Al Aan TV aims to offer ‘infotainment’
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 Launching into the already-crowded free-to-air satellite market, a new channel, Al Aan (Arabic for “now”) claims it can create its own niche. Based on an ‘infotainment’ concept which it says “fills the gap between 24-hour news stations and entertainment channels,
” Al Aan TV will offer general interest programs such as health, cooking, fashion, music consumer electronics, and celebrity gossip, all supplemented with an hourly 15-minute news round-up.
The station, which is carried by both Arabsat and Nilesat went on the air in early August, but was officially launched in September. It is owned by Tower Media, a UAE-based holding company that includes “several European-based investors,” according to programming director Ihab Hammoud. Al Aan reportedly spent $2 million on a publicity campaign, but Hammound was tight lipped on the station’s overall budget and the names of individual investors.
He did say that Al Aan would employ correspondents in all major Arab capitals, and that it news bulletins would focus on “facts and not political debates.” Hammound said Tower Media commissioned a survey of TV viewers in ten countries before launching Al Aan, deciding on a format that focused on human interest stories and news “with no political agenda.”
The station’s content is targeted toward women during the day, when most of the viewership in the GCC countries is female, Hammoud explained. During the evening hours, the programming target switches to a family audience. There are plans to add RPM, a car show, to its lineup. “There are a lot of women in the automotive market,” Hammoud explains.
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