National Geographic Abu Dhabi Announces Regional Launch of

“COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY”

COSMOS : A SPACETIME ODYSSEY premiers March 12 at 20:00 KSA/21:00 UAE on National Geographic Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi, UAE; March 11, 2014 -- National Geographic Abu Dhabi (NGAD) today announced that COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY, the thrilling new 13-part series from executive producer/writer/director Ann Druyan and executive producer Seth MacFarlane (FAMILY GUY, “Ted”), will premiere in the Middle East on National Geographic Abu Dhabi on March 12 at 20:00 KSA/21:00 UAE. The regional premier comes just 3 days after its National Geographic Channel launch – which was the channel’s largest global launch ever for a television series.

More than three decades after the debut of ‘Cosmos: A Personal Voyage’, Carl Sagan’s stunning and iconic exploration of the universe as revealed by science, Seth MacFarlane teamed with Sagan’s original creative collaborators – writer/executive producer/director Druyan and co-writer, astronomer Steven Soter – to conceive the 13-part series that will serve as a successor to the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning original series. It will be presented on National Geographic Abu Dhabi in Arabic.

As with the legendary original series, the new COSMOS is the saga of how we discovered the laws of nature and found our coordinates in space and time. The series brings to life never-before-told stories of the heroic quest for knowledge, transporting viewers to new worlds and across the universe for a vision of the cosmos on the grandest – and the smallest – scale.

The series invents new modes of scientific storytelling to reveal the grandeur of the universe and re-invent celebrated elements of the original series, including the Cosmic Calendar and the Ship of the Imagination. The most profound scientific concepts are presented with stunning clarity, uniting skepticism and wonder, and weaving rigorous science with the emotional and spiritual into a transcendent experience.

COSMOS : A SPACETIME ODYSSEY premiers March 12 at 20:00 KSA/21:00 UAE on National Geographic Abu Dhabi

About National Geographic Abu Dhabi
Launched in July 2009, the free-to-air National Geographic Abu Dhabi invites viewers in the Middle East to re-think the way they see television - and the world - through smart, innovative programming in the Arabic language. Brought to the region by the Abu Dhabi Media (ADM) and National Geographic Channels International (NGCI), the channel is dedicated to understanding and protecting the world, with its worldwide reputation of producing credible and authentic content that fits different viewers’ interests.

About Cosmos Studios
Carl Sagan, and those privileged enough to work with him, demonstrated there is a worldwide appetite for compelling entertainment that reflects our deepening understanding of cosmic evolution and our place in its great story. Ann Druyan, with support from entrepreneur Joe Firmage, founded Cosmos Studios in 2000 as a successor to Carl Sagan Productions, the company that produced “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.” Cosmos Studios, based in Ithaca, NY, creates, produces and distributes eye, brain, heart and soul-nourishing science-based entertainment integrated across all media. Most of all, Cosmos Studios aims to touch global audiences with the soaring spiritual high that comes from grasping science’s central revelation – our oneness with the cosmos. In addition to distributing “Cosmos: A Personal Voyage” and producing COSMOS: A SPACETIME ODYSSEY, Cosmos Studios has produced three documentaries. Ms. Druyan remains its CEO and Mitchell Cannold, an executive producer of the new series, serves as President.