Two Spanish-Language Islamic TV Channels to Broadcast in Spain & Latin America

A new Islamic TV channel in the Spanish language starts broadcasting today December in Spain with a second Islamic station following a week later.

Hispan TV will be available in Spain and Latin America starting today. The station has Iranian backing. Following closely on its heels on 01 January 2012, the Saudi-backed Cordoba Television station will be launched, owned by the Foundation for the Message of Islam.

Headlines on HispanTV's website, live for a year ahead of the broadcast launch, covered a range of world stories including alleged US spying in Iran, the IMF and the economic crisis, and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.

Trailers for forthcoming documentaries on the channel included subjects such as the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. The channel will also broadcast television dramas and films.

"HispanTV is born with a great social vocation, aiming principally to build bridges of understanding between the people of Iran, Latin America and the Middle East by broadcasting content often ignored by other media," the channel said in a statement.

The Foundation behind the Saudi-backed station is headed by Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Fazwan. The foundation also runs the Ikhtariya stations in Saudi Arabia and Al Majd in the UAE. The Cordoba station will address millions of Hispanic Muslims and non-Muslims around the world.

Sheik Fawzan said that the new channel will be centered in Spain but broadcast to the millions of Spanish speakers in the Americas, Africa as well as Spain

These two stations are the first full-scale Spanish-language Islamic TV stations in the world.