US embassy cable - 05DOHA1605

UNCLAS DOHA 001605 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/PD, NEA/ARP 
INFO NSC FOR ABRAMS, DOD/OSD FOR SCHENKER AND MATHENY 
LONDON FOR ARAB MEDIA OFFICE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, KPAO, QA, ALJAZEERA 
SUBJECT: AL JAZEERA CHILDREN'S CHANNEL 
 
Ref: (A) Doha 1567 
     (B) Doha 1593 
 
1. Summary: Al Jazeera Children's Channel was launched to 
great media fanfare in Doha on September 9. Ninety percent 
owned by Qatar Foundation, the new channel has a limited 
administrative relationship with the original Al Jazeera 
satellite channel. Developed and implemented in association 
with the French entity Largardere Images International, the 
channel's content is educational in intent and targets Arab 
children aged 3-15 in Europe and the Arab world. End 
summary. 
 
2. Al Jazeera Children's Channel (AJC), launched in Doha on 
September 9, is a joint venture between Qatar Foundation 
(the resource-rich state-funded body overseeing the 
development of Doha's Education City) and the satellite TV 
channel Al Jazeera (AJ). It is ninety percent owned and 
funded by Qatar Foundation and ten percent owned by AJ. 
 
3. "Al Jazeera is a brand name belonging to Qatar, we wanted 
to use it," said Mahmoud Buneb, Executive General Manager of 
AJC, in a 9/19 meeting with PAO. Buneb, who says he is a 
long-time associate of AJ Chairman Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer 
Al Thani, explained that AJC falls under bin Thamer's 
supervision in his capacity as chairman of Qatar Radio and 
Television Corporation, and not in his capacity as AJ 
chairman.  There is a clear separation between Al Jazeera 
and Al Jazeera Children's Channel administratively and also 
in terms of core mission, Buneb emphasized. "Al Jazeera is 
about news, this channel is about education, and kids." 
 
4. The new channel is reportedly the brainchild of Sheikha 
Mozah Al Misned, the wife of Qatar's Emir, who has been at 
the forefront of Qatar's education reform movement.  Billed 
as "edutainment", AJC targets Arab children between the ages 
of 3 and 15 in both the Arab world and Europe, said Buneb. 
The channel was developed and is being implemented in 
association with the French company Largardere Images 
International (an affiliate of the Largardere Group, active 
in media, aerospace and the automotive industry). 
 
5. The new channel broadcasts up to six hours of fresh 
programming daily, in three cycles matching the different 
time zones of the viewing audience, for a total of 18 hours 
daily during the week and 19.5 hours daily on the weekends. 
Forty percent of the programs are produced internally (at 
AJC's lavish brand-new studios inside Doha's Education City) 
and the remainder is purchased from production companies all 
over the world, said Buneb. All content is either produced 
in or dubbed into Modern Standard Arabic and includes games 
shows, debates and documentaries from around the world. 
Cartoons (without violence) represent not more than 12 
percent of programming, he said. 
 
6. "It is clear there is a need for this type of channel in 
the Arab world, but we are not competing with anyone. We 
want to add something to what is available.  Our purpose is 
not indoctrination. We have no taboos, but we are not here 
to shock, or to provoke, we will be decent," said Buneb, 
noting that the channel recently finishing recording a 
program on female genital cutting. 
 
7. With regional offices in Cairo, Beirut, Amman, Rabat and 
Paris, AJC is a free-to-air channel currently broadcasting 
throughout the Arab world and Europe via Arabsat, Nilesat 
and Hotbird satellites. Future plans include eventual 
expansion into the American market, said Buneb. Although the 
channel is publicly-funded, it will carry selected 
commercials. The new channel's future website is still under 
construction at: www.jcctv.net. "It will be at least two 
years before we will know if it is a success or not," Buneb 
said. 
 
MCGEHEE