OSN strengthens HBO partnership with multi-year deal for exclusive content

OSN, the region’s leading pay-TV network, has strengthened its partnership with HBO, the award-winning premium US network, with a multi-year deal for first and exclusive content delivery in the MENA region. The renewed partnership underlines OSN as the exclusive home for HBO’s award-winning programming.

OSN will enhance its portfolio of HBO’s acclaimed programmes in 2015 with the first and exclusive telecast of all HBO productions including three brand new shows, nine returning show premieres and a growing schedule of new programmes. OSN will also have catch-up rights for HBO content, meaning OSN subscribers can watch their favourite HBO shows at their convenience via OSN’s On Demand service or anytime, anywhere on OSN Play, the broadcaster’s award-winning online TV viewing platform.

Many new HBO shows, and new seasons of current HBO hits like Game of Thrones, will be telecast by OSN in the MENA region at the same minute as the US in stunning 1080i High Definition. The new shows are in addition to the growing bouquet of HBO’s award-winning series, mini-series, TV movies, comedy specials and documentaries.

David Butorac, CEO of OSN, said: “HBO has set an industry benchmark in global television with its accomplished track-record of award-winning content. Our partnership with HBO for first and exclusive telecast rights delivers tremendous value to our subscribers by bringing premium programming at the same time as in the US. It highlights our continued commitment to enhance our world-class entertainment offering to exceed the expectations of our subscribers.”

Charles Schreger, President of Programming Sales, HBO, said: “It has always been our priority to deliver added value for our viewers in the MENA region through the exclusive partnership with OSN. Through the renewed partnership, viewers here will have first access to our international programming. In 2015, we are strengthening our line-up of exclusive shows, and bringing many of them to OSN subscribers at the same time as in the US.”

In addition to the latest HBO series, OSN also offers over 300 hours of classic HBO boxsets of its iconic series, mini-series and TV movies on the ‘OSN On Demand’ service. Some of the more popular all-season box-sets in the region include The Sopranos, Entourage and How to Make it in America as well as the mini-series The Pacific and Band of Brothers.

With hundreds of hours of exclusive content that appeals to the entire family, HBO’s 2015 line-up includes returning seasons of its outstanding drama series Game of Thrones, True Detective, and The Leftovers, and returning comedies like Girls, Veep and Silicon Valley. There will also be eagerly awaited new shows such as Togetherness, a family comedy written by the Duplass Brothers; Ballers, a sports comedy featuring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson; The Brink, a geopolitical comedy starring Jack Black and Tim Robbins; and the highly anticipated sci-fi/western thriller, Westworld.