AL JAZEERA CHILDREN'S CHANNEL

UNCLAS DOHA 001605 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/PD, NEA/ARP INFO NSC FOR ABRAMS, DOD/OSD FOR SCHENKER AND MATHENY LONDON FOR ARAB MEDIA OFFICE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KPAO QA ALJAZEERA SUBJECT: AL JAZEERA CHILDREN'S CHANNEL Ref: (A) Doha 1567 (B) Doha 1593 ¶1. Summary: Al Jazeera Children's Channel was launched to great media fanfare in Doha on September 9. Ninety percent owned by Qatar Foundation, the new channel has a limited administrative relationship with the original Al Jazeera satellite channel. Developed and implemented in association with the French entity Largardere Images International, the channel's content is educational in intent and targets Arab children aged 3-15 in Europe and the Arab world. End summary. ¶2. Al Jazeera Children's Channel (AJC),launched in Doha on September 9, is a joint venture between Qatar Foundation (the resource-rich state-funded body overseeing the development of Doha's Education City) and the satellite TV channel Al Jazeera (AJ). It is ninety percent owned and funded by Qatar Foundation and ten percent owned by AJ. ¶3. "Al Jazeera is a brand name belonging to Qatar, we wanted to use it," said Mahmoud Buneb, Executive General Manager of AJC, in a 9/19 meeting with PAO. Buneb, who says he is a long-time associate of AJ Chairman Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani, explained that AJC falls under bin Thamer's supervision in his capacity as chairman of Qatar Radio and Television Corporation, and not in his capacity as AJ chairman. There is a clear separation between Al Jazeera and Al Jazeera Children's Channel administratively and also in terms of core mission, Buneb emphasized. "Al Jazeera is about news, this channel is about education, and kids." ¶4. The new channel is reportedly the brainchild of Sheikha Mozah Al Misned, the wife of Qatar's Emir, who has been at the forefront of Qatar's education reform movement. Billed as "edutainment", AJC targets Arab children between the ages of 3 and 15 in both the Arab world and Europe, said Buneb. The channel was developed and is being implemented in association with the French company Largardere Images International (an affiliate of the Largardere Group, active in media, aerospace and the automotive industry). ¶5. The new channel broadcasts up to six hours of fresh programming daily, in three cycles matching the different time zones of the viewing audience, for a total of 18 hours daily during the week and 19.5 hours daily on the weekends. Forty percent of the programs are produced internally (at AJC's lavish brand-new studios inside Doha's Education City) and the remainder is purchased from production companies all over the world, said Buneb. All content is either produced in or dubbed into Modern Standard Arabic and includes games shows, debates and documentaries from around the world. Cartoons (without violence) represent not more than 12 percent of programming, he said. ¶6. "It is clear there is a need for this type of channel in the Arab world, but we are not competing with anyone. We want to add something to what is available. Our purpose is not indoctrination. We have no taboos, but we are not here to shock, or to provoke, we will be decent," said Buneb, noting that the channel recently finishing recording a program on female genital cutting. ¶7. With regional offices in Cairo, Beirut, Amman, Rabat and Paris, AJC is a free-to-air channel currently broadcasting throughout the Arab world and Europe via Arabsat, Nilesat and Hotbird satellites. Future plans include eventual expansion into the American market, said Buneb. Although the channel is publicly-funded, it will carry selected commercials. The new channel's future website is still under construction at: www.jcctv.net. "It will be at least two years before we will know if it is a success or not," Buneb said. MCGEHEE