The BBC World Service is to go head-to-head with Al Jazeera when it launches a new Arabic-language television channel.

The BBC's Arabic channel, due to launch in 2007, forms part of a £30 million package of new initiatives unveiled by the broadcaster today. The move follows a request from the Foreign Office, which funds the World Service.

Money for the new channel will be made available in part through the closure of several of the BBC's eastern European radio channels. The decision signals the way the geopolitical landscape has shifted since the end of the Cold War, the World Service said.

The radio closures will involve more than 200 job losses.

The Arabic channel will be the first publicly-funded international TV service from the BBC and marks a departure for the World Service, which has traditionally been known for radio services.

The BBC claimed the move will make it the only major broadcaster who will provide a "tri-media" service in Arabic to the Middle East - using TV, radio and online for "sharing views and perspectives" across the region.

The channel will initially broadcast 12 hours a day and will be freely available to everyone with a satellite or cable connection in the Middle East. "Our research suggests there is strong demand for an Arabic television service from the BBC in the Middle East," the corporation said.

Nigel Chapman, the BBC World Service Director, said: "Many of the European services being closed had their roots in the Second World War and have served their audiences well right through the Cold War years."

"But Europe has changed, fundamentally, since the early nineties. Now the countries to which these languages are broadcast are members of the EU, or are likely to join soon."

Al Jazeera, the leading Arabic-language channel, has courted controversy by airing material from al-Qaeda-affiliated groups. It was itself founded in the wake of the collapse of BBC Arabic in 1996.

The earlier channel had been a joint venture between the World Service and the Saudi-owned broadcaster Orbit. After its demise many of its staff went to work for the Qatar-based Al Jazeera.

In July, Al Jazeera announced plans to launch a new English-language satellite service called Al Jazeera International in an attempt to provide news about the Middle East, especially Israel, from an Arab perspective.

Money saved from the Word Service restructuring will also be invested in expanding the World Service's online operations. The broadcaster plans to supply more reports in areas such as South America, Russia, south Asia and the Middle East.

Money will also be invested in radio, marketing and overseas offices bureaux. The World Service will also explore opportunities to work in partnership with other groups.

"The changes add up to the biggest transformation of BBC World Service that has been undertaken -- and one of the most far-reaching -- since the BBC began international broadcasting more than 70 years ago," Mr Chapman said.

Times Recommends

• C&G axed - 1,660 jobs to be lost
• UK house prices rise 1.1% as buyers return
• Mixed reaction to US banks repaying bailouts