Category: World Service
Date: 25.10.2005
Printable version
BBC Arabic TV - the complete picture from the world's most respected broadcaster
The BBC is to launch a television news and information service in the Arabic language for the Middle East, it was announced today (Tuesday 25 October).
It will be the first publicly funded international television service launched by the BBC.
It marks a fundamental change for BBC World Service which has led the world with its international radio broadcasting for 70 years; and more recently as a key online news provider.
The television channel will launch in 2007.
It will initially broadcast 12 hours a day and be freely available to everyone with a satellite or cable connection in the region.
It will cover international and major regional issues and carry multi-media discussion programmes and debates in conjunction with the BBC's well-established and trusted Arabic radio and online services.
The BBC's Arabic television service will draw upon the BBC's un-matched newsgathering resources.
The operating cost of £19m a year will be found from the BBC World Service's existing grant-in-aid funding from the UK Government.
BBC World Service Director Nigel Chapman says: "The BBC's Arabic language service is already the most successful, trusted and respected voice in the Middle East with more than 60 years experience of broadcasting in the Arabic language on radio, and more recently and successfully, online.
"The BBC Arabic Television Service will build on this legacy by offering trusted and accurate news with an international agenda.
"BBC Arabic will be the only major international news provider in the Middle East offering a service in Arabic across television, radio and online; sharing views and perspectives across the region and the wider world.
"Recent research from seven capital cities across the Middle East indicates that between 80 and 90 per cent of those surveyed are likely to watch an Arabic Television service from the BBC.
"We will be satisfying a strong demand from the region for accurate, trusted, independent and comprehensive news and analysis together with a discussion forum for Arabic speaking audiences in the region."
The new BBC Arabic television service will:
Meet the strong demand for a BBC Arabic television service repeatedly expressed in surveys;
Make the BBC the only tri-media international news provider offering Arabic language news and current affairs on television, radio and online;
Draw on 67 years of BBC experience covering the Middle East in Arabic - supported by the world's most extensive newsgathering operation: 250 news correspondents reporting from 50 bureaux allowing a global rather than purely regional perspective;
Be totally independent in line with BBC's long-held reputation for impartial, trust-worthy news reporting and analysis;
The first publicly funded international television service launched by the BBC.
Notes to Editors
The BBC World Service's global audience in 2005 is 149 million per week;
Monthly page impressions to the BBC's international news site, which include audio and visual content and offer users opportunities to discuss world events, is 350 million. This equates to more than 20 million monthly unique users;
BBC World Service is funded through Grant-in-Aid from the UK Government Foreign Office. The grant for 2005/6 is £239m. BBC World Service is an international radio and online broadcaster delivering programmes and services in more than 40 languages;
It uses multiple platforms to reach 149 million listeners globally, including Short Wave, AM, FM, digital satellite and cable channels;
It has more than 2,000 partner radio stations around the world which take BBC content, and numerous partnerships supplying content to mobile phones;
BBC World, the BBC's commercially funded English language international 24-hour news and information channel, is available in more than 200 countries and territories and is owned and operated by BBC World Ltd, a member of the BBC's commercial group of companies.
BBC Arabic Service
Apart from English, the BBC Arabic Service was the first, and therefore the oldest, of the World Service's 42 language service.
It was launched on 1 January 1938.
It is now the biggest service in terms of staff and budget. It draws its staff from a large number of countries, and has reporters in every Arabic-speaking country. It is a service which attracts top commentators and contributors;
Since 2001, it has broadcast 24 hours a day, with a mixture of news, analysis, features and English-language teaching.
It is clear from media surveys in the Arab world that the BBC's Arabic radio service is very popular – the leading international station in Arabic.
In those countries that can be measured, we know that regular listeners exceed 12 million people a week;
However, it faces strong competition from satellite television companies, especially in countries where FM broadcasting is not available to the BBC for its news output such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria and North Africa;
The World Service's Arabic Online Service, BBCArabic.com, is by far the leading Arabic news site on the web, with its 24 hour news and analysis presence; this was confirmed when the site won two years running the international accolade as Best Arabic News Site.
The site attracts around 17 million page impressions each month.
