MBC 3
MBC 3 is a free-to-air children's channel launched on 8 December 2004, and appeals to children under the age of 15. All foreign television animated programs have been dubbed into Arabic. The channel also produces its own original programmes. It was owned by the Middle Eastern company MBC Group.
| Broadcast area | Middle East and North Africa (main audience free-to-air), Horn of Africa (peripheral free-to-air via satellite), United States and Europe (pay-TV) |
|---|---|
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | Arabic |
| Picture format | 1080i HDTV (downscaled to 16:9 576i for the SDTV feed) |
| Timeshift service | MBC 3 +1 |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Middle East Broadcasting Center |
| History | |
| Launched | 5 September 2004 (as a programming block on MBC 1) 8 December 2004 (as a channel) |
| Links | |
| Website | mbc3 |
MBC 3 started airing Nickelodeon shows since November 20, 2010. It includes Nicktoons such as T.U.F.F. Puppy, The Fairly OddParents and SpongeBob SquarePants are also present in the channel, but they are dubbed. The Nick Jr. Channel shows include LazyTown, Go Diego Go, The Backyardigans, Dora the Explorer, Little Bill, and Blue's Clues.
MBC 3 is known in the Middle East for censoring scenes unsuitable for Islamic audiences, such as visual romance outside of marriage, kissing before marriage scenes, awkward angles of female characters, sensual scenes between members of the opposite sex, cross-dressed men, references to alcohol and gambling, references to non-Islamic religious content and visually-grotesque scenes. However, the channel does not have a proper consensus of its censoring policy, featuring cuts that are so heavily edited it renders plot continuities inconsistent.
MBC 3 has separate pay-TV feeds which broadcast in Europe and the United States. They target the overseas Arab diaspora and air the same Arabic dubs as the main channel. The US feed is exclusive to Dish Network.