Middle East Broadcasting Center

Middle East Broadcasting Center

Type	Private
Country	Saudi Arabia
Founded	18 September 1991 United Kingdom;
Slogan	We See Hope Everywhere
Headquarters	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Owner	Waleed bin Ibrahim Al Ibrahim
Key people	Waleed bin Ibrahim Al Ibrahim, Chairman Sam Barnett (CEO) Abdul Aziz bin Fahd (major shareholder)
Official website	MBC.net

The Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) Group is the first private free-to-air satellite broadcasting company in the Arab World. It was launched in London in 1991 and later moved to its headquarters in Dubai in 2002. MBC Group provides multiple channels of information, interaction and entertainment. MBC Group includes 11 television channels: MBC1 (general family entertainment via terrestrial), MBC2 and MBC MAX (24-hour movies), MBC3 (children’s entertainment), MBC4 (entertainment for new Arab women via terrestrial), MBC Action (action series and movies via terrestrial), MBC Persia (24-hour movie channel dubbed in Persian), MBC Bollywood (24-hour Bollywood movies dubbed in Arabic), Al Arabiya (the 24-hour Arabic language news channel); Wanasah (24-hour Arabic music channel), MBC Malayalam (the 24-hour Malayalam entertainment channel), and MBC Drama coinciding with the Group’s 20th anniversary, and offers 24/7 Arabic Drama. The Group also includes two radio stations: MBC FM (Gulf music), and Panorama FM (contemporary Arabic hit music); as well as O3 productions, a specialized documentary production unit.

MBC is a free-to-air, pan-Arab, news and entertainment broadcaster. It was launched in 1991 as the first privately owned and independent Arabic satellite TV station.

MBC was the first broadcaster to provide a satellite-based free-to-air 24-hour television network across the Arab world. It has remained privately owned, managed by a group of businessmen and shareholders, including chairman and CEO Sheikh Waleed Al Ibrahim. The shareholder list has never been verified.