The Times and The Sunday Times, two well known newspapers in the world, will publish their international editions in the Middle East starting this May.
Licensing for The Times and Sunday Times in the region has been acquired by Saudi-based SAB Media. The paper will be published seven days a week and will be available in retail outlets or by subscription. The international editions are edited in London and will be printed in the UAE.
A recent survey found The Times to be the most trusted newspaper in the UK. It has one of the largest pools of foreign correspondents, with reporters based in locations around the world, including Beijing, Baghdad, Bombay, Delhi, Madrid, Moscow, New York, Paris, Tokyo and Washington.
The Sunday Times edition provides analysis of the week’s news stories, along with expanded coverage of sports, entertainment, lifestyle, food, travel and the arts.
The international edition will be published seven days a week, at 64 pages, with a 96-page Saturday edition and the 96-page broadsheet Sunday Times. In the UAE, the retail rate will be AED 7 for the daily edition and AED 15 for The Sunday Times; subscription rates will be AED 5 for the daily and AED 12 for the Sunday paper, with comparable rates around the region.
Rapid TV News reports that Al Jazeera’s English-language channel is launching a YouTube spin-off service, joining channels like NBC, BBC and other in this successful model which promotes channel programming, legally, on the world’s top trafficked video sharing site.
YouTube users anywhere in the world will have the ability to comment on Al Jazeera English clips, rate them, recommend them to friends and post their own video responses to communicate with other viewers.
The new service will also include links to Al Jazeera English’s official website (www.aljazeera.net/english).
Content from the new global broadcaster will include segments from top shows such as Frost over the World, Everywoman, Inside Iraq, Inside Story, Listening Post, Riz Khan, One-on-One, The Fabulous Picture Show, Witness and 48.
Al Jazeera English is also planning to release some exclusive web-only programming, starting with Poltical Bytes, a global conversation hosted by UN correspondent Mark Seddon which will ask the YouTube community to carry on the conversation and add video contributions.
Apart from the big news that Showtime Arabia has won the rights to the English Premier League, there have been sweeping changes in the look of the station and its channels as of today, 1 April.
The new channels have been branded Showcinema, Showmovies, Showkids, Showsports and Showseries…. etc.
Three new Showsports channels replace the previous Sportsnet channels, and should provide Showtime with a leap in subscribers just before the next football season starts in August.
Showtime Arabia promoted it’s new look, through teaser promos for the past couple of weeks, as the network continues to gain marketshare in spite of the free-to-air challenge of MBC Group channels which follow a similar formula in Western entertainment programming.
ART, losers of the Premier League rights, are yet to announce any major shift in strategy to cope with the potential fall-out next season.
Without a doubt, there will be plenty of football-associated sponsors, like Snickers and Pepsi who will move to Showtime.
AdBlogArabia and mediaME.com founder Zeid Nasser attended the Dubai Lynx awards ceremony on 19 March 2007, at the Dubai Media City and reported that:
The ceremony was attended by 1,200 marketing communications professionals, from all over the Middle East, but primarily from the UAE as Dubai agencies swept the majority of the show’s awards; with JWT Dubai, TEAM Y&R Dubai and Saatchi & Saatchi Dubai winning the most trophies. Wunderman Dubai, TBWA/Raad, Tonic Comminications, Lowe MENA, JWT Cairo, Fortune Promoseven Dubai and Impact BBDO also had significant wins.
What makes us at AdBlogArabia proud is that we’ve blogged about many of the winners over the past year!
To Read more on who won what and where to download the Winners List visit mediaME.com.
Congratulations to winners and onto next years’ Dubai Lynx, which will be expanded into an advertising festival- along the lines of Cannes International.
This commercial has been doing the rounds on the Internet since 2002, and I doubt it was actually released by Head & Shoulders, or even officially produced by the client!
In any case, give it a look …. it’s quite an interesting criticism of Arab TV station’s weather girls!
