Arab News Network (ANN) was an Arab

news channel News broadcasting is the medium of broadcasting various news events and other information via television, radio, or the internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or tele ...

broadcast on satellite from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

History and profile

ANN was established in 1997. The channel is currently owned by Siwar al Assad, a first cousin of the

President of Syria The president of Syria, officially the president of the Syrian Arab Republic (Arabic: رئيس سوريا) is the head of state of the Syrian Arab Republic. They are vested with sweeping powers that may be delegated, at their sole discretion, t ...

Bashar al-Assad Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...

. The channel states its goal to be democratic reform. The station broadcast daily English news from November 2004 to March 2006, but since then had been broadcasting solely in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

until 2014. The desire to remove the programme reflected a change in management.

Ribal al-Assad Ribal al-Assad (born 4 June 1975) is a Syrian businessman and political activist. He is the Founder and Director of the Organisation for Democracy and Freedom in Syria (ODFS) and the Chairman and Founder of The Iman Foundation. Early life and ...

, took over as director of the London Bureau from 2006 to 2010. He decided to cancel the English programming due what he perceived to be the lack of an audience for it. However, since the latest change of management in 2010, the new proprietor, Siwar al Assad, has decided to reintroduce English Language programming alongside the Arabic. In 2014 Siwar launched a program modeled on the BBC's Hardtalk called The English Hour which is recorded in London broadcast at peak time and subtitled in Arabic. The channel has faced some financial issues. Major restructuring has been undertaken and technological updates have been acquired by the channel in order to improve its image. ANN formerly broadcast on

Hotbird Hot Bird (also styled HOTBIRD) is a group of satellites operated by Eutelsat, located at 13 °E over the equator ( orbital position) and with a transmitting footprint over Asia, Europe, North Africa, Americas and the Middle East. Only digital ...

and

Arabsat The Arab Satellite Communications Organization (often abbreviated as Arabsat) is a communications satellite operator in the Arab World, headquartered in the city of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Arabsat was created to deliver satellite-based, public and ...

but now broadcasts on

Nilesat Nilesat (; , ''or'' ) is an Egyptian company and the name of a series of Egyptian communications satellites. It was established in 1996 with the purpose of operating Egyptian satellites and their associated mission control center and ground st ...

.On Nilesat on the following frequency: Nilesat 12437 V 27500

References

{{Reflist

External links

Channel info

The English Hour Blog

A.N.N. online (online streaming)

The A.N.N. website
Arabic-language television stations Television channels and stations established in 1997