Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Telecommunication |
Genre | Pay television |
Founded | 10 August 1994 |
Defunct | 14 September 2009 |
Fate | Merged with Showtime Arabia into Orbit Showtime |
Headquarters | Manama, Bahrain |
Services | Direct broadcast satellite Satellite Internet |
Owner | Mawarid Holding |
Divisions | Mediagates |
Website | www |
Orbit Communications Company was a privately owned pay television network headquartered in Bahrain. Owned by Saudi Arabia–based Mawarid Holding (via Digital Media Systems),[1][2] it was the first fully digital, multi-channel, multilingual, pay television service in the Middle East and North Africa and was also the world's first fully end-to-end digital TV network.[3] Launched in 1994, it was originally situated in Tor Sapienza, Rome, Italy as the location was considered entirely suitable to build a satellite farm.[citation needed][4] Orbit employed around 600 employees[when?] who were largely a combination of British and Italian staff with several Arabic speaking nations also represented.[citation needed] Orbit broadcast in several languages around the world including English, Arabic, French and Filipino.
Some of Orbit's Arabic channels including Bahrain TV, Al Safwa, Fann, Al Yawm, Cinema 1, Cinema 2, Mousalsalat and Mousalsalat +2 and are available throughout North and South America through myTV.[5]
In 2009, to better compete with growing popularity of free-to-air channels and online videos, the company merged with Showtime Arabia to form OSN.