Not quite censorship?

Commercial reasons were behind the recent banning of Bassem Youssef's satirical television show, “Al-Bernameg,” according to Mohamed al-Amin, chair of Future Group, owner of the CBC channel.

In an interview with CNN Arabic published on Tuesday, Amin said that he is on good terms with Youssef and that the show’s final episode didn't have any unacceptable content. He said, however, that serious commercial problems grew "bigger than me and Bassem Youssef."

The details of these problems, however, weren't released, amidst a widespread belief that the episode was banned for political reasons. Following CBC’s shutdown of the show on November 1, the channel released a statement saying that the show was suspended because Youssef had violated the station’s editorial policy.

“Al-Bernameg” was originally taken off the air last June, just prior to the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi. Its much-anticipated relaunch took place on October 25, with an episode that courted controversy for being critical of not only the Muslim Brotherhood but also the military. A week later, the scheduled broadcast of a second episode was canceled.

Amin said that he would screen the second episode on CBC if all legal problems surrounding it are resolved.  Sources told Mada Masr that the episode includes criticism of the television channel itself.

“Al-Bernameg” is produced by Q-Soft, a Cairo-based company contracted by CBC to produce the show. Contracted production is a relatively new model for television content creation in Egypt.

On Sunday, Q-Soft announced that it had suspended its contract with CBC and would launch legal action against Future Group for its financial and moral losses.

Minister of Information Doreya Sharaf al-Din said that she didn't intervene in the matter because CBC is an “independent channel” and the question of the show concerns the channel alone.

In an interview with the state-owned Al-Ahram newspaper, the minister said that she would never intervene in the policies of a private channel since it falls outside her jurisdiction.