Dubai: TV viewing possibilities in the Middle East has been taking wings… or at least going mobile. The pay-TV broadcaster OSN has launched ‘Go by OSN’, a video-on-demand streaming service that can be accessed on all manner of mobile devices, irrespective of the operating platform. In the near term, subscribers will also be able to catch up on their favourite shows on gaming devices and Smart TVs.
OSN is charging $10 a month for access, and open as a standalone service in its own right. This means that Go subscribers do not have to sign up for OSN’s 12-month pay-TV packages to get it on their mobile devices. Also, they can opt out at any point after their monthly subscription is up rather than wait for the annual membership to be over. (The broadcaster – who has a subscriber base of more than 1 million for its core offering — also has OSN Play, for Pay-TV subscribers wanting to do catch up watching of their favourite shows.)
In recent times, there have been a handful of ventures from within the region to launch video-on-demand services. A huge advantage for them is that the region already has one of the highest smartphone usages in the world; the Internet-anywhere infrastructure is also as advanced as they come, particularly in the Gulf states.
In the US, video-on-demand platforms such as Netflix and Amazon’s dedicated service have been muscling onto a turf historically dominated by the big cable TV companies. The same patterns are visible in Western Europe as well.
Where OSN hopes to score, and score big, is with the curated content at its disposal. While Go subscribers will not have access to movie premieres shown on OSN channels, they can still access these with an 18-24 month lag. As David Butorac, OSN’s CEO says it, “A good movie will still be a good one irrespective of when it’s seen.”
“Broadcasters no longer get to decide what the consumer should watch, when and where — the advent of mobile devices has shifted the choice entirely over to the viewer,” said Butorac. “The choice of device and the environment in which content will be viewed is entirely decided by the viewer.
“With ‘Go’, we are creating a new entertainment choice for those who traditionally have been depending on online video channels for content that is often illegitimate or low quality.”
Over the recent past, OSN has been pushing aggressively in terms of widening its content, aided by acquisitions such as that of the Pehla platform, with its committed following among South Asian viewers, as well as cricket broadcastS. The latest edition of the Indian Premier League cricket tourney has been another big draw.
