Dubai Media City

History and profile
The Dubai Media City was established in 2000.[1] It was built by the Dubai government to boost UAE's media foothold, and has become a regional hub for media organizations including news agencies, publishing, online media, advertising, production, and broadcast facilities. The groundwork for infrastructure (such as fiber optic cables) was already laid for firms to set up easily and its visa and operational procedures are relaxed for firms operating within DMC.

Dubai Media City is the hub for the media industry in the GCC and Middle East, with more than 1,300 companies registered under the Free Zone, from where they serve the entire region. It also houses the International Cricket Council, the governing body of the game of Cricket in the world. Earlier, before 2005, it was situated in London.

Censorship
On 16 November 2007, the Dubai Government ordered Tecom (implemented by Du Samacom, by disabling their SDI & ASI streams) to shut down the Pakistani independent and private channels Geo News TV and ARY One World on the demand of the military regime of Pakistan led by General and President Pervez Musharraf. Later policy makers in Dubai permitted these channels to air their entertainment programs, but news, current affairs and political analysis were forbidden to be aired. However later the conditions were removed but marked difference has been observed in the coverage of Geo TV and ARY OneWorld.

On 13 April 2008, du EITC - the second telecommunications operator in the UAE- announced that all of its traffic would be routed via the UAE's censorship proxy which blocks access to any content deemed 'inappropriate'. While Dubai Internet City sells itself as a business-friendly environment with excellent connectivity, the reality is it is heavily censored. On January 30, 2008 an incident revealed the size of problem, when fibre optic cables between Palermo, Italy, and Alexandria, Egypt were said to have been damaged. There was a significant slowdown of communications. The UAE telecommunications company and DMC’s internet service provider du EITC was one of the worst hit. Since du EITC has a monopoly in the Free Zones, customers had no alternative connectivity during the outage. On 19 December 2008 the three submarine cables between Italy and Egypt were damaged again, disrupting Internet and telephone communications between UAE and Europe, as reported by Bloomberg.

List of companies/organisations
The list below is incomplete.

Sports
International Cricket Council Headquarters
News Agencies
APTN
Reuters
TV Stations
Arab Business TV
Arabian Travel TV
ARY Digital Network
BBC World News
Bloomberg Television
City 7 TV
CNBC Arabiya
CNN International
Decision Makers TV
Dubai Media Incorporated News Center
General Entertainment and Music Group (GEM)
Geo TV
Infinity TV
Middle East Broadcasting Center
National Geographic Farsi
Orbit Showtime
Persian Music Channel
TEN Sports
Turner Broadcasting System
Zee Aflam
Radio stations
Radio Sawa (formerly Voice of America)
Arabian Radio Network
Websites
Moheet
Kipp Report
AMEinfo.com
Kalam TV
Edarabia
Eurosport Arabia
Arabic Information Technology News Portal
Newspapers
The Financial Times
The Economist Group (MENA Region Headquarters)
The Times (UAE edition)
The Sunday Times (UAE edition)
Awraq newspaper
Magazines
MEED
Lavish Magazine
Rolling Stone (Middle East edition)
Esquire (Middle East edition)
Sayidaty
MONEYworks
Gulf Marketing Review
L'Officiel (Middle East edition)
EveningZ Magazine
Tharawat Magazine
The Business Year
Advertising Agencies
Spoton media services and events
Best Focus (UAE/Dubai/Abu Dhabi/GULF advertising agency)
Pan Arabian Network (MENA region's headquarters - www.panarabiannetwork.com)
Leo Burnett (MENA region's headquarters)
Starcom Mediavest Group (MENA region's headquarters)
Flip Media (Flip headquarters)
DoLeeP Studios
Grafdom
North55
ICS Dubai
DDB Worldwide (MENA region's headquarters)
Denstu (MENA region's headquarters)
Aegis Group (MENA region's headquarters)
Lowe (MENA region's headquarters)
Channel 7 Media Dubai
Event Management Agencies
MPremiere FZ LLC
Spoton Media Services and Events
BrikCom India Consultancy and Event Management Pvt. Ltd.
Vibe Middle East
Relay Experiential Marketing
Euro Media FZ LLC]
Channel 7 Media
Others
Dubai's Finest News, Gossip & Entertainment Website
Epic (Middle East headquarters)
Economist Corporate Network (MENA Region Headquarters)
EMAP (MENA region headquarter)
Arthur D. Little
Oliver Wyman
Capgemini
Sony Corporation
Visa Inc. (Middle East headquarters)
Abortion India
Icflix
Towers
There will be over 84 towers in the Dubai Media City.

Mövenpick Dubai Pearl
Dubai Pearl Hotel Tower 1
Dubai Pearl Hotel Tower 2
Omnix North Tower
Omnix South Tower
Dubai Pearl Dana Tower
Dubai Pearl Lulwa Tower
Dubai Pearl Mahara Tower
Jumana Tower Dubai Pearl
Al Kazim Tower 1
Al Kazim Tower 2
The One Tower
Al Salam Tecom Tower
Al Attar Skyspiral
AAM Tower
Sidra Tower
ARY Digital Tower
Media 1 Tower
Dubai Jewel Tower
Shatha Tower
Al Yassat Tower
Dalma Tower
Concord Tower
I-Rise
Al Sufouh Tower 1
Al Sufouh Tower 2
Shaiba Tower 1
Shaiba Tower 2
Ahmed Ali Abdullah Al Abdullah Tower
Al Thuraya Tower 2
Emirates Airlines Staff Accommodation
Ahmad Ali Abdulla Al Abdulla Building
Al Thuraya Tower 1
Executive Heights
Grosvenor Business Tower
Madison Residency
Telal's Tower
Smart Heights
Media Rotana Hotel Tower 1
Media Rotana Hotel Tower 2
Millennium Towers Hotel
Rashid Mohammed Al Mazroui Tower
Millennium Towers Residence
Red Tower
Ayad Hassan Bin Habshi Building
Mr. Mohammad Bin Hassan Al Muhana Building
Adel Al Hussaini Building
Tebyan Clarity Tower
Mohammed Ahmed Dadabhai Building
Al Shahd Tower
Oasis Residence
Al Abdullah Tower
Al Noor Tower
Abdul Jaleel Mahdy Al Esmawy Building
Khalid Salem Ahmed Basuliman Building
Mazoon Hotel Apartments
Al Hoton Building
Cayan Business Center
The Icon
Abdulrahman Mohamed Taher Mohamed Wali Tower
Leader Tower
Saleh Bin Lahej Building
Ramee Guestline Hotel Apartments
Business Central Towers