Asharq News

About Asharq News

Asharq News is an Arabic-language 24-hour television news channel and digital news service with a focus on regional and global economics, owned by the Saudi Research and Media Group (SRMG). Launched on 11 November 2020, it was conceived as a multiplatform news service for the Arab world, combining television reportage with digital innovation and powered by an exclusive content agreement with Bloomberg Media. Through "Asharq Business with Bloomberg", the channel draws on Bloomberg's global network of more than 2,700 journalists and financial analysts, giving Arabic-speaking audiences access to world-class business and markets coverage. Headquartered in Riyadh with major offices in Dubai and Washington DC and studios in Cairo and Abu Dhabi, Asharq News targets decision-makers, entrepreneurs and young professionals across the Middle East and North Africa. In the United Kingdom it is available on Freeview channel 260.

Overview

Asharq News — Arabic for "The East News" — is a Saudi-owned Arabic-language news channel broadcasting 24 hours a day with a distinctive emphasis on economics, business and financial markets. Unlike general news channels, it was designed from the outset as a service for audiences who need to understand the economic forces shaping the region and the world: investors, business leaders, policymakers and the growing class of young Arab professionals. The channel broadcasts from state-of-the-art studios, publishes across digital and social platforms, and produces an Arabic edition of Bloomberg Businessweek magazine. Its official website is asharq.com, with an English-language edition alongside the Arabic original. The service forms part of SRMG's Asharq network of brands, which spans news, business, documentaries and lifestyle content.

Launch

Asharq News launched on 11 November 2020, announced by the Saudi Research and Marketing Group (as SRMG was then known) as the start of a new journey in the Arab media landscape. From day one it was a multiplatform operation: a television channel and digital platforms launching simultaneously, promising 24/7 coverage of regional and global economic affairs with analysis of developments as they unfold. The launch combined television reportage with digital innovation, presenting technology-enabled content in multiple formats — a regional first, in the company's telling. Jumana Al-Rashed, the CEO of SRMG, said the launch marked a new and exciting phase for the Arab media landscape, arguing that keeping pace with unprecedented global change meant recognising the power of information and forging partnerships to harness it. The channel went on air into a crowded market, but its business-first positioning and Bloomberg partnership gave it an identity distinct from the general news channels.

Ownership: SRMG

Asharq News is a subsidiary of the Saudi Research and Media Group, one of the largest media groups in the Middle East. SRMG's portfolio spans newspapers — including the London-founded international daily Asharq Al-Awsat, established in 1978 and a pioneer of offshore Arabic newspaper publishing — magazines, digital platforms and now television. The group has undergone a far-reaching transformation strategy in recent years, repositioning itself from a print-led publisher into a diversified, digitally driven media company. Asharq News is the flagship of that transformation: the group's biggest investment in broadcast media and the centrepiece of its Asharq-branded network. The group's backing gives the channel substantial resources — international bureaux, advanced broadcast technology and the financial weight to sustain a 24-hour news operation — while its Saudi ownership places it within the kingdom's wider push to build global media influence.

The Bloomberg Partnership

The defining feature of Asharq News is its exclusive content agreement with Bloomberg Media, which powers "Asharq Business with Bloomberg", the channel's business news engine. Under the agreement, the Asharq Business and Bloomberg teams share access to Bloomberg's analysis and market data, and Asharq curates translated Bloomberg stories for its Arabic-speaking platforms — bringing the output of more than 2,700 Bloomberg journalists and financial analysts around the world to Arab audiences. Justin B. Smith, then CEO of Bloomberg Media Group, said the collaboration would deliver the best of Bloomberg's insights to a new audience of business decision-makers across the Arab world. The partnership has since expanded: SRMG and Bloomberg Media extended their agreement to launch Asharq Quicktake, a short-form video news service aimed at younger audiences, and to bring Bloomberg Invest to Riyadh. The channel also publishes an Arabic edition of Bloomberg Businessweek magazine, extending the partnership into print.

Programming

Asharq News delivers 24/7 news and business coverage aimed at decision-makers, entrepreneurs and young professionals across the Middle East and North Africa. The schedule blends rolling news bulletins with markets coverage, business interviews, economic analysis and documentaries, all presented in Arabic. Through Asharq Business with Bloomberg, viewers get Arabic-language reporting on global markets, companies and economies, drawing on Bloomberg's worldwide newsgathering. The channel's documentary output — including its History and Discovery strands — explores the economic and social forces shaping the region, while its talk programming convenes business leaders, economists and policymakers. Artificial intelligence features in the service's digital offering, with SRMG promising AI-powered services as part of the channel's technology-led approach to news presentation.

Headquarters and Bureau Network

Asharq News is headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with central offices in the Dubai International Financial Center in the United Arab Emirates and in Washington DC in the United States. It operates significant studios in Cairo and Abu Dhabi, alongside local offices and correspondents in capitals and key cities across the Arab world and globally. This network gives the channel a genuinely international newsgathering footprint: Riyadh anchors its Gulf and Saudi coverage, Dubai places it at the heart of the region's financial centre, Washington connects it to US economic policymaking, and Cairo and Abu Dhabi provide major Arab-world production hubs. The geographic spread reflects the channel's editorial proposition — that Arab business audiences need reporting from the world's financial capitals as well as their own.

Leadership

The chief executive of Asharq News is Nabeel Al-Khatib, a veteran Arab broadcast journalist who previously served as a senior executive at Al Arabiya — a pedigree that connects the channel to the first generation of pan-Arab satellite news. Al-Khatib's appointment signalled SRMG's intent to build the channel with experienced newsroom leadership drawn from the region's established broadcasters. At group level, the launch was driven by SRMG chief executive Jumana Al-Rashed as part of the group's transformation strategy. The channel's technology leadership has also been visible: chief technology officer Omran Abdallah has spoken publicly about the broadcaster's shift to cloud-based, software-defined infrastructure, positioning Asharq News as one of the most technologically advanced news operations in the region.

Technology and Innovation

Asharq News has invested heavily in broadcast technology as part of its strategy to operate with maximum reliability and flexibility. The broadcaster has moved from traditional monolithic playout systems to a cloud-native disaster-recovery architecture built on Grass Valley's AMPP Agile Media Processing Platform, deploying Playout X and Framelight X solutions for its channels. It launched disaster-recovery channels for its History and Discovery services in June 2025, followed by a third for its flagship news service in October 2025. The software-as-a-service model allows the channel to ensure business continuity from anywhere in the world without dependence on traditional hardware — a significant operational advantage for a 24-hour news service with bureaux across multiple continents. The investment reflects SRMG's broader ambition to build a future-ready, technology-led media operation.

Asharq News in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, Asharq News is available on Freeview channel 260, bringing its Arabic-language business news to British viewers free of charge. The UK's Arab community — including businesspeople, professionals and students with interests in Middle Eastern markets — forms a natural audience, while the channel's English-language digital edition at asharq.com serves non-Arabic speakers interested in the region's economic story. London's position as a global financial centre makes the UK a particularly relevant market for a business news channel: the overlap between the City's interests in Gulf markets and Asharq's coverage of regional economics gives the channel a distinctive relevance for British viewers. Its Freeview carriage places it alongside other international news services on the platform.

The Asharq Brand

Asharq News sits within a wider Asharq family of brands that draws on one of the most storied names in Arab journalism. Asharq Al-Awsat, the London-based international Arabic daily founded in 1978, pioneered the offshore model of Arabic publishing — using satellite transmission to print simultaneously across continents — and set the standard for international Arabic media. The Asharq name, meaning "the East", carries connotations of seriousness and pan-Arab ambition, and SRMG has extended it across television, business news, documentaries and digital video. Asharq News is the broadcast flagship of this brand architecture: the television expression of an editorial tradition that stretches back nearly half a century, now reinvented for the streaming era with Bloomberg-powered business journalism at its core.