Al Jazeera English Launches Freeview Channel in UK

posted on: Jul 6, 2010

Arab news network Al Jazeera will begin broadcasting its English news channel on Britain’s Freeview free digital platform from Thursday, making the UK its biggest English-speaking market for free TV.

The Doha-based network, which has branched out into several channels and the Web since its foundation as an independent Arabic news channel in 1996, will be able to reach 80% of Britain’s 25mn households.

Al Jazeera English is already available on satellite platforms Freesat and Sky in Britain, and reaches about 200mn homes worldwide, mostly on pay-TV platforms. Al Jazeera aims to provide an alternative view of international news to those provided by other, Western global news providers like the BBC or Time Warner’s CNN.

The sometimes dissenting views of the network, which was best known in the West for broadcasting hostage videos and messages from Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, have caused controversy in many Middle Eastern countries.

Al Jazeera, the 24-hour English-language news and current affairs channel, is headquartered in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

The organisation is the world’s first global English language news channel to be headquartered in the Middle East.

From this unique position, Al Jazeera English is destined to be the English-language channel of reference for Middle Eastern events, balancing the current typical information flow by reporting from the developing world back to the West and from the southern to the northern hemisphere.

The channel aims to give voice to untold stories, promote debate, and challenge established perceptions.

With broadcasting centres in Doha, Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington DC and supporting bureaux worldwide, the channel will set the news agenda, bridging cultures and providing a unique grassroots perspective from under-reported regions around the world to a potential global audience of over one billion English speakers.

Global Arab Network
Mohammed Almasri