Dubai, 18th April, 2012- A minor electrical shortage at Al Arabiya News Channel studio took place earlier this morning that caused a small fire in the news room, and eventually an evacuation of the staff at MBC Group, headquartered in Dubai Media City, for a limited period of time.

The electrical shortage was rapidly fixed, and the limited fire was extinguished immediately with the help and assistance of the Dubai Civil Defense, under the supervision of Dubai Media City authorities, with the support of MBC Senior Management and staff.

Now, and shortly after, business is back to normal, while noting that all MBC Group channels, including Al Arabiya News Channel, were not interrupted nor impacted during the shortage, and viewers did not feel any transmission disruptions.

-Ends-

About MBC Group
MBC Group is the first private free-to-air satellite broadcasting company in the Arab World which was launched in London in 1991 and later moved to its headquarters in Dubai in 2002. Over the past 20 years, MBC Group has grown to become a well-established media group that enriches people's lives through information, interaction and entertainment.  Based in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, MBC Group includes 10 television channels: MBC1 (general family entertainment), MBC2 and MBC MAX (24-hour movies), MBC3 (children's entertainment), MBC4 (entertainment for new Arab women), MBC Action (action series and movies), MBC Persia (24-hour movie channel dubbed in Farsi) , Al Arabiya (the 24-hour Arabic language news channel); Al Arabiya Al Hadath (an extension of Al Arabiya News Channel)； Wanasah (24-hour Arabic music channel) and MBC DRAMA coinciding with the Group's 20th anniversary, and offers 24/7 Arabic Drama; the Group also includes two radio stations: MBC FM (Gulf music), and Panorama FM (contemporary Arabic hit music); as well as O3 productions, a specialized documentary production unit.   It has also several online platforms: www.mbc.net, www.alarabiya.net, and www.shahid.net, the first free VOD portal in the Arab world.

As of July 2011, seven of MBC Group's channels began to air in HD across the MENA Region; the channels are: MBC 1, MBC 2, MBC 4, MBC Action, MBC Drama, MBC Max and Al Arabiya News Channel.

For further information please contact:
Ruba Al Ayed
Group PR Manager
MBC Group
Mobile: +971 56 6038358
Email: ruba.alayed@mbc.net
Website: www.mbc.net

© Press Release 2012