Broadcasting giant Orbit Showtime Network (OSN) has insisted its decision to shift its regional headquarters to Dubai would neither affect jobs or hit services in Bahrain.

The company claimed that the majority of staff would be offered positions in Dubai or in other offices around the region.

'The regional office in Bahrain will maintain full operation, play an important role in growing OSN's business and continue to service customers through the Bahrain team,' it said in a statement.

'Subscribers in Bahrain will continue to enjoy the widest range of premium channels including the region's first bouquet of nine exclusive high-definition channels, through a new series of high-definition set-top boxes with improved encryption technology.

'This new technology brings to the platform the necessary security applications needed to effectively fight piracy.

'It is this technology that will allow us to continue to work effectively with the government of Bahrain and the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), who up to this point have played a significant and noteworthy role in the fight against piracy.'

Our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News (GDN) reported on Friday that the company was set to relocate its Middle East base to the UAE within the next six months.

A company official said the move, described as 'sad', was made in response to a perceived lack of action against satellite piracy in Bahrain.

It was revealed last December that a crackdown on illegal satellite TV providers had failed, with a TRA official admitting that authorities were 'pretty much where they were' with regard to solving the problem.

They launched a drive against illegal Dreambox services last October, when the TRA instructed all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Bahrain to block Internet Protocol (IP) addresses being used to broadcast channels illegally through the web.

However, pirate broadcasters got around this by simply switching IP addresses and although alternative measures are available, the TRA official said they were too expensive.

Orbit first moved its broadcasting base to Bahrain from Rome, Italy, in 2003.

Last July, it was announced Orbit and Showtime were merging to create the largest pay-TV operator in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region.

However, Showtime had already lost exclusive rights to broadcast the English Premier League - one of its key selling points - to the Abu Dhabi Media Company, which has sole rights to the Premier League in the region from next season.-TradeArabia News Service