The Middle East Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) Group extended its partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery in order to continue bringing Warner Bros. content as well as adding new Cartoon Network offerings to audiences across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
"We have had a strong relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery for two decades and this deal cements it for years to come. The deal allows MBC Group to show some of the biggest theatrical titles by Warner Bros. to our audiences across the Middle East and North Africa and expand our Cartoon Network offering across the region," said Sam Barnett, CEO of MBC Group.
"We’re delighted to maintain this partnership and we are looking forward to all the benefits it can bring both to our channels and to our streaming platform Shahid," Barnett added.
MBC is a highly valued and longstanding partner, with which Warner has found new ways to deepen their longstanding relationship and at the same time reinforcing its commitment to Free TV, according to Jamie Cooke, GM CEE, Middle East & Turkey at Warner Bros. Discovery.
"This partnership with them allows us to offer our unparalleled collection of content and provide consumers with entertainment variety," Cooke said.
MBC’s newly-extended partnership with Warner Bros. will result in the group securing rights to broadcast the studio’s latest Hollywood blockbusters on MBC2 – the major English-language movie channel in MENA – up to the year 2026. This includes the showcase of “first-run” box office hits for a free-to-air TV channel, such as Tenet, Wonder Woman 1984, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, It Chapter Two, and Joker.
Major franchises that also form part of this extension include Batman, Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts, and Lord of the Rings.
The extended partnership also results in MBC Group expanding on its Cartoon Network offerings, by launching the Cartoon Network Arabia channel on Shahid – the Arabic streaming platform by MBC Group – for one year until September 2023.
English-language content will also be made available, with an additional 250 episodes of Cartoon Network content expected to be added to a brand-new Shahid Kids subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) Cartoon Network-branded hub.
Titles such as We are Bears, Teen Titans GO!, The Amazing World of Gumball, Coach Me If You Can, Tom & Jerry, and Looney Tunes will continuously be updated on Shahid Kids every quarter.
