Could Openview Be Losing More Channels In The Near Future?

During the year, Openview consumers lost a total of 3 channels Rewind and News And Sport from eMedia Investments as they were reviewing their offering on the platform with Soul Music's exit on the platform remaining as much of a mystery.

Compared to other outlets there hasn't been much bloodbath coming for these consumers as they inherited the likes of eXposed, ePlesier, The Home Channel+ and an upcoming entertainment channel scheduled to launch by the end of 2022.

Of course, there's been a pair of channels viewers have been questioning for a while now and as the year is about to come to a close why not bring it up now.

Last year, eMedia Investments and Nismedia engaged in a brawl in regards to the carriage agreement for Glow TV. Long story short, things haven't been the same between both parties and signs of its demise on the platform are as clear as day.

If you browse Openview's website, there's no mention of Glow TV despite its presence on the decoder. So just like how eMedia's 4 channels remained on DStv due to a technicality, could the same matter be the case for Glow TV?

SA Music is currently the only music channel on the platform kind of like how France24 and SABC Sport remain as the only news and sports channel respectively but in this case it's more serious.

Later in the year, Openview consumers awoke to the news of Soul Music's demise on the platform which served as a sister channel to SA Music but that's not where the worries originate but to its previous distributor StarSat.

StarSat has seen a loss in channels and it's interesting how it remains relevant at least to South Africans following the loss of current DStv channels like Discovery Family, Real Time, Investigation Discovery, TLNovelas and DreamWorks with more likely to join that list.

On Openview, the only channels consumers from eMedia Investments inherited were SA Music and Soul Music with its termination on the platform having to do with StarSat. Imagine if the same action seen on StarSat were to have fallen on Openview but this time with SA Music.

Honestly, the future isn't certain for any channel at this point but SA Music and Glow TV seem closer to the light than any other channel.

"Discovery Family" Goes Off Air On Starsat, Could This Be The End Of The Brand? + Other Starsat Related Developments

In one month, StarTimes (Starsat) deserves a trophy for being the most mismanaged and discreet cable provider.

They first went from removing two music channels which can also be found on Openview to relaunching them with more content added onto them.

The second was scrap a bunch of channels without notice as usual and promise fresh content and more channels and it looks like viewers are losing their patients since the only thing untouched there is Indian, Nigerian and Chinese channels.

There's another African based channel running called St Kasi. It seems like the music offering as just as dry as DStv unless you have DMX.

Finally, Discovery Family is set to go off air on the platform by the end of January 2021 but the reasoning behind this seems to be confusing for most readers.

According to them, when a content provider decides to make changes in the production of content they cannot prevent it, but they are constantly working on sourcing new content to ensure viewing delight.

So what they're implying is maybe just maybe Discovery Family will go off air on DStv very likely by the end of March. That is if they're being honest this time around.

In the end, viewers did lose out on another Discovery Channel through the platform not long ago as part of a realignment strategy. Could Discovery Family not fit this criteria? Does this change have something to do with the arrival of Discovery+ perhaps?

Read Also:
- SABC is joining the streaming circuit
- Will Magnolia Network lead to the shutdown of several Discovery Channels?
- What to expect on Discovery+
- Will FOX rebrand into Star on DStv and StarTimes (Starsat)?
- When will Star Plus and Star Life on DStv and StarTimes (Starsat) adapt to the Utsav branding?

Several Channels Are Missing On Starsat

As usual, Starsat failed to engage with the media regarding the upcoming developments occuring on the platform. Apparently several viewers noticed a bunch of other channels went missing on the platform and the channel go as follows:

Fine Living: Discovery made the decision to remove the channel as part of a strategic alignment meaning you could see more changes coming from their stable. Pretty much Real Time is the channel's successor kind of like how Discovery Science was snatched for Discovery Family.

St Eyethu: nearly a year after this outdated local channel launched on the platform it was discretely taken off. According to StarTimes, they're working on the content there.

SA Music and Soul Playlist: both these channels are currently available on OpenView. After an intense battle, StarTimes promised to bring fresh content which implied that these channels were phased out from their portfolio.

St Africa and WAP TV: no actual details were given regarding their removals for St Africa it could be in relation with St Eyethu.

StarTimes joins eMedia Investments and MultiChoice that witnessed the loss of several channels during the course of 2020 except theirs came a little later than the other two.

Read Also:

- AEW Dynamite is coming to TNT Africa

Two Music Channels Reportedly Removed From Starsat

Starsat started off the new year discreetly by removing two music channels from their platform without any notice, SA Music And Soul Playlist.

At that time many viewers have filed complaints regarding these channels across their media pages and the admin is seemingly ignoring and deleting comments.

In a recent conversation with the channel providers, they confirmed that both these channels can be found on OpenView and are no longer available on Starsat meaning that you'll need to get that platform to enjoy those channels.

Of course, Starsat managed to reply after a couple of days. They seemingly confirmed their demise by stating that they're sourcing out fresh content.

Last year viewers witnessed the loss of several channels. Could 2021 be a continuation to last year since Starsat is not upfront with the media on upcoming developments.

Read Also:

- AEW Dynamite is coming to TNT Africa

- Is Star Life being rebranded soon?
- Will Star replace the FOX branding internationally?
- Will Magnolia Network rollout on Starsat?
- Will CourtTV rollout in Africa?