 | |
| Broadcast area | Western Asia United Kingdom Ireland Canada South America Australia New Zealand United States |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Abu Dhabi |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | Arabic |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Sky Group (Comcast) (50%) International Media Investments (IMI) (50%) |
| Sister channels | Sky News |
| History | |
| Launched | 6 May 2012; 12 years ago (2012-05-06) |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
| Availability | |
| Streaming media | |
| Sky News Arabia | Watch live |
| Sling TV | Internet Protocol television |
Sky News Arabia (stylized asSky Newsعربية;Arabic:سكاي نيوز عربية,romanized: Skāy Nyūz ʻArabīyah) is anArabic 24-hour rolling news channel broadcast mainly operated in theMiddle East and North Africa. It is a joint venture between UK-basedSky Group and the UAE-based International Media Investments (IMI) corporation. IMI is controlled by SheikhMansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President of theUnited Arab Emirates, which is ruled by his brother,Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.[1]
The channel uses theSky News branding, and it was launched on 6 May 2012 at 16:00 GMT. The channel's headquarters are based inAbu Dhabi and it has a network of bureaux across MENA, along with 67offices inLondon andWashington, DC. It also shares access to Sky News' wider international bureaux network.[2]
BSkyB andSheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan first announced a 50/50joint venture to operate afree-to-air Arabic-language all-news channel on 29 November 2010.[3] Adrian Wells, head of international news atSky News, was appointed to lead preparations to launch the channel.[2]
In February 2011, Nart Bouran was hired as Sky News Arabia's first director of news. Bouran was previously director of television atReuters.[4]Yasser Thabet, former program director at the Saudi-ownedAl Arabiya, joined Sky News Arabia as director of output in June 2011 and Nicholas Love was appointed as director of finance.[5]
Al-Waleed bin Talal, the second-largest shareholder in21st Century Fox, which at the time had a 39.1% stake in BSkyB, announced in September 2011 that he would launch an Arabic-language news channel of his own (namedAl-Arab News Channel).[6] The channel closed on the same day it launched.
Preparations at the network's headquarters in the twofour54media SEZ ofAbu Dhabi, began in February 2012.[7][8] It began broadcasting on 6 May 2012.[9][10]
On 8 November 2015, Sky News Arabia launched its own radio station at 90.3 FM, which was originally the home of BBC World Service in Arabic. The radio station is live-anchored and broadcasts news,weather, sports, traffic andstock market updates and political discussions in randomized blocks. Specialized segments are created specifically for morning, early afternoon, and early evening hours. Several television programmes can also be heard as well.[11]
Sky News Arabia officially claims a commitment to independent reporting and avoiding partisan programming.[12] A six-person editorial advisory committee is said to exercise oversight over the network's editorial output.[12]
Sky News Arabia is broadcast to more than 50 million households in the MENA region on satellite and cable providers, as well as over the internet and mobile apps.[13][14] It is availablefree-to-air onNilesat 201,Arabsat,Hot Bird andAstra.[15][16][17]
It is available in the United States, Canada, South America, Australia and New Zealand throughmyTV's platform.[18] It is also available on Sky Channel 788 in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Sky News Arabia's headquarters are inAbu Dhabi's twofour54media township. The technical integration process at the studio was carried out from April 2011 to February 2012 in collaboration with Television Systems Limited.[19]
The facility consists of one large single studio, which houses several permanent sets used for different programs. It also consists of a 10-meter-wide video wall.[19]
As the channel is jointly owned with Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, concerns were raised about its editorial independence initially when it launched as well as during later geopolitical events.[2][20]
In 2017, amid theQatar diplomatic crisis, Sky News Arabia aired an Emirati-backed documentary alleging links between Qatar's government and al-Qaeda memberKhalid Sheikh Mohammed.[21] The officialQatar News Agency, which claimed to have been hacked prior to the onset of the diplomatic crisis, later filed complaints via law firmCarter-Ruck to the British media regulatorOfcom against Sky News Arabia, alongside Saudi-ownedAl Arabiya, for "violating impartiality code and accuracy in news' sourcing".[22]
Following theassassination of Jamal Khashoggi, the channel broadcast pro-Saudi coverage which included reports, as well as statements from commentators, directed against Qatar and Turkey.[23]
With Britain's Telegraph Media Group in its sights, the oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi is closing in on its most audacious push into English-speaking media since the launch of state-owned daily The National 15 years ago.
