Sky News Arabia

Sky News Arabia is a 24-hour Arabic-language news broadcaster headquartered in Abu Dhabi. Launched in 2012, it serves audiences across the Middle East and North Africa through television, digital and social platforms. Known for rolling news coverage and multimedia integration, it has positioned itself as a major regional news channel. During the 2025/26 cycle, its ownership structure changed fundamentally. The long-standing joint venture between Sky and the Abu Dhabi side ended, and International Media Investments (IMI) assumed full strategic and operational control of the channel, while Sky retained only a brand-licensing relationship.

Media assets

Television: Sky News Arabia

Radio: Sky News

Ownership and governance

Sky News Arabia launched in 2012 as a 50:50 joint venture between Sky, the UK broadcaster owned since 2018 by the US group Comcast, and the Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation, the investment vehicle controlled by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, with the Abu Dhabi-side stake held through International Media Investments (IMI). For more than a decade, the ownership structure gave both partners formal parity, and an editorial advisory mechanism was intended to insulate the newsroom from unilateral shareholder interference.

That structure ended during the cycle. In late May 2026, Sky and IMI announced the end of the joint venture. Under the new arrangement, IMI assumed full strategic and operational control of Sky News Arabia, while Sky relinquished ownership and operational involvement and retained only a multi-year brand-licensing agreement allowing the channel to continue using the Sky News Arabia name. As a result, the channel is now controlled by IMI, which is owned through the Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation and ultimately controlled by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Vice President, Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the Presidential Court and a senior member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family. This places the channel within the same ruling-family-controlled Abu Dhabi media investment structure as IMI’s other regional outlets.

The change followed months of scrutiny over the channel’s coverage of the war in Sudan. Critics alleged that Sky News Arabia’s reporting downplayed atrocities committed by the Rapid Support Forces, a force widely reported to have received support from the UAE, and Sudan had previously suspended the channel’s operations, alongside Al Arabiya and Al Hadath, citing concerns over professionalism, transparency and licensing. IMI and former Sky News Arabia executives have rejected the claim that the ownership change was driven by editorial concerns, presenting it instead as a commercial evolution.

Nadim Koteich, appointed General Manager of Sky News Arabia in January 2024, stepped down in December 2025. As of mid-2026, SMM did not identify a confirmed successor in a current primary source.

Source of funding and budget

Sky News Arabia does not publish granular financial data. Based on SMM-retained interviews with regional analysts and journalists familiar with the UAE media market, the channel is predominantly commercially funded, drawing revenue from advertising, sponsorship, branded content and digital activity. Earlier estimates attributed to Sky Group sources put its turnover at roughly US$108 million in 2021. Updated figures have not been made public, and no official budget disclosures have been issued since. With Sky’s exit from ownership and operations, the channel’s funding and investment now sit fully within the IMI structure.

Editorial independence

At its inception, Sky News Arabia established an editorial advisory committee intended to act as a firewall against interference by either shareholder, and the balanced ownership structure was the basis on which the channel had previously been assessed as operating with a degree of structural independence. That basis has been substantially weakened. With Sky’s exit from ownership and editorial or operational involvement, the independent foreign partner has been reduced to a brand licensor, and full strategic and operational control now rests with IMI, a ruling-family-controlled UAE media group whose other outlets align closely with official positions.

The Sudan-coverage controversy that preceded the split intensified questions about the channel’s alignment with UAE state interests. International media reported accusations that Sky News Arabia downplayed or contested evidence of RSF atrocities in Sudan, while Sudan suspended the channel in 2024 along with Al Arabiya and Al Hadath. These allegations are contested by IMI-linked figures and should be understood as part of the public controversy surrounding the channel rather than as a formal legal finding or an editorial finding by SMM.

There is no independent statutory mechanism or publicly verifiable editorial charter that now safeguards Sky News Arabia’s autonomy from its controlling owner. The channel therefore no longer has the ownership balance that previously supported its Independent State-Managed classification.

AI and digital policy

SMM found no evidence that Sky News Arabia has published a dedicated public AI governance or editorial-use policy as of mid-2026.

The channel has, however, publicly signalled substantial use of AI and advanced production technologies. In January 2025, Sky News Arabia moved into new headquarters in the IMI building on Yas Island, with studios described by IMI as equipped with AI-powered technologies for content creation and storytelling. The channel operates across television, digital and social platforms and has presented its new facilities as part of a wider shift toward modernised production and multimedia output.

Classification rationale

Sky News Arabia is reclassified for 2026 as Captured Public/State-Managed (CaPu), changed from Independent State-Managed (ISM) in prior SMM cycles. The earlier ISM classification rested on the channel’s balanced 50:50 Sky-IMI ownership, in which an independent international partner held equal formal say and an editorial firewall was intended to preserve operational autonomy.

The dissolution of the joint venture in 2026 removed that foundation. Sky has exited ownership and all operational involvement, retaining only a brand licence, and the channel is now strategically and operationally controlled by IMI, a CaPu entity controlled by a senior UAE official and member of the Abu Dhabi ruling family. With control now running to the state through ruling-family ownership, no balancing independent shareholder and no independent safeguard for editorial autonomy, Sky News Arabia no longer meets the criteria for ISM and is classified CaPu for the 2026 cycle.

June 2026