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Doha, Qatar (pte017/25.11.2004/10:30) - The Arabic television station Al-Jazeera is set to launch an English-language satellite channel in late 2005. As the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) http://www.abc.net.au reports, the move is to rival established 24-hour international news stations.
"Our target now is to launch Al-Jazeera International by November 2005", said Managing Director Nigel Parsons. According to Parsons, the service, like Al-Jazeera's Arabic-language service, will be based in the Qatari capital, Doha. "The Headquarters will be in Doha, the Asian bureau in Kuala Lumpur, the European bureau in London and the American bureau in Washington", confirmed Parsons.
According to Parsons, the initial number of staff would be "around 300", and would be recruited based on their professional experience and competence of English. There would be no consideration for ethnicity or nationality. Parsons refused to comment on the budget, but did say that the channel would be completely independent of Al-Jazeera's Arabic service.
Launched in 1996, Al-Jazeera has achieved global notoriety in the past few years for exclusive coverage during much of the US-led invasion of Afghanisation in October 2001 and for broadcasting alleged tapes made by the Al Qaeda terror network.
Aside from Al-Jazeera International, the group is also planning to launch a sports channel in 2005, as well as a documentary and children's channel.
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