From Hollywood to Arabia

Here's one more reason to spend your evenings curled up in front of the telly – the launch of Fox Movies in the Middle East.

This free-to-air channel debuted on Thursday on the Nilesat (11.766 GHz Horizontal) and Arabsat (11.843 GHz Horizontal) bouquet of frequencies.

Fox Movies is a part of 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, which owns the rights to some of the biggest blockbusters ever made, including Titanic, X-Men and Horton Hears A Who!. The regional debut is the result of a strategic partnership between Saudi Arabia's Rotana Media Services (RMS), and American-owned Fox International Channels (FIC).

Nezar Nagro, President of RMS told Emirates Business: "Fox Movies is a channel for the movie lover and has been designed with our viewers' preferences in mind.

"Those who have enjoyed our other channels from Rotana can be assured that this new channel will live up to its promise of good content, great experience and even greater understanding of what viewers of this region are looking for."

According to Fox, the channel will present a mix of new, as well as a classic line-up of films, all of which will be subtitled in Arabic. Thursday's launch film was the classic hit Blade Runner: The Final Cut; and this week's line-up includes There's Something About Mary.

Ward Platt, President, Fox International Channels, Asia, said: "It gives us great pleasure to partner with the hugely successful RMS group to create Fox Movies, a smart, innovative and youthful TV brand customised for the region. This channel is going to bring a new experience to the region as it is special and innovative in its format, plus Fox is a popular television brand around the world."

Meanwhile, viewers will also get the chance to watch some movies without annoying advertising breaks.

Additionally, the channel also offers viewers plenty of interactive options to enhance their viewing experience. Fox Movies Select is a feature that allows viewers to text in their choice of movie from a list for that evening's entertainment, while the channel's website, www.foxmoviestv.com is a forum for the region's movie buffs to discuss the channel's latest releases, as well as enter competitions on offer.

While being quintessentially Hollywood, Fox Movies promises to make the region's viewing experience as lively as possible through local content.

The channel plans to do so by visiting different countries, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia.