Dubai Media City

About DMC

CNN, Reuters, Bloomberg and the big agency networks run their Middle East operations from Dubai Media City, which has functioned as the region's media capital for two decades. The district licenses everything from broadcast groups to one-person content studios.

The freelancer permit is a distinctive feature: journalists, directors, editors and creators can hold an individual permit with a residence visa, at a fraction of full company cost. Small agencies typically start with a shared-workspace licence and scale into campus offices.

Sister districts sit within walking distance: Studio City for production stages, Production City for print, and Internet City for the tech crowd, so the whole content supply chain is local.

Licence types at DMC

• Commercial licence. Agencies, production houses and media trading.
• Freelancer permit. Individual permit for approved media professions, with visa.
• Service licence. PR, marketing and communication services.

Offices and facilities

• Shared workspaces
• Campus offices
• Standalone buildings for networks

What DMC costs

Indicative first-year cost with shared workspace. Freelancer permits available at lower cost. Budget from AED 16,500 for the first year, then add visa allocations, medicals and Emirates ID per person, and workspace if you upgrade beyond the entry package. Renewals typically come in below year-one totals. Our costs page breaks down every line item, and your written quote fixes the numbers before you pay.