Dubai: Restaurants in the Gulf Arab region sometimes have gender-segregated dining areas. Men and women often sit apart in public. But segregated television?
Saudi-owned Middle East Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), one of the largest Arab media organisations, is planning to launch a new channel aimed at men.
MBC Action, the sixth channel in the MBC family, will target Arab males in the 18-25 age group when it goes on air on Monday.
Al Arabiya, an MBC-owned news network, introduced the new channel on a morning chat show this week as "for men only".
"Young Arab males want full-on action-oriented programming," said Mazen Hayek, MBC director of marketing and public relations.
"We want to create an offering that caters to the aspirations of the Arab male audience,” he said.
The new MBC Action channel will air Hollywood movies and popular series such as LOST, Prison Break and The 4400.
Hayek said such programmes could also appeal to female viewers and charges of sexism were misplaced since MBC already has another channel, MBC 4, which focuses on "women's issues".
"I think MBC is trying to market this channel as a males one just to grab attention and attract audiences," said Saudi actress Haifaa al-Mansour, who is also the conservative Muslim kingdom's first female filmmaker.
"Women like to watch action as well, so I don't believe it will really be for men only,” she added.
In Saudi Arabia, which follows a strict form of Islam, restaurants and cafes have separate seating areas for men and women. In other parts of the Gulf Arab world, women and men tend not to mix in public.
But will all the action programmes put the ladies off channel-hopping in the privacy of their homes?
"I would watch it. I do not care if it is branded as a males' channel. I will watch it for action, I love action," Natalie Abu al-Husun, a Lebanese woman.
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