Sky News Arabia channel to launch on 6 May

Sky News has announced the launch date for its 24-hour Arabic news channel, which will be based in the United Arab Emirates. The rolling news channel will begin broadcasting on Sunday, 6 May. Sky News Arabia joins the BBC, Al Jazeera, Al Arabeya and France 24 in providing round-the-clock news in Arabic. The launch date announcement was made during a press conference held by head of the channel Nart Bouran in the studios in Abu Dhabi, according to a release. The channel, which will employ 400 journalists including 16 presenters, "promises a new horizon for news reporting across the Arab world", the broadcaster said. Sky News Arabia will have 12 bureaus across the region, as well as drawing on those in London and Washington, plus its network of bureaus around the world. Bouran said in a statement: "Sky News Arabia will offer the MENA [Middle East and North Africa] region a fresh approach to television news with an independent editorial mandate at the heart of everything we do. "The Sky News Arabia idea was born more than two years ago. Our aim has been to create an impartial and independent breaking news channel for the Arab world across multiple platforms. "It has been a huge collaborative team effort resulting in the most technically advanced news operation in the region." Sky News Arabia's website was launched in beta in February, along with a Facebook and Twitter presence. The channel will be available on Transponder 14 on Arabsat Badr 4, Transponder 15 on Nilesat 201, and in high definition on the OSN pay-TV platform.