eMedia Investments And MultiChoice Silently Settle Dispute Over e.TV's 4 Channels On DStv

Also Read

As some readers may have remembered from the last time we had posted eMedia Investments' 4 TV channels namely eExtra, eMovies, eMovies Extra and eToonz were all slated to be removed from DStv by August 2024. Several months had already passed and these channels continue to distributed on DStv.

MultiChoice made the decision by March 2022 that they didn't want to include these channels on any of their platforms which led to the discontinuation of e.tv's African feed eAfrica. At the time, eMedia Investments had stated that they're changing their distribution strategy for these consumers while in South Africa they took the matter to court.

According to MultiChoice, eMedia Investments 4 TV channels had a lot of duplicate content and also the matter of transponder constraints led to the decision to terminate these services. The free-to-air broadcaster stated otherwise as they showed 2 out of the 4 channels had local content and that MultiChoice had plenty of space for more channels.

To top it off, MultiChoice forged ahead and allocated several placeholders on each DStv package: Movie Room (Access), DreamWorks (Compact), PBS KIDS (discontinued, Easyview) and KIX (Access). They even ramped up a rival offering to eExtra's Kuiertyd with the addition of Turkish dramas on KykNet & Kie.

In the financial year results ending 30 September of this year, eMedia Investments had confirmed that they've reached a settlement with MultiChoice after two and a half years. This means eExtra, eToonz, eMovies and eMovies Extra will remain on DStv but what's odd about this is the lack of engagement by both parties.

eMedia Investments didn't want these channels removed now they're getting what they asked for but still you'd think they'd be a celebratory mood. But questions amount to what prompted MultiChoice to suddenly join hands as eMedia Investments mentioned paying significant costs in legal fees.

In a couple of days, MultiChoice will be reinstating WildEarth to their platforms which served as one of the 12 TV channels to exit the company's platforms in the year. If one had to guess maybe the transaction to have Sanlam acquire majority stake in NMIS Insurance Services helped them build up their capital.

Another could as well be the onslaught of TV channels to have exited their platforms during the year with One Freestate Televisual, NWTV and People's Planet being based in South Africa. Maybe eMedia's 4 channels are being used as leverage for the fallen either that or the drastic takeover by Canal+ which is awaiting approval.