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Two Abu Dhabi Companies Acquire StarzPlay Arabia
E-Vision and Abu Dhabi holding company ADQ have bought a 57% portion of video streaming service StarzPlay Arabia.
A consortium led by telecoms operator e& has completed a deal to acquire a majority share in the video streaming service StarzPlay Arabia.
The deal has meant that E-Vision, the entertainment arm of e&, along with Abu Dhabi holding company ADQ, now owns 57% of the MENA region’s fastest-growing video streaming service. After filing on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) on Tuesday, e& issued a statement, which read:
“This acquisition is in line with e&’s strategy to scale up the entertainment segment of e& life consumer digital vertical by accelerating E-Vision’s development on the video streaming segment, and significantly enhances StarzPlay Arabia’s positioning across the entire MENA region,” says e&.
The acquisition follows an initial announcement back in March that a deal would be taking place. Starz and parent company Lionsgate will maintain commercial agreements for content licensing.
Netflix, Shahid VIP, and the UAE-based StarzPlay Arabia currently control two-thirds of the MENA region’s over-the-top services (OTT) market, with StarzPlay controlling 20%.
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The recent deal, which values StarzPlay at $420 million, will inject up to $130 million into the platform for new content acquisition and original programming from around the region, as well as Italy’s Serie A, AFC (Asian Football Confederation) games, UFC and Asia Cup cricket matches.
The video streaming service expects annual revenue to climb by 40% from the previous year, with subscribers increasing by 20% to 2.1 million.
StarzPlay aims to reach profitability by the second quarter of 2024, and for e&, the collaboration will allow custom content options for customers, who will be able to utilize 5G download speeds to watch content on the go, with future plans for immersive VR experiences and augmented reality-based shows.
News
Nano Banana 2 Arrives In MENA For Google Gemini Users
Google brings its latest image model to Gemini and Search, adding 4K output and tighter text control for regional users.
Google has opened access to Nano Banana 2 across the Middle East and North Africa, pushing its newest image model into everyday tools rather than keeping it inside the exclusive (and expensive) Pro tier.
The rollout spans the Google Gemini desktop and mobile apps, and extends to Google Search through Lens and AI Mode. Developers can also test it in preview via AI Studio and the Gemini API.
Nano Banana 2 runs on Gemini Flash, Google’s fast inference layer. The focus is speed, but also control. Users can export visuals from 512px up to 4K, adjusting aspect ratios for everything from vertical social posts to widescreen displays.
The model maintains character likeness across up to five figures and preserves fidelity for as many as 14 objects within a single workflow. This enables visual continuity across scenes, iterations, or edits — supporting projects like short films, storyboards, and multi-scene narratives. Text rendering has also been improved, delivering legible typography in mockups and greeting cards, with built-in translation and localization directly within images.
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Under the hood, the system taps Gemini’s broader knowledge base and pulls in real-time information and imagery from web search to render specific subjects more accurately. Lighting and fine detail have been upgraded, without slowing output.
By embedding the model inside Gemini and Search, Google is normalizing advanced image generation for a mass audience. In MENA, where startups and marketing teams are leaning heavily on AI to scale content across languages and borders, that shift lands at a practical moment.
The move also folds creative tooling deeper into search itself, so that image generation is no longer a separate workflow. It now sits right next to the query box.
Nano Banana 2 Arrives In MENA For Google Gemini Users
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