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Kayvan and Marjan Abbassi, the UK-based Iranian couple who launched Manoto 1, in 2010, stayed out of the media spotlight. They and other Manoto 1 officials had usually declined to comment for their company and TV channel despite repeated requests for interviews.Manoto’s viewership rates were difficult to determine; however, anecdotal reports about the channel’s ubiquitous popularity suggested that it had gained rapidly in market share to rival more established satellite channels like BBC Persian and VOA Persian TV.
