MBC 3 is a

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

children's channel launched on 8 December 2004, and appeals to children under the age of 15. All foreign television animated programs are dubbed into

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. The channel also produces its own original programmes. It is owned by the Middle Eastern company

MBC Group MBC Group (), formerly known as Middle East Broadcasting Center (), is a Saudi media conglomerate based in the Riyadh region. Launched in London in 1991, the company moved its headquarters to Dubai in 2002 and to Riyadh in 2022. It is majority ...

. MBC 3 started airing Nickelodeon shows since 21 November 2010. It includes

Nicktoons Nicktoons is the brand name used by Nickelodeon for their original animated series. All Nicktoons are produced partly at the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and list Nickelodeon's parent company (Paramount Global) in their copyright bylines. Since ...

such as '' T.U.F.F. Puppy'', '' The Fairly OddParents'' and ''

SpongeBob SquarePants ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' is an American animated television series, animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It first aired as a sneak peek after the 1999 Kids' C ...

'' are also present in the channel, but they are also dubbed in Arabic. The Nick Jr. Channel shows include ''

LazyTown ''LazyTown'' () is an Icelandic children's educational musical television series created by aerobics champion Magnús Scheving. Originally produced in English, it has been broadcast in dozens of languages globally. Designed to encourage health ...

'', '' Go Diego Go'', ''

The Backyardigans ''The Backyardigans'' ( ) is an animated musical children's television series created by Janice Burgess for Nickelodeon. The series was written and recorded at Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It centers on five anthropomorphic animal neighbors ...

'', '' Dora the Explorer'', '' Ni Hao, Kai-Lan'', '' Little Bill'', '' Team Umizoomi'' and ''

Blue's Clues ''Blue's Clues'' is an American interactive educational television, educational children's television series created by Traci Paige Johnson, Todd Kessler, and Angela Santomero, Angela C. Santomero. It premiered on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block ...

''. MBC 3 is known in the Middle East for censoring scenes unsuitable for Islamic audiences, such as visual romance outside of marriage, kissing before marriage scenes, awkward angles of female characters, sensual scenes between members of the opposite sex, cross-dressed men, references to alcohol and gambling, references to non-Islamic religious content and visually-grotesque scenes. However, the channel does not have a proper consensus of its censoring policy, featuring cuts that are so heavily edited it renders plot continuities inconsistent. MBC 3 has separate pay-TV feeds which broadcast in Europe and the United States. They target the overseas Arab diaspora and air the same Arabic dubs as the main channel. The US feed is exclusive to

Dish Network DISH Network L.L.C., often referred to as DISH, an abbreviation for Digital Sky Highway, is an American provider of satellite television and IPTV services and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. The company was originally establ ...

. There is also a separate feed available on the

Shahid ''Shahid'' ( , , ) denotes a martyr in Islam. The word is used frequently in the Quran in the generic sense of "witness" but only once in the sense of "martyr" (i.e. one who dies for his faith); the latter sense acq ...

streaming service, with a different schedule from the other feeds.

History

The channel was launched on 8 December 2004 at 10:00 am, the branding for the channel was designed by UK design house Turquoise. On 8 December 2005, the channel was given a rebranding to coincide with its 1st anniversary, along with a new mascot, a green cube named “Cubee”, the new look was designed by German animation studio LIGA 01 Computerfilm and is considered to be the most iconic look of the channel. The channel marked its tenth anniversary on 8 December 2014. On 18 September 2017, the channel underwent a major rebrand to a comic strip background, in which on-screen imagery featured a comic book aesthetic. This is the current era of the channel and it is currently used alongside the previous bumpers. On 23 March 2020, MBC 3 had a major rebrand with a new logo on-screen. The new logo was just like the modern logo but the number 3 is outside the cube. From 24 March to 22 June 2020, following the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, MBC 3 used a logo with a house displayed on-screen and slogans (''With you at home.'')

Programming

Television hosts

* Mouhannad Bakhit * Asalla Kamel * Hasan Al Mulla * Dania Shaafai * Azza Zaarour

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:MBC 3 Mass media in the United Arab Emirates Television stations in the United Arab Emirates Free-to-air Television stations in Saudi Arabia Television channels and stations established in 2004 Arab mass media Arabic-language television stations Children's television networks MBC Group

History

Programming

Television hosts

See also

References

External links