BBC Arabic TV will Rock the Arab World

I anticipate that BBC Arabic TV will overtake both al-Arabiya and al-Jazeera to become the No. 1 Arabic news television service in as little as six weeks – by May 1, 2008.

CNN International and BBC World first became available publicly on free-to-air satellite television during the Gulf War in 1990. (I was stationed in the region at the time and for the next decade.) Following them came a stream of Arabic-language news channels, from MBC to al-Jazeera among others. After four decades of state-controlled television, the Arab World welcomed better news. Today, it still hungers for more.

For those who do not remember, al-Jazeera arose from a previous incarnation of BBC World Arabic on the private Orbit satellite television network in the mid-1990s – which today means a double-priming of the market. This follows seven decades of BBC Arabic Service on shortwave radio. How important has BBC Arabic Service been to the region? Step inside any Gulf Arab luxury car: I've never been inside one without hearing BBC Arabic Service.

Given BBC's history of continuous, excellent news reporting, BBC's Jerry Timmons' statement about BBC Arabic TV being merely a "straight-forward news offering" is highly understated. As if reputation alone were not enough, BBC has hedged its second television bid with its BBC Arabic Web site (well managed by Hossam al-Sokkari and team), plus pre-launch marketing efforts, plus a line-up of top journalists headed by Salah Negm.

Expect also to see al-Hurra TV drop from its average 1 percent Zogby rating to 0 percent. (al-Hurra TV is America's state-sponsored channel of retro-style propaganda that launched "dead on arrival" in 2004. I served on the TV committee of the White House Arts and Entertainment Task Force – completely ignored by the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors as it formed al-Hurra.) Two years ago last month in The Los Angeles Times, Anatol Lieven and I advised the U.S. Government to "pull the plug" on al-Hurra (see "The Limits of Propaganda" of Feb. 13, 2006). This past week, the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors welcomed BBC Arabic TV's launch (read BBG statement): let us hope now that the U.S. government will recognize its errors and pull the plug at last on al-Hurra.

Democracy should mean first and foremost open access to information: in that sense, U.S. President George W. Bush is right when he says that the Arab World hungers for democracy. Al-Hurra with its outdated propaganda model should step aside to make way for BBC Arabic TV – if America does indeed want Arabs to see real democracy in action. Forget "Britannia rules the waves": BBC Arabic TV will rock the Arab World. 

* David Chambers is a management consultant who specializes in Middle East Broadcast Television. He is a member of the National Association of Broadcasters and served on the Television Committee of the White House Arts and Entertainment Task Force (2002-2003).

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