Bahrain has been picked to host the headquarters for prominent Saudi businessman Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal's new international Arabic news network, according to the country's media oversight authority. Alwaleed's channel, dubbed Alarab, will be based in the Bahraini capital Manama's new Media City office complex, Sheik Fawaz Bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa, a member of the Bahraini royal family and head of the country's Information Affairs Authority, said in a statement late Tuesday. The network is expected to be launched next December with an initial staff of about 300 people, according to the Bahraini statement. Alwaleed's office has not itself said where the channel will be based. Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist hired to lead the network, said by email Wednesday he expects the deal to be finalized soon. The channel aims to focus “on the important shifts taking place across the Arab World, with an emphasis on freedom of speech and freedom of press,” Alwaleed said in September. The new channel will compete against older pan-Arab news networks, including Qatar's Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya. Alwaleed has signed a deal with business news service Bloomberg LP to provide contents for Alarab. That could potentially put it in competition with Dubai-based business news channel CNBC Arabiya as well. Prince Alwaleed, through the Kingdom Holding Co. investment firm he controls, has major stakes in Citigroup Inc., Apple Inc. and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. He and the investment company last week invested a combined $300 million in microblogging site Twitter, which played a key role in conveying developments during this year's uprisings in many Arab countries. The senior management of Alwaleed's Rotana entertainment television division is also expected to move to Bahrain as part of the deal, according to the IAA.
