Since Disney+ inception back in 2019, Disney has closed various linear channels globally to prioritise their direct to consumer business. With the latter currently situated within Europe and Africa, Disney has slowly but surely further distance themselves from their linear business.
Last year, Disney axed their remaining linear offering seen in parts of Asia by New Year's Eve. They had also managed several linear channels within the Middle East and North Africa through pay-tv operator OSN who had substituted these brands with Cartoon Network and Animal Planet.
These channels are still available in the regions but on smaller platforms which will make it a lot more easier to close.
If there's one thing that's certain here, Disney Channel's days in South Africa and the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa are numbered and although a timeframe has yet to be reached. We presume that Disney will look into closing feeds in the surrounding areas ahead of time.
Similar to MTV and Nick Jr, Disney had been cutting back on localised feeds with the remaining aligning themselves with Southern Africa. It has been somewhat chaotic with shows like Hailey's On It and Disney's Saturdays airing as quadruple on weekdays.
Despite only having less than 13 episodes on air, it has been bumpy ride particularly with their programme guide mislabeling shows and movies. It's clear that all their efforts will be put on Disney+ if the plan would be making an original available monthly on linear platforms.
They had ripped away various originals such as The Owl House and Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure before their final seasons. Disney+ acquired exclusive rights to Marvel's Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur despite being viewed on Disney Channel overseas.
MultiChoice and various other pay-tv operators will have a hard time trying to replace these channels. Speaking as a long time fan, the best option would be having Disney Channel spun off like Sky Kids/Universal Kids have with DreamWorks but for consumers in Africa.
Disney+ isn't even avaliable in Nigeria or other countries like Kenya where streaming is a big business. If they close it in sub-saharan africa, they will need to provide disney+ to all of the other african countries(Excluding North Africa, which already has it). Otherwise, it will be a big mistake. I already pirate the latest episodes of stuff like Hailey's On It online because the disney channel in emea is horrible in terms of premiering new stuff. They haven't premiered the newest episodes of The ghost and Molly Mcgee when they are premiering in Portugual and Central and Eastern Europe.
ReplyDeleteDisney+ isn't available in Jordan, either. There was a time between 2018 and 2020, that OSN had an agreement with Disney+ to broadcast Star Wars: Resistance, The Mandalorian, and The Bad Batch.
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