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 Balkans Al Jazeera Balkans Al Jazeera Balkans (AJB) is an international news television station headquartered in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina aimed at the media markets of the countries that used to be constituent units of SFR Yugoslavia. It is part of the Al Jazeera Media Network. The station broadcasts in Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian 20 hours daily, with subtitled Al Jazeera English programmes being shown the remainder of the day. Al Jazeera Balkans is a sister channel of the Arabic language Al Jazeera and the English language channel Al Jazeera English. The station broadcasts news analysis and features as well as documentaries, live debates,