The satellite channels eliminated this process to a large extent in the visual media. Uniting many Arab markets has been the major achievement of the pan-Arab satellite channels. The major satellite channels swayed audiences into their fold by giving television entertainment a new meaning and content through a variety of new programs and repackaging of more traditional ones. Many local TV channels found themselves redundant, while a few others rejuvenated and repositioned themselves as competitors to the more prominent satellite channels. While Al-Jazeera took the lead in disintegration of taboos in the first area, the Lebanese channels were instrumental in whetting the general public's appetite in the GCC markets for the latter.
Arab audiences seem to be pleased with both breakthroughs.
More importantly for the media, these programs can generate advertising revenues, especially the former program genre. The implications of the popularity of these two types of programs are many, not just culturally, but also because they are money-generating TV programs. Both of these two popular types of TV programs are cited here to illustrate that the pan-Arab satellite channels have been able to stimulate certain cultural changes which other media or local television would not have been able to introduce. The success of one type of program on one TV channel does not mean that it can replicated on another channel. One would have to look into the culture behind the product concept of each of the leading satellite channels to understand what lies behind their success.