coverstory_cover story 26/02/2015 10:23 Page 6
“The recent Arab Spring
has further boosted the
preponderance of DTH.”
Constantinos
Papavassilopoulos, IHS
average 24% by 2020, and Qatar reaching
72% penetration. However, at the lower end
of the scale, pay-TV penetration will be
below 10% of TV households in Algeria,
Jordan, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia.
The problem is piracy, says Simon
Murray, author of the report. “There are
34.3 million free-to-air satellite TV homes in
the Middle East and North Africa subregions [excluding Israel, Turkey and
Eurasia]. We estimate that at least 10 per
cent of these homes also receive pirated
premium satellite TV signals. This
represents considerable revenue loss to the
legitimate players.”
The hard statistics suggest BeIN Sports
Arabia is the market leader in terms of
subscriber numbers, although questions
might be asked as to its profitability. BeIN
Sports Arabia, says IHS, offers four pay
packages, with the largest comprising 25
channels, 13 of which are in HD and the
broadcaster is steadily adding more HD
material. Prices have risen significantly as
this output has grown from just a pair of HD
channels in 2012 to the current 13. Prices
have risen from $7 a month for a full
package in 2012 to $14.20 now, and a
similar 40% rise has been levied on the
other bundles. The main reason for the hike
is the addition of the English Premier
League football and its hugely expensive
exclusive TV rights. IHS quotes its revenues
as being €212.3m from its satellite-based
business, plus an unstated amount from
sports bars, coffee shops, restaurants and
hotels, as well as IPTV revenues.
MERGER. OSN was created by the merger
of Orbit and Showtime back in July 2009.
OSN is quite different to sports-focused
BeIN Sports in that it offers a full portfolio
of conventional pay-TV channels including
movies and series as well as thematic
channels. It has the largest number of HD
channels in the region (38) with its
customer base being strongest in Saudi
Arabia and the other Gulf states (IHS says
between 75% and 80% of its customers).
OSN, however, is an expensive buy.
OSN’s package prices are around three times
the price of its rivals, and this is allowing
aggregators such as MyHD to launch low-
cost packages of thematic channels under
OSN’s nose. OSN offers 110 channels and is
boosting the amount invested on original
Arabic content which was always a strong
offering. It is also expanding its reach
towards the West of its coverage region, in
particular to French-speaking regions in
North Africa.
Improved content, curbing piracy and
fresh content (Arabic, Indian, Farsi and now
French-language) is beginning to pay off
very well. OSN enjoyed a 27% growth
between 2001 and 2012, and another 21%
growth in 2013, whi