BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Future TV, the media arm of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, announced its relaunch after a five-year suspension.
Hussein Al Wajih, media adviser to Future Movement leader Saad Hariri, announced the return of the network and all its platforms on Sunday.
In a statement published on his X account, Wajih said “as of today, the website of Al Mustaqbal TV and its social media platforms are back in operation, in the hope that this step will constitute a contribution to keeping up with the fateful events that are taking place and confirm the continuity of a national institution that has left its mark in the field of media.”
The Lebanese TV channel, which had been inactive for years, was originally founded in 1993 by Rafik Hariri.
The free-to-air channel broadcast regionally and internationally until its suspension by Saad Hariri in October 2019.
A statement released by Hariri at the time said: “It is with a heavy heart that I announce today the decision to suspend work at Future TV and settle workers’ wages for the same financial reasons that led to the closing of Al-Mustaqbal newspaper. The decision was not an easy one for me or for the men and women of the Future Movement nor is it for the generation of the founding personnel and the millions of Lebanese and Arab viewers of Future TV who had stayed loyal to the station for more than a quarter of a century.”
News of the return of the channel was welcomed with many Lebanese accounts commenting positively and wishing success for Future TV this time around.
