Al Jazeera Launches Sports News Network

By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

Al Jazeera Television has launched the Middle East’s first 24-hour sports news channel. The network announced this week that the Al Jazeera Sport news channel will report sports news and analysis in Arabic. The launch was scheduled to take place on November 1st, coinciding with Al Jazeera’s 15th anniversary.

Qatar-based Al Jazeera has been showing sports from the region on the network’s 18 sports channels with commentary in Arabic, English and French. The events have include the World Cup, Champions League soccer and men’s and women’s tennis tournaments across the Middle East and North Africa.

The channel’s general manager, Nasser bin Ghanem al-Khelaifi, says the aim is to “uncover the ins and outs of everything that surrounds and affects sports, quickly, accurately and around the clock.”
The new sports news channel will broadcast hourly news bulletins and 20 sports news programs that will discuss various types of sports. The news programs will cover all the major international tournaments and sports events, especially those exclusive to Al Jazeera Sports, such as the Spanish, the Italian, and the French and the European football leagues. The channel will also feature weekly programs presenting news about popular sports like basketball, athletics, tennis and motorsports.

Arab sports news will have a prominent presence in the new channel. Two programs will be dedicated to covering major sports events in the Middle East and North Africa, Qatari daily Gulf Times reported on Thursday.

The channel will also follow general and economic sports news in the press, and will provide comprehensive coverage of events that are not transmitted live through a five-hour program, broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays. It will feature a variety morning show and a daily talk show that will provide in-depth discussion. At the end of the day all news broadcasted will be summarized in an hour long program called “Today’s Harvest”.

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