News Corp and Moby Group have signed an agreement under which News Corp is to become a minority investor in the Dubai-headquartered media firm. According to the terms of the deal, News Corp will contribute its 50% shareholding in Broadcast Middle East (BME) for a minority shareholding in Moby. It will also provide growth capital to Moby for its expansion plans.

Dubai-based Broadcast Middle East (BME) will launch its second Farsi-speaking television channel on July 9, it said on Sunday. The firm, a joint venture between Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation and the Moby Group, aims to target a family audience with a female slant via dubbed shows such as Project Runway and Gypsies, said its CEO.

Arabian Business reports that Iran has closed the Tehran office of a television channel partly owned by News Corp and operated by a Dubai-based firm and arrested five employees for “helping the anti-revolutionary movement”, the semi-official Mehr news agency said on Tuesday. Iranian authorities were in the past critical of the channel, saying its programmes were contradictory to Iran’s Islamic and revolutionary values and stated that they would close down publications that carry news of the opposition movement.