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