CNN will go live from its brand-new state-of-the-art broadcast facility in Abu Dhabi on Monday, marking a new chapter in the network’s commitment to the Middle East.
Situated in twofour54’s Yas Creative Hub, the home of media, entertainment and gaming in Abu Dhabi, the new CNN bureau increases the scale and scope of its operation in the UAE. As one of the network’s key international production hubs, alongside Atlanta, New York, London, and Hong Kong, it also marks the latest of several major investments in technology and editorial production for CNN.
Mike McCarthy, EVP and General Manager, CNN International, added: “CNN Abu Dhabi is a vital part of our global newsgathering and programming operation. This new investment underscores that importance, and we are excited to share what it will bring to our audiences around the world.”
The new multi-million-dollar Abu Dhabi hub incorporates the very latest broadcast technology. Its 80 square metre studio, which will be home to CNN International’s flagship current affairs programme, Connect the World with Becky Anderson, incorporates 10 million pixels of video wall and a suite of fully robotic cameras. The facility also has four dedicated craft edit suites and utilises hybrid digital and IP video/audio workflows to enable the highest quality, fully integrated production.
Becky Anderson, Anchor & Managing Editor, CNN Abu Dhabi, said: “This new facility really supercharges our operation in Abu Dhabi. Everything we have built here enhances our ability to tell stories from this region and beyond, from the state-of-the-art studio and production facilities, through to the workspace itself, which is geared towards collaborative, multi-platform content creation. We’re also very happy to be part of the new creative community developing here in the Yas Creative Hub.”
Abu Dhabi has been a key hub in CNN’s global operation since 2009, when the network first opened its bureau in the Emirate at twofour54’s previous campus. It has been the base for Connect the World with Becky Anderson since 2014 and is also home to some of CNN’s best-known feature programming, including Decoded, and Marketplace Middle East, as well as key CNN Digital properties, such as the network’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter.
It is also home to CNN Academy Abu Dhabi, which recently welcomed its second cohort of academicians. In 2022, the hub welcomed 88 budding journalists from 12 countries, giving them a grounding in a range of newsgathering techniques and principles, and challenging them to investigate and report on a fictional breaking news story in a realistic, fast-paced setting via a hi-tech newsroom simulation.
The new Abu Dhabi bureau is the latest new facility for CNN in recent years. The network began broadcasting from its new studios in New York in 2019, followed closely by its hi-tech facilities in London in 2020, and will soon broadcast from brand new studios in Atlanta.
