The channel will be broadcast on both main satellite channels
operating in Egypt and will be accessible worldwide. It will initially
transmit in Arabic with some English and French programming and there
are plans to add content later in Urdu and Turkish. Azhari received
its initial 15 million Egyptian pounds funding from a Libyan
businessman and philathropist, Hassan Tatanaki.
Guindy told Reuters the plan really got going about a month ago, when he officiated at the wedding of Tatanaki’s daughter. “The
father of the bride and I forgot completely about that wedding and
started to talk about a new wedding, about how to introduce this new
channel to the rest of the world,” he said.
Guindy is hopeful that a new age, which he dubs the Age of Obama, is
dawning in which a dialogue between Islam and the West will flourish.
And he hopes his channel will play an important role in that
conversation. Yet for all his modern touches, Guindy retains a
deeply traditional side. He preferred to conduct our interview not in
English or everyday modern Arabic, but in precise classical Arabic.
Source: http://in.reuters.com/article/2009/05/31/idINIndia-39998720090531
