Leave it to the Sundance Channel to broadcast a reality television program that may actually benefit world society. The show is called On The Road In America and is about four Arabs in their 20's on a road trip across America, seeing different aspects of American culture.

The show is backed by Layalina Productions, a Washington nonprofit group that wants to use television to foster better understanding between the two worlds. When the series was shown in the Middle East, it attracted 4.5 million viewers per episode from countries like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and Algeria.

The BBC is making plans to launch a Farsi language television channel in Iran starting in early 2008. The channel will air for eight hours a day, though the BBC hopes to expand that eventually. Currently, the BBC has an online and radio presence in the region, although the Web site has been occasionally blocked by authorities in Iran. The BBC claims Iranians are turning to television more and more to get their news, and that the editorial content of the new channel will not be dictated by the UK government. As I mentioned a year ago, the BBC also plans to launch an Arabic channel in the Middle East around the same time.