One of the first acts the new company took was to launch Abu Dhabi's first English newspaper,
The National, in August 2007 (although the paper did not debut until April 2008).
Martin Newland, former editor of
The Daily Telegraph, was named the newspaper's first editor. The newspaper was given five years before it had to produce a balanced budget. In early 2008, the company launched
Abu Dhabi TV.
CNN,
HarperCollins,
Random House, the
BBC,
The Financial Times and the
Thomson Reuters Foundation agreed to establish operations on the site, with several of the companies offering training in
journalism and
filmmaking for Arab students. The festival is led by Peter Scarlet, formerly the creative director at the
Tribeca Film Festival. In May 2008 the company signed an agreement with Toonz Academy, a
traditional and
computer animation company based in
Thiruvananthapuram,
Kerala,
India, to establish an animators' training center in Abu Dhabi. In September 2008, the company established a subsidiary, , with access to more than $1 billion with which to finance film production. The company named former
Walt Disney Pictures executive Edward Borgerding as its
chief executive officer, and veteran motion picture production executive Stefan Brunner as its chief financial officer. The deal set aside $500 million for film production and $500 million for video game production, and included agreements for both companies to develop real estate, theme parks, and new media projects as well. A
side agreement created a separate investment fund for Arab-language films. Later the same month, the company announced a $250 million production pact with U.S.-based
Participant Media, which produces socially relevant films and television specials. announced a $100 million joint production agreement in October 2008 with the
National Geographic Films to finance 10-15 feature films over five years, and followed up a month later with a $250 million deal with
Ashok Amritraj's Hyde Park Entertainment to develop 20 feature films over seven years. But the billion-dollar Warner Bros. deal produced only one film (
Robert Rodriguez's
Shorts) and a number of video game titles in its first 18 months. Beginning in 2007, the company began hosting "Circle", an annual conference dedicated to the
financing and
production of motion pictures, and to the training of
producers,
directors,
editors, and other film technical personnel and acting talent. On 3 April 2017, Abu Dhabi Media announced the relaunch of Radio 1 and Radio 2 from Gulf News Broadcasting, who lost the license to operate the stations the previous year, prompting them to suspend operations. ADM relaunched the stations on the same day. On 11 April 2019, Abu Dhabi Media and UFC today announced a multi-year broadcast partnership to provide access to all UFC events with the first event broadcast on April 11, 2019, with
UFC 236. In July 2019 the board of directors of
Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company, ADDHC, issued a resolution to restructure the board of Abu Dhabi Media Company. The new board is chaired by Dr.
Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber and includes the following members:
Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi – deputy chair; Mohamad Abdulla Al Junaibi – Member; Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi – Member, and Mr. Nart Bouran - Member. On 19 September 2023, Abu Dhabi Media was rebranded to Abu Dhabi Media Network. ==Assets==