The 9th Convergence Summit has kicked off in Amman. The two day event commenced with a welcome speech by event organizers, the Arab Advisors Group, as well as an opening address by HRH Princess Sumaya bint El Hassan. The first day of the summit features presentations by several industry figures, including Ghassan Hasbani, CEO of the Saudi Telecom Company, Steve McCaffery, VP and General Manager at Motorola Home Business, Muhammad Al Alawneh, Enterprise and Data Solutions Manager at Umniah, and Yousef Abu Mutawe, CTO at Zain Jordan. 

MBC has acquired exclusive rights to NBC's 'The Voice'. Sony Pictures Television Arabia will co-produce the local version of the reality singing show with MBC. "We are pleased to announce this multi-year agreement, in our capacity as the exclusive broadcaster of this international format that has gained much popularity and viewership across the world. We now offer the three strongest talent show formats in the region, across multi-platforms, and look forward to continuously bring the best of entertainment to our loyal viewers, browsers and followers," said Ali Jaber, group TV director, MBC.

MBC is in the process of creating localized content for North Africa, a board member of the Dubai-based media group has said. "MBC is right now talking about having split transmissions to different locations around the region after the new landscape," said Abdulrahman Al Rashed, the general manager of MBC news channel Al Arabiya. Al Rashed went on to explain that localized broadcasting will expand throughout the region. "MBC will have MBC North Africa, MBC Iraq and MBC Egypt as well. They are right now still in the planning stage, but the chairman has committed to a big investment," he added.

Half a million viewers have been enjoying an interactive digital TV experience thanks to MBC4's experimental TV drama '04'. The show has recently collaborated with Google, and fans can now engage with the show's actors via live social media updates, blogs and online videos.

OSN has announced it will add up to five high-definition channels this year as part of its plan to make the network 'HD-only' by 2015. "We will continue to expand over the next two or three years, to convert the entire platform offering to HD," said David Butorac, chief executive at OSN. Last week, the pay-TV network announced it had added MBC's seven high-definition channels, including MBC1 and the Al Arabiya news station.

Seven high definition channels from MBC have been added to the OSN line-up. MBC 1 HD, MBC Drama, MBC 2 HD, MBC Action HD, MBC Max HD, MBC 4 HD and Al Arabiya news channel will now be available to OSN subscribers across the Middle East and North Africa for no extra charge. "OSN now offers its customers the most comprehensive HD experience in the region and we're delighted to announce the addition of the MBC HD channels to the OSN platform," said David Butorac, chief executive, OSN.