A power cut which knocked Egyptian state television channels off air briefly on Saturday was caused by a malfunction in the main lighting system of the Maspero building in central Cairo which houses the stations, a senior government official said.
Osama Essran, the deputy minister of electricity and energy, said late on Saturday that the disruption was due to a failure in the main lighting interface of the building complex and in a link to backup feeding devices, according to the state TV website.
On Saturday, a state television official had said that the power cut was caused by a technical problem at a power station, according to union head Essam El-Amir.
This is not the first time that Egyptian television has been taken off air in recent months.
In mid-April, an explosion targeting the electricity pylons supplying Egyptian state-run Media Production City, where most of the country's satellite channels broadcast from, led to a power cut that forced several stations off air for a few hours.
