BBC Monitoring

Iraqi Kurdistan Region is to launch an independent satellite TV station exclusively for arts and commercial advertisements, the pro-Kurdistan Democratic Party website Peyamner reported on 26 May.

    The report said that independent commercial channel VIN would be launched soon in Duhok, Kurdistan Region, for business and arts. The report quoted the director of the channel, Kawa Rekani, as saying: "We will launch a satellite TV channel in Kurdistan in the near future... the purpose of the channel is to commercialize arts production and to be a channel exclusively for the arts."

    The channel had signed a contract with a Kurdish company in Dubai for setting up offices for the channel in Iran, Syria, Dubai, Turkey and Kazakhstan, the website reported.

    Source: Peyamner website, Arbil, in Sorani Kurdish 26 May 07