BBC Returns to Arabic TV, Vacates Eastern Europe

Michael Hedges November 3, 2005

When the BBC World Service announced plans for an Arabic language television channel there was no doubt it would succeed. The Beeb has been there before. And without that episode a dozen years ago, troubled though it was, neither Al-Jazeera nor Al-Arabiya would exist today.
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The BBC launched in 1994 a commercial television joint venture, through BBC World, with Orbit Communications, a subsidiary of Saudi-owned Mawarid Group. It collapsed over “editorial issues” and funding was cut off. Orbit, based in Rome, owned all the equipment. The BBC provided staff. Most of Al-Jazerra’s staff came from the BBC when the joint venture collapsed in 1996.

Al-Jazeera was also, originally, a joint venture between the British and Saudi governments but it, too, fell apart when the Saudi government “pulled the plug” because of “cultural insensitivities.”  The Sheik of Qatar picked up the pieces and the rest is history. The Sheik has been under some pressure, internal and external, to privatize Al-Jazeera but, due to ownership restrictions, nothing has moved forward. Big ad contracts have been slow for Al-Jazeera – in Arabic – and the launch of an English-language channel is hoped to bring in the cash, thus easing the Sheik’s need to do anything.

The credibility factor looms large in the Middle East and the BBC maintains, according to most commentators, this vital advantage. Saudi-based Al-Arabiya is viewed as having a pro-government, establishment bent while Dubai and Qater’s Al-Jazeera is positioned as the voice of the Arab street. US funded Al-Hurra has a small, but noticeably growing, audience. On the whole, television in the Middle East is exploding. They have reality shows, culturally sensitive,  just like the rest of the world.

That benefit might continue for the BBC as the professional staff of existing Arabic language channels jump at the chance to trade Dubai and Qatar for London, suggested one insider formerly employed by the BBC and familiar with the genesis of Al-Jazeera.  Working conditions and “respect for contracts” in the Middle East – even in large, visible media organizations – are notoriously weaker than with Western-based organizations. The new television channel will employ 201 staff, mostly in London but also in the Cairo, Egypt bureau.

The new Arabic television channel is the first in the region by the State-funded public service broadcaster. It’s expected to go on the air in 2007, shortly after the launch of Al-Jazeera’s English TV channel. Al-Jazeera has again poached several people from the BBC, including Sir David Frost. The BBC World Service is funded by grants from the UK Foreign Office.

The BBC’s announcing its return to television in Arabic draw mixed reviews from the target viewer – the influentials.

“The BBC will put other TV channels in the region under a great deal of pressure,” Al-Madinah Arabic managing editor Khaled Batarfi, quoted in Arab News. They will have to be more objective and more accountable.”

“To have an institution as professional and as quality-conscious as the BBC as a competitor means tough challenges,” said Batarfi.

“The British government’s involvement might raise some eyebrows,” said Al-Arabiya’s Mohamed Chebaro, quoted in the International Herald Tribune.

“The key thing for us is that the market-place has changed in the Middle East,” said the BBC’s Nigel Chapman in the release announcing the new channel…and the closing of 10 language services, mostly in Eastern Europe. Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Greek, Hungarian, Kazakh, Polish, Slovak, Slovene and Thai services will be phased out by March 2006, costing 236 jobs. Chapman cited changing geo-politics and dwindling audiences for the service cuts. UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw approved the cuts and the new Arabic television service. And he writes the check.

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BBC Russia Breakfast Show Promoted in St. Petersburg - February 16, 2006

from BBC World Service press release

The BBC is making a big push among St Petersburg radio listeners.  It has launched its first integrated marketing campaign in Russia promoting the BBC Russian flagship breakfast programme, Utro na BBC (Utro).  The dynamic ad campaign challenges potential listeners to "Wake Up!" and promotes the availability of the three-hour morning programme on partner station, Radio Leningrad 107.4 FM.

The campaign artwork has been developed by Saatchi & Saatchi Moscow and the media planning is implemented by mediaedge: cia Russia.  Launching on Friday, 17 February, the ten-week campaign uses a combination of print and outdoor advertising and is supported by PR activities.

As part of the promotional activities supporting the campaign, the BBC is targeting the thousands of motorists who spend many hours on the city's roads. In a bid to convert listeners to the breakfast show, promotional teams are distributing BBC Russian branded car Wake Up! air-fresheners at major petrol stations.

A partnership has also been created with the St Petersburg newspaper, Metro.  Utro sports journalist, Oleg Antonenko, writes a weekly BBC-branded sports column for this popular free publication which has a daily readership of over 500,000 - the highest in St Petersburg.

Controller of BBC World Service Marketing Communications & Audiences, Alan Booth explains:  "This is the first time we have gone to a Russian city with an integrated marketing campaign. In St Petersburg, BBC Russian is competing against strong domestic speech radio.  We have gone for a strong eye-catching message which personalises our breakfast radio show. Wake Up! speaks directly to the people of St Petersburg in a way we have never spoken to them before."