SARAJEVO, Nov 11, 2011 (AFP) - Pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera is to start broadcasting its regional Balkans programming on Friday from the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, an official said.
"We were training for months to achieve the Al-Jazeera standards that our public can experience from now on," Al-Jazeera Balkans channel director Tarik Djodjic told AFP, adding that the channel would go on air at 6:00 pm (1700 GMT).
Al-Jazeera Balkans hopes to fill a void with a regional news broadcast in Serbo-Croat, which is spoken throughout the former Yugoslav countries.
It will tap into a regional audience of over 20 million people as well as a large diaspora from each of the six former Yugoslav republics, particularly in western Europe.
Apart from its main studio in Sarajevo, Al-Jazeera has opened branches in three other Balkan capitals -- Belgrade, Skopje and Zagreb.
The Qatar-based channel last year bought NTV 99 television in Sarajevo for some 1.2 million euros ($1.6 million).
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