MBC announced on Sunday that Sam Barnett has been promoted to chief executive of the network. Barnett, who has worked at MBC for nine years, was chief operating officer and general manager prior to his promotion. With his appointment, Barnett has replaced predecessor Sheikh Waleed Al Ibrahim. 

According to MBC's new chief executive, Sam Barnett, The Arab Spring has challenged the regional advertising market tremendously. "Clearly the events earlier in the year - and ongoing - have been tough for advertisers, and for businesses across the region," said Barnett. "Advertising often suffers most when there's a short-term dip in confidence."

The Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC)  is set to launch its high definition service. The Dubai based broadcaster will lease an entire transponder on Eutelsat's new Atlantic Bird 7 satellite in order to facilitate HD broadcasting. MBC announced a multi- year contract with the European satellite operator at Informa's Digital TV Middle East conference in Dubai.

MBC Group recently partnered with CDC Games, a global market leader in online gaming and distribution based in China, to develop and launch the world's first Arabic online gaming web portal which will include a portfolio of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, in both English and Arabic.