Egyptian Media Group (EMG)

United Media Services (UMS) is Egypt’s largest media conglomerate and one of the biggest in the Middle East and North Africa. Established in May 2016, it was built through the consolidation of Egyptian Media Group, D Media and related media assets, followed by a wave of acquisitions between 2016 and 2018. The group controls the dominant share of Egypt’s nominally private broadcast, print and digital media. It runs more than 40 subsidiaries spanning television, radio, newspapers, websites, drama and film production, advertising, sports marketing and streaming.

Although structured as a commercial enterprise, the group is ultimately controlled by the Egyptian state through the security apparatus. Independent reporting has identified Eagle Capital, the investment vehicle that acquired control of Egyptian Media Group in 2017, as linked to or controlled by Egypt’s General Intelligence Service. The State Media Monitor identifies UMS, alongside the National Media Authority and the National Press Authority, as one of the three conglomerates through which the government has consolidated control of the Egyptian media sector. The group’s scale means that, between it and the two state authorities, the great majority of Egypt’s most-watched channels and most-read titles sit under state control.

Media assets

Television: the ON network, including ON, ON Drama and ON Time Sports; the CBC network, including CBC, CBC Drama, CBC Extra News and CBC Sofra; Al-Hayah network; DMC network; Al Qahera News; Extra News; and other channels subject to periodic restructuring and rebranding.

Print and digital: Al-Youm Al-Sabea / Youm7; Al-Watan; Sout Al-Ouma; Ain; DotMasr; Q News; and other digital and news platforms. Egypt Today and Business Today have also sat within the group’s portfolio.

Radio: UMS radio assets include On Sport FM, Radio Hits, Shaabi FM, Mega FM, Nagham FM and Radio 9090, alongside the Radio Nile / Nile Radio Network structure.

Streaming and production: Watch iT; Synergy; Media Hub; POD; Presentation; United Sports; and other production, advertising, events and sports-marketing subsidiaries.

The group’s exact portfolio shifts with frequent restructuring, acquisitions, partnerships and channel rebranding; the outlets above are representative rather than exhaustive.

Ownership and governance

The group’s ownership is traced to Eagle Capital Financial Investments, a state-linked investment vehicle that independent reporting has identified as controlled by Egypt’s General Intelligence Service. Egyptian Media Group was initially built by businessman Ahmed Abu Hashima, who had ties to the security services. In December 2017, Eagle Capital announced that it had acquired Abu Hashima’s stake, taking control of the group.

The group’s leadership has changed repeatedly, and each chairman has been installed through the controlling shareholder and state-aligned corporate structure rather than through any independent or pluralistic process. Tamer Morsi, a drama producer whose Synergy production company was absorbed into the group, served as chairman from February 2018. Hassan Abdallah, a banker, chaired the group during a 2021 restructuring. In December 2024, advertising magnate Tarek Nour was appointed chairman as part of an alliance with Tarek Nour Holding and Al-Mehwar channel. In April 2026, Nour resigned for health reasons, and the board appointed Vice Chairman Mohamed El-Saadi as acting chairman, the position held as of mid-2026.

The group coordinates closely with the state media authorities. A 2019 agreement with the National Media Authority formalised content-sharing and satellite-channel cooperation, and the group works in tandem with the wider state media apparatus. Despite periodic announcements of a planned share flotation on the Egyptian Exchange, the group has remained under state-linked ownership through Eagle Capital.

Source of funding and budget

The group does not publicly disclose detailed financial statements. It earns substantial commercial revenue from advertising, drama production, streaming, sports rights, production services, events and digital activity, and at points has reported returning to operating profit after heavy earlier losses. In 2021, UMS announced plans to list a minority stake on the Egyptian Exchange, but the listing had not materialised by mid-2026.

According to media insiders consulted by SMM in May 2024, the group’s dominant market position and its production and content arrangements are underpinned by its state ownership and by coordinated dealings with state bodies, including the National Media Authority. Its financing therefore combines commercial income with the backing and market power of a state-controlled parent, and it does not operate as a commercially independent enterprise.

Editorial independence

Despite its commercial form, UMS remains editorially aligned with the state. Its senior management is drawn from figures close to the security, political and advertising establishment, and its news output across television, print and digital consistently reflects government positions. Coverage of dissent, security matters and criticism of the authorities is routinely constrained, and journalists describe pervasive self-censorship across the group’s outlets.

There are no legal guarantees of editorial independence for the group’s outlets, and no independent oversight or accountability mechanism. The group’s history illustrates the State Media Monitor’s observation that editorially captured private outlets can be folded into structures that consolidate the state’s position in the media sector, moving them from capture toward outright state control.

The 2025/26 cycle also illustrated the group’s editorial and managerial power. In July 2025, UMS terminated its contract with veteran presenter Lamis El Hadidy after her ON TV programme had been off the air, a move described by press-freedom groups as retaliation by an intelligence-controlled media company against a programme host critical of the government. In December 2025, UMS-affiliated outlets announced they would halt coverage of social-media and TikTok influencers, reflecting the group’s ability to coordinate editorial positions across a broad portfolio.

AI and digital policy

SMM found no evidence that UMS has published a dedicated public AI governance or editorial-use policy as of mid-2026.

The group has invested heavily in digital distribution and platform activity. Watch iT is its main streaming platform. Q News, launched in October 2024, expanded UMS’s English-language digital news presence. UMS also operates or controls major web and social platforms linked to its television networks and newspapers, and in August 2025 it announced a strategic partnership with TikTok as the official digital partner for streaming the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum to global audiences.

These steps show continuing digital expansion, platform building and social-video distribution. However, they do not amount to a published framework governing the use of AI in editorial production, verification, attribution, recommendation systems, audience analytics, synthetic-media labelling, content disclosure, bias mitigation or human editorial oversight. SMM identified no public UMS-specific AI or editorial-technology governance policy.

Classification rationale

Egyptian Media Group / United Media Services is classified as State-Controlled (SC), a classification that remains valid for the 2026 cycle. Although the group is structured as a private commercial conglomerate, independent reporting identifies its ownership as running through Eagle Capital, a vehicle linked to or controlled by Egypt’s General Intelligence Service. The ownership factor of the State Media Matrix therefore points to the state. Its chairmen are installed through the state-controlled ownership structure rather than through any pluralistic or independent process, and its editorial output is consistently aligned with government priorities, with no statutory or oversight safeguard for editorial autonomy.

SMM identifies the group, alongside the NMA and NPA, as one of the vehicles through which the Egyptian state has consolidated control of the media sector, absorbing outlets that were once merely captured into a structure under state ownership. Commercial revenue, a nominally private corporate form and periodic talk of a stock-exchange listing do not alter these determinants of control. The group therefore remains firmly in the SC category. The comparable but distinct Captured Public model, which covers commercially funded conglomerates that are state-aligned but not state-owned, does not fit here, because the Egyptian group is owned through a state security-linked vehicle rather than merely captured.

June 2026