Showtime Arabia
 |
|
|
Joint venture between KIPCO (79% stake) and CBS Corporation (21% stake) |
|
| Industry | Telecommunication |
| Fate | merged with Orbit Communications Company into Orbit Showtime |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Defunct | 2009 |
| Headquarters | Dubai Media City, Dubai, United Arab Emirates |
|
Key people
|
Faisal Al Ayar (Chairman) Marc Antoine d’Halluin (CEO) |
| Products | Direct broadcast satellite |
| Website | ShowtimeArabia.com |
Showtime Arabia, as it was called to distinguish itself from its U.S. counterpart (Showtime), was a subscription television service in the Middle East and North Africa. It was a joint venture between KIPCO (79% stake) and CBS Corporation (21% stake), CBS Corp being a minor partner. The company was incorporated in the Cayman Islands and had its headquarters at Dubai Media City in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Showtime Arabia was one of the pay TV networks in the Middle East and North Africa. 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 Orbit Communications Company into Orbit Showtime.
When SHOWTIME launched, it some of its channels were 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 channels over satellite and the OpenTV interactive platform that runs on primarily UEC set-top boxes.
...
Wikipedia