Cartoon Network Arabic, Alan Musa, FREEJ, Ben and Izzy, Skatoony, BroadcastPro Middle East, Vijaya Cherian
A free-to-air, Arabic version of Cartoon Network will be available from October 10 to viewers in the Arab world.
The announcement was made by Alan Musa, vice president and general manager of Turner Broadcasting for the Middle East, Africa & pan-Arab region at a press conference on October 6 at MediaOne Hotel in Dubai.
The free-to-air channel will initially feature dubbed episodes of international children’s favourites such as Ben 10, Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack and so on while regional animations such as Ben and Izzy from Rubicon, Jordan and FREEJ from Lammtara, Dubai will also be screened.
The launch coincides with the opening of Turner Broadcasting System’s (TBS) offices in Dubai Media City.
Mohammad Abdullah, managing director of TECOM Investments’ media cluster opened the press conference by lauding Turner’s focus “on original content creation for the channel in collaboration with regional companies”.
“There is a huge demand for locally produced content and we believe this initiative will add definite value to the Arab media industry,” he stated.
TBS’ deal with Lammtara especially goes beyond licensing and distributing FREEJ episodes and merchandise to featuring FREEJ characters in the local version of a production called Skatoony.
Earlier this year, Cartoon Network also announced a strategic partnership with twofour54 tadreeb to launch an animation academy with specialised animation courses as part of phase one and production studios early next year to produce some local animation programmes.