Murdoch launches sexist channel

On Jan. 12 a new satellite channel aimed at “adultman” took to the airwaves. Regular programs include “G-string Divas” and a game show called “My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé.” On Jan. 15 it will be followed by two major magazine launches: Nuts, a weekly targeted at the same market, and Sorted, a monthly catering for “little lads” between the ages of 11 and 16. Zoo Weekly, which promises “girls, football and funny stuff” will follow.

The television channel, FX UK, is from Rupert Murdoch’s Fox stable. Among early highlights is “The Man Show,” described as “a woman-free zone, unless they’re in bikinis and bouncing on trampolines.”

Fox’s vice president of broadcasting and marketing for the UK, Jason Thorpe, said the channel would appeal to the “universal interests” of men aged 25-44. (Independent (UK))

Iraqi official threatens to overturn US contract

Iraq’s communications minister on Jan. 9 threatened to overturn a politically sensitive contract awarded to an American company to run Iraq’s national broadcasting service.

The Harris Corporation, a US manufacturer, was selected that day with the Lebanese Broadcasting Company and a Kuwaiti-Iraq group, Al-Fawares, to carry out a $100million, one-year contract to rebuild and operate a newspaper and a group of Iraqi television and radio stations used by Saddam Hussein’s regime.

But Haider Abadi, communications minister, said he was not consulted about the contract and threatened to overturn it when the US-led administration hands power to a sovereign Iraqi government in July.

The media contract has been a source of controversy for the US-led coalition. SAIC, a US defense contractor first recruited by the Pentagon, was widely criticized for poor quality and pro-American bias. Critics dubbed its television operation “the Pentagon’s Pravda” for its broadcasting of English-language press conferences with an Arabic voiceover.

Several prospective bidders, including the BBC, withdrew from the tendering process amid concern that the contract would not guarantee the independence of the broadcaster from state interference. Without firm regulations, broadcasters said they feared they would be subject to political influence. (Financial Times (UK))