A second Al Arabiya (العربية) television channel is to be launched by Saudi Arabia broadcaster, MBC (Middle East Broadcasting Center).
Called Al Arabiya 2 al-Hadath (The Event) and headquartered in Dubai, the new channel will follow the blueprint of its sister in airing current affairs, business and financial markets, sports, talk shows and documentaries.
‘Recent changes made it very difficult for one single channel to follow and report on everything,’ says MBC Group Chairman, Sheikh Walid bin Ibrahim Al Ibrahim.
‘We also have to bear in mind the fact that many other important events are happening in countries in which there is no Arab Spring and we have to follow these as well, so we ended up racing against time.’
As yet, there is no official lauch date o date: ‘We have all the major components of a news channel as well as the staff and the professional agenda we are to follow. It is only a matter of time before we launch,’ says Sheikh Walid bin Ibrahim Al Ibrahim.
Launching a new channel, he adds, is also important in the light of the increasing popularity of the channel among non-Arabic speakers.
Al Arabiya News Channel began broadcasting in 2003 to an audience spread from the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, through the Asia-Pacific, Southeast Asia to the Americas and Australia.
