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Several movie theaters in the predominantly-Arab Ahwaz city in Iran have been shut down as audiences preferred staying at home and watching Ramadan T.V. serials and programs on satellite channels.

The expansive prevalence of satellite channels in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, commonly known as Arabstan, has led to a significant drop in the number of movie goers and 28 movie theatres were closed the province's capital Ahwaz, said Mojtaba Kuchik Zad, the general manager of the Khuzestan Association of Movie Shows.

 "Several movie theaters were turned into stores," he said in a press statement. "In a province whose population is more than five million, we only have eight movie theatres now."

Kuchik Zad added that before the 1979 Islamic Revolution, there were more than 38 movie theatres in Ahwaz and other cities throughout the province. 

Ahwazis desert movie theatres and prefer to watch films and serials on channels from the Gulf region because it is in their language which is not the case with movies shown in theatres, said Mohamed Haidari from Ahwaz.

"They also escape from their deplorable economic conditions when they watch T.V.," he told Al Arabiya.

Saeid al-Tamimi argued that Arab audiences were fed up with the didactic movies that only aim at promoting the values ... >>>