Riyadh, Rabi'II 9, 1439, Dec 27, 2017, SPA -- Minister of Culture and Information Dr. Auwad bin Saleh Al-Auwad decided here today to transfer Al-Ikhbariya, a local TV satellite channel into a limited liability company, under the title: Ikhbariya Network Company. The company will be jointly owned by the Radio and Television Corporation and the Saudi Press Agency, on a fifty-fifty basis. in a latest step towards keeping abreast with the rapidly accelerated developments, at the local as well as international media landscape. Minister's decision aims to upgrade the Arabic-language news channel and launch an English-language news channel, within the company which will be able to develop experiences related to improving events' coverage and news follow-up, in line with the world class standards, through interacting with world and local variables, in order to provide a pioneer Saudi media, coping with the state of the art. It will seek to excel through diffusion of exclusive content, based on sincerity, accuracy and objectivity, in addition to produce financial returns for investing, in the sector of media and to launch new platforms for digital circulation, to reach the threshold of competitive edges. On the other hand, the minister pointed out that the step falls along the ministry's initiatives' package to actualize the Kingdom Vision 2030, aspiring to empower various related institutions to cope with the rapid world developments, in the domain of the media industry, all over the world, adding that final goal is to transmit the Kingdom message to the world, with a high level of professionalism, through using up-to-date techniques and technologies, in order to compete, professionally as well as commercially. Ikhbariya, in the pipeline company, is set forth to be run by a 7-meber board, with an executive bureau, 3 of them representing the ministry of culture and information, two independent members representing the private sector and 2 members for each of Radio and TV corp., and Saudi Press Agency (SPA). Nascent company is expected to function, shortly, as soon as applicable required administrative procedures, are completed. -- SPA 18:22 LOCAL TIME 15:22 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w575091