About UTV Iraq

UTV Iraq

UTV Iraq is an Iraqi satellite television network based in Baghdad that was launched on 24 April 2020. Broadcasting in Arabic in high definition, the channel was created with a deliberately youthful identity, aiming its mix of news, current affairs, entertainment, lifestyle and drama at the younger audiences who had filled Iraq's streets during the protest movement that began in October 2019, only months before the channel went on air. In a television market dominated by the state broadcaster and by channels founded in the first decade after 2003, UTV presented itself as a new-generation network, contemporary in style, active on digital platforms and willing to carry satire and critical discussion alongside entertainment.

The channel's first years tested that positioning. Its flagship talk programme was suspended by the authorities in 2022 after a satirical segment criticising the army, its journalists were assaulted and detained while covering protests in Baghdad the same year, and one of its best-known presenters faced a lawsuit over remarks made on air in 2023. UTV's early history is therefore both the story of a modern entertainment-led network and a case study in the limits placed on critical broadcasting in Iraq.

Launch and ownership

UTV was launched in 2020 by Sarmad Khanjar. Contemporary Arabic reporting on the launch identified the channel's owner as the son of the Iraqi politician Khamis al-Khanjar, a prominent Sunni political figure, and the Committee to Protect Journalists has likewise described UTV as owned by the son of Khamis al-Khanjar. The channel's general manager is Ali Ojam. Its launch, on 24 April 2020, came during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the immediate aftermath of the mass protests that had reshaped Iraqi politics, a context that informed its emphasis on youth, public affairs and social issues.

Ownership by a politically connected family is the norm rather than the exception in Iraqi satellite television, where most major channels are financed by parties, movements or businessmen with political interests. UTV's distinctiveness lay less in its ownership model than in its branding and programme strategy, which sought to package news and discussion in formats designed for viewers accustomed to social media, and to stream its output live through its website, utviraq.net, alongside its satellite signal.

Broadcasting and reach

UTV broadcasts worldwide via satellite and the internet, in Arabic, with a picture format of 1080i high-definition television. Its headquarters are in Baghdad. The channel operates a live stream through its website and maintains an active presence on social media platforms, where clips of its talk shows and entertainment programmes circulate widely. That digital circulation matters to its story: the controversies that have defined the channel's public profile, from the suspension of its flagship talk show to lawsuits against its presenters, have been driven as much by excerpts shared online as by the original satellite broadcasts.

Programming

UTV's schedule combines news and current affairs with entertainment, cultural and lifestyle programming. Its listed programmes include the Melon City Show, U Trending, U Tour and Stars on UTV, entertainment and magazine formats that reflect the channel's youth orientation; a Good Morning Show; the sport programme Hattrick; and Iraq GT. Cultural and public affairs strands include In Details with Natiq, Private Testimonies, Small Communities and The Good Generation, while Mayo Clinic Studio brings a health format to the schedule. The channel has also carried children's and family programming, including Iftah Ya Simsim and Ahlan Simsim, the Arabic adaptations of Sesame Street, and animated series such as Johnny Test, Looped, Slugterra and Inspector Gadget.

Signature talk formats

Two talk formats stand out in the channel's public record. Truth Be Told with Adnan Taji gave a platform to the presenter Adnan al-Ta'i, whose outspoken questioning of religious and political figures brought him both a following and legal trouble. With Mulla Talal, hosted by the journalist Ahmed Mulla Talal, became the channel's signature political programme, mixing interviews with politicians and analysts about the news of the day with satirical segments, a combination that would bring it into direct conflict with the Iraqi state.

With Mulla Talal and the 2022 suspension

With Mulla Talal aired weekly editions discussing daily news and Iraqi politics, and during Ramadan it ran daily episodes that included satirical sketches. In one such segment, broadcast during Ramadan in 2022, the actor Iyad al-Tayee appeared dressed as an army brigadier general in a sketch that criticised corruption in the Iraqi army. The Ministry of Defense filed a complaint, and Iraq's Communications and Media Commission suspended the programme, calling the segment a clear insult to the Iraqi army and all its members, a threat to the army's cohesion and incitement and hate speech against the army. The order required the segment to be removed from UTV's social media platforms and an apology to be issued to the military; by 6 April 2022 the episode no longer appeared on the channel's website or social media pages.

UTV responded that it had been a mistake not to separate the satirical segment more clearly from the programme's journalism, but it called the suspension arbitrary and professionally unacceptable, insisting that the programme had not incited violence or hatred, had not broadcast false news, and had been critical and satirical in intent. Ahmed Mulla Talal refused to apologise, writing that Iraq had moved from a stage of corruption and failure to one of corruption, failure, muzzling and dictatorship. The Committee to Protect Journalists documented and criticised the suspension, which became one of the most cited examples of regulatory action against satire in Iraq.

Protest coverage and pressure on journalists

UTV's journalists have also faced physical pressure while reporting. In August 2022, during the political crisis that saw supporters of the Sadrist movement occupy the area around Iraq's parliament, Iraqi security forces assaulted and detained journalists covering the Baghdad protests, a wave of incidents documented by the Committee to Protect Journalists in which UTV's reporting operation was among those affected. The episode fit a pattern, seen across Iraqi media since 2019, in which street reporting during unrest carries risks from security forces and armed groups alike.

The lawsuit against Adnan al-Ta'i

The channel's presenters have faced legal pressure as well. In February 2023 a defamation-style lawsuit was filed against Adnan al-Ta'i, the UTV presenter, over an episode of his programme broadcast on 13 February 2023 in which he questioned whether poems by the religious eulogist Basim al-Karbalaei incited sectarian strife and asked why the law did not hold him accountable. Al-Ta'i told the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights that he had received countless threats and believed his life was in danger, while one of the complainants' lawyers publicly linked his on-air question to a terrorist attack that struck the Tarmiyah district north of Baghdad days after the broadcast. The case illustrated how commentary touching religious figures can expose Iraqi broadcasters to both litigation and threats beyond the courtroom.

Position in the Iraqi market

UTV entered a market in which dozens of Iraqi satellite channels compete, most of them older and many of them explicitly party-affiliated, alongside the state network Al Iraqiya and pan-Arab broadcasters. Its strategy of HD presentation, youth-skewing entertainment and talk formats built for social media sharing distinguished its brand, and Arabic commentary at its launch described it as a young and lively media platform suited to Iraq's future. Its programming choices, from Sesame Street adaptations for children to motoring and sport formats, reflect an attempt to hold a general audience rather than a purely political one.

At the same time, the channel's defining public moments have been political: the suspension of With Mulla Talal, the assaults on journalists covering the 2022 unrest and the lawsuit against Adnan al-Ta'i. Those episodes are not incidental to UTV's identity; they demonstrate how, in Iraq, even an entertainment-led network's talk programming becomes a site of negotiation between broadcasters, regulators, ministries and religious constituencies.

UTV Iraq today

UTV continues to broadcast from Baghdad by satellite and live stream, with a schedule spanning news, talk, entertainment, lifestyle, sport and children's programming, and with Ali Ojam as its general manager. Its website offers live viewing and programme information, and its presenters remain prominent voices in Iraqi public debate. As one of the youngest of Iraq's major satellite networks, founded a full generation after the first post-2003 channels, UTV represents the direction of Iraqi television in the streaming era: digitally native, youth-focused and entertainment-led, but still operating within the regulatory and political constraints that have shaped Iraqi broadcasting since its beginning.