Saudi king approves new audiovisual information corporation

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz has issued a royal decree approving the establishment of the General Corporation for Audiovisual Information, Abdulaziz Khoja, Minister of Culture and Information, said on Saturday.

The new corporation will be administratively run by the Ministry of Culture and Information, but will have an independent legal status.

Khoja said the decision was part of the restructuring of the media sector in the kingdom and complementary to the establishment of the Radio and TV Corporation and the Saudi Press Agency as two independent entities, according to Saudi Gazette.

Meanwhile, the new corporation will be responsible of organizing audio-visual transmission and developing and overseeing content in accordance with the kingdom’s media policy that consolidates the country’s social, religious and cultural values.

The new corporation will serve as a means to provide the public with miscellaneous cultural, entertaining audio-visual material that can substitute foreign programs.

The minister said the decision reflected the King’s vision for professional reorganization of the sector and would open doors for the private sector to invest in the field, according to local daily Saudi Gazette.

“The move will create many job opportunities for young Saudis in audio-visual media,” Khoja added.