|
 Rejoice! For today is the day that Orbit-Showtime perishes in the fire of innovative rebranding, arising phoenix-like as OSN! And this bird’s got an agenda...
High on the priority list for OSN is getting rid of those pesky pirate boxes that are sapping its revenue – and to this end, it aims to junk older, vulnerable receiver boxes with its own models, direct from source, according to a report in The National.
The switch will see OSN send out boxes itself over the next six months – boxes which won’t be available anywhere else.
“This is not a box you can buy in the market. We are done with this model that actually opened the door for excessive piracy,” said OSN chief exec Marc-Antoine d’Halluin, quoted in The National.
The quid pro quo (Clarice) for subscribers will be that these new boxes will be able to receive OSN’s new range of high-definition channels. D’Halluin pitched this as something of a killer app – but we remain unconvinced.
“This is a very important moment for the history of television in the Middle East. This is as big a difference as when colour television came, versus black and white,” he said, stretching the definition of hyperbole to its limits.
While HD is a nice-to-have feature, the only ones really salivating over the new crystal-sharp images are techno-geeks – and only those that are able to afford pricey HD screens will actually benefit. As someone owning a HD telly is probably doing quite nicely, thank you, they’re probably not the ones ripping off OSN for the sake of saving a few bob.
Either way, it’s not like OSN subscribers will have any choice – they’re getting the new boxes whether they like it or not, although at least they won’t have to pay for them.
OSN will be keen to bolster its offerings as much as possible in the next few months, ahead of the moment this summer when it sees the English Premier League rights switch over to UAE-based upstart Abu Dhabi Media Company.
It may well be boosted by the fact that, if ADMC broadcasts the EPL on free-to-air channels (or via multiple pay-TV providers), OSN subscribers will still be able to see the games – instead of having to switch to a rival pay-TV broadcaster.
Similarly, for this year’s Fifa World Cup, OSN viewers (or at least some of them) will have access to Al Jazeera sports channels, the new home of the major sporting event, following the Qatari broadcaster’s $2 billion buyout of ART’s sports portfolio last year.
All in all, it’s not looking too bad for OSN – provided that its current subscribers don’t suss that they may not have to shell out for that super-deluxe package after all...
|
