BBC News Arabic ( ar, بي بي سي نيوز عربي), formerly BBC Arabic Television, is a

television news channel News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or televis ...

broadcast to the

Arab World The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

by the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

. It was launched on 11 March 2008. It is run by the BBC World Service and funded from the British television licence fee.

History

In 1994, BBC Arabic Television was launched by Rome-based

Orbit Communications Company Orbit Communications Company was a privately owned Pay TV network, operating in Bahrain. Owned by Saudi Arabia-based Mawarid Holding (via Digital Media Systems), it was the first fully digital, multi-channel, multi-lingual, pay television servi ...

(owned by King Fahd's cousin, Prince Khalid ibn Abdullah) and a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabian Mawarid Holding. On 21 April 1996, it was "pulled off the air" following an episode of ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...

'' that was critical of the

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

n government. Ian Richardson, who set up the news department during that time blamed the short life of the channel on a clash with the owners over content.

During the short life of BBC Arabic Television, there were several angry ‘liaison meetings’ with Orbit and the guarantees of editorial independence proved to be a sour joke, only barely obscured by a thin smokescreen about the BBC's alleged failure to observe "cultural sensitivities" – Saudi code for anything not to the
Royal Family A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term ...
's liking. When it became clear to Orbit and Mawarid that it had, in their terms, created a monster not prepared to toe the Saudi line, it was only a matter of time before there would be a final parting of the ways.

Many of the staff who worked for the original BBC Arabic Television service were eventually employed by

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...

, now one of BBC Arabic Television's main competitors. Plans to relaunch the channel were announced in October 2005 and broadcasting was to start in Autumn 2007, but was delayed until 2008. The channel eventually relaunched at 0956 GMT on 11 March 2008, with the first news bulletin airing at the top of the hour at 1000. Initially broadcasting for 12 hours a day, 24-hour programming began on 19 January 2009.

Funding

BBC Arabic Television is run by the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

. Initially it was funded from a grant-in-aid from the British

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

but in 2014 funding was switched to come from the

television licence A television licence or broadcast receiving licence is a payment required in many countries for the reception of television broadcasts, or the possession of a television set where some broadcasts are funded in full or in part by the licence f ...

that is mainly used to fund the BBC's domestic broadcasting. The service is based in the Peel Wing of

Broadcasting House Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main ...

in London. In 2011, as the

British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

cut funding to the BBC, forcing the

to close down its services in five languages, the government simultaneously increased funding to the BBC Arabic service, in the words of

Foreign Secretary The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...

William Hague William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

, to "assist the BBC Arabic Service to continue their valuable work in the region"."BBC World Service receives government funding boost"
BBC, June 22, 2011

Service

BBC Arabic can also be seen vi
bbc.co.uk/Arabic/
The website includes a 16:9 live stream of the channel. The channel broadcasts 24 hours a day, showing live news programmes mixed with current affairs programmes, documentaries and occasional light entertainment. ''Newshour'', an hour-long news bulletin is broadcast every evening at 18:00 GMT. Other daily programmes are Nuqtat Hewar (16:06 GMT, a phone-in programme), and BBC Trending (15:00 GMT, looking at the news agenda from a social media perspective). BBC news bulletins of either 30 or 60 minutes in duration are broadcast throughout the day, covering stories by journalists and correspondents around the world.

References

External links

*
Live video stream

BBC Press Release

* Faisal Abbas:
BBC Arabic TV 'should try to be different
" ''BBC'' 12 March 2008 * Eric Pfanner:

in ''New York Times'' 4 March 2008 *
BBC launches Arabic TV channel
" ''BBC'' 11 March 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bbc Arabic Television Television channels and stations established in 1994 Television channels and stations disestablished in 1996 Television channels and stations established in 2008 International BBC television channels Arab mass media Arabic-language television stations 24-hour television news channels in the United Kingdom BBC News channels 1994 establishments in the United Kingdom