NileSat 201: Free TV & Radio

The Egyptian satellite company with the same name launched the Nilesat 201 satellite back in 2010 to replace the now-retired Nilesat 101, 102 and 103. The Nilesat 201 located at 7.0°W today broadcasts about 350 TV channels and 122 Radio channels with a large number of them being free. The satellite carries 24 Ku-band and 4 Ka-band transponders to provide direct-to-home television, radio and data-transmissions in the Middle East, and North Africa.

Coverage

Nilesat 201 KU-band Coverage
Nilesat 201 KU-band Coverage

The satellite is intended for North Africa and the Middle East. As a result, its Ku band beams are trained at those locations. In essence, Nilesat 201 covers the following countries fully or in part:

  • Egypt
  • Libya
  • Tunisia
  • Algeria
  • Morocco
  • Western Sahara
  • Mauritania
  • Mali
  • Niger Republic
  • Chad
  • Uganda
  • South Sudan
  • Sudan
  • Kenya
  • Somalia
  • Ethiopia
  • Somaliland
  • Djibouti
  • several countries in the Middle East, southern Europe and some islands in the Mediterranian sea.

Residents of the above locations can receive signals from the satellite using a regular 60 or 95-metre satellite dish.

Residents of the northern parts of the following countries may be able to access Nilesat 201 broadcast signals using a 180-metre dish:

  • Cameroon
  • Nigeria
  • Benin Republic
  • Togo
  • Ghana
  • Burkina Faso
  • The Gambia
  • DR Congo

How to Receive

It is best to make use of a modern satellite receiver or digital TV that has an in-built satellite receiver that supports DVB-S and DVB-S2. This offers a massive convenience as one doesn’t have to manually update the frequencies.

Once the satellite dish is pointed in the direction of Nilesat 201 at 7.0°W, an auto-scan channel search) on the satellite receiver would automatically find and save all the TV and radio channels possible. You can configure your receiver to filter out the encrypted channels that require payment so you can focus on the free ones only.

Some receivers have the current list of satellites. You only have to select Nilesat 201 and then initiate the auto-scan.

Price: 0 EGP (free)

Frequencies & Channels

We have listed some of the TV channels below. Do note that most of the programming is in Arabic but some are subtitled in the English language. The respective Frequencies and Polarization are stated before the channel listings.

11843 Horizontal

  • Nile News
  • Nile Comedy
  • Nile Life
  • Nile Drama
  • Nile Sport
  • Nile Culture
  • Nile Cinema
  • Maspero Zaman
  • Funoon TV
  • Dream 2

11938 Vertical

  • MBC 2
  • Citruss TV
  • Abu Dhabi TV
  • Zee Aflam
  • Zee Alwan
  • MBC Bollywood
  • Al Aan TV
  • B4U Aflam
  • KBS World
  • Alsharqiya TV
  • MBC Iraq

11900 Vertical

  • Eyaka Nabod
  • Free TV
  • TV 5 Monde Maghreb-Orient
  • Alfath TV
  • Mazzika LyngSat
  • Al-Saeedah
  • Nogoum FM TV

12284 Vertical

The following are all Saudi channels and all in HD.

  • Saudi TV
  • Faaliat
  • Riyadiya TV 1
  • Riyadiya TV 2
  • Riyadiya TV 3
  • Riyadiya TV 4
  • Ekhbariya TV
  • Quran TV
  • Sunna TV
  • SBC

12226 Horizontal

  • Zad TV
  • Lana +
  • Majid
  • Emarat TV
  • National Geographic Abu Dhabi
  • Abu Dhabi Sports 1
  • Abu Dhabi Sports 2
  • Abu Dhabi Drama
  • CNN International Europe
  • China Arab TV
  • Cartoon Network Arabic
  • B4U Plus
  • MBC Iraq

11766 Horizontal

  • Al Kahera Wal Nas
  • ERTU 1
  • Nile Family
  • Al Masriyah
  • BBC World News Middle East
  • Libya Al Wataniya
  • Libya Sport TV 1

Conclusion

For a free service, the NileSat 201 offers excellent value, especially if you are very familiar with the Arabic language and inclined towards the Arabic culture. It helps that there is a sprinkle of channels broadcast in the English language but you need to be within the footprint in North Africa or the Middle East to enjoy the service.

Sidenote: the NileSat 201 has a life-span of 15 years, as do most satellites. It would thus be decommissioned sometime in 2025. Nilesat has reportedly commissioned SpaceX to launch a new satellite in 2022.

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Oluniyi D. Ajao
Oluniyi D. Ajao is an Internet Entrepreneur and Tech Enthusiast based in South Africa. Follow him on twitter @niyyie for more tech updates.

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