BBC Set to Open Its New Arab World TV Channel

BBC SET TO OPEN ITS NEW ARAB WORLD TV CHANNEL
[SOURCE: New York Times, AUTHOR: Eric Pfanner]
A new Arabic-language television news channel from the British Broadcasting Corporation will cover events in the Arab world “without fear or favor,” as it seeks to set itself apart from other government-financed broadcasters in the region, Nigel Chapman, director of the BBC World Service, said Monday. The channel, BBC Arabic TV, plans to start broadcasting 12 hours a day of news and current affairs programs to the Middle East, the Persian Gulf region and North Africa on March 11, followed by round-the-clock programming by the end of the year, the BBC said. It will have a $50 million annual budget. As satellite broadcasters have proliferated across the Arab world, new ventures financed by Western governments — including Al Hurra, which is financed by the United States, and France 24 Arabic — have struggled to compete against channels with stronger regional roots, like Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/world/middleeast/04bbc.html?ref=todayspaper
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