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 Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Culture and Information has short-listed 15 companies for its forthcoming clutch of new radio licences, and also plans to launch four new TV channels in the new hijra year.
The radio licences, which surfaced back in September, are now at the shortlist stage, with 15 companies making the final draw for the five licences (not four, as originally suggested), out of what was speculated to be 30 original contenders.
According to Arab News, the finalists include the Saudi Specialized Publishing Company (affiliated to Arab News publisher Saudi Research & Marketing Group), Prince Alwaleed’s Rotana Audio Visual Co, and Saleh Kamel’s Arab Radio and Television Network.
The five new stations will join MBC, currently the only private FM radio broadcaster in the kingdom.
For the TV stations, two will be focused on religion and will broadcast from Makkah and Medina. The remaining two will be dedicated to cultural and economic issues, said Abdul Aziz Khoja, Saudi minister for Culture and Information.
The two religious channels are “a gift from King Abdullah to the Islamic world” according to Khoja, while the culture-vulture channel will give academics space to talk, and the economics-focused offering will see KSA’s experts promote the country’s (not inconsiderable) economic importance.
More on the radio licences as we hear it.
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