They include Arabic movie channel Yahala Cinema; Movies Family – showcasing content from Warner Bros, Paramount and Gulf Film; First HD Home of HBO – featuring all of HBO’s TV movies, comedy specials, documentaries and talk-shows; H2 HD – showcasing History channel documentaries; and BBC First HD featuring British premium drama and new entertainment.

Other premium and exclusive channels will be unveiled in March, the company said in a statement.

The new H2 HD channel will also be fully subtitled in Arabic by April while the existing History channel will be completely subtitled by March.

Currently, over 90 per cent of the network’s subscribers are Arabic speakers, OSN’s chief executive officer David Butorac told Gulf Business late last year.

“We are continuously pushing our boundaries and reinventing the TV industry landscape of the MENA region through our investment in content that no other network can offer. This is our central strategy for 2016,” said Butorac.

“The new channels reflect the exclusive global industry partnerships that we have strengthened over the years. We have first access to content of all the new channels for our OTT and On Demand platforms too.”

Earlier this month OSN also signed a 10-year extended partnership with NBCUniversal that will see E! Channel exclusively available to the network’s subscribers.

OSN will also bring the popular Syfy channel on board as part of the partnership this year, it said.

Overall, the network – which has over 150 channels – aims to introduce over 50 new and exclusive shows this year. It will also build on its HD portfolio, set to be reach 64 channels by the first quarter of 2016.

“Over the past years, we have expanded our dedicated programming for women and children as well as enhanced our movie, series and sports content. This year, we are going all out to expand our portfolio with exclusive content for the entire family,” added Butorac.