|TOP|After announcing its new 2006 television campaign on promoting the family, SAT-7 announced that it would further broadcast the message of Christ this Christmas season with the largest number of Arabic Christmas programs ever offered in the Middle East and North Africa.

During the season of Christmas and New Year's, the Christian satellite television network, which is said to have an audience of 5-6 million regular viewers in the Arab world alone, has scheduled to air 23 different Arabic programs to help convey the true meaning of Christmas and offer opportunities of celebration for the holiday.

"We're very excited to be able to offer such a wide variety of programs, which not only tell the story of Christ’s birth, but also demonstrate how He is at work today,” said Terence Ascott, SAT-7 CEO, according to the network.

|AD|The full schedule of programs will air throughout December and early January. Programs to be featured are: Forgiveness - a special edition of Nafitha ("Windows"); the JESUS Film, which is shown every year; Jesus and Josephine; Visit of the Beloved; and other various Christian films, music programs and specials.

"The unique service provided by SAT-7 is strategically important because the Church in the Middle East and North Africa is continually shrinking," said Debbie Brink, executive director of the organisation’s USA office, in a released statement.

"In 1900, Christians represented about 20 percent of the Middle East population. That number has fallen to less than five percent today. The numbers are even more striking in the Holy Land and illustrate that there is a very real possibility that Christianity could indeed vanish from the very land of Christ’s birth."

The SAT-7 Arabic Christmas programs will be available to be viewed live at www.sat7.org.

The new year will also see a new series of special programs as SAT-7 launches its Year of the Family campaign to promote the Christian message through the family unit.








Audrey Barrick
Christian Today Correspondent