In one corner stands the BBC World Service, the corporation's venerable 70-year-old voice to the world backed by £239m of taxpayers' money. In the other the upstart satellite TV channel al-Jazeera, barely a decade old, bankrolled from the bottomless reserves of the emir of Qatar. The two broadcasters are going head to head in a battle for control of the new frontier for global TV - the Middle East. While al-Jazeera is finalising plans to launch an English language channel (star presenter: Sir David Frost), the BBC yesterday unveiled its counter-attack: a new £19m-a-year channel to be broadcast to the region in Arabic. This is a fight not only for ratings but to gain the hearts and minds of viewers in the Middle East. The World Service director, Nigel Chapman, said the launch of its first television channel would increase its influence in the region and dismissed fears that viewers would see it as a mouthpiece for western interests. [THE GUARDIAN, UK]