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BBC Arabic Television is a news and information television channel broadcast to the Middle East by the BBC. It was launched at 0956 GMT on 11 March 2008. The service was announced in October 2005 and was to start broadcasting in Autumn 2007, but was delayed. Presenters include Hassan Muawad, Tony Khouri, Lena Do, Rania Al-Attar and Dalia Mohammed.
BBC Arabic Television is run by the BBC World Service; as such, it is funded from a grant-in-aid from the British Foreign Office and not the television licence that is used to fund the BBC’s domestic broadcasting. The service is based in the Egton Wing of Broadcasting House in London, but some technical aspects are managed at the BBC World Service’s Bush House. 24-hour programming began January 19th 2009.
BBC Arabic can also be seen via www.bbcarabic.com. The website includes a 16:9 live stream of the channel.
BBC Newshour, an hour-long news bulletin is broadcast twice a day. In this programme, the top stories of the day are analysed and covered by BBC correspondents around the world. Other bulletins are half-an-hour long. The top stories are broadcast on the channel every fifteen minutes.
This is not the first time that the BBC has attempted to set up an Arabic television service. The previous attempt closed on 21 April 1996, after two years on air, when the BBC’s partners, Orbit Communications Corporation (owned by King Fahd’s cousin, Prince Khaled) pulled the plug after the BBC broadcast an episode of Panorama that was critical of the Saudi Arabian government. Many of the staff who worked for the original BBC Arabic Television service went on to work for Al Jazeera television. Al Jazeera is one of BBC Arabic Television’s main competitors.
Competitors
- Al Alam
- Al Arabiya
- Al Hurra
- Al Jazeera
- France 24
- Rusiya Al-Yaum