Bahrain is to join the Middle East’s ‘Media City Club’ by building its own hub to encourage business to grow and prosper in media-related areas.  Nearby Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and most other Arab major cities already have similar enterprise zones.

The Bahrain model, announced in its capital city Manama October 17th, will initially be home to a new TV channel, ‘Bahrain International Channel’ which is already on air for Arabsat and NIlesat viewers but will launch on Eutelsat’s ‘Hot Bird’ satellite within the next few weeks.

Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa, president of the local International Advertising Association chapter, speaking in Bahrain, said “The planned scheme represents an opportunity for the private sector to invest in the media field”, he said. He stressed the importance of the project, pointing out that it would attract other major foreign channels to establish in Bahrain. The new satellite TV will promote quality programmes, focusing mainly on Bahraini issues in its content.

Shaikh Fawaz described this first test phase on Eutelsat as crucial to ensure the new channel broadcasts to the world.

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