Advanced Television

osn

New directors at OSN

Sheikha Al Zain Al Sabah and Elie Habib have joined Dubai-based OSN under the leadership of KIPCO’s Sheikha Dana Al Sabah. The board also includes Michael Johnson from junior partner Mawarid Holding Co as well as OSN’s newly appointed CEO Joe Kawkabani. Sheikha Dana Al Sabah, Chairperson of the Board commented that the “deep experience […]

June 6, 2022By Chris Forrester

OSN relaunches with revamped line-up

Dubai-based OSN used the CabSat show in Dubai to relaunch its branded bundle of pay-TV channels. OSN says the relaunch includes refreshed on-screen branding and 18 exclusive curated channels with 9 new or revamped channels. In its statement, OSN says: [The new look] is designed to deliver a distinct and world-class scheduled TV experience, OSN […]

May 19, 2022By Chris Forrester

Kawkabani new OSN CEO

OSN, the Middle East pay-TV platform, has appointed Joe Kawkabani its new CEO. Kawkabani is already a board member and has previously served as the group chief investment officer at KIPCO, OSN’s parent company. Kawkabani takes over from Sangeeta Desai, whose term as interim CEO since August last year. Sheikha Dana, chair of OSN/Panther Media […]

April 6, 2022

Forecast: GCC VoD revenue $2.1bn by 2026

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) video industry grew revenue by 11 per cent Y/Y in 2021 to reach $1.9 billion (€1.6bn), according to the GCC Video & Broadband Distribution 2021 report from Media Partners Asia (MPA). The report provides analysis of telecoms, online video, pay-TV and free TV industries across the six Gulf Cooperation Council […]

February 23, 2022

Study: MENA video needs “more edgy content”

A White Paper from Comcast Technology Solutions, released ahead of Dubai’s CabSat, says that the MENA region offers “a thriving and dynamic market in which to operate for content, streaming providers, and distributors”. But the broadcast market cannot stand still, warns the study. It quotes Luis Duran, the former CCO at MBC’s Shahid and now […]

October 7, 2021By Chris Forrester

OSN goes live with ThinkAnalytics

ThinkAnalytics has announced that OSN, an entertainment hub in the MENA region, has gone live with Think360 on its OSN Streaming service in more than 20 markets, providing subscribers with a personalised user experience, including an enhanced recommendations and sophisticated search engine. Think360 is a critical part of OSN’s digital transformation which included a complete […]

September 8, 2021

Analyst: 15m Arabic SVoD subs by 2026

There will be 15 million SVoD subscriptions across 13 Arabic countries by 2026, up from 8.61 million in 2021, according to the Middle East and North Africa SVOD Forecasts report from analyst firm Digital TV Research. Netflix will bring in more subscribers than second-place OSN and third-placed StarzPlay combined. [Disney+ will not start in the […]

August 31, 2021

Desai named OSN interim CEO

Dubai-based pay-TV operator OSN has seen CEO Patrick Tillieux depart for “personal reasons”, and a new interim CEO appointed in Sangeeta Desai. Faisal Al Ayyar, Chairman of OSN, commented: “The Board is delighted that Sangeeta has accepted the position of Interim CEO, which will increase her involvement with OSN as she works towards the Board’s […]

August 31, 2021By Chris Forrester

Comcast Technology Solutions selected by OSN

Comcast Technology Solutions, a division of Comcast Cable that provides media and entertainment technology to content providers, operators, and advertisers, has announced that its Cloud TV Suite serves the back-end platform for OSN’s video entertainment service, OSN Streaming App. OSN is an entertainment network provider across MENA, offering an extensive range of exclusive and original […]

July 15, 2021

OSN unveils updated OTT platform

Dubai-based pay-TV operator OSN launched its OTT service a month ago but has used a local round-table to outline the benefits of the technology. CEO Patrick Tillieux and CTO Peter Riz stressed that the new technology was extremely flexible, and able to be improved and evolve with market demands. Also present was David Kovacs, CTO […]

June 22, 2021By Chris Forrester