TV channels Qatar

Qatar is a small Gulf state whose television footprint is anything but small. From Doha came the network that rewrote Arab news, alongside a state broadcaster that has served the country since 1970, national general-interest channels and an Islamic religious service.

The State Broadcaster

Qatar Television began regular transmissions on 15 August 1970, the first television service in the country to produce and broadcast its own programmes. Run today by the Qatar Media Corporation, it mixes news, economic bulletins, documentaries, religious programming and entertainment. Qatar Television 2 is its second channel, widening the state service with additional general programming.

Al Jazeera: Doha's Global Network

Al Jazeera Arabic launched on 1 November 1996 and broke the state-broadcaster monopoly on Arab news, growing into the most influential Arabic-language news channel in the world. Al Jazeera English followed on 15 November 2006 as the first global English-language news channel headquartered in the Middle East, known for frontline reporting from conflict zones. Al Jazeera Mubasher, on air since April 2005, is the network's live channel: press conferences, parliamentary sessions and public events carried raw and unedited - the name itself means "live". Al Jazeera Documentary Channel, launched in January 2007, was the first channel in the Arab world devoted entirely to documentaries. And Jeem TV is the network's children's screen, begun in 2005 as the Al Jazeera Children's Channel and watched today by young viewers across the Arab world.

National and Faith-based Channels

Al Rayyan Channel is the Qatari general-interest station of Al Rayyan Media, with programming tied to national life, and its companion Al Rayyan Al Qadeem TV keeps the company's earlier productions and heritage material on air. Al Resoul TV rounds out Qatari broadcasting on the religious side: an Islamic channel of Quran recitation, teaching and cultural programmes in Arabic.

Together these stations map a television scene that runs from a children's cartoon in Arabic to a live parliamentary session, and from the evening bulletin of a Gulf state to breaking news carried to every continent.