Dubai: Pakistan’s famous Urdu news and current affairs television channel has announced to make Dubai as its hub for its international operations.
Samaa Tv, which was recently bought by Aleem Khan, a leading Pakistani business tycoon and politician, has opened its office in Dubai as part of its expansion plans in Gulf and across the world. Samaa Tv will also soon launch its entertainment channel to cater to the needs of Urdu speaking viewers in the UAE and rest of the world.
“The success of Samaa among the viewers in Pakistan and abroad has encouraged us to scale up and expand it for Pakistanis living abroad and we opted to make our international headquarter in Dubai,” said Naveid Siddiqui, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Samaa TV while speaking at a reception hosted by the new management to announce the launching of Samaa hub in UAE.
The channel has retained its prominent position in the Urdu news space in Pakistan and the Middle East for the past 14 years.
“With the launch, we have just started re-enforcing and building our presence in the international markets and we intend to enter North American, Australia, New Zealand and UK by next year,” Siddiqui said, adding that Samaa has a footprint that extends across five continents, reaching over 26 million overseas Pakistanis from across the world. He said the TV will also become voice of overseas Pakistanis by covering their activities abroad.
Speaking to Gulf News, Siddiqui said that they would soon set up a digital newsroom in Dubai and have plan to hire young journalists to develop fresh content to cater to youth. “We have noticed that more youngsters in Pakistan are taking up journalism as their full-time profession and not just a part-time job as we was the case in the past,” he noted.
Mohammed Raziq, head of International Operations at Samaa TV in Duba, said: “We believe that Samaa brand is now well recognised beyond the borders of Pakistan for its balanced programming approach and editorial policies. Soon we will also be launching an entertainment channel which will have premium programming in line with our cultural values. We are now in the process sof finalising an amazing line-up of content that will again strengthen position us as a unique Pakistani brand with international flavour.”
The company, he added, is planning a marketing blitz using all forms of media, including television, radio, print and digital to create a buzz around its arrival in the international markets where Samaa will be distributed on a host of local telecom and pay TV brands.
As part of the launch in the UAE, Samaa TV also organisd a panel discussion with famous Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi; Samaa TV anchor Kiran Naz and Naveid Siddiqui, CEO of Samaa on the Role of Media in Shapping National Character.
Shahid Afridi has also joined Samaa TV team as Director Sports. His sports focused programme ‘Game, Set, Match’ is telecast from Monday to Frrdiay at 15.05 UAE time. He said that he would introduce new talent in cricket and other sports through his new programme on Samaa TV.
Speaking at the event, Afridi said: “ There should be programmes to educate and train journalists about the ethics of journalism in Pakistan as blackmailing in media is quite common. I have also come across many journalists who come with a mic without any home work and just want ‘breaking news’. Some of them even do not know what questions to ask. It is embarrassing.”
