The Cabinet yesterday decided to set up a transponder for the transmission of Saudi-owned satellite TV channels.

The Cabinet authorized the Audio-Visual Media Authority to establish the satellite platform for the transmission of TV programs, said Culture and Information Minister Abdul Aziz Khoja.

The authority should coordinate with Arab Satellite Communications Organization (Arabsat) and other relevant agencies to carry out the project. A transponder is a device for receiving and rebroadcasting a signal.

Usually, this signal is amplified by the transponder, and can be encoded or modified in other ways. The word transponder is derived from the words transmitter and responder.