Back إم بي سي 3 Arabic ام بى سى 3 ARZ MBC 3 Spanish امبیسی ۳ Persian MBC 3 French MBC 3 Italian MBC 3 Portuguese MBC 3 SIMPLE MBC 3 Ukrainian ⵉⵎ ⴱⵉ ⵙⵉ 3 ZGH
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| Broadcast area | Middle East and North Africa (main audience free-to-air) Horn of Africa (peripheral free-to-air via satellite) United States and Europe (pay-TV) |
|---|---|
| Network | Middle East Broadcasting Center |
| Headquarters | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English Arabic (dubbing and subtitles) |
| Picture format | 1080i (HDTV) (downscaled to 16:9 576i for the SDTV feed) |
| Timeshift service | MBC 3 +1 |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | MBC Group |
| Sister channels | MBC 1 MBC 2 MBC 4 MBC 5 MBC Drama MBC Action MBC Max MBC Persia Al Arabiya Wanasah Al Hadath MBC+ Power MBC Variety HD MBC Bollywood MBC Masr MBC Masr 2 MBC Iraq MBC Pro Sports SSC |
| History | |
| Launched | 8 December 2004 |
| Links | |
| Website | mbc3 |
MBC 3 is a free-to-air children's channel launched on 8 December 2004, and appeals to children under the age of 15. All foreign television animated programs are dubbed into Arabic. The channel also produces its own original programmes. It was owned by the Middle Eastern company MBC Group.
MBC 3 started airing Nickelodeon shows since 21 November 2010. It includes Nicktoons such as T.U.F.F. Puppy, The Fairly OddParents and SpongeBob SquarePants are also present in the channel, but they are also dubbed in Arabic. The Nick Jr. Channel shows include LazyTown, Go Diego Go, The Backyardigans, Dora the Explorer, Ni Hao, Kai-Lan, Little Bill, Team Umizoomi and Blue's Clues.
MBC 3 is known in the Middle East for censoring scenes unsuitable for Islamic audiences, such as visual romance outside of marriage, kissing before marriage scenes, awkward angles of female characters, sensual scenes between members of the opposite sex, cross-dressed men, references to alcohol and gambling, references to non-Islamic religious content and visually-grotesque scenes. However, the channel does not have a proper consensus of its censoring policy, featuring cuts that are so heavily edited it renders plot continuities inconsistent. On 27 November 2010, during an airing of The Nightmare Before Christmas, MBC 3 cut parts of the movie which caused a lot of controversy.[citation needed]
MBC 3 has separate pay-TV feeds which broadcast in Europe and the United States. They target the overseas Arab diaspora and air the same Arabic dubs as the main channel. The US feed is exclusive to Dish Network. There is also a separate feed available on the Shahid streaming service, with a different schedule from the other feeds.