CNBC Pakistan to launch 24-hour business channel

CNBC Pakistan is gearing up to launch a 24-hour business television channel in early 2005.

The channel will provide extensive coverage of the Gulf and Middle East, said Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Chairman of CNBC Pakistan, at a press conference to announce the launch of the channel.

Shaikh Nahyan said the channel would provide up-to-date business news in Urdu and English. "We are very proud to be a shareholder in the world's most recognised brand name in financial reporting," he said.

"The channel will provide credible news from a Pakistani perspective."

The channel will broadcast from its state-of-the-art studios and production facilities in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore.

Zafar Siddiqi, president of CNBC Pakistan, said the channel would utilise the resources of the CNBC global network, reaching out to more than 200 million households around the world.

He said the channel would provide pertinent news from business centres around the world, with extensive coverage of the Gulf and Middle East.

He said the channel would broadcast via the PAS and Paknet satellites.