Nearly every home in Bahrain has satellite TV, according to a new survey.

There are satellite receivers at 98.9 per cent of Bahrain's households, according to the survey by the Arab Advisors Group. The report was published in our sister publication, the Gulf Daily News.

Twenty-six per cent of the viewers watch pay, according to the Bahrain Media Survey 2008.

It says 47.6 per cent of male TV viewers watch sports, as opposed to 20.8 per cent of female viewers.

'Also, 38.7pc of female viewers watched fashion programmes as opposed to 7pc of male viewers,' said AAG, a regional research group.

Free-to-air (FTA) satellite TV is popular, but sports content is the main driver for pay TV subscriptions.

The survey said 95.5 per cent of people who watch television in Bahrain are over 15 years old.

The field work for the survey was conducted between August 9 and 20.

'On radio listening, 76 per cent of mobile telephone users in Bahrain said that they listen to the radio and a majority of users who listen to the radio (89.5 per cent) listen to news,' said analyst Danya Nusseir.

'Religious and music programmes follow respectively.'

She said the survey involved face-to-face interviews with 550 respondents from different households. - TradeArabia News Service