Saudi Arabia - Revision history

Jon Preddle at 21:35, 13 March 2024

2024-03-13T21:35:22Z

Jon Preddle at 22:24, 23 May 2022

2022-05-23T22:24:47Z

Jon Preddle at 04:28, 24 April 2021

2021-04-24T04:28:01Z

Jon Preddle at 21:45, 3 April 2021

2021-04-03T21:45:36Z

Jon Preddle at 00:10, 14 May 2018

2018-05-14T00:10:42Z

Jon Preddle at 03:43, 1 April 2018

2018-04-01T03:43:34Z

Jon Preddle at 02:22, 1 April 2018

2018-04-01T02:22:49Z

Jon Preddle at 02:02, 1 April 2018

2018-04-01T02:02:59Z

Jon Preddle at 01:13, 1 April 2018

2018-04-01T01:13:57Z

Jon Preddle at 05:51, 1 June 2015

2015-06-01T05:51:57Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:35, 13 March 2024
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	ARAMCO commenced PAL colour broadcasts after 1979. The final four season 11 stories would have been supplied on PAL colour video tape in English.		ARAMCO commenced PAL colour broadcasts after 1979. The final four season 11 stories would have been supplied on PAL colour video tape in English.
		+
		+	The BBC's master tape of [[Death to the Daleks]] episode 1 was no longer held by them in 1978, so the tapes supplied to ARAMCO had to be from a set that was already in circulation.

@@ Line 230: / Line 230: @@
 '''UNKNOWN TV STATION (NTSC) *([[Armed Forces Network]]?)'''
-stories, equivalent of 98 episodes edited into "omnibus" movies:
+or 23 stories, equivalent of 94/98 episodes edited into "omnibus" movies:
 <div style="float:left;">
@@ Line 239: / Line 239: @@
 |4B||[[The Sontaran Experiment]]||2
 |-
-|4C||[[The Ark in Space]]||4
+|4C||[[The Ark in Space]] ##||4
 |-
 |4D||[[Revenge of the Cybermen]]||4
@@ Line 292: / Line 292: @@
 <br />
-An unidentified satellite or cable station screened the standard package of [[Tom Baker stories]] that had been edited into omnibus "movies" that was distributed by Lionheart.
+An unidentified satellite or cable station screened the standard package of [[Tom Baker stories]] that had been edited into omnibus "movies" that was distributed by Lionheart. (As noted below, these still had some of the old Howard da Silva narrations in place.)
 The programmes would have been supplied on NTSC colour video tape in English.
@@ Line 444: / Line 446: @@
 ===[[Tom Baker stories|TOM BAKER]]===
-"Omnibus" editions of Tom Baker stories, [[Robot]] through to [[The Invasion of Time]], aired on an unidentified NTSC channel which does not feature in any newspaper TV listings. It may have been a satellite or cable channel, possibly via the United States.
+"Omnibus" editions of Tom Baker stories, [[Robot]] through to [[The Invasion of Time]] (but minus [[The Ark in Space]]?), aired on an unidentified NTSC channel which does not feature in any newspaper TV listings. It may have been a satellite or cable channel, possibly via the United States.
 Our eye-witness (see below) recalls that the station might have been called '''Star''', but our investigations have drawn a blank on this name. (The main TV station in [[Aden]] was the '''South Arabian Television Service (SATS)'''. While it's possible that "SATS" could be the mysterious "Star", it's extremely unlikely - given its geographical position and distance - that signals from Aden could reach the north eastern regions of Saudi Arabia. Our witness might however indeed be thinking of SATS, but in a different context.)
@@ Line 452: / Line 454: @@
 We do not have confirmed airdates for these broadcasts, but an eye-witness who actually watched them at the time tells us that the stories aired around '''mid-1985''' to '''early 1986''' (which certainly ties in with at least four stories having been sold by February 1987, per '''The Eighties''').
-One surprising recollection made by our viewer is that one short scene in the movie omnibus of [[Underworld]] retained a brief section of the old Howard da Silva narration (added to the episodes by the [[United States]] distributor in 1978), but which was accidentally left in when the episodes were re-edited into their "movie" omnibus editions in 1981. The voice-over says: "The signal from the missing ship grows stronger as the crew plummets to the underworld". This confirms that NTSC tapes or the transmissions if via satellite were possibly sourced from the [[United States]]. (See the [[Underworld]] page for a clip with this narration.)
+One surprising recollection made by our viewer is that one short scene in the movie omnibus of [[Underworld]] retained a brief section of the old Howard da Silva narration (added to the episodes by the [[United States]] distributor in 1978), but which was accidentally left in when the episodes were re-edited into their "movie" omnibus editions in 1981 for Lionheart. The voice-over says: "The signal from the missing ship grows stronger as the crew plummets to the underworld". This confirms that NTSC tapes or the transmissions if via satellite were possibly sourced from the [[United States]]. (See the [[Underworld]] page for a clip with this narration.)
 (See also [http://chicago.epguides.com/DoctorWho/variations.aspx UNDERWORLD VARIATIONS] for more about these variations (scroll down to 1991).)

@@ Line 40: / Line 40: @@
 The second-ever television service to the Arab world was established in Saudi Arabia; commencing from 17 June 1955, station '''AJL-TV''' went on air in Dhahran on the Arabian / Persian Gulf. This NTSC service was operated by the United States Air Force, and was intended to provide entertainment to personnel at the '''Dhahran Air Force Base'''. (This station was part of the American [[Armed Forces Network]].)
-The base was vacated by its American personnel by the 1980s, and as far as can be determined, TV broadcasts ceased at the time. The base was manned and brought back into operation during the Gulf War crisis of 1991-1992, and television and radio transmissions resumed during the conflict. The station ceased broadcasting on 17 January 1992.
+The base was vacated by its American personnel by the 1980s, and as far as can be determined, TV broadcasts ceased at the time. The base was manned and brought back into operation during the Gulf War crisis of 1990-1991, and television and radio transmissions resumed during the conflict. The station ceased broadcasting on 17 January 1992.
@@ Line 448: / Line 448: @@
 Our eye-witness (see below) recalls that the station might have been called '''Star''', but our investigations have drawn a blank on this name. (The main TV station in [[Aden]] was the '''South Arabian Television Service (SATS)'''. While it's possible that "SATS" could be the mysterious "Star", it's extremely unlikely - given its geographical position and distance - that signals from Aden could reach the north eastern regions of Saudi Arabia. Our witness might however indeed be thinking of SATS, but in a different context.)
-It's possible that these broadcasts were by the '''[[Armed Forces Network|United States Armed Forces Radio and Television, (aka AFRTS)]]''', which is almost an anagram of "Star". However the Saudi AF station - also in the north eastern region of Saudi - was non-operational during the mid-1980s, but maybe the broadcast equipment was still in use as a local satellite relay station?
+It's far more likely that these broadcasts were by the '''[[Armed Forces Network|United States Armed Forces Radio and Television, (aka AFRTS)]]''', which is almost an anagram of "Star". Although the US bases were closed down and all troops were mostly vacated during the mid-1980s, the TV station may have still been operating albeit at a reduced capacity
 We do not have confirmed airdates for these broadcasts, but an eye-witness who actually watched them at the time tells us that the stories aired around '''mid-1985''' to '''early 1986''' (which certainly ties in with at least four stories having been sold by February 1987, per '''The Eighties''').
@@ Line 467: / Line 467: @@
 From this information, it seems that Tom Baker stories aired in Saudi Arabia from:
-*'''mid-1985''' to '''early 1986''' - [[Robot]] to [[The Invasion of Time]] - on our mystery NTSC station, and then:
+*'''mid-1985''' to '''early 1986''' - [[Robot]] to [[The Invasion of Time]] - on our mystery NTSC station (possibly [[AFRTS]]), and then:
 *'''early 1986''' (and on into '''1987'''?) - [[The Ribos Operation]]? to [[Logopolis]]? – in PAL on ARAMCO's Channel 3

@@ Line 446: / Line 446: @@
 "Omnibus" editions of Tom Baker stories, [[Robot]] through to [[The Invasion of Time]], aired on an unidentified NTSC channel which does not feature in any newspaper TV listings. It may have been a satellite or cable channel, possibly via the United States.
-Our eye-witness (see below) recalls that the station might have been called '''Star''', but our investigations have drawn a blank on this name. It's possible that these broadcasts were by the '''[[Armed Forces Network|United States Armed Forces Radio and Television, (aka AFRTS)]]''', which is almost an anagram of "Star". However the Saudi AF station was non-operational during the mid-1980s, but maybe the broadcast equipment was still in use as a local satellite relay station?
+Our eye-witness (see below) recalls that the station might have been called '''Star''', but our investigations have drawn a blank on this name. (The main TV station in [[Aden]] was the '''South Arabian Television Service (SATS)'''. While it's possible that "SATS" could be the mysterious "Star", it's extremely unlikely - given its geographical position and distance - that signals from Aden could reach the north eastern regions of Saudi Arabia. Our witness might however indeed be thinking of SATS, but in a different context.)
 We do not have confirmed airdates for these broadcasts, but an eye-witness who actually watched them at the time tells us that the stories aired around '''mid-1985''' to '''early 1986''' (which certainly ties in with at least four stories having been sold by February 1987, per '''The Eighties''').
@@ Line 469: / Line 471: @@
 Unfortunately, as noted below, we have been unable to find clear TV listings to back this up…
 ==TV listings==
 {{airdates-left|}}
 [[File:SaudiTVlist.JPG|thumb|right|300px|TV listings from 24 June 1986, showing the three Saudi channels: Saudi One and Saudi Two are the two national stations, while Saudi Three is ARAMCO's PAL station]]

@@ Line 215: / Line 215: @@
 (Other BBC records indicate that the sale of [[The Three Doctors]] was "CANCELLED"; Strict Saudi censorship did not permit programmes that featured "god-like" beings, of which Omega may have been considered; [[The Green Death]] was never offered, possibly on account of its strong views against oil pollution...; and [[Invasion of the Dinosaurs]] was not available at all.)
-Although ARAMCO was broadcasting in NTSC colour from 1976, it's not readily clear whether these episodes aired in black and white or colour. U-Matic colour video tapes were in common usage by ARAMCO in the 1970s, so it is feasible that the BBC supplied ARAMCO with the first four Pertwee seasons in that format, rather than as b/w film. However, the TV listings seem to denote colour programmes with an asterisk (*) and none of the '''Doctor Who''' listings are marked as such, which does suggest that, like much of the TV schedules at that time, these were in black and white.
+====Origin of the Prints?====
-It's possible that the first five serials were supplied by [[Lebanon]].
+Although ARAMCO was broadcasting in NTSC colour from 1976, it's not readily clear whether these episodes aired in black and white or colour.
 ARAMCO commenced PAL colour broadcasts after 1979. The final four season 11 stories would have been supplied on PAL colour video tape in English.
@@ Line 426: / Line 430: @@
 ====Fate of the Prints / Tapes?====
-Saudi Arabia appears to be the last-ever country to screen a full run of season 7 to 10 Jon Pertwee stories from black and white film. With the exception of [[Bangladesh]], who aired a handful in black and white in 1980, all other countries screened what was then left of the third Doctor stories still in PAL colour.
+Saudi Arabia appears to be the last-ever country to screen a full run of season 7 to 10 Jon Pertwee stories from black and white film.
 In late 1981 / early 1982, a number of '''Doctor Who''' films that had been returned from an overseas station were reportedly destroyed by the BBC. Given that Saudi Arabia had finished its run of 16mm film prints by then, it is a very good chance that these destroyed episodes came from Saudi Arabia.

@@ Line 71: / Line 71: @@
 By August 1967, the Jidda signal was extended by microwave link and satellite transmitters to reach the nearby cities of Mecca (channel 7) and Taif (channel 8). By late 1968, the Jidda / Mecca / Taif 'network' was automated, with operations run out of Jidda.
-A further television service was established in Medina, north of Jidda (channel 5, which commenced broadcasts on 30 December 1967), and in Buraydah, in the Kassim / Quassim / Al Qassim district of central Saudi, northwest of Riyadh (channel 8 commenced on 14 July 1968). These two remote stations were not linked by microwave, but instead broadcast from video-taped or kinescoped film copies of programmes: Medina received these recordings from Jidda, while Buraydah was supplied by Riyadh.
+A further television service was established in Medina, north of Jidda (channel 5, which commenced broadcasts on 30 December 1967), and another in Buraydah, in the Kassim / Quassim / Al Qassim district of central Saudi, northwest of Riyadh (channel 8 commenced on 14 July 1968). These two remote stations were not linked by microwave, but instead broadcast from video-taped or kinescoped film copies of programmes: Medina received these recordings from Jidda, while Buraydah was supplied by Riyadh.
 A seventh station in Damman on the Arabian / Persian Gulf was established from 5 November 1969 (channel 6), and an eighth, based in Abha, went online in 1977.
@@ Line 367: / Line 367: @@
 As noted above, the TV station in Buraydah commenced broadcasts on 14 July 1968, which does give us a firm date for when Budd acquired his TV set. Since the Kassim channel received video or film copies from Riyadh, sufficient time has to be allowed for the recordings to be delivered to and scheduled by the remote station. Budd says '''Doctor Who''' aired "later", so with 37 episodes stripped on a weekly basis we are looking at the series potentially playing on that channel from around '''late 1968''' through until '''early 1969''', which means the Riyadh screenings would have been a few days or weeks (perhaps even months?) earlier.
-From all the available information, we can conclude that the nine '''Doctor Who''' serials sold to Saudi Arabia aired at least '''five times''' each: on the Jidda / Mecca / Taif network, with tapes / film copies supplied to Medina; and on the Riyadh channel, with video or film copies being supplied to Kassim and Damman. These five regional screenings started circa '''mid-1968''' and ended circa '''early to mid-1969'''.
+From all the available information, we can conclude that the nine '''Doctor Who''' serials sold to Saudi Arabia aired at least '''five times''' each, although the order in which these screenings occurred is not known: there was one screening on the Jidda / Mecca / Taif network, with tape / film copies supplied to Medina; and one screening on the Riyadh channel, followed by regional screenings in Kassim and Damman using video or film copies. These five regional screenings started circa '''mid-1968''' and ended circa '''early to mid-1969'''.
 ====Fate of the Prints?====

@@ Line 33: / Line 33: @@
 ==Television Stations / Channels==
-Despite its vast size, television coverage in Saudi Arabia is isolated to only two specific regions: Riyadh and Jidda in the west, and the south eastern provinces near Dhahran on the Persian Gulf. By 1970, it had three separate broadcasters serving the country.
+Despite its vast size, television coverage in Saudi Arabia is isolated to only two specific regions: Jidda in the west, and central Riyadh and the south eastern provinces near Dhahran on the Persian Gulf. By 1970, it had three separate broadcasters serving the country.
@@ Line 69: / Line 69: @@
 The Saudi government's '''Ministry of Information''' began its own television broadcasts from Riyadh in central Saudi (on channel 5), and Jidda / Jeddah on the Red Sea (channel 10) from 17 July 1965, operating two language frequencies, one in [[Arabic]], the other English.
-By August 1967, the Jidda signal was extended by microwave link and satellite transmitters to reach the nearby cities of Mecca (channel 7) and Taif (channel 8). By late 1968, the Jidda / Mecca / Taif 'network' was automated, with operations run by Jidda.
+By August 1967, the Jidda signal was extended by microwave link and satellite transmitters to reach the nearby cities of Mecca (channel 7) and Taif (channel 8). By late 1968, the Jidda / Mecca / Taif 'network' was automated, with operations run out of Jidda.
 A further television service was established in Medina, north of Jidda (channel 5, which commenced broadcasts on 30 December 1967), and in Buraydah, in the Kassim / Quassim / Al Qassim district of central Saudi, northwest of Riyadh (channel 8 commenced on 14 July 1968). These two remote stations were not linked by microwave, but instead broadcast from video-taped or kinescoped film copies of programmes: Medina received these recordings from Jidda, while Buraydah was supplied by Riyadh.
@@ Line 359: / Line 359: @@
-'''Doctor Who''' aired on '''Saudi TV''' around '''mid-1968 to early/mid-1969'''.
+The [[Arabic]]-dubbed episodes of '''Doctor Who''' aired several times on a regional basis in Saudi Arabia, from circa '''mid-1968''' until '''early to mid-1969'''.
-We have not been able to access Saudi Arabian newspapers from the late 1960s, and therefore do not have any firm details on these transmissions.
+We have not been able to access Saudi Arabian newspapers from the late 1960s, and therefore do not have any firm transmission dates.
 According to his book ''[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zX6CBAAAQBAJ&q=dr+who#v=snippet&q=dr%20who&f=false Half Past Ten in the Afternoon''] (Arabian Publishing, 2014), author James Budd (who lived in Saudi Arabia from 1965 to 1970) recalls that he "bought a television set in 1968 when al-Gassim TV [sic] first went on air for a few hours a day in the evenings … Later, a dubbed version of ''Dr Who'' arrived on our screens."
-As noted above, the TV station in Buraydah commenced broadcasts on 14 July 1968, which gives us a firm date for when Budd acquired his TV set. Since the Kassim channel received video or film copies from Riyadh, sufficient time has to be allowed for the recordings to be delivered to and scheduled by the remote station. Budd says '''Doctor Who''' aired "later", so with 37 episodes stripped on a weekly basis we are looking at the series potentially playing on that channel from around '''late 1968''' through until '''early 1969''', which means the Riyadh screenings would have been a few days or weeks (perhaps even months?) earlier.
+As noted above, the TV station in Buraydah commenced broadcasts on 14 July 1968, which does give us a firm date for when Budd acquired his TV set. Since the Kassim channel received video or film copies from Riyadh, sufficient time has to be allowed for the recordings to be delivered to and scheduled by the remote station. Budd says '''Doctor Who''' aired "later", so with 37 episodes stripped on a weekly basis we are looking at the series potentially playing on that channel from around '''late 1968''' through until '''early 1969''', which means the Riyadh screenings would have been a few days or weeks (perhaps even months?) earlier.
 From all the available information, we can conclude that the nine '''Doctor Who''' serials sold to Saudi Arabia aired at least '''five times''' each: on the Jidda / Mecca / Taif network, with tapes / film copies supplied to Medina; and on the Riyadh channel, with video or film copies being supplied to Kassim and Damman. These five regional screenings started circa '''mid-1968''' and ended circa '''early to mid-1969'''.

@@ Line 67: / Line 67: @@
 '''SAUDI TV'''
-The Saudi government's '''Ministry of Information''' began its own television broadcasts from Riyadh (on channel 5) and Jidda / Jeddah (channel 10) from 17 July 1965, operating two language frequencies, one in [[Arabic]], the other English. By August 1967, the Jidda signal was extended by microwave link and satellite transmitters to reach the cities of Mecca (channel 7) and Taif (channel 8). By late 1968, the system was fully automated, with the station in Jidda taking control of the 'network'.
+The Saudi government's '''Ministry of Information''' began its own television broadcasts from Riyadh in central Saudi (on channel 5), and Jidda / Jeddah on the Red Sea (channel 10) from 17 July 1965, operating two language frequencies, one in [[Arabic]], the other English.
-Over the next few years, a television service was established in Medina, north of Jidda (channel 5, which commenced broadcasts on 30 December 1967), and in Buraydah, in the Kassim / Quassim / Al Qassim district of central Saudi, northwest of Riyadh (channel 8, which commenced on 14 July 1968). These two stations were not connected by microwave, but instead broadcast from video-taped or kinescoped film copies of programmes recorded by the stations in Jidda and Riyadh.
+By August 1967, the Jidda signal was extended by microwave link and satellite transmitters to reach the nearby cities of Mecca (channel 7) and Taif (channel 8). By late 1968, the Jidda / Mecca / Taif 'network' was automated, with operations run by Jidda.
-A seventh station in Damman on the Arabian Gulf was established from 5 November 1969 (channel 6), and an eighth, based in Abha, went online in 1977.
+A further television service was established in Medina, north of Jidda (channel 5, which commenced broadcasts on 30 December 1967), and in Buraydah, in the Kassim / Quassim / Al Qassim district of central Saudi, northwest of Riyadh (channel 8 commenced on 14 July 1968). These two remote stations were not linked by microwave, but instead broadcast from video-taped or kinescoped film copies of programmes: Medina received these recordings from Jidda, while Buraydah was supplied by Riyadh.
 Colour transmissions on '''Saudi TV''' began in 1973 using the [[Wikipedia:SECAM|SECAM]] colour broadcast system.
@@ Line 357: / Line 359: @@
-'''Doctor Who''' aired on '''Saudi TV''' around '''mid-1968'''.
+'''Doctor Who''' aired on '''Saudi TV''' around '''mid-1968 to early/mid-1969'''.
-We have not been able to access Saudi Arabian newspapers from the late 1960s, and therefore do not have any details on these transmissions.
+We have not been able to access Saudi Arabian newspapers from the late 1960s, and therefore do not have any firm details on these transmissions.
 According to his book ''[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zX6CBAAAQBAJ&q=dr+who#v=snippet&q=dr%20who&f=false Half Past Ten in the Afternoon''] (Arabian Publishing, 2014), author James Budd (who lived in Saudi Arabia from 1965 to 1970) recalls that he "bought a television set in 1968 when al-Gassim TV [sic] first went on air for a few hours a day in the evenings … Later, a dubbed version of ''Dr Who'' arrived on our screens."
-As noted above, the TV station in Kassim / al-Qassim commenced broadcasts on 14 July 1968, which gives us a firm date for when Budd acquired his TV set. He says '''Doctor Who''' aired "later", so with 37 episode stripped weekly we are looking at the series likely playing on that channel from '''late 1968''' through until '''early 1969'''.
+As noted above, the TV station in Buraydah commenced broadcasts on 14 July 1968, which gives us a firm date for when Budd acquired his TV set. Since the Kassim channel received video or film copies from Riyadh, sufficient time has to be allowed for the recordings to be delivered to and scheduled by the remote station. Budd says '''Doctor Who''' aired "later", so with 37 episodes stripped on a weekly basis we are looking at the series potentially playing on that channel from around '''late 1968''' through until '''early 1969''', which means the Riyadh screenings would have been a few days or weeks (perhaps even months?) earlier.
-But from all the available information, we can conclude that '''Doctor Who''' first screened on the microwave-linked channels in Jidda, Riyadh, Mecca and Taif circa '''mid 1968''', with video or film recordings circulating between the stations in Medina, Kassim and Damman over the following weeks / months. With 37 episodes to air (and depending on whether it was on a daily or weekly schedule), the series would have ended in Jidda / Riyadh by '''early to mid-1969''', and in the regional stations a few weeks / months later.
+From all the available information, we can conclude that the nine '''Doctor Who''' serials sold to Saudi Arabia aired at least '''five times''' each: on the Jidda / Mecca / Taif network, with tapes / film copies supplied to Medina; and on the Riyadh channel, with video or film copies being supplied to Kassim and Damman. These five regional screenings started circa '''mid-1968''' and ended circa '''early to mid-1969'''.
 ====Fate of the Prints?====
-[[Jordan]] was the next [[Arabic]] country in the [[:Category:Middle East|Middle East]] to purchase '''Doctor Who''' (from mid-1969). Depending when the screenings concluded, it is possible that Saudi Arabia sent its prints of the Hartnell stories to [[Jordan]].
+[[Jordan]] was the next [[Arabic]] country in the [[:Category:Middle East|Middle East]] to purchase '''Doctor Who''' (from mid-1969). Even without any firm airdates for either the Saudi or the Jordan screenings, it's highly likely that Saudi Arabia sent its prints of the Hartnell stories to [[Jordan]].
+.

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 {| {{small-table}}
 |-
-|'''Country Number (27)'''||1968?||[[Selling Doctor Who|FIRST, SECOND and THIRD WAVE]]
+|'''Country Number (27)'''||1968||[[Selling Doctor Who|FIRST, SECOND and THIRD WAVE]]
 |-
 |'''Region'''||[[:Category:Middle East|Middle East]]||
 |-
-|'''Television commenced'''||17 June 1955||
+|'''US AFB Television commenced'''||17 June 1955||
 |-
 |'''Colour System 1'''||1973||[[:Wikipedia:SECAM|SECAM]]
@@ Line 65: / Line 67: @@
 '''SAUDI TV'''
-The Saudi government's '''Ministry of Information''' began its own television broadcasts from Riyadh (on channel 5) and Jeddah (channel 10) from 17 July 1965, operating two language frequencies, one in [[Arabic]], the other English.
+The Saudi government's '''Ministry of Information''' began its own television broadcasts from Riyadh (on channel 5) and Jidda / Jeddah (channel 10) from 17 July 1965, operating two language frequencies, one in [[Arabic]], the other English. By August 1967, the Jidda signal was extended by microwave link and satellite transmitters to reach the cities of Mecca (channel 7) and Taif (channel 8). By late 1968, the system was fully automated, with the station in Jidda taking control of the 'network'.
-In 1967, television coverage was expanded with the launch of Al Qassim Television (channel 8), in central Saudi. In 1968, another station was launched, in Medina (channel 5). Damman Television (channel 6) was established in 1969 and Abha Television in 1977. There was also a station in Mecca (channel 7).
+Over the next few years, a television service was established in Medina, north of Jidda (channel 5, which commenced broadcasts on 30 December 1967), and in Buraydah, in the Kassim / Quassim / Al Qassim district of central Saudi, northwest of Riyadh (channel 8, which commenced on 14 July 1968). These two stations were not connected by microwave, but instead broadcast from video-taped or kinescoped film copies of programmes recorded by the stations in Jidda and Riyadh.
-All these stations were part of the same network and as such broadcast much of the same programming; this was achieved by the installation of numerous microwave relay stations at different locations throughout the country.
+A seventh station in Damman on the Arabian Gulf was established from 5 November 1969 (channel 6), and an eighth, based in Abha, went online in 1977.
 Colour transmissions on '''Saudi TV''' began in 1973 using the [[Wikipedia:SECAM|SECAM]] colour broadcast system.
@@ Line 78: / Line 80: @@
 '''OTHER STATIONS'''
-Saudi viewers purchased dual-standard television sets to enable them to enjoy broadcasts coming from all the different stations, as all were broadcasting in different formats.
+Saudi viewers purchased dual-standard television sets to enable them to enjoy broadcasts coming from all the different Gulf stations, as all were broadcasting in different formats.
 Broadcasts from [[Kuwait]] could also be received in eastern Saudi Arabia, and from 1973, colour transmissions from [[Bahrain]] could also be received.
@@ Line 141: / Line 143: @@
 |}
-Saudi Arabia therefore bought the standard package of GROUP A, B and C of the [[William Hartnell stories]] dubbed into [[Arabic]].
+Saudi Arabia therefore bought the standard package of GROUP A, B and C of the [[William Hartnell stories]] dubbed into [[Arabic]]. Only episode 1 of [[An Unearthly Child]] was sold. BBC sales documents record that the clearances for Saudi Arabia were paid out on '''27 and 28 May 1968'''.
 The programme was supplied as 16mm black and white film prints with [[Arabic]] soundtracks. It is possible that the broadcaster was also supplied with English prints, enabling a simulcast in both languages, with the English soundtrack available on the radio.
@@ Line 355: / Line 357: @@
-'''Doctor Who''' aired on '''Saudi TV''' circa 1968.
+'''Doctor Who''' aired on '''Saudi TV''' around '''mid-1968'''.
 We have not been able to access Saudi Arabian newspapers from the late 1960s, and therefore do not have any details on these transmissions.
@@ Line 361: / Line 363: @@
 According to his book ''[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zX6CBAAAQBAJ&q=dr+who#v=snippet&q=dr%20who&f=false Half Past Ten in the Afternoon''] (Arabian Publishing, 2014), author James Budd (who lived in Saudi Arabia from 1965 to 1970) recalls that he "bought a television set in 1968 when al-Gassim TV [sic] first went on air for a few hours a day in the evenings … Later, a dubbed version of ''Dr Who'' arrived on our screens."
-This anecdote indicates that the '''Doctor Who''' screenings in al-Qassim (and therefore the rest of the country) commenced sometime in 1968 or early 1969 (after whenever it was that the Qassim station went on air). And with 37 episodes to account for, the run perhaps extended into 1970. (But if film prints were also being bicycled around the regions, the series may even have still been airing somewhere in Saudi Arabia into 1971.)
+As noted above, the TV station in Kassim / al-Qassim commenced broadcasts on 14 July 1968, which gives us a firm date for when Budd acquired his TV set. He says '''Doctor Who''' aired "later", so with 37 episode stripped weekly we are looking at the series likely playing on that channel from '''late 1968''' through until '''early 1969'''.
 ====Fate of the Prints?====
-[[Jordan]] was the next [[Arabic]] country in the [[:Category:Middle East|Middle East]] to purchase '''Doctor Who''' (from mid-1969). Depending when the regional screenings concluded, it is possible that Saudi Arabia sent its prints of the Hartnell stories to [[Jordan]].
+[[Jordan]] was the next [[Arabic]] country in the [[:Category:Middle East|Middle East]] to purchase '''Doctor Who''' (from mid-1969). Depending when the screenings concluded, it is possible that Saudi Arabia sent its prints of the Hartnell stories to [[Jordan]].
+.
@@ Line 422: / Line 428: @@
 Saudi Arabia appears to be the last-ever country to screen a full run of season 7 to 10 Jon Pertwee stories from black and white film. With the exception of [[Bangladesh]], who aired a handful in black and white in 1980, all other countries screened what was then left of the third Doctor stories still in PAL colour.
 In late 1981 / early 1982, a number of '''Doctor Who''' films that had been returned from an overseas station were reportedly destroyed by the BBC. Given that Saudi Arabia had finished its run of 16mm film prints by then, it is a very good chance that these destroyed episodes came from Saudi Arabia.
+.

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	Saudi Arabia appears to be the last-ever country to screen a full run of season 7 to 10 Jon Pertwee stories from black and white film. With the exception of [[Bangladesh]], who aired a handful in black and white in 1980, all other countries screened what was then left of the third Doctor stories still in PAL colour.		Saudi Arabia appears to be the last-ever country to screen a full run of season 7 to 10 Jon Pertwee stories from black and white film. With the exception of [[Bangladesh]], who aired a handful in black and white in 1980, all other countries screened what was then left of the third Doctor stories still in PAL colour.
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		+	In late 1981 / early 1982, a number of '''Doctor Who''' films that had been returned from an overseas station were reportedly destroyed by the BBC. Given that Saudi Arabia had finished its run of 16mm film prints by then, it is a very good chance that these destroyed episodes came from Saudi Arabia.

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