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37 channels
Television in the United Arab Emirates is a mirror of its population, a mix of local Emirati identity, pan-Arab satellite culture, and a massive expat workforce speaking Urdu, Hindi, Malayalam, and English. The state broadcasters, Abu Dhabi TV, Dubai TV, Sharjah TV, set the tone with polished news bulletins, religious programming, and family-oriented entertainment. But the real gravity comes from the commercial satellite channels that beam into the UAE from across the Arab world: MBC, Rotana, and a dozen Saudi-owned networks dominate primetime with Turkish-dubbed dramas, reality competitions, and levantine soap operas. Primetime hits around 21:00, later than in Europe, and the schedule tends to stretch past midnight during Ramadan, when special series and variety shows take over after iftar. News is big. Al Arabiya, Sky News Arabia, and Dubai's own Al Aan TV compete for a politically aware audience, while several religious channels, Quran recitation, fatwa shows, and Islamic lectures, run 24/7. Cricket coverage from India and Pakistan, plus the UAE's own Pro League football, keeps live sports loyalists glued to screens. Unique to the UAE is the linguistic layering: much of the programming airs in Arabic with English subtitles, but entire channels operate in Hindi, Urdu, or Malayalam for the South Asian diaspora. This multilingual setup sets the UAE apart from its Gulf neighbours, who tend to be more uniformly Arabic in their broadcast output.