OSN, the leading pay-TV network in the Middle East and North Africa, has significantly expanded its entertainment bouquet with the strategic acquisition of Pehla Media & Entertainment, the region's largest provider of South Asian pay television content. The acquisition brings nearly 40 popular South Asian channels in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Tamil and Malayalam languages to OSN's existing comprehensive portfolio of channels. Bringing the best in Bollywood and premium cricket, with exclusive telecast rights of the ICC Cricket World Cup, OSN Pehla will underscore the network's position as the ultimate destination for premium content. Showcasing nearly 140 TV channels with the widest spectrum of Arabic, Western, South Asian and Filipino television entertainment, OSN now has something for everyone. Pehla will now be known as OSN Pehla, functioning as an integral unit of OSN that is dedicated to South Asian content delivery. OSN Pehla customers will soon receive free access to OSN Play, the region's first online TV viewing platform and can immediately participate in OSN's rewards programme, OSN Privileges, offering a spectacular range of special prizes and deals from leading retailers and lifestyle partners. Viewers will also benefit from the many advantages of being part of the OSN platform, including access to more than 400 sales touch points across the region and 24x7 customer services. The new channels that are now available under OSN Pehla include popular entertainment choices such as Sony, Star Plus, Sun TV, Zee TV, Geo TV, ARY Digital, Asianet Middle East, Colors, Gemini TV and Kairali among others. OSN Pehla will offer the best of Bollywood through Sony Max, Star Gold, UTV Movies International and Zee Cinema, while news followers from South Asia can tune into Asianet News, Dawn News, NDTV 24x7, Times Now and Aaj Tak. Lifestyle and music choices include Channel [V] India, MTV India, UTV Bindass and UTV Stars in addition to popular children's entertainment channels Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Baby TV. OSN Pehla will also be the ultimate destination for cricket fans through CricOne and Ten Cricket, offering exclusive access to the widely followed ICC Cricket World Cup, ICC Champions Trophy, ICC World Twenty20 and Champions League. This complements OSN's existing exclusive cricket rights which include The Ashes and The Champions League Twenty20. David Butorac, Chief Executive Officer of OSN, said: “This acquisition builds on OSN's growth strategy to explore opportunities for market consolidation bringing greater economies of scale and operational efficiencies to offer great value entertainment for subscribers.” — SG
