Just Like That, Qwest TV Becomes The First Channel To Join The List Of Errors MultiChoice Made In 2023

We're already halfway through the first month of 2023 and MultiChoice announced their first channel of the year, Qwest TV which is expected to launch on January 20th on both DStv and Showmax.

Unveiled at the unexpected showcase for the pay-tv company in 2022, Qwest TV is a jazz infused channel founded in 2017 by musical phenomenon Quincy Jones alongside TV and music producer Reza Ackbaraly.

Qwest TV is set to offer exclusive concerts from legendary and rising stars from across the globe, archived and unreleased material from the likes of Erykah Badu, Questlove, Salif Keita, Gregory Porter, Marcus Miller and Seun Kuti.

During the week, sources had mentioned that the channel would be made accessible to all DStv customers only for the same repetitive antics of last year to slide down in 2023 regarding its availability.

DStv:
- kykNET Lekker Opened To More DStv Customers For A Limited Time
- What Consumers Should Be Concerned About Regarding SABC's Yet To Be Launched Channels On DStv?
- Press Release: DStv Welcomes The Launch Of Quincy Jones’ QWEST TV Onto Screens This Month
- New Channel Alert: WildEarth To Launch In The UK Later In The Year

Last year, eMedia's 4 channels were set to exit the DStv platform with KIX and PBS Kids set to be made available to more DStv customers in March only for them to be offered three months later following the court proceedings with eMedia Investments.

Second INX Prime, a channel not a lot of DStv customers would have noticed with its consistent blackouts was set to launch by August 5th only for it to be delayed to August 24th.

Lastly, MultiChoice had mentioned that they were trying to hide brands like Magic Showcase and BBC UKTV from DStv customers on packages like Compact and Premium as they offer a lot of repeats yet they open kykNET Lekker for a limited time.

In short, something that is common with the likes of StarSat in terms of channels with content residing with Zuku TV had integrated onto MultiChoice. Just as you thought their customer care is worse imagine their PR department would resort to the same measures.

What happened to analysing your facts before making it available for media consumption? Now several customers are lost as the once announced Qwest TV which was set to rollout on all packages is in fact set to rot on the Premium package with Compact granted an open window from 20 January to 19 February.

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Press Release: DStv Welcomes The Launch Of Quincy Jones’ QWEST TV Onto Screens This Month

Featuring Jazz, Soul, Blues, Hip-hop, Rnb, Afrobeats, and Dance - available only on DStv

With exclusive access to high-end music, great concerts, documentaries and never-seen archived interviews, the global music streaming platform QWEST TV will officially be DStv channel 330.

Music lovers will now be able to access QWEST TV via the DStv bouquet (channel 330) as well as on the Showmax platform. The Channel will be included in all the DStv packages in 44 countries across the continent.

DStv:
- MultiChoice might lose yet another two channels
- Could Russia Today be removed from the DStv platform?
- Qwest TV coming soon to Showmax
- eMedia's 4 channels to go dark on the DStv platform

Available exclusively to DStv customers, the channels offering includes:

- Exclusive concerts from legendary artists as well as Rising Stars from across the globe
- Premium music documentaries
- Archived artist footage
- Unreleased interviews with music icons including Erykah Badu, Questlove, Salif Keita, Gregory Porter, Marcus Miller, Seun Kuti, Kamasi Washington and Fatoumata Diawara

Founded in 2017 by musical genius, the legendary Quincy Jones, alongside TV and music producer and programmer Reza Ackbaraly,  Qwest TV plans to bring genre-agnostic musical content to the African continent.

“We are elated to be part of Multichoice family and to launch Qwest TV to the African market. We are expanding our mission to offer high end music to everyone. Africa is a land of traditions and music, and we’re very happy to build such a great partnership on this gorgeous continent !“ says CEO Reza Ackbaraly.

“I’m so proud to announce that Qwest TV is now available on Multichoice, Africa’s leading entertainment network. This means that my friends in South Africa, and forty-three more African territories, will have access to great, genre-defying music, 24/7. From African legends proudly proclaiming their heritage to jazz, classical, electronic and amazing deep-dive music documentaries, Africa is the source of music's heartbeat and the cradle of modern music. I'm looking forward to celebrating diverse sounds with y'all!” explains Quincy Jones, Qwest TV co-founder and music producer.

With the core focus of expanding the content offering for viewers with quality entertainment, Georginah Machiridza, Executive Head for General Entertainment Channels at MultiChoice Group harps on the importance of such partnerships.

DStv Flex:
- What to expect this January on Curiosity Channel?
- What to expect this January on The Home Channel?
- Reyka renewed for season 2 on M-Net
- What to expect this January on Qwest TV?

“What is key to us is that, whilst our audiences are driven by an appetite for homegrown content, we also complement it with the best in international content. To this end, we work with a selection of partners to ensure a comprehensive one stop shop for our customers. Our partnership with QWEST TV is one we are thrilled about, and we cannot wait for our DStv customers to experience it,” says Machiridza.

QWEST TV  will air on DStv channel 330 from 20 January 2023, for more information visit dstv.com.

New Channel Alert: FilmBox Action And Kartoon Channel Coming Soon To StarSat With Qwest TV On DStv

For several years, StarTimes has been losing a bouquet of premium international channels ranging from The Smithsonian Channel, Love Nature, DreamWorks, Real Time and Investigation Discovery with the much needed alternatives almost nowhere in site.

Now the pay-tv platform seems to be picking up the cracks as they unveiled two new channels for their consumers: FilmBox Action and Kartoon Channel.

FilmBox Action is a general entertainment channel basically SPI International's version of M-Net Movies 2 and KIX with a limited amount of series. Some of the stars include Steven Seagal, Jason Statham, Bruce Willis, Al Pacino and many others from U.S. and global.

StarSat:
- The Smithsonian Channel closing down in the UK
- Delayed SABC channel launch on StarSat explained
- Russia Today to launch South African hub
- StarSat trying to be DStv friendly

Kartoon Channel is an kids entertainment channel and not to be mistaken for Cartoon Network. It is owned by Genius Brands International with its core audience being 2-12 years with content like Angry Birds, Stan Lee's Superhero Kindergarten and Rainbow Light Brigade.

FilmBox Action is allocated on channel 140 on the Smart bouquet while Kartoon Channel on 307 and on the Basic package on channel 358. There's no confirmation on whether this includes the South African feed but it might as well launch.

As outlined, StarSat across Africa lost a bouquet of channels and FilmBox Action in a way helps the lossen the pain left by FOX which was scrapped by The Walt Disney Company internationally while Kartoon Channel might as well be a replacement for DreamWorks.

DStv:
- MultiChoice might lose yet another two channels
- Could Russia Today be removed from the DStv platform?
- Qwest TV coming soon to Showmax
- eMedia's 4 channels to go dark on the DStv platform

In other developments, MultiChoice will be allocating their first channel later in the month titled Qwest TV which has been in development for several months owned by multi award winning artist Quincy Jones is Jazz infused channel.

It was unveiled alongside Moonbug Kids at the DStv Showcase, according to sources it was meant to launch last year but for some reason that never happened so it's gearing up for an early 2023 to replace MTV Hits in South Africa and serve as an additional channel everywhere else. Qwest TV is said to be accompanied alongside another channel sources won't share.

Disclosure: Kartoon Channel was also rumoured to launch on another platform alongside DStv.

New Channel Alert: M-Net Movies Blk All Stars And Qwest TV Coming Soon To DStv Alongside BBC UKTV Which Will Likely Rollout On Openview As Well

In September, MultiChoice held a showcase where they unveiled Qwest TV a jazz infused entertainment channel by Grammy Awarded Quincy Jones then a few months later an BBC UKTV from BBC Studios a channel which had since then been delayed on the Openview platform.

Now we have recieved updates from both brands, according to a press release shared by the pay-tv company, BBC UKTV will be made available from 15 December targeting Family, Access and Easyview customers on channel 134 - as predicted.

Easyview is finally getting some attention probably due to the success of Openview and it's upcoming pay-tv tier Openview+. Don't be surprised if they added an additional R10 to their monthly subscription.pp

BBC UKTV:
- Conspiracy Theory regarding BBC UKTV on DStv
- BBC UKTV to launch on the Openview platform
- BBC UKTV vs. BBC Brit: Recommendations and Improvements
- What to expect on BBC UKTV?
- Premium customers to lose out on purposed new channel
- Another attempt at promoting the BBC on DStv

Compact, Compact+ and Premium customers already have BBC Brit, BBC Earth, BBC Lifestyle, CBeebies and BBC World News. Of course, BBC Earth is a premium channel and while BBC UKTV will offer repeats to them other consumers have to rely on the retarded BBC Brit.

Programs confirmed for the channel include Strictly Come Dancing, Frozen Planet, My Family, Andy's Wild Adventures, Come Dine With Me South Africa basically repeats from the above-mentioned brands.

Qwest TV is also gearing up for a December release on channel 330 and if I had to guess the channel will be added to Premium, Compact+ and Compact customers but we all know how well that section performs within those packages but this is their way of evening out the odds.

Openview:
- Openview to come with monthly fees by next year
- Could Openview be losing more channels in future?
- SABC 1 title card has been registered for customers
- MultiChoice attempting to replicate eExtra's Kuiertyd with kykNET
- eMovies and eMovies Extra receive their first competitors on DStv Easyview
- The history of Star Life

Even better, Qwest TV will launch in HD while as the low tiered BBC UKTV will be available in standard definition and I know some consumers on Openview are probably wondering if it will be available at the same time as DStv and I have not doubts about that.

Qwest TV doesn't really some that exciting at all as the music section on DStv has lacked variety outside of DMX that I'm sure several consumers had already moved on. It could explain as to why M-Net Movies launched yet another repeat channel for a limited time.

M-Net Movies Blk All-Stars is basically M-Net Movies 2 which skewed toward black audiences with films like After Earth, Rush Hour and Lethal Weapon. It will be added on channel 111 to DStv Premium and AddMovies customers and judging by the lineup Compact and Compact+ customers as well.

DStv:
- Could Russia Today be removed from the DStv platform?
- Qwest TV coming soon to Showmax
- fliekNET to make a comeback this festive season
- Why DStv Premium customers might lose out on a certain new channel?
- eMedia's 4 channels to go dark on the DStv platform
- VH1 making a comeback on DStv

If there's something I'm curious about more than anything is about some of the current offerings which just like BBC UKTV and Magic Showcase are already viewable on the premium and compact bouquet.

MultiChoice has been doing a lot of quality control during the year part of which included eliminating non-performing or channels which offer too much repeats I mean they even went for Novela Magic which just leaves all the more curious as to what's to become of Real Time and Discovery Family.

New Channel Alert: Qwest TV Will Also Be Made Available To Stream On Showmax

In September, MultiChoice held a showcase where they unveiled several new content for their consumers. Alongside those developments came two new channels, Moonbug Kids and Qwest TV of which one is still awaiting release on the pay-tv platform.

Founded by Quincy Jones, Qwest TV is a jazz skewed destination celebrating the life of millenniums through concerts, documentaries and interviews. It works as a multimedia outlet as it comes with its own streaming service for which the linear channel sources it content.

For several months despite no channel, MultiChoice has been promoting various content for Qwest TV but from the looks of it their teams get the time allocation mixed up you find yourself promoting February 2022 when it should write October.

But from what's clear in this documents is that the channel will likely arrive by early 2023 and it's all thanks to Showmax as they have the first quarter of 2022 panned out for Qwest TV.

Interesting to note, MultiChoice never mentioned that Qwest TV was aligned to their digital approach kind of like newcomer Moonbug Kids which too bundles itself on Showmax. I mean it kind of makes sense considering how their last attempt at Jazz turned out.

From the looks of things it's possible MultiChoice is hellbent on making Qwest TV succeed where VH1, MTV Hits and BET Jazz all of which hail from Paramount Global failed to do so.

The three mentioned brands (probably BET Jazz) were as relevant internationally as seen with Qwest TV but all took the plunge. So who knows maybe this time around things will be different with Showmax tagging along regardless I stopped relying on DStv for music.