JEDDAH, 12 March 2007 — Saudi Arabia will soon allow the private sector to invest in the information sector, especially in radio stations. The Ministry of Culture and Information has completed a study on the project in association with the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority.
“We are now in the final stage of announcing how such investments can be made, especially in radio stations,” Culture and Information Minister Iyad Madani told reporters after inaugurating the new facilities at the television center in Jeddah late Saturday night.
“The ministry will set out a regulatory framework for private participation,” Madani explained. The ministry has received several applications for opening new radio stations. “We will review these applications after the system of granting licenses, now under way, has been completed,” he said.
Madani said that the launch of Saudi Arabian Television’s fifth channel would take place in the near future. At present the television has four channels: Channel One (Arabic), Channel Two (English) and the Al-Ekhbariya and Sports Channels.
He said steps would be taken to receive programs of all Saudi satellite channels without installing dish antennas. “The new television center in Jeddah is part of the ministry’s project to establish and upgrade television stations all over the Kingdom,” he told reporters.
Madani said the center has been equipped with advanced facilities. He emphasized the need for improving Saudi Arabia’s information agencies against its growing role in the comity of nations.
“We are now in the process of making an archive for Saudi television and radio programs that date back for many decades,” he said, adding that the project would cost about SR80 million.
He said the archive system would help related agencies to locate the program they need fast and without problems.
