The all-new STARZPLAY Sports for Disruptive Live Sports Broadcasting in the Middle East and North Africa region

• A year round offering of premium sports coverage covering Football, Cricket, Boxing, Basketball, Golf and more
• Exciting additions include the recently acquired Serie A football league under the banner “The New Home of Serie A” as well as other international and regional football leagues such as Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italiana and Eredivisie.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Sports entertainment in the Middle East and North Africa is poised for a dramatic change by STARZPLAYThe region’s leading subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platform has announced the launch of STARZPLAY Sports, an all-new service dedicated to millions of sports fans.

Set to be unveiled on Friday, August 12, STARZPLAY Sports seeks to revolutionize the sports entertainment landscape by bringing together the best and most popular live sports events in one platform. By combining the existing range of sports channels with a variety of new sporting events, STARZPLAY Sports will push the boundaries of sports broadcasting, giving viewers an unprecedented experience.

STARZPLAY Sports subscribers will be in for many surprises including the latest addition to the prestigious Italian Serie A, allowing football fans across the region to watch all 380 matches live with commentary in both Arabic and English exclusively. Serie A will be broadcast on the newly launched channels AD Sports Premium 1 and AD Sports Premium 2 exclusively on STARZPLAY.

Throughout the year STARZPLAY Sports will present a wide range of premium international and regional tournaments such as the Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italiana and Dutch Eredivisie.

To the delight of millions of cricket, boxing, basketball and golf fans, STARZPLAY Sports will be home to Indian and Pakistan Super League domestic series, Frank Warren Boxing competitions, Euroleague and Eurocup basketball, PGA Tour, and many other sports and tournaments. and tournaments.

STARZPLAY Sports will bring exciting global sporting events around the clock with on-demand live events and dedicated live channels bringing subscribers uninterrupted live coverage in all 19 countries in which the platform operates, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. All live events will immediately become available for on-demand viewing once the event ends, allowing users who miss out on the live event to watch when and where they want.

Danny Bates, Chief Commercial Officer, STARZPLAY said: “As a pioneer of SVOD in the region and since launching our first sports channel in 2021, building an exclusive lineup of sports in the OTT space has been our strategic priority. Now, we are challenging the status quo of sports broadcasting in region through STARZPLAY Sports, an unparalleled platform that will provide sports fans with more reasons to cheer. We are committed to ensuring that the best sports entertainment is readily available to our subscribers. To this end, we make use of the latest technology to provide users with a smooth, high-quality experience and the best possible live streaming in the industry Low latency.”

As part of its long-term strategy, STARZPLAY is building the sports content category into one of its core products, bringing the best in sports entertainment to its 2.1 million subscribers across the region. The new STARZPLAY Sports package will complement the platform’s existing entertainment offering.

STARZPLAY sports and entertainment content can be enjoyed through starzplay.com and the STARZPLAY mobile apps. Subscribers can enjoy the great quality on their big screens via the STARZPLAY TV app available on Android TV, Apple TV, Smart TVs or PS4, or by streaming video from the mobile app to the TV via AirPlay or Google Chromecast.

With thousands of hours of premium content including the best Western content, Arabic shows, Turkish favourites, anime and live sports, STARZPLAY is today the #1 streaming platform in the MENA region. The service is available in 19 countries across the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan for fans to enjoy high-quality content anytime, anywhere and from any device.

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About STARZPLAY:

Consistently ranked in the top 3 subscription video in the region by demand service, STARZPLAY Arabia (www.starzplay.com) broadcasts a wide range of premium content covering Hollywood movies, TV shows, documentaries and series in real time as the US – plus live sports, personalized kids’ entertainment and Arabic content – to 19 countries across the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan.

STARZPLAY has thousands of premium titles including original content exclusive to STARZPLAY Arabia such as Baghdad Central, STARZ Original content such as Power, Outlander, Spartacus and The White Queen as well as premium content with add-ons such as UFC Arabia, BluTV, AD Sports, Rugby and Al Majid TV .

STARZPLAY Arabia has secured relationships with a host of leading global studios including MGM, 20th Century Studios, Warner Bros., Universal, Discovery and Fox International Channels.

Until 2022, STARZ (www.starz.com), a Lionsgate Company (NYSE: LGF.A, LGF.B) was the lead investor along with media and technology investment firms including SEQ Investors and Delta Partners. In early 2021, STARZPLAY Arabia secured its first stand-alone financing in the region of US$25 million (approximately AED 92 million) from Abu Dhabi-based Roya Partners. In March 2022, E-Vision, from e & and ADQ, an investment holding company based in Abu Dhabi, acquired a majority stake of approximately 57% in the company.

Reaching more than 2.1 million subscribers, STARZPLAY Arabia allows subscribers to watch its HD and 4K contents across most internet-enabled devices, smart TVs and game consoles, widely available on regional IPTV services. Its apps for iOS and Android—installed on more than three million devices—allow downloads for offline play.

Social media tags: @starzplayarabia Instagram, @starzplay Facebook, @STARZPlayArabia Twitter

Media questions:
Shrishti Soni | Sabreen Aloul
srishti.soni@bcw-global.com | sabrin.alaloul@bcw-global.com
Echoes of BCW | Arab Youth Survey