Al-Arabiya, the Dubai-based newscaster set up last year to rival al-Jazeera, has signed a major distribution deal with the BBC.
Al-Arabiya, the Dubai-based newscaster set up last year to rival al-Jazeera, has signed a major distribution deal with the BBC.

The channel, owned by MBC, has optioned 100 hours of factual content from BBC Worldwide including a number of shows about Middle-Eastern issues such as Palestine - The First Intifada and Mohammed Reza Pahlavi - The Last Shah.

The broadcaster will air the in-house produced programmes, which also include Alan Yentob's BBC 1 arts programme Leonardo , over the next few years.

Al-Arabiya is a 24-hour news channel which airs across the world servicing around 130 million Arabic speaking people. While it has only been in operation for 12 months, it has contracted considerable controversy.

In December the Iraqi interim government closed down its Baghdad newsroom after it broadcast an audio message purporting to be from Saddam Hussein, which urged Iraqis to fight foreign soldiers. Council president Jalal Talabani claimed it was "incitement to murder".