LG Electronics said on the 2nd it will launch its global free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service, LG Channels, in the Middle East for the first time.
LG Electronics said it will begin rolling out LG Channels in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) this month. After Asia, North America, Europe, and Central and South America, it is expanding into the Middle East. It is also entering Taiwan, expanding the service to a total of 36 countries.
In the UAE, LG Channels will offer a variety of content, including Middle East–focused channels such as Lovin Dubai, which provides local news and lifestyle content, and WATCH IT, a streaming service for the Arab world, as well as global news such as Bloomberg Television and Euronews, plus sports, entertainment, movies, kids, and documentaries.
Reflecting the strong interest in K-content in the Middle East, it will also air K-Baseball TV and Arirang TV, which specialize in Korean sports, music, and variety shows. Ahead of the channel launch, LG Electronics took part in "2025 K-Expo UAE: All About K-Style" held in Dubai last month and held events to promote LG Channels to local viewers.
In Taiwan, LG Channels is partnering with ofiii, a popular local OTT platform, to offer a range of content including the flagship terrestrial channels CTV and CTS, the real-time economic news service SET iNEWS, LTV, which offers popular movies, the long-running Taiwanese variety show Genius Go Go Go (天才衝衝衝), and the children's animation channel LTV Cartoons.
Launched in 2015, LG Channels is the flagship content service of LG Electronics' proprietary smart TV platform webOS, delivering content tailored to the tastes of each country and region through more than 4,000 channels. TVs equipped with webOS recently surpassed 260 million units.
Cho Byung-ha, head of the webOS Platform Business Center (executive vice president) at LG Electronics, said, "We will continue to strengthen the competitiveness of LG Channels with a diverse lineup of locally tailored content and services, while further expanding availability so it can be enjoyed anywhere in the world."