ARAB WORLD / YouTube launches a channel showing Arabic TV series

The American video streaming giant, YouTube, owned by Google, has brought together 7,000 hours of Arab-made television series dating from 1962 to today.

Mosalsalat (“Series” in Arabic) gives free access from any country in the world to programmes made in the Middle East and North Africa. Of the 500 series available, half are Syrian, for example Taraef Al Arab, a comic anthology based on folk tales broadcast in 1982, or Bab Al Hara, a series broadcast on MBC1 since 2006.

To set up Mosalsalat, the Middle East / North Africa branch of Google has worked closely with the Al Watan Network, the Syrian rights holder for these programmes. It has also signed agreements with several of the region’s other broadcasters, including ERTU (Egypt), which has made available series such as Layali El Helmeya and Damir Abla Hekmat.

“We want people in the Middle East and North Africa to be able to watch the best of Arab television, whenever they want to. That’s why we launched Mosalsalat,” Zain Masri, Google’s Head of Marketing Middle East / North Africa, explained. “Over the past 50 years these programmes have made millions of people laugh and cry. We are proud to be able to digitise a part of this region’s heritage,”

In April 2015, YouTube launched another channel Aflam, this one for Arab cinema. With over a thousand films available, it currently has 152,000 subscribers.

Sources: Rapid TV News, Khaleej Times