In time when Disney is selling off Miramax for some $660 million and moving into social media, by agreeing to acquire the social-gaming destination on the Internet, Playdom, for about $563 million, another giant from the media industry is looking to expand in the Middle East.
Turner Broadcasting System, which is part of the Time Warner media conglomerate and operates TV channels as CNN and Cartoon Network, announced its plans to open an office in Dubai. The US company may also launch a local production centre in order to boost the amount of Arabic-language content it creates. How profitable this could be, time will only show.
The vice president and general manager for the MENA region at Turner Broadcasting System, Alan Musa, told The National that the company would open its Dubai office in the fourth quarter of this year at about the same time it started broadcasting its new free-to-air Cartoon Network Arabic channel.
The new office is part of Turner’s growing presence in the country. The company also plans to open a dedicated animation training academy at Abu Dhabi’s media production facility twofour54. But Mr Musa played down recent media reports that Turner had bigger plans for the Middle East. Earlier this year, Turner formed a collaborative licensing and development deal with Lammtara, the studio behind the popular animation series Freej.
