Pan-Arab satellite broadcaster Al Jazeera has announced it will launch a new sports channel in the Middle East next month.

According to a statement from Al Jazeera, the channel will broadcast news bulletins every hour and 20 sports news programmes covering major international tournaments and events such as Europe’s top football leagues on Egyptian satellite Nilesat. The statement added that two programmes would be dedicated to covering major sports events in the Middle East and North Africa.

Al Jazeera’s first sports channel was launched in 2003, but the new channel will focus on sports news rather than live coverage. The channel will be broadcast in Arabic and will carry coverage of events that are not aired live through a five-hour programme that is broadcast on Saturdays and Sundays, Reuters reported. A morning ‘variety’ programme and a daily talkshow will offer analysis and debate and the daily sports news will be packaged in the hour-long Today’s Harvest show.

Al Jazeera recently refused to comment on reports that it is considering entering the UK sports pay-television market by bidding for domestic English Premier League broadcast rights from the 2013-14 season. The broadcaster recently acquired domestic rights to Ligue 1 in France from 2012-16.