In a statement to BroadcastPro, OSN said: "We are committed to resolving this issue as a matter of priority and remain hopeful that Discovery will come to an agreement with us."
Discovery announced December 11 that the company was pulling all its channels including Discovery Channel, TLC, Discovery Science and Investigation Discovery from the OSN bouquet with immediate effect. The termination included withdrawal of Discovery’s channels from OSN’s partner platforms.
Responding to BroadcastPro‘s query for clarification, OSN stated: “We are surprised and disappointed that Discovery has decided to take its channels down from our platform. We have been in ongoing negotiations for several months to reach an agreement that was best for our customers, but despite our efforts, we, like many other platforms and broadcasters globally, have found the price expectations for the Discovery portfolio to be unrealistic.
“OSN’s focus has always been to provide our subscribers with the best value when it comes to quality entertainment content. We are committed to resolving this issue as a matter of priority and remain hopeful that Discovery will come to an agreement with us.”
In a statement issued earlier in the day, Discovery said: “Discovery regrets to advise that despite negotiating in good faith for several months it has been forced to cease broadcast of our channels on OSN. It proposed several different options to OSN to ensure that our MENA fan base could continue to watch the shows they enjoy. Unfortunately, OSN has refused to finalise negotiations. Due to this, and despite its best endeavours, Discovery has been forced to terminate the agreement. Discovery remains hopeful that an agreement will be reached to bring back its channels for fans across the region and will provide updates when available.”
