"Through extensive fieldwork and archival research, Febe Armanios explores how Western evangelicals and indigenous Christians harnessed terrestrial and satellite technologies to promote Christian television in the Middle East. The sixteen channels analyzed in this study fall into three main categories: Western-backed conservative outlets with a charismatic and apocalyptic outlook; middle-ground channels that sought to balance their international sponsors' expectations with local interests; and grassroots initiatives rooted in ancient church traditions. The histories and programming strategies of primarily Arabic, but also Turkish and Persian, Christian channels reveal how media producers forged unexpected political alliances, pursued sectarian objectives, and navigated various transnational influences. Satellite Ministries explores how modern expressions of faith, technology, and political power intersected and clashed across the Global South and beyond." (Publisher description)

"The sixteen channels explored in this study can be categorized in three different ways. First, channels such as METV, M-Hayat, Al-Shifaa, and the Persian and Turkish channels Nejat TV, Mohabat TV, and Kanal Hayat reflected the conservative and politically inclined agendas of their Western backers. Motivated by religious zeal and geopolitical aims, they leveraged an easy access to wealthy televangelists such as Pat Robertson, Paul Crouch, and Joyce Meyer, and to a global donor network with strong roots in the United States and Europe, to establish a durable regional presence. While Middle Eastern Christians or converts to Christianity were sometimes involved and even took the Ssotlight in these projects, for example, Father Zakaria Botros on Al-Hayat or Reza Safa on Nejat, Western evangelicals retained significant control over the content and direction of these ministries. Their programming, moreover, tended to align with socially conservative principles and an evangelical worldview that emphasized heteronormative "family values," restrictive sexual and gender expressions, and moral purity. They frequently used the concepts of "rights" and "freedoms" to justify their existence even as they supported censorship in the name of public morality. Many Western-funded Christian satellite channels in the Middle East have also taken a more combative stance toward Islam, openly challenging its teachings and seeking to convert Muslims. They capitalized on political instability, civil and Western-initiated wars, and the plight of Christian minorities to further their agendas. They operated primarily from Europe or the United States to avoid restrictions on their activities and dangers to their staff. Shows like those of Botros and Brother Rachid, filmed in the safety of their US studios, criticized popular Islamic teachings and practices with little regard for their adverse impact on regional Christians. Channels like Al-Hayat considered their mission as spiritual warfare. They positioned Christianity as the only path to salvation and portrayed Islam as a false religion that oppresses its adherents. Some indigenous believers who became involved in these projects and supported this approach might have done so in reaction to their long-standing marginalization and to the denigration and misrepresentation of Christians in regional state media or on new Islamist satellite channels. Al-Hayat's adversarial methods were ultimately based on a worldview that saw the Middle East as a battleground for souls a media faith war that excited and motivated these channels' Western donors. Adhering to a conservative evangelical agenda, these channels also perceived their mission as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy, with some promoting a Christian Zionist perspective that unwaveringly supported the state of Israel. Most regional Christians, including representatives of the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) along with a variety of Lebanese and Palestinian Christian theologians, took issues with this Israel-philic approach. Undeterred, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Robertson's The 700 Club aired news segments and biblical interpretations that reemphasized Israel's centrality to scripture. In the 2010s, Mohabat TV's Persian programs have depicted Israel's existence as a biblically mandated and geopolitical necessity, crucial in the battle against Islamic fundamentalism and especially against the Islamic Republic of Iran. As repeatedly noted by the MECC, this worldview largely disregarded the suffering of Palestinians, including Christians, and the violence of Israel's decades-old occupation of Palestinian territories. Ironically, several evangelists of Palestinian heritage, such as Nizar Shaheen, Harun Ibrahim, and Hinn, have been dose collaborators in these initiatives. Their participation has often lent credence to the channels' political bent. But the Israeli bombardment of Gaza, followiug the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, highlighted the complexities of this stance. In February 2024, for instance, pioneering televangelist Shaheen who had been affiliated with METV, Al-Hayat, and SAT-7 spoke of the "necessity of a ceasefire" acknowledging that our people in Palestine are suffering." Even with Shaheen's dissenting voice, the appearance of Christian Zionist ideologies, particularly an Western-funded channels, often branded these satellite ministries as pro-Israeli and exposed the fissures and incongruous loyalties within this mediascape.
SAT-7 (Arabic, PARS, and TÜRK) and Mu'jiza occupy a second category and a middle ground between more conservative Western-funded channels like METV, Al-Hayat, and Al-Shifaa, and indigenous Christian projects, such as Tele-Lumiere and several Coptic outlets. Established by European missionaries with extensive regional experience, these channels aimed to cultivate a Christian voice attuned and sensitive to Middle Eastem realities. SAT-7 collaborated with local churches, clergy, and laypeople to produce and distribute programming that hoped to empower indigenous Christians rather than overtly impose a foreign agenda. Despite being funded by a global network of often-conservative donors, SAT-7 and Mu'jiza eschewed the polemical approach of channels like Al-Hayat. SAT-7's multi-lingual programming, covering Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant faiths, reflected the regionis diverse Christian heritage. Conversely, Muliza promoted a charismatic faith that could attract both Christians and Muslims while foregoing engagement with sectarian creeds and attacks an Islamic beliefs; it also equipped covert, crypto-Christians with tactics to help mask their conversion in dangerous settings. While these channels sought to distinguish themselves from competitors who pursued more overt proselytizing agendas, they fundamentally shared core missionary goals with the likes of Al-Hayat and Nejat TV in their eagerness to convert Muslims. To fundraise and Show their efficacy, they featured testimonies especially on their websites and social media from those who embraced Christianity through their efforts.
Third, indigenous Christian channels, such as Télé-Lumière and the Coptic channels Aghapy, CTV, MESat, and Al-Horreya, were, in general, more deeply rooted in historic church communities and hierarchies than most of their foreign counterparts. Founded by clergy or laypeople, their primary focus was to serve their constituencies' spiritual needs and often to address their political concerns. While they sometimes collaborated with foreign interlocutors, they maintained a distinctly native flavor and avoided content that might be offensive to Muslim viewers. Instead, they presented liturgical services, sermons, documentaries on saints and church history, and programs an faith and social issues from an insider's perspective. They provided a platform for Christian communities and notably for their patriarchs, bishops, and priests to assert their identity, culture, and rights in a region where Christians often faced marginalization and discrimination. Their physical location, with most of their studios embedded in Beirut or Cairo, dictated their careful programming and agendas. Even when they addressed politics in times of turmoil, as Télé-Lumière did after the Lebanese Civil War and the Coptic channels after Egypt's 2011 Revolution, they generally did so without offending other communities or threatening to provoke sectarian tensions. The rise of globalizing technologies, such as satellite broadcasting, may have very well flattened the portrayal of Christianity on television screens, but, in reality, these technologies have amplified the diversity of indigenous perspectives and voices." (Conclusion, pages 259-261)