Tim Riordan is group TV director of MBC, the Saudi-run satellite broadcaster that was the Middle East’s first free-to-air satellite television channel. Established in 1991, MBC was the first privately owned and independent Arabic satellite television. Today it delivers news and family entertainment to more than 150 million Arabic speakers around the world.

Riordan has significant influence within the industry, and has engineered several deals between the firm and Hollywood studios as well as independent players to premiere new movies and drama series on the network before they are broadcast on pay channels.

The deals are in line with his opinion that pay-for television in the Middle East is an unsustainable business model. “There is no comparison between the 64 million viewers we have with the few hundred thousand viewers that pay TV operators here,” he said last year.

Click here to watch Arabian Business TV’s interview with Tim Riordan.