Al Jazeera to launch sports news channel

DOHA,  (Reuters) – Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera  will launch a sports news channel across the Middle East next  month, it said in a statement yesterday.   
The channel will broadcast hourly news bulletins and 20  sports news programmes covering major international tournaments  and events including European football leagues on Egyptian  satellite Nilesat, the statement said.   
 
Two programmes will be dedicated to covering major sports  events in the Middle East and North Africa, it said.  
 
The channel, which will broadcast in Arabic, will provide  coverage of events that are not transmitted live through a  5-hour programme broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays, it said.
  
Al Jazeera’s first sports channel, dedicated to live sports  coverage, was launched in 2003. The new channel will focus on  sports news, a spokesman said.   

Last December Qatar won the right to host the 2022 World Cup  soccer tournament and in August the tiny Gulf state officially  launched a bid to host the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.    

It has submitted a bid for the 2017 World Athletic  Championships, and has expressed interest in hosting the Grand  Départ for the 2016 Tour de France.