KARACHI, Dec 22: Mr Azhar Abbas, one of the country's top television executives and the managing director of Geo News TV, will be moving to DawnNews TV as head of news and current affairs, it was announced here on Friday.

DawnNews TV will be launched next year and will be Pakistan's first English language news channel. "I have had a great time leading the Geo News team and the channel is in good health. But it's time for me to move on to other challenges," Mr Abbas told Dawn.

Azhar Abbas started his career as a reporter with The News in the early nineties before moving to the monthly Herald. He then moved on to launch Business Update, the first current affairs programme outsourced by Pakistan Television to a private production house.

He spent several years working as the CNBC correspondent in Pakistan and then moved on to head the editorial launch team of Geo News.