Arab News Network

History and profile

ANN was established in 1997. The channel states its goal to be democratic reform.

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. 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 which is recorded in London broadcast at peak time and subtitled in Arabic.

The channel has faced some financial issues. 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.

References

References

1. Edmund Ghareeb. (Summer 2000). "New Media and the Information Revolution in the Arab World: An Assessment". Middle East Journal.
2. YouTube. "The English Hour".
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