English Al-Jazeera arrives this month



15th November 2006, 15:42 WST

Australians will be able to watch Middle Eastern broadcaster Al-Jazeera's new English-language channel before the end of the month.

Al-Jazeera English, whose Arabic parent network achieved notoriety for airing videos of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, will begin broadcasting at 1am (AEDT) on Thursday.

But Australians will have to wait a week or two before being able to view the new station, to be carried here by Sydney-based multicultural digital satellite broadcaster UBI World TV.

UBI World TV expects to start screening the channel later this month.

Al-Jazeera English, previously named Al-Jazeera International, has recruited a number of well-known Western journalists, including veteran BBC interviewer David Frost.

The channel's headquarters are in Doha, Qatar, and it has three other broadcasting centres in Kuala Lumpur, London and Washington, as well as 20 other bureaux.

The English-language station, originally expected to launch in 2005, will broadcast news features and analysis, documentaries, debates, current affairs, business and sport.

UBI World TV, which claims more than 200,000 viewers in Australia, offers its subscribers TV and radio stations in eight different languages.

"Our philosophy is to bring as many voices from around the world as we can to the Australian audience, providing a broad sweep of analysis and opinion on events," the firm's chief executive Sam Bilge said.
AAP