Does eMovies' Possible Demise And Movie Room's Inclusion Hint At A Possible Restructure On DStv?

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Since 2022, eMedia Investments and MultiChoice had been having a carriage dispute regarding e.tv's 4 channels on DStv: eToonz, eMovies, eMovies Extra and eExtra. These channels were ousted on DStv by May of that year and were reinstated due to pending legal matters.

MultiChoice which is currently in the process of being taken over by French giant Canal+ had outlined two reasons for ousting these channels. The first having dealt with repeats viewed on those channels and another transponder constraints which led to several channels exiting DStv. 

Within this year, Movie Room conceived by Newzroom Afrika's co-founders Ngwato Nkosi Group was introduced as a replacement for eMovies. It would curate a mix of locally produced and international movies but similar to the fallen only bolstered the existing offering from DStv.

This is coming from the company that restricted brands like BBC UKTV and Magic Showcase from premium and mid tier subscribers as a way to combat repeats. Only for these channels to be allocated on the mentioned packages despite already having access to the content in question. 

If anything, one had to wonder if Movie Room will perhaps be holding a much bigger position within MultiChoice's bouquet of channels as seen with Moja Love and SABC News. M-Net had closed Me and 1Magic as part of continued efforts to bolster the lineup on Showmax.

This has left consumers of Compact and Family in disarray as those who would need to watch America's Got Talent or Magnum Pi would need to upgrade to Compact+ for 1Max or subscribe to Showmax. Now why would anyone do that if they can get this on Openview with a once off payment. 

Although Universal and E! would retain some of this content, there is that matter of consistency while Chicago Med would be on its ninth season, Universal is still behind by four to six seasons which could take several years same goes with Movie Room which is leaning in the same corner as TNT.

With MultiChoice and M-Net's continued efforts to streamline their offering what could transpire now is the dismantling of M-Net Movies if not the entire movie offering perhaps M-Net Movies 3 and 4. As this offering on DStv has become bloated despite attempts at cutting back on repeats.

Similar to how consumers of Me had to turn to Universal for Magnum Pi and The Equalizer. The same outcome would await M-Net Movies as those viewing those channels can still get plenty of international content on Studio Universal, TNT and Movie Room.

CineMagic could extend its arm to more households as a means to bolster the local offering on these channels especially during Africa Month. Who knows maybe Canal+ will use FilmBox Africa to substitute for part of this offering and merge the two premium movie channels into one.