Al Jazeera Media Network 1 November 1996 following the closure of the first BBC Arabic language television station, then a joint venture with Orbit Communications Company, owned by Saudi King Fahd's cousin, Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud. The BBC channel had closed after a year and a half when the Saudi government attempted to thwart a documentary pertaining to executions under sharia law. The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa, provided a loan of QAR 500 million ($137 million) to sustain Al Jazeera through its first five years, as Hugh Miles detailed in his book "Al Jazeera: The Inside Story of the Arab
Al Jazeera Urdu time. It would have been the first Al Jazeera news channel with a partnership and therefore not totally controlled by Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera Urdu Al Jazeera Urdu (Arabic: الجزيرة أردو, Urdu: الجزیرہ اردو) was a 24-hour news channel announced by Al Jazeera in 2006. It would have been an Urdu language version catering mainly to India, offered as part of the Zee Entertainment Enterprises. The channel has yet to be launched in spite of rapid expansion of the Al Jazeera Network, four other news channels Al Jazeera English launched in 2006, Al Jazeera Balkans launched in 2011, Al Jazeera