Arab News Network

Arab News Network
Broadcast areaWorldwide
HeadquartersNorth Acton, London, UK
Programming
Language(s)Arabic
Ownership
OwnerSiwar al Assad (director)
Key peopleSiwar Al Assad
History
Launched1997 (27 years ago) (1997)
Links
Websiteanntv.co.uk

Arab News Network (ANN) was an Arab news channel broadcast on satellite from London.

History and profile

ANN was established in 1997.[1] The channel is currently owned by Siwar al Assad, a first cousin of the President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad.[1] The channel states its goal to be democratic reform.[citation needed]

The station broadcast daily English news from November 2004 to March 2006, but since then had been broadcasting solely in Arabic until 2014. The desire to remove the programme reflected a change in management. Ribal al-Assad, took over as director of the London Bureau from 2006 to 2010. He decided to cancel the English programming due what he perceived to be the lack of an audience for it.[citation needed] However, since the latest change of management in 2010, the new proprietor, Siwar al Assad, has decided to reintroduce English Language programming alongside the Arabic. In 2014 Siwar launched a program modeled on the BBC's Hardtalk called The English Hour[2] which is recorded in London broadcast at peak time and subtitled in Arabic.[3]

The channel has faced some financial issues.[citation needed] Major restructuring has been undertaken and technological updates have been acquired by the channel in order to improve its image.

ANN formerly broadcast on Hotbird and Arabsat but now broadcasts on Nilesat.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b Edmund Ghareeb (Summer 2000). "New Media and the Information Revolution in the Arab World: An Assessment" (PDF). Middle East Journal. 54 (3): 395–418. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
  2. ^ YouTube. "The English Hour". Retrieved 20 June 2015. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ The English Hour with William Morris broadcasts on ANN on Thursdays at the following times: 15:00 London BST, 14:00 GMT, 17:00 KSA, Repeated: Thursday: 22:00 London BST; Friday and Saturday: 08:00, 15:00 and 22:00 London BST; Sunday: 08:00 and 15:00 London BST
  4. ^ On Nilesat on the following frequency: Nilesat 12437 V 27500