Sky UK announced on May 31 a new commercial agreement with IMI, the investment vehicle controlled by UAE Vice President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, that removes the British broadcaster from the ownership and daily operations of its Arabic-language news channel. The multi-year brand licensing deal allows the Abu Dhabi-based network to retain the “Sky News Arabia” name while IMI assumes full control.
“We are proud of what has been built through our partnership with IMI over the years and the significant presence built throughout the region,” said David Rhodes, executive chair of the Sky News Group. “The time is right for this change and we look forward to continuing our relationship in the next phase of Sky News Arabia.”
Sky executives had become increasingly concerned about the editorial direction the network was taking regarding the ongoing conflict in Sudan. The channel faced severe criticism for its coverage of the war, specifically accusations that it whitewashed atrocities carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group backed by the UAE.
The editorial friction culminated in November, when the Government of Sudan banned Sky News Arabia from operating within its borders. The expulsion followed a report from El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, which claimed the security and humanitarian situation had stabilized. Sky News Arabia dispatched a reporter for the story who was married to a senior official in the RSF’s parallel government, a connection that sparked intense scrutiny.
In the months following the ban, the channel published reports and online articles suggesting that neither satellite imagery nor survivor testimony provided evidence to support claims of large-scale atrocities in the region. These assertions were directly contradicted by international investigators. In February, a UN-mandated fact-finding mission concluded that the RSF and allied militias deliberately targeted the destruction of ethnic minority communities during their 18-month occupation of El Fasher, identifying the campaign as having the “hallmarks of genocide.” The UAE has consistently denied any responsibility for atrocities committed by the RSF.
Nakhle Elhage, chief transformation officer at IMI, framed the ownership shift as a consolidation of regional media power. “As we enter this next phase, IMI will take full ownership of the platform’s future with the agility, focus and investment capacity to continue building the leading multimedia news destination for the Arab world,” Elhage said. “Sky News Arabia today stands as one of the Arab world’s leading media success stories. Over the past decade it has built scale, trust and relevance across television, digital, audio and social platforms, reaching audiences at a pace few media organiations in the legion have achieved.”
The Sky News Arabia joint venture originally began broadcasting in 2012 under a partnership struck by News Corporation. The restructuring aligns with similar moves by Sky’s parent company, Comcast, which acquired Sky in 2018. Comcast previously chose not to renew the licensing agreement allowing News Corporation to use the Sky News brand in Australia; Sky News Australia will rebrand as News24 later this year. A 2020 effort to launch a global rolling news channel, NBC Sky World News, designed to challenge CNN, was scrapped before its inception.