Captives' film aired earlier than planned
LBC television station preferred not broadcast film during summer due to small number of viewers, but changed its mind in order to take advantage of Lebanon war
The Lebanese newspaper al-Akhbar revealed a number of key reasons on Tuesday morning.
First, the newspaper wrote, the network paid a high price estimated at "some hundreds of thousands of dollars" to its producer Ibrahim al-Amin. Al-Amin himself said that he had offered the film to many television stations, but failed to reach any agreement due to technical and administrative reasons, and his desire to be the one to write, produce and prepare the film's content.
"LBC was the one that accepted these conditions. Naturally, I preferred that a Lebanese network would be the one to broadcast the film," he said.
As for the timing of the broadcast, al-Amin clarified that "the movie was ready for broadcast already on the 'holiday of freedom' (the anniversary of the IDF's withdrawal from southern Lebanon starting May 25 – R.N.), but its broadcast was postponed due to reasons which had to do with the station's internal policy."
"In the summer the station preferred not to broadcast the film due to the small number of viewers, but after the war broke out they decided to bring its broadcast forward, making corrections at its beginning and end," he explained.
Reconciliation with Hizbullah
And another important point: Three months ago a bitter argument broke out between the station and Hizbullah members in the Dahiya – the organization's stronghold in southern Beirut, after the station broadcast a satire on Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah on one of its satirical programs.
In what appears to be one of the first reactions following the war, a "reconciliation" was recently declared between the station and the Dahiya, which resumed its broadcasts to the Shiite neighborhood after a three-month break.
