Al Jazeera isn’t just news. Their next project? An English-language childrens’ edutainment network on American TV by 2012.
‘Still Alive in Gaza’ is a documentary about the lives of Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip.
Al Jazeera’s banking that its newest project–an English-language children’s channel–will help it get on the air in the all-important North American and Asian markets. The new English-language Al Jazeera Children’s Channel is scheduled to launch by the end of 2012. Content will be a mix of syndicated shows from other sources and original programming, dubbed into English, from the already existing Arabic-language Al Jazeera Children’s Channel. Fast Company recently reported on Al Jazeera’s ongoing talks with Comcast and Time Warner.
So will the good left-leaning parents of Park Slope and Ann Arbor be able to offer their kids a cable channel of impeccable global newsie cred? According to an interview in Abu Dhabi’s The National newspaper with Al Jazeera Children’s general manager Mahmoud Bouneb, American airtime is in the cards:
“We have an ambition to create an international feed for JCC that will benefit other markets, [such as] Asia and North America […] We are thinking probably by the end of 2012 because it takes a long time to prepare and to penetrate the market … we have so many requests from Asian countries to bring Al Jazeera [Children’s Channel] in Arabic and to be dubbed in English […] It is essential our international feed will cover North America. I don’t think we will face the issues related to the distribution of Al Jazeera (English News).”
The already-existing Arabic-language Al Jazeera Children Channel has been on the air since 2005. Al Jazeera Children’s programming is aimed at seven- to 15-year-olds; sister network Baraem TV airs programming directed at pre-schoolers.
Much more here including other videos.
Comment count on this article reflects comments made on Breitbart.com and Facebook. Visit Breitbart's Facebook Page.