DMI has a number of TV channels, some of which extend into multiple broadcasts (Like Dubai Sports 1, 2HD, 3HD, 4HD & 5HD). While most of the production is centralized at DMI's own studios, each channel has its own management, team, structure and strategy.
Dubai TV
Dubai TV replaced Emirates Dubai Television in June 2004. Dubai TV broadcasts programmes predominantly in Arabic, with some additional Arabic movies and documentary series. The programming caters to family Arab audiences around the MENA region and is also available in Australia, Europe, North America and the rest of Asia. A majority of its programming is produced locally, either through DMI's own in-house productions or by commissioning various production houses throughout the Arab world, whereby DMI acts as the "executive producer". The channel has cosmopolitan shows along with conservative religious programming as well as international formats to cater to the various types of people in the Arab world.
Official Site: مؤسسة دبي للإعلام
Sama Dubai
Sama Dubai was launched on 20 June 2005 to cater to the Emirati and Gulf audience, with a deep concentration on traditions and culture, specifically targeting the youth of the region. The popularity of the channel is attributed to its view on Gulf culture, while maintaining authenticity in the old traditions, there is always a foreword thinking view through the empowerment of women and the modernization of old culture, specifically with the highly successful reality series Al Meydan, which took the traditional yowlah dancing (which was not widely known at the time) and created competition similar to the format American Idol whereby viewers can vote on the best dancers.
Official Site: مؤسسة دبي للإعلام - قناة دبي
Dubai One
Dubai 33 (also called "Channel 33") was originally a terrestrial Analog television channel which catered, mostly, to the expatriate community living in Dubai. Through a number of Western cartoons, series, soap operas and films, as well as weekly Hindi cinema along with a nightly local news broadcast. Since the expansion of pay TV networks like Showtime Arabia along with Free-to-air channels like MBC 2 which provided newer Western content, the popularity of Channel 33 declined heavily.
In 2004, DMI launched One TV (which later became Dubai One) as a 24-hour free-to-air Digital satellite channel targeting a pan-Arab audience interested in Western content, this was done by subtitling content in Arabic and creating mostly Arabic and English (with an Arabic accent) on-air promotions. The channel did not include any of the previous content like soap operas, Bollywood cinema or local news. The channel was intended to compete with MBC Group's MBC 2, which was a considerably successful strategy, until MBC launched a number of other Western-content channels, with newer films and TV series than Dubai One.
Since the channel was launched, many of the labouring class expatriates living in Dubai were disappointed with removal of some of their most popular shows including The Bold and the Beautiful and American Idol and the local news broadcast in English (which was, at the time, the only one of its kind in the UAE). The complaints were done through directly contacting DMI along with letters featured in local newspapers like Gulf News
Emirates 24/7
Emirates 24/7 is a 30-minute segment broadcast weekly, as well as the name of their news website.
Noor Dubai
In 2008, AMG launched Noor Dubai TV on the first day of Ramadan that year, solidifying its Islamic views. The channel was originally an experimental radio and television hybrid, with a limited budget, significantly lower production values than competing Dubai-owned channels and with dual-broadcasts of radio programs on television along with new television-only shows.[10] While the radio station was only available in Dubai, the TV channel was a pan-Arab satellite broadcast, so its popularity grew far beyond the intended audience with a significant following of conservative Muslims living around the Middle East due to the heavy Islamic content, which was based on the radio station format.
After the 2009 AMG-DMI merger, the new channel, along with the radio station, joined DMI and the offices and studios were moved from Dubai Studio City to DMI's headquarters next to Al Maktoum Bridge. DMI relaunched the TV channel in an attempt to separate it from the radio channel and to suppress the ultra-conservative brand. The new target audience was similar to Sama Dubai's Emirati and Gulf target, but instead was an older audience. This was done through programming about cultural and traditional topics as well as a re-broadcasting of decades-old series and programs from the DMI library. DMI also gave Noor Dubai its own broadcast of Emirates news, from DMI's News Center using the same news content that's broadcast on Sama Dubai and Dubai TV's Emirates news.
Dubai Sports
Dubai Sports Channel was launched in 1998 to cover local sports events in the UAE and to have exclusive Middle East broadcast rights for some of Dubai's sports events like the Dubai World Cup. It was later expanded to include international sports by acquiring Middle East broadcast rights for events like the Olympic Games and Wimbledon Championships.
The popularity of the channel grew as it increased coverage of the UAE Football League, with live broadcast of matches and complementary shows like Dawrina and the popular Al Jamahir, which interviewed fans of teams during and after matches with all of their emotional outbursts when their teams lost.
Due to the development of the UAE Football League and the increasing number of events taking place simultaneously, Dubai Sports expanded to include Dubai Sports 2 & 3, which act as a simulcast except during multiple live events. The expansion of the channels has also been an attempt to compete with other pan-Arab sports channels like Abu Dhabi Sports Channel (for local events), Al Jazeera Sports and ShowSports (for international events). But due to budget limitations, the channel has not been able to fully compete and has since lost some of its popularity.
Official Site: الرئيسية
Dubai Racing
In essence, an extension of Dubai Sports, but with its own brand and identity, Dubai Racing is the only horse racing and camel racing TV channel in the Middle East. Specifically dedicated to coverage of horse racing events in the UAE like the Dubai World Cup, various camel races[11] and accompanying programs. The channel originally took all of its content from Dubai Sports and larger sporting events are simulcast on Dubai Sports.
Dubai Zaman
Dubai Zaman was launched on 23 April 2015 to show old programs and films from the 70's, 80's and 90's.
Dubai Drama
Dubai Drama was launched on 23 April 2015 (the same day Dubai Zaman was launched) to show dramatic shows in Arabic. The channel ceased operations in 2016.
