Parent company eMedia initially indicated it would start offering its own OTT streaming service during the announcement of its 2020 annual report in September.
CEO Khalik Serriff said that Openview was planning to provide additional platform choices for its viewers.
In preparation for this, eMedia content would be placed on the Openview website and on over-the-top (OTT) services including VIU.
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He also stated that the group would launch its own OTT offering called Openview Plus by October 2020.
“Work on this offering is happening in earnest as this report is published,” Seriff added.
The company did not provide specific details such as pricing or content which will be available on the service.
No sign of service
As alluded to in the annual report, the Openview website has added a selection of on-demand content which is free to stream.
This library consists of only a few international movies and local Etv shows, which are supported by ads.
VIU now also offers several seasons of various Etv series, including soapies like Scandal and Rhythm City.
However, MyBroadband was unable to find any mention of the Openview Plus service on either the Openview or Etv websites.
We asked the company to confirm whether the launch has been delayed, but it declined to provide further information.
“Please note that there is no media communication about Openview Plus at this stage,” eMedia stated.
“eMedia will communicate plans as they develop,” it added.
SABC to launch own streaming service
While pay-TV broadcaster DStv already offers a large chunk of its content via MultiChoice’s Showmax streaming service, free-to-air broadcasters have been slow to adapt to the streaming trend.
The SABC recently also revealed details on the plans for its iPlayer streaming service, which was first announced back in 2013.
It has also entered into an agreement with Telkom to offer a selection of its content on the recently-launched TelkomONE streaming service.
South African TV broadcasting analyst Thinus Ferreira previously told MyBroadband that anyone in broadcasting in South Africa must understand a streaming service, on-demand service, and digital service are the future.
“Switch to digital and start and grow your video streaming ecosystem or become irrelevant and die like the dinosaurs,” Ferreira warned.
“As a content provider – like a broadcaster – if you don’t have or own a space in the very near future in whatever way, for instance an app, on a smartphone, you might as well not exist,” he added.
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Probably they gonna launch it next year around March
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