Al-Jazeera Signs David Frost

Veteran TV Interviewer Jumps From BBC To Arab Cable Network

(AP)  David Frost — who has interviewed seven U.S. presidents, six British Prime Ministers, and numerous luminaries in music and movies — is up for a new adventure.

The 66-year-old British broadcaster will be packing up his bags at the British Broadcasting Company and moving to the English-language channel of the Arab cable TV channel Al-Jazeera.

Al-Jazeera says Frost, who broadcast his final "Breakfast with Frost" program for British Broadcasting Corp. in May, will debut in the spring and will be among the "key on-air talent" on the 24-hour news and current affairs channel.

In a statement, Frost is quoted as saying that he's excited about the new job.

"Most of the television I have done over the years has been aimed at British and American audiences," said Frost. "This time, while our target is still Britain and America, the excitement is that it is also the 6 billion other inhabitants of the globe."

Frost's interview shows have long attracted world leaders. He notched 500 editions of "Breakfast with Frost" before bowing out.

Al-Jazeera has had repeated run-ins with the U.S. administration, which contends that the network's exclusive broadcasts of speeches by Osama bin Laden and other terrorist leaders show an anti-American, pro-terrorist bias.

Al-Jazeera denies it holds any anti-American bias and says it reports the news objectively.

The English-language channel is part of the network's expansion. Al-Jazeera, launched in 1996 in Qatar, recently began an Arabic-language children's channel as well as a sports channel and another dedicated to covering live events without an announcer.