OSN, the home to all WWE programming in the Middle East, announced that Smackdown will now air live for the first time ever and will move to Wednesdays at 4am beginning July 20. With the Smackdown move, OSN will now offer five hours of live WWE programming a week, including the weekly three-hour live WWE […]
OSN, the home to all WWE programming in the Middle East, announced that Smackdown will now air live for the first time ever and will move to Wednesdays at 4am beginning July 20. With the Smackdown move, OSN will now offer five hours of live WWE programming a week, including the weekly three-hour live WWE RAW (airing live on Tuesday morning from 4am to 7am KSA on OSN Sports 2 HD), with each show featuring a distinct cast, unique storylines and a dedicated writing team.
Just like RAW, SMACKDOWN will be repeated the same day in an after school slot at 3pm KSA and in Primetime at 8pm KSA. Both shows will now air live 52 weeks a year.
OSN shows all ten of WWEs weekly programmes at the same time as the US and is the destination for WWE fans in the region. Last year OSN signed an exclusive deal in the region for the OSN WWE Network HD, the 24/7 channel is available free to all OSN platinum subscribers or as an add-on for US$9.99 per month and includes all PPV events, programmes exclusive to the network and more than 5,000 hours of on-demand content.
As the exclusive home of Smackdown in the region we are very excited to announce that, like in the US, our customers will be able to see Smackdown live each week, said Andy Warkman OSN Vice President, Sport & Production.
OSN prides itself in showing all programming from the WWE Universe at the same time as the US and deliver the ultimate viewing experience for fans.
“WWE’s flagship programmes will both leverage the incredible depth of our talent roster, distinct storylines and the unpredictable nature of live TV,” said WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon.
This move will undoubtedly build more excitement and deepen engagement with our fans around the world.
With more than 874 original episodes, Smackdown is the second longest-running weekly episodic programme in U.S. television history, only behind MONDAY NIGHT RAW at 1,200 episodes.
OSN has an exclusive partnership with WWE to distribute the OSN WWE Network HD in the region. OSN subscribers can access the network via their set top boxes, and anytime, anywhere on multiple devices via OSN Play and through authenticated access via WWE Network apps. WWE Network is also offered in the region on an OTT basis through OSNs GO online TV.
