Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corp (Admic), a private investment company owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), the UK’s leading pay television provider, have formed a 50-50 joint venture.

The JV will bring a new, free-to-air Arabic-language news channel to viewers across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region from 2012.

Based in Abu Dhabi, the new company will operate under the Sky News brand, and provide a 24-hour channel offering rolling out news and current affairs programming, as well as a video-rich website and mobile applications.

Content for the channel, website and mobile applications will be created and delivered by more than 180 multimedia journalists, supported by a full technical and operations team. The venture will be based in new studios to be developed at Abu Dhabi’s twofour54 media zone. In addition, it will have a network of newsgathering bureaux across Mena, further offices in London and Washington DC, and access to Sky News’ wider network of international bureaux.

“The addition of Sky News in Arabic to the numerous Abu Dhabi based media outlets will further contribute to this sector's growth and position Abu Dhabi as the region's media hub,” stated Dr Sultan Al Jaber, chairman of Admic and of the new venture.

“Sky News is already one of the world’s leading news services and now we‘re looking forward to bringing a new voice to Arabic audiences. The Middle East and North Africa is undergoing rapid development and our partnership with Admic means we are able to enter this dynamic marketplace with the support and expertise of a strong local partner,” added Jeremy Darroch, chief executive of BSkyB.-TradeArabia News Service