Showtime Arabia

Showtime Arabia
	Final logo, used from 1 April 2007 relaunch to 2009 merger
Company type	Private
Industry	Telecommunication
Founded	June 1996; 28 years ago
Defunct	12 July 2009; 15 years ago
Fate	Merged with Orbit Communications Company into OSN
Headquarters	Dubai Media City, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Key people	Faisal Al Ayar (Chairman); Marc Antoine d’Halluin (CEO)
Products	Direct broadcast satellite
Parent	KIPCO (79%); CBS Corporation (21%)
Website	ShowtimeArabia.com

Showtime Arabia was Showtime Networks' pay television service in the Middle East and North Africa. It was a joint venture between Kuwaiti holding company KIPCO (79% stake) and American media firm Viacom Inc. (21% stake).^[2]^[3] The company was incorporated in the Cayman Islands and had its headquarters at Dubai Media City in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.^[4]

Showtime Arabia was one of three Pay TV networks in the Middle East and North Africa,^[5] it offered motion pictures, sporting events and original content, some of which was localized. It had the exclusive rights to broadcast the Barclays Premier League in the Middle East and North Africa. On 12 July 2009, the company announced a merger with competitor Orbit Communications Company to form Orbit Showtime Network (OSN).

Technical

When Showtime launched, some of its channels included TMC, MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, TV Land, Paramount, Style, Discovery and Hallmark. Gulf DTH F.Z. L.L.C. was the operating company behind the digital pay TV broadcaster, Showtime Arabia. Its broadcast facilities were based at Dubai Media City in the United Arab Emirates and its uplink teleport station is Samacom, the monopoly uplink provider in the UAE. Showtime Arabia used Irdeto Access Conditional Access technology to encrypt its DTH (Direct-to-Home) channels over satellite and the OpenTV interactive platform that runs on primarily UEC Multi-Media^[6] set-top boxes.

Merger with Orbit

On 12 July 2009, Showtime Arabia and Orbit Communications Company announced a merger^[7] that created the "biggest Pay-TV platform" in the Middle East and North Africa.

The newly formed company is an equal partnership that would offer seventy exclusive channels featuring new movies, sports, series, Arabic content and international shows.

New customers can subscribe to packages featuring Showtime Arabia's and Orbit's programs, while existing subscribers will be able to either retain or upgrade their content. The company will offer HD channels, video on demand and other interactive services.

Showtime Arabia channel lineup

**Showtime Arabia channels** (2008)^*^[8]
Category	Channel(s)
Promotional & Free to air channels	Showtime Promotional channel (before ShowToday), ShowToday, OSN Promotional channel, Showtime Mosaic
Documentary channels	Animal Planet	Discovery Science	Discovery World	Nat Geo Wild
Documentary channels	Nat Geo Adventure
General Entertainment channels	ShowComedy	ShowComedy Extra	ShowSeries	ShowSeries Extra
	ShowShasha	BBC Lifestyle	BBC Prime	Super Comedy
	America Plus	E!	Universal Channel	Syfy Universal
	Fashion TV	Travel Channel	Showtime Maghreb
Kids channels	Boomerang	Cartoon Network	Disney Channel	Toon Disney
Kids channels	JimJam (04–16 UTC)	BabyFirstTV	Nickelodeon	ShowKids (it’s closed)
Movie channels	ShowMovies 1	ShowMovies 2	ShowMovies Action
Movie channels	ShowMovies Comedy	ShowMovies Kids	Hallmark Channel	Turner Classic Movies
Music channels	MTV Music	VH1
News channels	Bloomberg Television	CNN International	CNBC Europe	Sky News
Pay-per-view channels	ShowCinema TVMAX 1	ShowCinema TVMAX 2	ShowCinema TVMAX 3
Sports channels	ShowSports 1	ShowSports 2	ShowSports 3	ShowSports 4
Sports channels	Extreme Sports Channel
High definition	Showtime HD

* 43 channels** + 1 promotional channel

** 12 general entertainment channels, seven movie channels, five sports channels, five documentary channels, five kids channels, four pay-per-view channels, three music channels, and three news channels

References

^ Benjamin Birkinbine, Rodrigo Gomez, Janet Wasko (2017). Global Media Giants. New York: Routledge. p. 282.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ "About Showtime". Archived from the original on 19 April 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
^ "Company Profile (Showtime)". Retrieved 30 March 2008.
^ Showtime Arabia Channel Line-up with channel number!
^ K.S. Ramkumar. "Showtime Arabia Introduces New Attractive Platform". Arab News. Retrieved 30 March 2008.
^ UEC
^ Chiba Yushi (February 2012). "A Comparative Study on the Pan-Arab Media Strategies: The Cases of Egypt and Saudi Arabia" (PDF). アジア･アフリカ地域研究研究科 (ASAFAS) 京都大学大学院 – ASAFAS: Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies Kyoto University. 5 (1&2). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
^ "Showtime Packages". Archived from the original on 7 July 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2008.

External links

Orbit Showtime Network's homepage
Packages of Orbit Showtime Network Archived 2013-12-24 at the Wayback Machine
Viacom's homepage
Dubai Media City
NileSat Satellite

[Giants-1] Benjamin Birkinbine, Rodrigo Gomez, Janet Wasko (2017). Global Media Giants. New York: Routledge. p. 282.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[2] "About Showtime". Archived from the original on 19 April 2008. Retrieved 30 March 2008.

[show-3] "Company Profile (Showtime)". Retrieved 30 March 2008.

[4] Showtime Arabia Channel Line-up with channel number!

[show2-5] K.S. Ramkumar. "Showtime Arabia Introduces New Attractive Platform". Arab News. Retrieved 30 March 2008.

[6] UEC

[7] Chiba Yushi (February 2012). "A Comparative Study on the Pan-Arab Media Strategies: The Cases of Egypt and Saudi Arabia" (PDF). アジア･アフリカ地域研究研究科 (ASAFAS) 京都大学大学院 – ASAFAS: Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies Kyoto University. 5 (1&2). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2014.

[8] "Showtime Packages". Archived from the original on 7 July 2008. Retrieved 8 July 2008.

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