So far the series has been sold in 105 countries and translated into 36 languages. The Bible Society of Egypt has been distributing a dubbed version of it for two years. The Testament series was made by S4C Films and shown on BBC television in 1996 to great acclaim. The O-21 funding will provide for further broadcasts and for its distribution on video cassettes. Also included in forthcoming schedules will be new programmes for young people and other programmes tackling social issues such as AIDS and attitudes to disabled people, which are seldom covered on television in the region.
Television is the primary source of information and entertainment in the Arab world.
While literacy rates are low, televisions are found in the homes of more than 95 per cent of the Arab population. Mr Stamp, who joined UBS from Thompson Newspapers in 1990, is credited with bringing the World Report from a typed news digest into a monthly publication featuring news, feature stories and photos, and serving a global UBS Fellowship that has mushroomed in size during his tenure. He also instituted the UBS E-mail news service, which has continued to expand, and has made several international trips to gather material from the field first hand. These include a 1992 trip to East Africa, a visit to Cameroon, Mali and Tchad in 1995 and a trip to Ukraine in 1996. Of course, the Cross is central and the Saviour himself is central, but included in that would be the Word of God.