Quest Arabiya, the locally licensed version of Discovery Networks' Quest TV, operated by Abu Dhabi-based Channel Ventures FZ LLC that launched in 2015, is to cease broadcasting from May 1.
The factual and educational channel offered a mix of Arabic-dubbed versions of popular shows from its international parent, including Wheeler Dealers and Ultimate Survival, and home-grown Arabic content such as the extreme sports-meets-travel show Pulse of Adventure (Nabd Al Moghamarah), presented by Hussein Gazzaz and Ghida Aranout and a host of local documentaries. The channel also traditionally broadcast a variety of well-received Ramadan content, which viewers will have to forego this year.
Quest Arabiya picked up a “Best in Class” award for its website at the US Interactive Media Council’s Interactive Media Awards in 2016, but it appears that awards and local content could not bring Quest Arabiya into profit, in common with many traditional broadcasters globally, in an increasingly fast-moving and ever-changing broadcast environment.
Channel Ventures said in a statement to The National: "Quest Arabiya, the brand globally owned by Discovery Inc and the free-to-air channel operated by Channel Ventures FZ LLC since 2015, will shut down its Mena operations as of May 1, 2019. Despite the recent success of its productions, accredited awards and doubling the output of its original production hours, the free-to-air advertising based channel is no longer commercially viable. The channel is scheduled to go off-air from the end of this month."
Focusing primarily on factual and reality-based programming, Quest Arabiya broadcasts, for now, 24 hours a day, reaching an estimated 45 million households across 22 countries. The channel is targeted toward a wide demographic of Arabic-speaking males and females.
