BBC Set to Open Its New Arab World TV Channel

[Harold Schiffman]

March 4, 2008
BBC Set to Open Its New Arab World TV Channel
By ERIC PFANNER

LONDON — 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.Mr. Chapman said BBC Arabic TV would
distinguish itself through its independence and broad approach to
world events. "In the case of Al Hurra, it's an American perspective,"
he said. "In the case of France 24, it's a French perspective. In the
case of BBC Arabic Television, it's an international perspective."

The new channel, announced in 2005, will feature mostly news and
current affairs programming. It will include interview and debate
programs, and "Point of Debate," which will allow participants to
submit comments. Arab critics have questioned whether the BBC can
succeed in a region where Britain is sometimes viewed with animosity,
given its involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Mr. Chapman said
the World Service's radio broadcasts, beamed into the region in Arabic
since the 1930s, had established the BBC's credibility.


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/world/middleeast/04bbc.html?_r=1&sq=BBC%20arabic&st=nyt&oref=slogin&scp=1&pagewanted=print
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