Bahrain planning Dubai Media City rival

Bahrain is eyeing the launch of a media city to rival Dubai Media City and twofour54 in Abu Dhabi and plans to launch an international news and entertainment channel as part of its plans.

The country’s information affairs authority president Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa said it was in talks with international broadcasters to partner with as part of the Bahrain Media City and that a decision was due in the next few weeks. “We are working closely with the private sector to establish this project. The start will be four buildings and negotiations are already on with a new television station to establish their presence in Bahrain. We are aggressively marketing Bahrain so that the new station will come to Bahrain Media City. We are also talking to the Economic Development Board to establish the rules and regulations that will govern television channels and media companies setting up here. Various channels have shown interest,” he said.

The authority is also launching Bahrain International Channel across western and eastern Europe later this month  as well as Northern Africa. The channel will air content from Bahrain TV, Bahrain 55 and Bahrain Sports. “Initially, the new channel will have the best of the main channels including the live channels, the news both in Arabic and English and live sports event,” he added.