Murdoch's proposed Persian channel on track
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Media mogul Rupert Murdoch's News Corp's plan to launch a second Persian satellite channel is on track despite the phone-hacking controversy surrounding its UK unit.
Murdoch-backed broadcaster Broadcast Middle East said the proposed channel remains unaffected. "I can't see how will affect us in any way. We've had nothing but support from News Corp and I don't expect that to change in the future," Zaid Mohseni, CEO of the Dubai-based Broadcast Middle East told Arabian Business.
"We don't do news or current affairs; we are just a general entertainment channel." News Corp earlier this month dropped a USD 12 billion takeover bid for British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) following the phone-hacking controversy in the UK.
Broadcast Middle East, which is 50 per cent owned by Murdoch, said that the channel would tap into rising demand for Persian-language television shows and would specifically target female viewers.
Existing channel 'Farsi 1' draws in between 20 and 30 million viewers a day airing shows such as '24', 'Prison Break' and 'How I Met Your Mother, Mohseni said.
"We had a pretty great response for Farsi 1. We got a huge viewership. Based on this and surveys we did, we found there was demand for a second channel," he said. "We do have plans to expand the business further in the future, but a lot will depend on how we go this year and how the market receives our new channels," Mohseni said.
Official data shows there are about half a million Persian speakers resident in the UAE, with a further 500,000 visiting the region as tourists each year.
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