Abu Dhabi Media Company
Encyclopedia
Abu Dhabi Media is a media company with its headquarters in Abu Dhabi
, capital of the United Arab Emirates
. As of June 2009, it owns Abu Dhabi Television, Abu Dhabi Sports Channel
, Emirates Television Channel, Abu Dhabi Radio, Emarat FM Radio, Vevo
, Holy Quran Radio, Sawt Al Musiqa Radio, Al Ittihad
newspaper, Zahrat Al Khaleej magazine, Super magazine, Majid magazine, The National
newspaper, Imagenation and other businesses including the United Printing Press It also distributes a number of publications licensed from external suppliers, notably from the National Geographic Society
.
(wholly owned by the government of Abu Dhabi) from the assets of Emirates Media Incorporated. The law was passed to permit more comprehensive mass media development in the emirate. The emirate's leaders also wished to reposition Abu Dhabi as a cultural hub of the Middle East
, and focus attention on Abu Dhabi as the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Decision No. 32, issued by Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Crown Prince
of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces), formed the five-member board of directors, which include Sheikh Al Nahyan, Mohammad Khalaf Al Mazroui (chair of the board), Ahmad Ali Al Sayegh
(deputy chairman), Mohammad Omar Abdullah, Mubarak Hamad Al Muhairi, and Abdullah Musleh Al Ahbabi. The company's initial capitalization was Dh
100 million (about $27.3 million in inflation-adjusted 2009 U.S. dollars). Riyad al-Mubarak was named the company's chief executive officer.
, in August 2007 (although the paper did not debut until April 2008). Martin Newland
, former editor of The Daily Telegraph
, was named the newspaper's first editor. The newspaper was given five years before it had to produce a balanced budget. A year later, in October 2008, the company appointed Gavin Dickinson its executive director of publishing, with authority over the media firm's newspapers, its United Printing and Publishing printing company, and its publication distribution business.
In early 2008, the company launched Abu Dhabi TV
. Karim Sarkis (formerly of the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation
), was named its executive director, and Ricky Ghai (previously executive vice president of programming at Orbit, was named the executive director of digital media. When it debuted, Abu Dhabi TV was the 20th most-watched Arab satellite channel, but soon reached 7th or 8th within a few months (in particular, based on the strength of its Million's Poet
show). October 2008 saw the company announce the creation of the Abu Dhabi Media Zone—a 200,000 square meter campus for foreign media companies. CNN
, HarperCollins
, Random House
, the BBC, The Financial Times and the Thomson Reuters Foundation
agreed to establish operations on the site, with several of the companies offering training in journalism
and filmmaking
for Arab students.
The company expanded heavily in motion pictures soon thereafter. It hosted the first 10-day Middle East International Film Festival
in October 2007. The festival is led by Peter Scarlet, formerly the creative director at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival
. In May 2008 the company signed an agreement with Toonz Academy, a traditional
and computer animation
company based in Thiruvananthapuram
, Kerala
, India
, to establish an animators' training center in Abu Dhabi.
In September 2008, the company established a subsidiary, Imagenation, with access to more than $1 billion with which to finance film production. The company named former Walt Disney Pictures
executive Edward Borgerding as its Chief Executive Officer
, and veteran motion picture production executive Stefan Brunner as its Chief Financial Officer. Later in September, Imagenation signed a multibillion-dollar agreement to produce films, television shows, documentaries, and other media Warner Bros.
The deal set aside $500 million for film production and $500 million for video game production, and included agreements for both companies to develop real estate, theme parks, and new media projects as well. A side agreement created a separate investment fund for Arab-language films. Later the same month, the company announced a $250 million production pact with U.S.-based Participant Media, which produces socially relevant films and television specials. Imagenation announced a $100 million joint production agreement in October 2008 with the National Geographic Films
to finance 10-15 feature films over five years, and followed up a month later with a $250 million deal with Ashok Amritraj
's Hyde Park Entertainment to develop 20 feature films over seven years. But the billion-dollar Warner Bros. deal produced only one film (Robert Rodriguez
's Shorts
) and a number of video game titles in its first 18 months. Problems with the deal included its lack of details and the 2008-2009 credit crunch, and the possibility that Warner Bros. was not offering Abu Dhabi Media Company first look at its prime motion picture vehicles. The National Geographic deal, however, proved less problematic. In January 2009, Imagenation announced that director Peter Weir
will direct The Way Back
, a drama starring Colin Farrell
and Ed Harris
based on the true story of a group of soldiers in World War II
who escape from a Siberian
gulag
in 1942.
Beginning in 2007, the company began hosting "Circle", an annual conference dedicated to the financing
and production of motion pictures, and to the training of producers
, directors
, editors
, and other film technical personnel and acting talent.
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi , literally Father of Gazelle, is the capital and the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates in terms of population and the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western...
, capital of the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
. As of June 2009, it owns Abu Dhabi Television, Abu Dhabi Sports Channel
Abu Dhabi Sports Channel
Abu Dhabi Al Riadhia is an Arabic television station It broadcasts from Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates and is owned by Abu Dhabi Media Company...
, Emirates Television Channel, Abu Dhabi Radio, Emarat FM Radio, Vevo
Vevo
Vevo is a music video website. It is a joint venture among Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, and Abu Dhabi Media with EMI licensing its content to the group without taking an ownership stake. The service was launched officially on December 8, 2009...
, Holy Quran Radio, Sawt Al Musiqa Radio, Al Ittihad
Al-Ittihad (newspaper)
Al-Ittihad is an Arabic language newspaper published daily in the United Arab Emirates....
newspaper, Zahrat Al Khaleej magazine, Super magazine, Majid magazine, The National
The National (Abu Dhabi)
The National is a government-owned English-language daily newspaper published in Abu Dhabi. The editor-in-chief since June 8, 2009 has been Hassan Fattah. Prior to this, and from the launch of the newspaper Martin Newland was editor-in-chief. Mubadala Development Company, an investment company...
newspaper, Imagenation and other businesses including the United Printing Press It also distributes a number of publications licensed from external suppliers, notably from the National Geographic Society
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
.
Incorporation
The company was created in June 2007 by Law No 13 of 2007 as a joint stock companyJoint stock company
A joint-stock company is a type of corporation or partnership involving two or more individuals that own shares of stock in the company...
(wholly owned by the government of Abu Dhabi) from the assets of Emirates Media Incorporated. The law was passed to permit more comprehensive mass media development in the emirate. The emirate's leaders also wished to reposition Abu Dhabi as a cultural hub of the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, and focus attention on Abu Dhabi as the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Decision No. 32, issued by Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan (Crown Prince
Crown Prince
A crown prince or crown princess is the heir or heiress apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The wife of a crown prince is also titled crown princess....
of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces), formed the five-member board of directors, which include Sheikh Al Nahyan, Mohammad Khalaf Al Mazroui (chair of the board), Ahmad Ali Al Sayegh
Ahmad Ali Al Sayegh
Ahmad Ali Al Sayegh is a prominent businessman in Abu Dhabi. United Arab Emirates, the CEO of Dolphin Energy Limited .He also serves in a number of other key capacities in Abu Dhabi: Board Member of the UAE Offsets Group , Deputy Chairman of First Gulf Bank , Member, Board of management Abu...
(deputy chairman), Mohammad Omar Abdullah, Mubarak Hamad Al Muhairi, and Abdullah Musleh Al Ahbabi. The company's initial capitalization was Dh
United Arab Emirates dirham
The dirham is the currency of the United Arab Emirates. The ISO 4217 code for the United Arab Emirates dirham is AED. Unofficial abbreviations include DH or Dhs. The dirham is subdivided into 100 ....
100 million (about $27.3 million in inflation-adjusted 2009 U.S. dollars). Riyad al-Mubarak was named the company's chief executive officer.
Activities
One of the first acts the new company took was to launch Abu Dhabi's first English newspaper, The NationalThe National (Abu Dhabi)
The National is a government-owned English-language daily newspaper published in Abu Dhabi. The editor-in-chief since June 8, 2009 has been Hassan Fattah. Prior to this, and from the launch of the newspaper Martin Newland was editor-in-chief. Mubadala Development Company, an investment company...
, in August 2007 (although the paper did not debut until April 2008). Martin Newland
Martin Newland
Martin Newland is a British journalist and editor of The National, a national newspaper in Abu Dhabi. Previous to that, he was editor of The Daily Telegraph, a British broadsheet newspaper, from 2003–2005, replacing Charles Moore...
, former editor of The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, was named the newspaper's first editor. The newspaper was given five years before it had to produce a balanced budget. A year later, in October 2008, the company appointed Gavin Dickinson its executive director of publishing, with authority over the media firm's newspapers, its United Printing and Publishing printing company, and its publication distribution business.
In early 2008, the company launched Abu Dhabi TV
Abu Dhabi TV
Abu Dhabi Al Oula is an Arabic television station that originally launched in 1969 but was re-launched in 2000 and again in 2008. It broadcasts from Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates and is owned by Abu Dhabi Media Company...
. Karim Sarkis (formerly of the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation
Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation
The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation , widely known as LBC, is the first private television station in Lebanon. It went global in 1996 when it launched its satellite channel LBC Al-Fadha'iya Al-Lubnaniya covering the Arab World. It now has several channels covering Europe, America, Australia, and...
), was named its executive director, and Ricky Ghai (previously executive vice president of programming at Orbit, was named the executive director of digital media. When it debuted, Abu Dhabi TV was the 20th most-watched Arab satellite channel, but soon reached 7th or 8th within a few months (in particular, based on the strength of its Million's Poet
Million's Poet
Million's Poet is a reality television show on the United Arab Emirates television network Abu Dhabi TV and the The Million's Poet Channel. The show is a competition for the most talented poet in Arabic poetry with prizes for the top 5 poets ranging from AED 1 to 5 million . The show is taped at...
show). October 2008 saw the company announce the creation of the Abu Dhabi Media Zone—a 200,000 square meter campus for foreign media companies. CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, HarperCollins
HarperCollins
HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...
, Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
, the BBC, The Financial Times and the Thomson Reuters Foundation
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation is a provider of information for the world's businesses and professionals and is created by the Thomson Corporation's purchase of Reuters Group on 17 April 2008. Thomson Reuters is headquartered at 3 Times Square, New York City, USA...
agreed to establish operations on the site, with several of the companies offering training in journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
and filmmaking
Filmmaking
Filmmaking is the process of making a film, from an initial story, idea, or commission, through scriptwriting, casting, shooting, directing, editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a theatrical release or television program...
for Arab students.
The company expanded heavily in motion pictures soon thereafter. It hosted the first 10-day Middle East International Film Festival
Middle East International Film Festival
Abu Dhabi Film Festival is an international film festival. Created in 2007, the ceremony is held annually in October in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage , under the patronage of Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of the ADACH...
in October 2007. The festival is led by Peter Scarlet, formerly the creative director at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
. In May 2008 the company signed an agreement with Toonz Academy, a traditional
Traditional animation
Traditional animation, is an animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand...
and computer animation
Computer animation
Computer animation is the process used for generating animated images by using computer graphics. The more general term computer generated imagery encompasses both static scenes and dynamic images, while computer animation only refers to moving images....
company based in Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram , formerly known as Trivandrum, is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala and the headquarters of the Thiruvananthapuram District. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland...
, Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, to establish an animators' training center in Abu Dhabi.
In September 2008, the company established a subsidiary, Imagenation, with access to more than $1 billion with which to finance film production. The company named former Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...
executive Edward Borgerding as its Chief Executive Officer
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
, and veteran motion picture production executive Stefan Brunner as its Chief Financial Officer. Later in September, Imagenation signed a multibillion-dollar agreement to produce films, television shows, documentaries, and other media Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
The deal set aside $500 million for film production and $500 million for video game production, and included agreements for both companies to develop real estate, theme parks, and new media projects as well. A side agreement created a separate investment fund for Arab-language films. Later the same month, the company announced a $250 million production pact with U.S.-based Participant Media, which produces socially relevant films and television specials. Imagenation announced a $100 million joint production agreement in October 2008 with the National Geographic Films
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
to finance 10-15 feature films over five years, and followed up a month later with a $250 million deal with Ashok Amritraj
Ashok Amritraj
Ashok Amritraj is an Indian American film producer, former tour professional tennis player, and chairman of Hyde Park Entertainment.-Professional tennis:...
's Hyde Park Entertainment to develop 20 feature films over seven years. But the billion-dollar Warner Bros. deal produced only one film (Robert Rodriguez
Robert Rodriguez
Robert Anthony Rodríguez is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, editor and musician. He shoots and produces many of his films in his native Texas and Mexico. He has directed such films as Desperado, From Dusk till Dawn, The Faculty, Spy Kids, Sin City, Planet...
's Shorts
Shorts (film)
Shorts is a 2009 family comedy/adventure film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. It was released in the United States on August 21, 2009...
) and a number of video game titles in its first 18 months. Problems with the deal included its lack of details and the 2008-2009 credit crunch, and the possibility that Warner Bros. was not offering Abu Dhabi Media Company first look at its prime motion picture vehicles. The National Geographic deal, however, proved less problematic. In January 2009, Imagenation announced that director Peter Weir
Peter Weir
Peter Lindsay Weir, AM is an Australian film director. After playing a leading role in the Australian New Wave cinema with his films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave and Gallipoli, Weir directed a diverse group of American and international films—many of them major box office...
will direct The Way Back
The Way Back
The Way Back is a 2010 drama film about a group of prisoners who escape from a Siberian Gulag camp during World War II. The film is directed by Peter Weir from a screenplay also by Weir and Keith Clarke, inspired by The Long Walk , a book by Sławomir Rawicz, a Polish POW in the Soviet Gulag. It...
, a drama starring Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell
Colin James Farrell is an Irish actor, who has appeared in such film as Tigerland, Miami Vice, Minority Report, Phone Booth, The Recruit, Alexander and S.W.A.T....
and Ed Harris
Ed Harris
Edward Allen "Ed" Harris is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Appaloosa, Radio, The Rock, The Abyss, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, and The Truman Show. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies...
based on the true story of a group of soldiers in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
who escape from a Siberian
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
in 1942.
Beginning in 2007, the company began hosting "Circle", an annual conference dedicated to the financing
Film finance
Film finance is an aspect of film production that occurs during the development stage prior to pre-production, and is concerned with determining the potential value of a proposed film...
and production of motion pictures, and to the training of producers
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
, directors
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
, editors
Film editing
Film editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
, and other film technical personnel and acting talent.