I have 657 channels.

Only ten of them speak English (there will be ten more when the programming I paid for kicks in). Some of these are English-language news programs which include Al Jazeera, France 24 and Russia Today. The rest show occasional movies or sitcoms. I get a whole slew of Italian and French channels. There are about 100 music video channels which range from Western videos to traditional music performances from numerous countries. The two Iranian channels are music videos and they are similar to Western pop music. Arab videos are like small movies, with credits that roll after the song. There are also about five “god” channels preaching “geee-zuz” in a Muslim country. One is called “Loveworld” and you can find it in between the “sex” channels(yes – sex). The sex channels consist of pictures (or live) half naked European women asking for your phone calls. I’m pretty sure they are half naked but it is difficult to tell since the screen is filled with phone numbers. Very weird to see out here.

About 400 channels consist of “talking heads” – Arab men dressed in the traditional dishdasha and headdress talking to either each other or the camera. Since I don’t understand the language, they could be talking about business, politics, sports, religion or napkin folding. It all looks and sounds the same.

But it will be interesting to have access to programming from SO MANY countries. I can flip between Syria TV, Sudan TV, Kurdistan TV, Jordan TV, Ethiopia TV, Romania TV, Libya TV etc. etc. I watched the NART Network last night. That’s the National Adiga Radio and Television. When you go to their website, it says the channel hopes to connect “all Circassian people and their communities”. Turns out this is a culture of people found in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria who were run out of the Caucuses by the Russians hundreds of years ago.

It’s cool to have a real window on the outside world that goes beyond CNN.

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