Al Mayadeen (Arabic: الميادين; The Plazas) is a pan-Arabist satellite news television channel launched on 11 June 2012 in Beirut, Lebanon. Its programming is predominantly news. It has news reporters in most Arab countries. In the pan-Arab TV news market, it competes against Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, and also against Sky News Arabia and BBC Arabic Television. At its founding in 2012, many of Al Mayadeen's senior staff were former correspondents and editors of Al Jazeera. Al Mayadeen is viewed as pro-Hezbollah and pro-Syrian government.