Jordan's first privately owned TV station goes public

The company which was established as a limited liability entity in 2004 decided to become a public shareholding company earlier this year. ATV will be the first Arab channel in the region to do so.

Mohammed Alayyan, ATV's chairman, explained:

"This is a pioneering step on a regional level, aimed to enable the viewer and make him play a decisive role in the station. ATV will be subject to the transparent mechanisms of the market; this in turn will encourage excellence in performance, and attain the best profits and management."

Alayyan added: "the channel will acquire a wide base of shareholders whom in turn would be its audience, its judge and supporter. This added value would create a basis for communication and transparency that we seek to build with a large anticipating audience."

Recently ATV has been piloting its broadcasts. Mohannad Al-Khatib, Managing Director of ATV, stated: "the pilot broadcast has reached six and half hours per day. The broadcast has main newscasts and a number of live and recorded programs." He added:" this step aims to examine the technical aspects and the readiness of all systems including transmission, scheduling and archiving. Al-Khatib expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of the transmission describing it as "very promising."

Commenting on the readiness of the channel, Al -Khatib said that the news room is 95% ready and the news studio is technically ready for broadcast. He added that the newscasts are currently broadcast on time. ATV's news team has been able to come up with many scoops, even before the official broadcast starts. The crew has reached scenes of events quickly and effectively on many occasions, some international news agencies and regional television networks have approached ATV for footage. Al-Khatib explained
ATV employees receive ongoing training, various team members have participated in training workshops and seminars abroad. The News team has participated in training workshops in Germany, France and Denmark. Amman, has also been witness to many workshops with more than a hundred journalists attending.

Regarding ATV's much awaited launch, Al Khatib explained that such delays are normal in a project of this size; the project has a large and complex infrastructure. He also added that many similar media projects have faced delays but reiterated that the project is in its final stages.

ATV's mission is to entertain, inform, and to contribute to the development of a professional press culture in the Arab world. By focusing on local affairs as its competitive edge, it will be closer and more relevant to Jordanian viewers.