Abu Dhabi TV () is an Emirates-based television channel that was originally launched in 1969. It broadcasts content from

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

, the capital of the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

, and is owned by Abu Dhabi Media. Abu Dhabi TV is managed by the Abu Dhabi Media. It is managed through its previous attachment to the Ministry of Information and Culture since 1999 and current attachment to Abu Dhabi Media since February 2006, when the ministry was scrapped. Abu Dhabi TV presents news bulletins every three hours. Abu Dhabi TV broadcasts content throughout the

Arab world The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

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, and

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History and re-branding

Abu Dhabi Television started grayscale broadcasts on 4 August 1969 using equipment provided by British company Thomson Television International, later adopting the PAL format for color broadcasting on 4 December 1974. The station was only carried terrestrially in the

for its first 23 years on the air. At launch, it only had one transmitter in Abu Dhabi proper on VHF channel 5, followed by the installation of a relay station at

Al Ain Al Ain () is a city in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and the seat of the administrative division of the Al Ain Region. The city is Oman–United Arab Emirates border, bordered to the east by the Omani town of Al-Buraimi. Al A ...

in October 1971 on channel 7. Around this time, the network signed on at 6:30pm and signed off at midnight. By 1976, the channel now opened at 6pm. The Abu Dhabi TV satellite channel began regular broadcasts on 15 November 1992 on Arabsat A1; broadcasts were later transferred to Arabsat A2. The network also began to be carried through the entire

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

at that time. The network was rebranded on 30 January 2000 as a service aimed at the Arabic-speaking diaspora. Under this format, the channel began carrying a wide range of news programs, as well as entertainment programs catered to Arabic audiences; as a result, it began to become competitive against rival networks MBC and Dubai TV. One of the network's most popular programs was the game show ''Waznak Dahab''; the program premiered on 16 September 2002 and was canceled in early 2003 due to the invasion of Iraq by the United States, which resulted in the beginning of the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

. On 6 October 2008, Abu Dhabi TV (then-renamed ''Abu Dhabi Al Oula'') was re-branded with a new logo, theme and new original programming content. This re-branding involved the launches of a website involving catch-ups of television programs and a

1080i In high-definition television (HDTV) and video display technology, 1080i is a video display format with 1080 lines of vertical resolution and Interlaced video, interlaced scanning method. This format was once a standard in HDTV. It was particular ...

high definition broadcast channel; which then featured bespoke idents in contrast to the standard-definition cast. The new themes were produced by graphic designer Lambie Nairn and the soundtrack was made by David Lowe, who produced the famous

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

themes. The rebrand also involved the launch of 'Abu Dhabi Sports', a group of eight sister channels (broadcast in either Arabic or English) with the inclusion of 'EDGE Sports' and 'YAS Sports'; all of which are currently broadcast 24/7. The rebrand was also used to counter the rise in copycat rebrand across Arabia, aiming to distinguish Abi Dhabi TV as being "best in class". In the same year,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (; 7 September 1948 – 13 May 2022) was the second president of the United Arab Emirates and the ruler of Abu Dhabi, serving from November 2004 until his death in May 2022. Khalifa was the eldes ...

issued a decree ordering Abu Dhabi TV to be established as a public joint-stock company that is wholly owned by the government of Abu Dhabi. In 2009, Abu Dhabi Media relaunched and rebranded 'Emirates TV' as 'Abu Dhabi Al Emarat' after acquiring the network in 2007. Additionally, a UAE-based channel of

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

was launched on 1 July of the same year. On 5 April 2010, the sister channel Abu Dhabi Drama was launched, offering free-to-air broadcasts of drama and soap opera television programs broadcast 24/7 without advertisement breaks. On 13 February 2012, Abu Dhabi TV shut down its analogue broadcasts on terrestrial television and began broadcasting solely in high definition while existing standard definition casts were down-converted. On 22 March 2015, the network was once again rebranded back to the 'Abu Dhabi TV' name with a brand new logo and identity. On 19 February 2020, Abu Dhabi TV unveiled its new logo after 5 years in use. It is now co-owned by the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

& Abu Dhabi Media Company. The latter is also responsible for launching the Arabic version of the ''National Geographic'' magazine. On 19 September 2023, Abu Dhabi TV unveiled its new logo after three years of the old one.

Programming

* ''Mission Everest - The UAE Military Team'' * ''Global Village, & Every Emirati's Son''

News and current affairs

* ''‘Ulūm ad-Dār''

Soap operas

; Turkish * '' Valley of the Wolves''

Animated shows

* '' Avengers Assemble'' * ''

Guardians of the Galaxy The Guardians of the Galaxy are a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Comic book teams 1969 team The 1969 version of the Guardians of the Galaxy (1969 team), Guardians of the Galaxy were the origi ...

Sister channels

Abu Dhabi TV is additionally paired with sister channels such as Abu Dhabi Al Emarat (Emirates TV), Abu Dhabi Al Riyadiya (Abu Dhabi Sports TV), "Abu Dhabi Drama" (Abu Dhabi Drama TV) and Abu Dhabi Al Oula +1, a 1-hour time shifted variant of the station.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abu Dhabi Tv Television channels and stations established in 1969 Television stations in the United Arab Emirates Arabic-language television stations Mass media in Abu Dhabi Television companies of the United Arab Emirates Foreign television channels broadcasting in the United Kingdom 1969 establishments in the Trucial States State media Publicly funded broadcasters