Abu Dhabi TV is an Emiratitelevision channel that was originally launched in 1969. It broadcasts from Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates and is owned by Abu Dhabi Media. Although it is a generic channel and not a 24-hour news network, Abu Dhabi TV is famous for its coverage of the 2003 Iraq War broadcast on Western news channels at the time. Abu Dhabi TV is managed by the United Arab Emirates' largest media group, Abu Dhabi Media. ADMC, the largest and most diversified media corporation in the Arab world, enjoys editorial and administrative independence while somewhat dependent on government and federal funding through its previous attachment to the Ministry of Information and Culture since 1999 and current attachment to Abu Dhabi Media in which the ministry was scrapped in February 2006. EMI operations currently include 3 satellite television channels, 7 radio channels and 3 press publications. Abu Dhabi TV presents news bulletins every three hours. It produces nearly 60% of the programs that it broadcasts, including political, current affairs, cultural, entertainment, drama, and documentary features. Abu Dhabi TV is broadcast throughout the Arab World, North America, Europe, South America, and Australia. The network is known throughout the Arab World for the popular show of Million's Poet.
History and rebranding
Abu Dhabi Television started black and white broadcasts in August 1969 and adopted the PAL format for color broadcasting on 4 December 1974; the station was only carried terrestrially in the United Arab Emirates for its first 23 years on the air. The Abu Dhabi TV satellite channel began regular broadcasts on 15 November 1992 on Arabsat A1; broadcasts were later transferred to Arabsat A2. The network also began to be carried through the entire Arabian Peninsula at that time. The network was relaunched on 30 January 2000 as a service aimed at the Arabic-speaking diaspora. Under this format, the channel began carrying a wide range of news programmes, as well as entertainment programs catered to Arabic audiences; as a result, it began to become competitive against rival networks MBC and Dubai TV. One of the network's most popular programmes was the game show :ar: وزنك ذهب|Waznak Dahab; the programme premiered on 16 September 2002 and was canceled in early 2003 due to an invasion of Iraq by the United States, which resulted in the beginning of the Iraq War. In October 2008, Abu Dhabi TV was rebranded with a new logo, theme and new original programming content. This rebranding involved the launches of an online website involving catch-ups of television programs and a 1080ihigh definition broadcast channel; which then featured bespoke idents in contrast to the standard-definition cast. The new themes were produced by graphic designers Lambie Nairn and the soundtrack was made by David Lowe, who produced the famous BBC News music. The rebrand also involved the launch of 'Abu Dhabi Sports', a group of eight sister channels with the inclusion of 'EDGE Sports' and 'YAS Sports'; all of which are currently broadcast 24/7. In the same year, PresidentKhalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued a decree ordering Abu Dhabi TV to be established as a public joint-stock company that is wholly owned by the government of Abu Dhabi. In 2009, Abu Dhabi Media relaunched and rebranded 'Emirates TV' as 'Abu Dhabi Al Emarat' after acquiring the network in 2007. Additionally, a UAE-based channel of National Geographic was additionally launched on 1 July of the same year. In 5 April 2010, sister channel Abu Dhabi Drama was launched; catering to free-to-air broadcasts of drama and soap opera television programs broadcast 24/7 without advertisement breaks. On 13 February 2012, Abu Dhabi TV shut down its analogue broadcasts on terrestrial television on 3 December 2013; therefore began broadcasting solely in high definition while existing standard definition casts were down-converted. On 22 March 2015, the network was once again rebranded back to the 'Abu Dhabi TV' name with a brand new logo and identity. On 19 February 2020, Abu Dhabi TV unveiled its logo after 4 years in use.
Abu Dhabi TV is additionally paired with sister channels such as Abu Dhabi Al Emarat, Abu Dhabi Al Riyadiya, "Abu Dhabi Drama" and Abu Dhabi Al Oula +1, a 1 hour time shifted variant of the station.
