Television viewers should soon be able to watch their favourite OSN shows via the internet on tablet computers or smartphones as the broadcaster plans to launch a digital service.
David Butorac, the chief executive of the Orbit Showtime Network, said the digital platform, which has a provisional title of My OSN, would be launched at the end of this year or early next year.
"You'd be able to catch up with your favourite series online. It's a big step forward," said Mr Butorac. "We will expand the OSN experience to be across multiple platforms - so not just the broadcast platform that there is today, but also across tablets, smartphones and [online]."
Viewers will be able to catch up on programmes they missed at initial broadcast, and a few channels may be streamed directly.
OSN currently broadcasts via satellite and cable networks owned by telecommunications companies such as Etisalat and du.
Digital distribution on internet browsers and mobile devices would mark a new revenue stream for the broadcaster, although pricing plans had yet to be finalised, Mr Butorac said.
"For existing subscribers, it will be a value-added service that will come at low or no cost," he said. "But non-subscribers would have to pay an entry fee."
Mr Butorac, who joined OSN late last year, said the rate of new subscriptions had tripled this year from last year, a trend he attributed to a clampdown on piracy and an investment in new shows.
"It's a huge jump," he said. "The business is just flying at the moment."
The TV network, based in Dubai, yesterday announced a new Arabic-language channel called OSN Yahala! HD, which it plans to launch on October 10.
Shows on the channel will be broadcast over satellite in the Middle East and parts of Africa, as well as via a "catch-up" service on an upcoming digital platform.
OSN has a total of 90 channels. Yahala - the name means "welcome" - will be broadcast in high-definition alongside OSN's 14 other Arabic-language channels, and include a mix of entertainment, drama and films.
"It is a genre and style of programming that we do not believe has been showcased in this market already," said Mr Butorac. "It will appeal to a fairly broad audience, but typically to a younger demographic."
Yahala will feature a new sitcom called Hindistani, which is the first original Arabic-language production to be commissioned and co-produced by OSN.
"It will be showcased on our airtime, and beyond that on to our digital-media platforms when they launch later in the year," said Mr Butorac.
Currently, all of the shows aired by OSN in Arabic - and most in English - are acquired from other media companies.
Mr Butorac said OSN plans to boost the amount of original content it produces.
"We see it as a growing phase of our business," he said. "We have to make certain that we make all of our channels relevant for our target audiences."
OSN also announced a new brand identity under the slogan "Just Imagine".
The company was formed in a merger of the Orbit and Showtime Arabia networks in 2009.
It is owned and operated by Panther Media Group (PMG), which is registered in the Dubai International Financial Centre.
PMG is owned by the Kuwaiti holding company Kipco and Orbit Group.
bflanagan@thenational.ae
The team
Photographer: Mateusz Stefanowski at Art Factory
Videographer: Jear Valasquez
Fashion director: Sarah Maisey
Make-up: Gulum Erzincan at Art Factory
Model: Randa at Art Factory Videographer’s assistant: Zanong Magat
Photographer’s assistant: Sophia Shlykova
With thanks to Jubail Mangrove Park, Jubail Island, Abu Dhabi
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Persuasion
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The specs: 2019 BMW X4
Price, base / as tested: Dh276,675 / Dh346,800
Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged in-line six-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 354hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 1,550rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 9.0L / 100km
Walls
Louis Tomlinson
3 out of 5 stars
(Syco Music/Arista Records)
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
SQUADS
South Africa:
JP Duminy (capt), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wkt), AB de Villiers, Robbie Frylinck, Beuran Hendricks, David Miller, Mangaliso Mosehle (wkt), Dane Paterson, Aaron Phangiso, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Tabraiz Shamsi
Bangladesh
Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Imrul Kayes, Liton Das (wkt), Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (wkt), Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed
Fixtures
Oct 26: Bloemfontein
Oct 29: Potchefstroom
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
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Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
