A 2009 edition of Dubai News Center from Dubai TV:
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Hey @Medianext.MX, you know the UK’s now defunct VH2 had its own countdown called the Indie 500, right?
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Dubai TV launched in June 2004, as part of a reorganisation of Dubai’s government-owned media outlets, which were spun-off into its own company, Dubai Media Incorporated; the reorganisation was intended to reposition these outlets into more competitive offerings to rival the existing pan-Arab satellite TV networks (specially MBC Group, which had just move to Dubai from London) and make these a promotional tool for Dubai’s new role as a global tourism destination. With the company focusing on TV, the radio stations and newspapers were transferred to Dubai Holding (the emirate’s sovereign fund) and integrated into a new holding, Arab Media Group.
Dubai TV has become known for its reliance on local programming, mostly internally produced, although it also airs dubbed Turkish and Indian serials, as well as appropriate Western movies (either dubbed and/or subtitled) and imported documentaries. The channel targets a large pan-Arab audience, with shows focusing on either cosmopolitan and/or more conservative Arabs. It also airs a large amount of news programming, all of which are branded as Dubai News Center.
The Dubai News Center, whilst serving as Dubai Media’s news department, it also serves as one of the emirate’s core news agencies, strictly promoting the events and developments of the city and its government. The newscasts come from a sprawling newsroom studio at the Dubai Media City. The original newsroom design came from Broadcast Design International.
The channel has currently (and historically had) some quite extravagant idents, reflecting Dubai’s role as a global luxury tourism destination and its future-proof strategy. The current batch of idents were made by Reem Emad and Yara Media. The music was composed and produced by Joe Dickinson for BKP Media Group.
Didn’t know about such. However, looking at it, it was a marathon done in November 2004. No word if it was repeated thereafter. I found this promo, however:
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Digital clock and first minutes of an edition of TVI’s Jornal Nacional from 24 October 2005, presented by Pedro Pinto.
12 years after axing Jornal Nacional to make way for Jornal das 8, TVI returned to the old name for its evening newscast this past week, coinciding with the network’s 30th anniversary celebrations. Here’s an excerpt (includes a bizarre launch promo):
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ORF in Austria just got a new set (still based on the design introduced in the 1990s), so here’s a look at its news opens from the 1950s to the present:
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Dubai NewsCenter certainly had a nice look presentation-wise, although that almost shouldn’t be surprising. But I guess this focus on itself is also part of why SBS (who took their bulletin for some years during WorldWatch) eventually switched to the France 24 Arabic bulletin for coverage in that language.
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This is no longer history, so it falls somewhat outside the scope of this thread, but since we’re on the subject of Dubai television, here’s a 2022 newscast from Dubai One (formerly Channel 33), Dubai’s local English language-channel; this edition is anchored by Katie Jensen, an Australian:
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What live tornado coverage looked like in 1973:
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As the new BBC News Channel will be launched at some point within the next few weeks/months, I think it would be good to see a retrospective on the soon to be former BBC News 24/Channel.
How BBC News 24 initially launched back in 1997:
The pioneer in 1999 with the first countdown sequence, and modern pips music - paving the way for BBC News presentation for 24 years ahead:
The day BBC News 24 became simply the BBC News channel (and frankly the last major BBC News relaunch for 15 years)
How the BBC News Channel looks today:
A few clips from the 20th anniversary special in 2017:
Here’s to the future of BBC News!
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Speaking of Dubai One, here’s an older signpost ident from the early 2010s:
The channel also launched as a response by Dubai Media to MBC 2, the Western content channel of the pan-Arab broadcaster (then focused on appropriate movies and series). Unlike Channel 33, which aired a mix of content targeting the expat population in the country, including a daily local news programme, imported cartoons, series, soap operas and Western and Bollywood films, Dubai One initially focused on Western general entertainment, with higher-end series and movies mostly from the US and the UK, all shown in its original soundtrack with Arabic subtitles. Additionally, the target audience was expanded to target cosmopolitan pan-Arab audiences.
Although the strategy was initially successful, MBC quickly responded by acquiring more high-end Western shows and launched a second channel for it, MBC 4 (with MBC 2 strictly focusing on movies). Additionally, protests from local viewers after the channel relaunch were addressed by Dubai Media shortly thereafter, including restoring the soap operas (especially The Bold and The Beautiful, which Channel 33 had aired since the 1980s, and was popular with a wide expat audience), Bollywood cinema and the daily local newscast (now as Emirates News).
Since then, and particularly as the promotion of Dubai as a global tourism hub increased, Dubai One has increased the number of local content, including coverage of current and religious affairs, plus local sports events, including the Dubai World Cup of horse racing and camel racing. It has currently less Western content in its schedule, but it has retained deals with many of the major American and Indian studios, whilst increasing the number of British content on its own offering, and also adding shows from other European countries, as well as Brazilian and Turkish series and soaps dubbed into English (some of which are also shown on Dubai TV in its Arabic translation). It also simulcasts live The Business Breakfast, the breakfast programme aired on Dubai Eye 103.8, which is the city’s main English-speaking talkback radio station.
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@Medianext.MX, you know the UK’s now-defunct The Amp had its own tongue-in-cheek promos, right?
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News opens from 1970s Atlanta; two of the news themes heard here made it to Australia:
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The episode aired in the US 40 years ago yesterday (February 28).
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BJ left the perfect note.
B.J.: I’ll see you back in the States, I promise. But just in case, I left you a note.
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This is how WBBM in Chicago covered the finale and the MAS*H parties held that evening:
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From 1993, the first few minutes of CTV’s Canada AM:
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Snippets of XHAW Monterrey’s newscast Notioro 12 from 1990, presented by veteran journalists Maria Julia Lafuente and Hector Benavides (both are still working at the station).
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Of course, XHAW eventually emerged as the flagship station of the Multimedios Televisión regional network. After originally focusing on northeastern Mexico, Multimedios has recently become a national player with Mexico City station XHTDMX and many others across the country. Its newscasts are even shown on some U.S. stations.
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Speaking of Mexico, here’s another clip of a station we’ve already talked about: English-language XETV, licensed to and with a transmitter above Tijuana, Mexico, but serving the San Diego market just across the border in the U.S. This sign-on is from 2008 and features both the Mexican and the U.S. national anthems as well as technical information given in both languages, followed by the morning news. Since signing on in the 1950s, Televisa’s XETV spent periods as an ABC affiliate, an independent, a Fox affiliate, and a CW affiliate. It ceased its English-language programming in 2017, and is now affiliated with the Canal 5 and Nueve networks, both owned by Televisa.
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NE Tonight was preceded by two regional news services: Tyne Tees Today for the main TTTV area, and a new Network North for the overlapping places between TTTV and YTV, who were corporate buddies at this point. Transdiffusion has more:
That didn’t work out, and it was later reformatted to Tyne Tees News, but retained the regional split. Notice how similar the opening music is to their predecessor:
… And to the successor North East Tonight, part of the big relaunch of Tyne Tees to Channel 3 North East. They poached Mike Neville, then from competing BBC Look North, as their anchorman:
Moving on, VCRBase in Hong Kong found the breakdown caption used during ATV’s infamous studio fire in 1987:
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The fire put a halt to all the operations in the station, to the point that their competitor, TVB, offered them offices and equipment to keep broadcasting. This is the news report from English-speaking ATV Diamond, made from the remaining newsrooms unscathed from the fire:
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