User:Abu Wasiim/sandbox

 Terence Ascott 

Terence Ascott (born, UK 1947) is the Founder and President of SAT-7 International, a Christian satellite television ministry by and for the people of the Middle East and North Africa. SAT-7, based in Nicosia, Cyprus, supports quality, indigenously-produced programming on four channels in three languages, Arabic, Persian, and Turkish. Ascott has lived in the Middle East and served as the leader for indigenous media ministries for almost 50 years.

After studying and working in Civil Engineering and gaining a BSc degree with first-class honors from Middlesex University (1972) and that year's Institute of Civil Engineers’ prize for outstanding undergraduate work, Ascott went into overseas Christian ministry, initially serving as a photographer, designer and publisher with Operation Mobilisation in Lebanon (1973-1975).

In 1975 he co-founded Middle East Media and served as its International Director from 1979-1995.

During the Lebanese Civil War, Ascott moved from Beirut to Cairo and launched a monthly Arabic magazine for youth, Huwa wa Hiya (He & She). This was the first Christian magazine to be successfully distributed on newsstands, in more than a dozen Arab countries. Huwa wa Hiya was published for over two decades and was, for many Arabic speakers, their first exposure to the Christian faith.

in April 1989, Ascott was deported from Egypt over human rights advocacy issues and has been based in Cyprus since.

In 1993, he produced The Real Story, a six-part video series about the Arab World; and was the managing editor of the 220 page Cooperative Strategy Group report on Christian presence in the Arab World.

In 1995 Ascott, along with a dozen Middle Eastern Christian leaders and around twenty partner organizations working in the region, launched SAT-7: The first Arabic language Christian satellite television channel. The channel was a pioneer in many areas, breaking ground for other ministries to follow. In the years since its launch, SAT-7 has grown from a two-hour a week broadcast, to a network of four x 24-hour channels: SAT-7 ARABIC (Arabic Christian programming for every age group), SAT-7 KIDS (the first Arabic Christian channel for children, launched in December 2007), SAT-7 PARS (a 24 hour channel in Farsi/Persian, with some programming in Dari for Afghanistan launched in December 2006) and SAT-7 TÜRK (Christian programming for 100 million Turkish-speakers in the region launched in 2014). SAT-7 ACADEMY , a complementary educational television service for Syrian refugees and the millions of other Arab children currently not in school, is currently available on-air and on-line.

SAT-7 has more than 220 employees, mostly Middle Eastern nationals, who work in its offices and studios in Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Cyprus and the UK.

Terence Ascott was awarded the Fellowship of European Broadcasters (FEB) BRIDGE BUILDER AWARD 2000. He was also presented with the Christian Broadcasting Council of the United Kingdom’s GOLD EXPLOITS AWARD in 2009.

In December 2011, Ascott was awarded the Honorary Doctor of Christian Ministries degree from Belhaven University “for extraordinary work and achievements in promoting Christianity throughout the Middle East and North Africa.”

He and his wife Jacqueline (an iconographer) live in Nicosia, Cyprus and have three grown children and three grandchildren.