Bellator Announces Broadcast Alliance With
Leading MENA Pay-TV Broadcaster OSN
OSN Partnership Makes Bellator The Most Widely Distributed MMA Promotion Throughout Middle East & North African Region
Newport Beach, Calif. (February 24, 2014) – Bellator is continuing its global expansion with a broadcast alliance with OSN, the leading pay-TV network in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. OSN will begin airing Bellator events immediately, starting with this Friday’s Season 10 premiere featuring Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, “King” Mo Lawal, and many others. The Multi-year agreement begins with this Friday night as Bellator debuts it’s 10th season.
“OSN is an absolute force in the Middle East and Northern Africa, and as Bellator continues to expand into key regions worldwide, OSN was the penultimate partner for our brand in 2014 and beyond,” Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney said. “From Algeria to Yemen, Bellator is now on the premier network for MMA across the entire MENA region, and we couldn’t be happier.”
Headquartered in Dubai Media City, UAE, OSN airs in both Arabic and English in high definition throughout the region, operating five 24 hour sports channels, featuring the NFL, NHL, the PGA Tour, the ICC Cricket World Cup, The Rugby Championship and more. With nearly 140 channels featured on the wider OSN platform, the network is the leading pay-TV operator in the region. This new Bellator/OSN alliance provides Bellator distribution with a substantially greater reach in the region than any competitors.
“We are very excited about this partnership, OSN understands and has a passion for MMA and in Bellator we have partnered with the largest tournament based organization in the world that is growing fast, gaining fans around the globe and we can’t wait to grow Bellator in our region,” OSN’s VP Sports & Production, Andy Warkman said. “We have signed a multiyear deal and have some exciting plans for growth, on ground activations and localization.”
Featuring the greatest fighters from across the globe including Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, The United Kingdom, France, Russia, and Africa, Bellator showcases many of the world’s greatest MMA fighters in a tournament based, single-elimination format that awards the winner of each eight-man or four-man tournament a guaranteed world title fight against the current Bellator World Champion in the applicable weight class. Bellator can now be seen in over 140 countries worldwide, including the United States, the UK and Latin America, as Bellator recently announced one of the largest International distribution partnerships in combat sports history with Fox Sports in Latin America.
For more information, visit Bellator.com, follow Bellator on Twitter @BellatorMMA, follow Bellator Chairman & CEO Bjorn Rebney @BjornRebney and check out Bellator on Facebook at www.facebook.com/BellatorMMA
About Bellator MMA
Bellator MMA is the world’s largest tournament based Mixed Martial Arts organization. Televised to nearly 500 Million homes worldwide in over 140 countries, Bellator’s majority owner is entertainment giant Viacom. In the United States, Bellator can be seen on Spike TV, the MMA television leader. With over 175 world-class athletes under contract, Bellator is home to many of the sport’s top mixed martial artists. Bellator’s founder & CEO, Bjorn Rebney, is an experienced fighting sports and entertainment executive with a deep commitment to the purity and integrity of the sport of MMA and its athletes. Bellator’s core philosophy is that title shots should be earned, not given. This belief gave rise to Bellator’s real sport, tournament-based format, which gives Bellator’s tournaments a true playoff feel that keeps the sport true and distances itself from the subjective side of fighting sports found in organizations that utilize a matchmaking/casting formula. Bellator MMA is comprised of an executive team that includes top industry professionals in television production, live event orchestration, fighter development/relations, venue procurement, sponsorship creation/development, international licensing, marketing, advertising, publicity and commission relations. Bellator is based in Newport Beach, California.
About OSN:
OSN is the ultimate destination for the widest choice of brand new premium Western, Arabic, South Asian (Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Malayalam and Tamil) and Filipino entertainment in the Middle East and Africa.
OSN is the home of nearly 140 channels filled with great value entertainment, offering viewers in the MENA region exclusive access to the latest blockbuster movies, top rated series, sports, documentaries, news, kid’s entertainment and live talk shows. The movie offering includes over a 100 uncut and uninterrupted movie premieres a month so viewers can watch them the way they were meant to be watched.
OSN boasts the most comprehensive portfolio of exclusive rights from all the major studios including Warner Brothers, Paramount, Fox, Disney, Sony, MGM, Universal, HBO and DreamWorks and offers access to the world’s leading television brands including Disney channel, Sky News, Discovery Network and Nat Geo. Launched in August 2013, OSN Pehla brings the best of Bollywood movies and premium cricket, including exclusive telecast rights of international tournaments such as the ICC Cricket World Cup and Indian cricket, through leading sports channels OSN Sports Cricket HD and Ten Cricket.
As the leader in innovation, OSN has changed the TV viewing experience by bringing quality entertainment through 38 High Definition channels and is currently the only network offering a full HD bouquet of channels as well as 3D entertainment in the region. OSN was the first to launch the DVR, the OSN DVR HD; the regions first online TV platform, OSN Play; the regions first 3D, HD, internet enabled satellite receiver and recorder, OSN Plus HD and the region’s first VOD service, OSN on Demand offering viewers the opportunity to watch over 1000 movies and 52 latest seasons of the top series, all available in full HD quality and Dolby Digital sound. September 2012 saw the launch of OSN’s rewards programme, OSN Privileges, offering subscribers money can’t buy experiences, special offers and premium prizes all year round. The OSN platform is owned and operated by Panther Media Group Limited; a company registered in DIFC, and is owned by KIPCO and Mawarid Group Limited.
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