Alwaleed could launch own news channel

By Andrew White
  • Monday, 26 April 2010 4:58 PM
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POWER PLAYER: Prince Alwaleed is the world’s richest Arab with a fortune of $18bn, according to the most recent Arabian Business Rich List.

POWER PLAYER: Prince Alwaleed is the world’s richest Arab with a fortune of $18bn, according to the most recent Arabian Business Rich List.

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has said he may start a regional news channel to compete with the Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera satellite channels.

Talking to Bloomberg TV, Prince Alwaleed said the channel “is something I will be doing personally” because it “needs a lot of investments up front”. The channel wouldn’t be produced through Kingdom Holding or Rotana, Prince Alwaleed added.

Prince Alwaleed is the world’s richest Arab with a fortune of $18bn, according to the most recent Arabian Business Rich List.

According to Bloomberg, the news channel would borrow from the business model used at Rupert Murdoch’s Fox and Sky News channels while broadcasting different content in the Middle East, Prince Alwaleed said.

He added that he plans to sell a stake in media company Rotana Holding to the public within two years. “An IPO will be happening in the coming two years,” he said, adding: “we need to brand the company very well before going into an IPO.”

Rotana in February agreed to sell a 9.1 percent stake to Murdoch’s News Corp for $70m as the company seeks television, movie, production and technology expertise.

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Posted by: Dastagir Wednesday, 2 June 2010 11:43 AM[UAE] - India

Almost all Western channels are biased against the Muslim World. Their reports are one sided. It makes sense if Prince Alwaleed brings a channel that directly compete with all major pro-Western channels.

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