LONDON -- The news editor for the BBC World Service's new Arabic-language television station will be a former employee of its main competitor, Al Jazeera, the London-based corporation announced on Tuesday.
Salah Negm, 50, set up the news department at the Qatar-based satellite broadcaster and was a former director of news at the Al Arabiya channel in Dubai.
He has also worked for Al Ekhbariyah television in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain TV and is currently general manager with the Middle East Broadcasting Corporation in Dubai.
The BBC plans to launch BBC Arabic Television in 2007, 11 years after its previous foray into the Middle East television market ended in failure following editorial disagreements with its Saudi backers.
The venture, which will cost 19 million pounds Sterling ($32.9 million) a year to run, will offer the only tri-media - television, radio and online - service in the region, the broadcaster said.
Negm, a former BBC program editor, described the appointment as "the best job in broadcasting for me", adding: "I don't underestimate the challenge - or the competition in a crowded media marketplace."
He will work alongside the head of the BBC's Arabic Service, Hosam Al Sokkari.
BBC Arabic Television comes as Al Jazeera prepares to launch a 24-hour English-language channel this year.
