It was widely reported that “unrealistic” carriage fees was behind the decision for Discovery Communications to exit its distribution deal with Dubai-based OSN earlier this week, but Discovery says this is not the case.

Dubai’s BroadcastPro trade magazine, quotes Discovery putting the blame squarely on OSN’s failure to pay past dues. The broadcaster stated: “We have kept the terms of the OSN negotiations confidential but feel that in light of OSN’s public comments, we have to set the record straight. The issue is not unrealistic payment expectations, but rather non-payment for the provision of our channels and content during 2019. This is the reason we were regrettably forced to terminate our agreement with OSN and take our channels off air.”

Discovery says its priority now is to get back on the air over the MENA region, and says it hopes the parties involved can reach a swift resolution “for the benefit of our customers”.

Discovery has exercised a similar decision in November with MyHD and removed Discovery Science and its Animal Planet from the low-cost pay-TV bouquet.

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