New 24-hour international news channel planned

Tuesday 13 Sep 2011
In a press release, Saudi Arabia’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud announced today that Alarab will be the name of his new international news channel scheduled to be launched in 2012.

Well-known Saudi journalist, Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi, will be managing the new 24-hour channel which will target Arabic-speaking viewers across the Arab world and beyond.

The release said that Alarab will focus on the important shifts taking place across the Arab world, with an emphasis on freedom of speech and freedom of press. The channel will cover the latest developments around the world and in the Arab world.

Prince Alwaleed also announced an agreement with Bloomberg LP, in which Bloomberg will support the creation of five hours’ financial and economic news programming daily on the channel.

Bloomberg business reports will air within Alarab’s daily coverage and the channel will also feature regular segments on Arab business leaders. A team of Bloomberg media specialists and producers will be provided to the Alarab channel to assist in the production of the channel’s economic coverage.

The location of Alarab’s headquarters and main broadcast centre has not yet been announced.

In the release, Prince Alwaleed said: “Our alliance with Bloomberg and its credible source of financial and economic data, together with its extensive media experience, will provide the Alarab news channel with a strong and comprehensive economic platform to accurately cover Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab world”.