Showtime and Orbit have merged to become the largest pay TV platform in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), confirmed official communications from both the establishments.
Investment firm Kuwait Projects Company (Kipco) conveyed that it has merged its pay TV channel unit Showtime Arabia with the Riyadh-based Orbit Group, owned by Mawarid Group.
"The new company is a partnership between the Orbit Group and Showtime Arabia," Kipco said in an e-mailed statement.
It did not give details on the value of the deal.
Showtime Arabia is one of the first pay TV network in Mena broadcasting the Hollywood movies and Western entertainment.
It is based in Dubai and produces 20 premium channels that are branded as Showtime channels.
In addition, it also has partnered with international networks including Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, CNBC and MTV.
Showtime Arabia is owned by Gulf DTH, which is a joint venture of Kipco owning 80 per cent of Gulf DTH and Viacom. Viacom owns the remaining 20 per cent.
The other partner, Orbit Satellite Television and Radio Network, is the world's first fully digital, multi-channel, multi-lingual, pay television service that also has 20 radio stations.
Orbit broadcasts broadly for the Middle East and North Africa region with its reach in Europe, US and Australia and has plans to expand this service into other Asian countries and Canada.
Dubai offices of the two channels confirmed the news and conveyed that "the two establishments have merged", but refrained from releasing any more details.
However, the corporate communication officials of the two companies were tight-lipped and were busy in meetings until late last evening to iron out the details and did not disclose any thing more to the press.
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