Channel 33, Dubai TV's English-language station, has taken the first step to becoming a globe-spanning satellite TV station.

Yesterday, the channel started test satellite transmissions to reach out to the 20-million expatriate community in the Arab world with family-friendly, free-to-air programmes.

The tests over Nilesat will run for four hours daily, but full-scale broadcasting is planned to start on December 2, the UAE National Day, said Ahmed Saeed Algaoud, Director General, Dubai Radio and TV.

"Channel 33 has always respected the culture, thoughts and values of expatriates and that earned us viewers in many neighbouring countries. But it was limited by the terrestrial scope of our transmission. The test satellite transmission is our way of telling the English-speaking audience in the Arab world of our presence," he said.

With Nilesat's wide "footprint", Channel 33 will be initially seen in nearly one-third of the globe covering an area from the Maghreb (North Africa) to the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula, the entire Gulf and southern Europe. At present, Channel 33 cannot even be seen by viewers in some parts of the UAE.

"We see the start of Channel 33 satellite transmission as a new milestone on the way to a leading and prosperous Arab Media," said Algaoud. He projected that the channel will break even in five years, within time which they will also test the waters as a global broadcaster by leasing satellite transponders that cover East Asia and the Americas.

Algaoud also explained that this move is not to pre-empt the reported launch of an English-language version of Qatar-based Arabic news channel, Al Jazeera.

"We are different, in terms of programming format and content. But we will be strengthening our news gathering team as well," Algaoud told Gulf News.

The decision to go via satellite was based on research which pointed to the need to reach out to multi-million viewers.

Nasib Bitar, director of programmes of Channel 33, said: "We are targetting English-speaking families on both terrestrial and satellite transmissions. The Nilesat platform means that people do not have to pay in order to receive the channel," said Bitar.

Channel 33's satellite broadcast will include news, documentaries, drama series and a blend of movies, in addition to a number of local and outsourced productions.

"Though we are not a news channel, we will raise the number of news bulletins to two and apply the breaking news approach. The news will feature more local elements," said Bitar.