David Butorac addresses gathering in Egypt.

Viewers in Egypt can now benefit from the Orbit Showtime Network bouquet after an agreement was concluded last weekend between the concerned authorities. 

When Orbit and Showtime merged their operations in July 2009, subscribers to both networks across the Arab world with the exception of Egypt had access to bouquets from both operators.

Subscribers in Egypt, however, could not access the OSN network due to unexplained reasons from local service provider Cable Network Egypt (CNE). As a result, on December 19, 2010, when OSN switched off its old platform, legal Showtime subscribers in Egypt lost their channels while Orbit subscribers had their package downgraded to the Arabic channels package Alfa.

According to information on Wikipaedia, anyone attempting to access the official OSN website from an IP address in Egypt was presented with a special webpage containing a message for Egyptian Orbit Showtime subscribers, indicating to customers that their service would encounter disruption, but that OSN was working to resolve matters to launch OSN in Egypt.

The new packages, however, became available in Egypt at the end of March.

Showtime and Orbit subscribers in Egypt were urged to take their old receiver, Showtime smart card and a form of identification to any OSN outlet to receive their brand new OSN HD decoder for free and be upgraded instantly to the new OSN package.

David Butorac, CEO of OSN, who was in Egypt last week, said: “We are urging all customers to swap their old boxes for a brand new one immediately which will be free of charge. For the first time, customers in Egypt will be able to access 80 channels of quality Arabic and Western entertainment including an unrivaled line-up of HD channels. Whether you’re a fan of Hollywood movies, Arabic talk-shows, live sports or US series you can get the best value from OSN and enjoy the widest range of premium exclusive entertainment. We look forward to making the OSN experience even more compelling with the addition of On-Demand services later this year.”

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