MBC Group, formerly known as Middle East Broadcasting Center, is a Saudi media conglomerate based in the Middle East and North Africa region. Launched in London in 1991, the company moved its headquarters to Dubai in 2002 and to Riyadh in 2022.
The X Factor Arabia, originally aired on March 26, 2006, with the title XSeer Al Najah is the Arab version of The X Factor. The Arabic-language version of the program also created by Simon Cowell has a similar format to the British version, in that there are judges who each have a team of contestants to mentor and compete with each other for the X Factor title. The 14-episode first series was broadcast in 22 Arabic-speaking countries. In its debut, it was known as being one of the most watched programs on television and was produced and supported by Rotana, one of the largest production companies in the Arab World. The winner of XSeer Al Najah earned a chance to sign with Rotana. However, with the continuing success of the rival pan-Arab series Star Academy on Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC), XSeer All Najah lost most of its pan-Arab appeal and was discontinued after season 2. In 2023, season 5 was released.
Bab Al-Hara is one of the most popular television series in the Arab world, reportedly watched by millions of people in the Arab world. The series chronicles the daily happenings and family dramas in a neighborhood in Damascus, Syria in the inter-war period under French rule when the local population yearned for independence. The appeal is cross-generational, and viewers include Muslims, Christians, Druze and Jews from Arab countries. The show was a huge success in the Arab World, so MBC managed to renew it for a second season. The series' second season was even a bigger success, and the finale was watched by over 50 million viewers around the Arab World. It was renewed for 10 more seasons.
Gümüş is a Turkish melodrama originally broadcast in Turkey by Kanal D from 2005 to 2007 and very popular in Arab world with a name of Noor which has 85 million viewership on its last episode.
Mawqef Micro is a Syrian animated television series. It was Free Dome Media's second 2D cartoon animated production aimed at an adult audience. The first being Dr. Psycho.
Kalam Nawaem is a one-hour, female-hosted Arabic talkshow that airs late Sunday evenings on the satellite network MBC1. Premiering in 2002, it is credited with pushing social boundaries on Arab television. As of 2007, it was classed among the top-10 programs in the Arab world and commanded the highest ad rates on MBC. In a notable 2011 episode, the program hosted U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Arab Idol is an Arabic television show, based on the popular British show Pop Idol created by Simon Fuller's 19 Entertainment and developed by Fremantle Media and recorded in Beirut, Lebanon. The first season premiered on 9 December 2011. The show was broadcast worldwide on MBC 1 and simultaneously aired on LBC. The second season debuted on 8 March 2013, the third season on 5 September 2014, and the fourth season on 4 November 2016 on MBC.
Prince of Poets is a reality television poetry competition on the Emirati television network Abu Dhabi TV. It was created in April 2007 by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, and airs live from the Al Raha Beach theatre every week. The winner is awarded one million dirhams and a symbolic cloak and ring. Reflecting the pre-eminence of poetry in the Arab world, the programme's ratings overtook those of football and of other reality television programmes, with a studio audience of thousands and a television audience of millions. Its title comes from the epithet of Arabic-language epic poet Ahmed Shawqi.
Arabs Got Talent is an Arab reality television talent show broadcast by MBC 1 in the Arab world; it is produced by the MBC and was first broadcast on 14 January 2011. The show features contestants with a variety of talents, such as singing, break-dancing, comedians, magicians, and rapping. The show features three celebrity judges, popular in the Middle East. They currently are Lebanese singer Najwa Karam; the dean of the journalism school at the American University in Dubai Ali Jaber; and Ahmed Helmy, an Egyptian actor. The show's venue is in Lebanon.
Omar or Omar Farouk is a historical Arab television drama miniseries/serial produced and broadcast by MBC1, Hatem Ali serves as director, with Chadi Abo co-directing. Abo is best known for directing battle scenes and complicated visual effects projects. Co-produced by Qatar TV, the series is based on the life of Omar ibn al-Khattab, the second Caliph of Islam, and depicts his life from 18 years old until the moments of his death.
Television in Saudi Arabia was introduced in 1965, but is now dominated by just five major companies: Middle East Broadcasting Center, SM Enterprise TV, Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, Rotana and Saudi TV. Together, they control 80% of the pan-Arab broadcasting market. Saudi Arabia is a major market for pan-Arab satellite and pay-TV. Saudi investors are behind the major networks MBC, which is based in Dubai, and Emirates based OSN. The Saudi government estimated that in 2000 the average Saudi spent 50% to 100% more time watching television than his or her European or US counterpart. On average, 2.7 hours are spent daily watching TV in Saudi Arabia.
An Arab television drama or Arab soap opera is a television form of melodramatic serialized fiction. The musalsalat are similar in style to Latin American telenovelas. They are often historical epics about Islamic figures or love stories involving class conflict and intrigue. The word musalsal literally means "chained, continuous".
Farrah Yousef is a Syrian singer who was the first runner-up on the second season of the television program Arab Idol in 2013.
Desert Force Championship (DFC) was a mixed martial arts promotion company in the Arab world, which held most of the top-ranked Arab MMA fighters in the region. The championship has held ten televised events and presided over approximately 100 matches. DFC currently airs on MBC1 on a bi-monthly basis. In 2010 Desert Force launched the “Elimination Series”, a single-elimination tournament for Arab MMA fighters competing to become the first regional MMA title belt holders in 7 respective weight classes. Fighters from across the Middle East have competed in 7 weight classes, namely Bantamweights, Featherweights, Lightweights, Welterweights, Middleweights, Light-Heavyweights and Heavyweights; each class enforcing the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. Participating countries include: KSA, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq, Bahrain, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia. In recent years DFC fights have been officially refereed by MMA referee Yves Lavigne.
The Blue Elephant is a 2014 Egyptian drama/horror/mystery film produced and directed by Marwan Hamed in Cairo, Egypt. The story was originally translated into film from a 2012 Arabic novel written by the famous Egyptian writer Ahmed Mourad, and starring Egyptian actors Karim Abdel Aziz, Khaled El Sawy and Nelly Karim. The film talks about a man called Yehia, who unwillingly comes out of isolation after five years, to resume his service in El-Abbaseya psychiatric hospital, where he is in charge of evaluating the mental health of the criminally insane. It was followed by a sequel The Blue Elephant 2 released in 2019.
Al Hayba is an Arabic drama television series directed by Samer Al Barkawi and produced by Ziad El Khatib It has 5 seasons; and Taim Hasan, named "Jabal Sheikh Al Jabal" is the lead character in all 5 seasons. The series first aired on Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) to the Arab world on 27 May 2017. As an Arab Ramadan series, the drama is released during the month of Ramadan. Season 2 was released on MBC in May 2018. Netflix picked up season 1 and provided English, Chinese, Hebrew, French, Spanish, Turkish and Greek dubbing.
Saraya Abdeen is an Egyptian historical TV drama series, The first season was aired on MBC on 29 June 2014, written by Kuwaiti author Heba Meshari Hamada, directed by Amr Arafa, produced by Mahmood Shokri, and starring Qusai Khouli, Yousra, Nour, May Kassab, Ghada Adel and Nelly Karim. The series focuses on life of Isma'il Pasha who was the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan from 1863 to 1879, with his wives and concubines and their Intrigues on each other with their servants and slaves. A second season was released in April 2014 which was directed by Shadi Abu Al-Oyoun Al-Soud.
Shahid is an Arabic content-streaming platform operated by the Saudi state-owned MBC Group.
The 2022 Arab Cup U-20 was the sixth edition of the Arab Cup U-20. On 14 April 2022, the Union of Arab Football Associations granted Saudi Arabia the right to host. The tournament took place from 20 July to 7 August.
The 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup, officially named the 2023 King Salman Club Cup after Salman of Saudi Arabia, where the final tournament was hosted, was the 30th season of the Arab Club Champions Cup, the Arab world's club football tournament organised by UAFA.
