MTV Base was launched in Africa by February 2005 offering content from local and African artists. Since it's inception, MTV Base had been regarded as #1 music network in West Africa which is where most of its relevance resided.
BET followed by September 2014 offering a mixture of reality shows, drama series, sitcoms and movies. As it began bolstering it's local portfolio, BET started garnering prestige with shows like Queendom drawing in over 200,000 viewers part of which had to do with its expansion to DStv Access.
With both channels shutting down soon, MultiChoice would not only be losing two more channels but the international content slate would further diminish. BET very much like M-Net and Universal TV boasted shows like Sistas, Abbott Elementary and Empire.
MultiChoice very much Paramount in this regard is putting their focus on core brands in an effort to bolster their streaming endeavours. This included directing content from 1Magic and Me to M-Net and Showmax.
Unlike 1Magic and Me where most consumers could view select content on Universal TV, Bravo and Mzansi Magic. In BET's case, this pipeline is closing and the only other way to view similar international titles is to upgrade to a higher package.
As for shows like MTV Shuga and Having Faith on MTV Base, it's unclear whether these will resurface on MTV or get phased out. Paramount does offer a localised feed for MTV unlike it's children's channels which is conjoined to other European markets.
Last month, MultiChoice became a subsidiary of Canal+ which is set to boast about 10,000 hours of African content. The plan is to merge MultiChoice's existing catalogue with that of StudioCanal so it's likely something could come out of this perhaps to even fill the void from BET.
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