CNBC to boost Middle East coverage with new show

The business station CNBC plans to launch a show dedicated to the Middle East, in the latest move by an international broadcaster to boost coverage of the region.

The planned show is a response to growing interest in regional investment, said John Casey, the vice president of international news and programming at CNBC.

"We've been covering the Middle East for a while. And it's a very compelling story for people outside of the region," said Mr Casey.

"It's a great opportunity of both looking at money going into the region, and money coming out of the region," he added.

"The more that that money finds its way into Swiss banks, or London property, or English football clubs - whatever it might be - the more interest there's gong to be worldwide and globally in the business story in the Middle East."

The fortnightly, 30-minute show will air on CNBC's feed in Europe, Middle East and Africa, which reaches more than 130 million homes, the channel said.

The channel is broadcast in English, and shares offices in Dubai with CNBC Arabia, its Arabic-language counterpart.

A number of international TV networks have boosted their presence in the Middle East in recent years.

In late 2009, CNN opened a hub in Abu Dhabi, from where the network broadcasts a daily live show.

And this April, Sky News Arabia, an Arabic version of the British news channel, is expected to start broadcasting from the UAE capital.

Mr Casey said CNBC's new show would "give the Middle East a proper home on our schedule."

"At the moment, the Middle East in terms of coverage - at least in Western media - is dominated by obvious things, and newsworthy things, like the Arab Spring," he said.

"Whilst we're not removed from that we have a particularly acute focus on who our viewer is - senior business leaders, financial professionals and investors. And I think they would like to hear from people in the region about what's going on."

Mr Casey said the new show - the title of which is yet to be confirmed - would be made in London and Dubai.

CNBC journalist Louisa Bojesen, who was in Abu Dhabi last week to cover the UAE Global Investment Forum, said there was an investment buzz about the region, in spite of the recent financial downturn.

"There's a sense of caution to Abu Dhabi - but it's a bullish caution," she said. "It seems to me that there is a buzz again - that of 'let's pick up where we left off'."