What does this de-facto submission to satellite TV broadcasting mean to the government and opposition?
1. The factional schism has not had any effect on reducing government pressure upon "different" lifestyles. The reformers usually consider this issue as secondary compared with political participation.
2. The cooperation of Iranians inside and outside the country has been a key factor. Without Persian-language satellite TV stations headquartered in London and LA, it was not possible to break the totalitarian media policy.
3. VOA and BBC Persian are both funded by foreign governments. Iranians alone were not able to break the monopoly of the Iranian government in broadcasting.
4. Private satellite TV stations - such as Andisheh - are still broadcasting, despite jamming, commercial boycotts, and threats due to their staff's opposition to government media policies. Most private stations are staffed by Iranian journalist communities living in exile.
5. Fighting against technology - from the microphone to Facebook and Viber - may be successful in the short term, but in the long term does not help totalitarian policies.
Shia clerics issued fatwas against radio and TV in the 1930s and 1960s - and now they are running dozens of radio and TV stations themselves.
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