Disney’s Desert Gamble: Inside the Anti-Netflix Alliance with Shahid and OSN+

20 December 2025

Let’s cut the pleasantries. The streaming wars aren't about "delighting the customer" anymore. That’s the press release fluff. The reality? It’s about survival. It’s about churn. And in the Middle East, the math just stopped working for the standalone players.

Disney+, for all its Marvel muscle and Star Wars nostalgia, hit a ceiling. The localized content wasn't sticky enough. The price point was a friction point. Netflix was—and remains—the default utility, the water and electricity of the digital household.

But last week’s announcement from Riyadh wasn’t just a partnership. It was a mobilization of troops.

Disney+ has officially inked a "trio bundle" deal with Shahid (the MBC Group juggernaut that actually rules the region) and OSN+ (the gatekeeper of HBO prestige drama).

The logic is brutal and brilliant: If you can’t kill the red giant alone, form an Avengers-style super team and squeeze them out.

The Economics of "The Price of Two"

Here is the deal. For roughly AED 89.99 per month, subscribers in the GCC (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc.) get access to all three platforms. They call it "three for the price of two."

I call it a churn-killer.

In the streaming business, we talk about "stickiness." A user might cancel Disney+ after binging The Mandalorian. They might drop OSN+ once House of the Dragon wraps. But Shahid? Shahid is the local habit. It’s the Ramadan drama engine. By bolting Disney and HBO (via OSN) onto the hull of the Shahid battleship, Disney isn’t just getting distribution. They are buying insurance against irrelevance in a market that Omdia predicts will hit $1.5 billion in value by the end of 2025.

This isn't a merger. It's a defensive alliance. Users still download three separate apps. But the billing is unified under Shahid. That matters. Whoever holds the credit card data holds the power. And right now, that power belongs to MBC Group.

Why Shahid Holds the Cards

Make no mistake: Disney is the junior partner here.

That sounds insane to anyone sitting in Burbank, but look at the numbers. Shahid controls roughly 22% of the MENA streaming market, comfortably ahead of Netflix. They have the 4.4 million subscribers that actually matter—the ones who pay for Arabic originals, not just back-catalog American sitcoms.

Disney+ has struggled to crack the local code. Their Arabic originals have been sparse. Partnering with Shahid allows Disney to stop pretending they are a local player and go back to doing what they do best: selling IP. Iron Man doesn't need to speak Arabic; he just needs to be on the same bill as the show that does.

The OSN+ Factor: The HBO Wildcard

Then there is OSN+.

This is where it gets interesting. OSN recently merged with Anghami, the music streaming platform, creating a tech-media hybrid that looks a lot like a regional Spotify-meets-Hulu.

OSN+ holds the exclusive rights to HBO content in the region. That means Succession, The Last of Us, and The White Lotus.

By throwing OSN+ into this bundle, the alliance effectively corners the market on "Prestige TV." If you want the biggest American blockbusters (Disney) and the most critical darlings (HBO), plus the local watercooler hits (Shahid), you buy this bundle.

What does Netflix have left? Squid Game and a lot of algorithmically generated filler. That might not be enough anymore.

The Netflix Squeeze

Netflix is still the leader in pure volume for now, but their dominance is brittle.

Analysts at Omdia have already flagged that local players are gaining ground. The market is shifting from "growth at all costs" to "retention at sustainable costs."

Netflix charges a premium in the region. If a family in Riyadh looks at their bill and sees they can get Disney, HBO, and Shahid for roughly the same price as a 4K Netflix plan, the inexorable math starts to work against Los Gatos.

It’s the same "Great Rebundling" we are seeing in the US with the Disney/Hulu/Max bundle. The era of the walled garden is over. The walls were too expensive to maintain.

The Executive View

Natasha Matos-Hemingway, Shahid’s Chief Commercial Officer, framed it as "unbeatable convenience". That’s executive speak for "Please stop cancelling."

But she’s right. The friction of managing three subscriptions is real. "Subscription fatigue" is the industry’s silent killer. By unifying the billing, they reduce the cognitive load on the consumer. You subscribe once, you forget about it. That is how you build a sticky revenue model in a region expected to have 28 million SVOD subscriptions by 2029.

The Verdict

This is the future.

The fragmented streaming landscape was an anomaly, a zero-interest-rate phenomenon fueled by cheap capital and ego. Now that interest rates are real and shareholders want profit, the bundles are back.

Disney+ gets to lower its customer acquisition cost. Shahid cements its position as the aggregator of choice. OSN+ stays relevant in a world of giants.

And the consumer? They get a cable package. Just delivered over the internet.

Whatever you do, don't call it innovation. Call it what it is: A truce.

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