Dubai's Channel (33) to begin full broadcast in December

Dubai, Oct.1,2002(WAM)--Dubai Television announced here today that its English Language Channel (Channel 33) has tentatively began broadcasting via the Nile Sat, ahead of full transmission scheduled to coincide with the UAE national day celebrations on December 2. The tentative broadcasting which will cover the Arab world, will run for four hours daily but will be increased to 12 hours after December 2, said Ahmed Saeed Al Qohoud , General Director of Dubai TV during a press conference here. The decision to broadcast via the satellite was based on studies which showed that the channel would be received by millions of viewers around the world, said Al Qohoud, adding that the decision was also encouraged by the public response to two live progarmmes ran recently by the channel to ascertain the views of its spectators as to which programmes they would like to see on the channel. He pointed out that channel 33, which was the first in the Middle East to broadcast its entire programmes in English to an English speaking audience has achieved a tremendous success due to the variety of its programmes. The channel is expected to reach out to a wider audience with the expansion of its service in December, noted Al Qohoud. +Our assessment shows that there are more than 20 million English speaking foreigners residing permanently in the Middle East and North Africa. This is in addition to tourists and Arab viewers themselves +. he said, adding that this is so strong an audience to be ignored. WAM/MA