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28 March 2024

No Cartoon Network on OSN from January 16

Published
By Joseph George

At least four popular channels including Cartoon Network could go off-air for OSN subscribers in the Middle East starting January.

Sources have confirmed the Emirates 24|7 that the channels might go off-air across the OSN network following a decision by Turner Network.

Among the affected channels are: Cartoon Network, Cartoon Network Arabic, CNN, TCM and Boomerang. It is not sure if the decision to remove the channels follows a disagreements on rates and contractual proposals.

In a similar incident Turner Networks in October had decided to remove Cartoon Network, CNN and other channels from the Dish network in the US, when the two companies could not agree on a new contract. It was however later restored temporarily a month later.

OSN offers a wide range of over 150 channels of Western, Arabic, South Asian (Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Malayalam and Tamil) and Filipino entertainment in the Middle East and Africa.

Meanwhile, other cable providers including Etisalat and Du may not be affected with the decision by Turner to take the channels off air from OSN.

Both operators have separate contractual agreements and a direct deal with Turner.

Separately, subscribers in the UAE were recently affected after two premium channels Fox Movies HD (Ch 630) and Fox HD (Ch 183) were removed as free to air channels following its acquisition  by beIN Media group. The move affected all telcos and DTH (Direct to Home) companies in the region.

Etisalat in a statement said it had compensated its subscribers by offering two premium pay TV channels-Star Movies HD and Star World HD for free for two months. Etisalat said it has added 9 new premium channels at no additional cost.

While the channels were available for all eLife TV subscribers during November it became part of the Western Basic Package in December. "All existing Western Basic subscribers will have access to these channels at no additional cost and others may subscribe to this package for just Dh30 per month," it said in a statement.