Apple Looking To Close Deal On FIFA World Cup, Might Block SuperSport And SABC

Soccer's global governing body FIFA is close to an agreement with Apple to give the tech company worldwide television rights for a new, month-long club tournament, the New York Times reported on Monday.

The deal with Apple could be announced as soon as this month and valued at around $1 billion, a quarter of the $4 billion FIFA had first estimated, the report said, citing three people familiar with the matter.

The potential agreement would give the company's streaming business an edge amid competition among streaming services providers to lap up rights for widely watched sporting events in a bid to add subscribers.

If the deal goes through, this would mark the first time that FIFA has agreed to a single worldwide contract, the report said.

Senior executives at FIFA, however, have raised concerns over the possibility of "free-to-air rights", which would make the event only available to subscribers of Apple TV+, according to the report. It is unclear whether the deal includes any such rights.

Sponsors have also been reluctant to commit the $150 million that FIFA is seeking for sponsorship packages, the report said.

The 32-team event will be held next year between June 15 and July 13. Usually, no major events are scheduled during this period in order to allow players to rest in the off-season a year before the World Cup, according to the report.

FIFA has faced criticism from players unions for not consulting them before making announcements about the event, according to the report.

"As a general practice, FIFA does not confirm or deny commercial discussions," a spokesperson for the governing body said in a response. Apple declined to comment.

Trouble for sports in SA

Seeing as Apple is looking to secure this for their platforms being Apple TV+ it's possible that SuperSport and SABC might miss out on the action. Considering that MultiChoice opted to minimize the sports on Showmax its likely that it could be televised. 

Provided that SuperSport licenses the rights from Apple same goes for the SABC as opposed to running through SuperSport. This comes after eMedia Investments had won a broadcasting dispute against MultiChoice in regards to the Rugby World Cup.

Although this news may seem pleasing to some readers, in other countries you have most sporting events from SuperSport viewed on multiple platforms (additional fees) while in South Africa it was under one tile (one fee).

Pending Investigation: The Competition Tribunal Orders MultiChoice To Televise Their Sporting Content To Openview Consumers

The Competition Tribunal has granted interim relief to eMedia in its fight with MultiChoice over the carriage of sublicensed sports from the SABC on its Openview free-to-air satellite platform.

eMedia took MultiChoice, which owns SuperSport, to the Competition Commission last year after the pay-television broadcaster refused to allow the SABC to broadcast rugby and cricket games on its channels it broadcasts via Openview.

According to a statement by the tribunal on Monday, eMedia has accused MultiChoice of “abusing its alleged dominant position by concluding anticompetitive and restrictive sublicensing agreements with the SABC”.

“eMedia alleges that MultiChoice prevents the SABC from broadcasting major sporting events (such as rugby and cricket games – including World Cup tournaments), sublicensed to the SABC, on the SABC’s channels carried on eMedia’s Openview platform.”

eMedia lodged a complaint with the Competition Commission last year and subsequently also sought interim relief from the tribunal to “stop MultiChoice from enforcing the restriction in existing sublicensing agreements or including such restrictions in any new sublicensing agreements until the merits of the case are decided”.

“The tribunal has granted eMedia interim relief pending the final determination of its complaint to the commission, or for a period of six months, whichever occurs first,” it said.

Recap To The Week: BBC Prime Returning As A Programming Block On SABC 3 After TV Channel Was Shuttered On DStv And Other Parts Of The World In 2009

BBC Studios has revived the BBC Prime trademark after it shuttered in 2009. With the channel that was subsequently replaced by BBC Entertainment which had seen been divided between two channels, BBC First and BBC Brit.

Not long ago, it was reported by the company that they had forged a new content deal alongside the SABC. This would see the public broadcaster using one of their 3 free-to-air channels for archived material viewed from the BBC in a 2 hour block.

This block which will go into effect from 1st April featuring dramas like Luther and Cheaters alongside factual entertainment like Top Gear and Louis Theroux: Forbidden America. It will broadcast weeknights at 21:00 and stream on SABC+ in May.

BBC Prime was once a TV channel on the DStv platform for the premium market. The revived trademark will only serve as a 2 hour block giving 13 million homes in South Africa access to BBC Studios content. 

This comes a year after eMedia Investments had attempted to rollout long form version of BBC Prime to Openview. Since then, MultiChoice had snatched rights to the channel which currently resides within 13 million homes in Africa despite its unavailability on premium.

Development Alert: BBC Studios Extends Its Reach To The Openview Platform With New Primetime Slot On SABC 3

After eMedia Investments and BBC Studios failed to launch BBC UKTV on Openview by 2022. MultiChoice eventually snatched the rights with BBC UKTV now reaching over 12 million households in Africa with the content set to enter more households.

SABC will soon broaden its lineup with the addition of a new two hour block on SABC 3, BBC Primetime. It will feature a selection of award-winning dramas, factual entertainment, and documentaries from the BBC Studios catalogue.

“The content block will include a range of shows including a psychological crime thriller starring Idris Elba, Luther, intense medical drama, Critical, gripping factual motoring show, Top Gear (season 14-17), and romantic comedy, Cheaters,” the broadcasters said.

“Documentary series Louis Theroux: Forbidden America, exploring three controversial corners of American entertainment and culture, will also be available to watch from launch.”

The programming will be available to watch on weeknights between 21:00 and 23:00 through BBC Primetime, broadcast on S3 and streamed on SABC+ from May 2024.

The broadcasters said BBC Primetime was hand-crafted by BBC Studios to offer S3 viewers access to globally recognised-content. This marks our first block for free-to-air audiences in South Africa, giving 13 million homes access to BBC Studios content. 

The offering will be BBC Studios’ widest-reaching branded service in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Recap To Last Year: Could SABC Lehae Launch On Openview As A Replacement To e.tv's News And Sport Alongside SABC Variety?

In 2021, SABC and eMedia Investments extended their agreement which led to additions like SABC Sport and SABC's 19 radio stations on the Openview platform. There was also promises for two entertainment channels to accompany the existing SABC 1-3.

These channels were also slated to launch within that year but since then SABC and eMedia Investments had gone rogue that doesn't mean there wasn't any noteworthy material.

During that long arrival of more TV channels, SABC Lehae was born which serves as the second news channel by the public broadcaster following SABC News. It offers news in indigenous languages by that I mean similar to most channels rehash content from SABC 1-3.

This was followed by SABC Variety which serves as a revival/replacement to the defunct SABC Encore brand on DStv. Unlike its previous iteration, SABC Variety also serves as a catch-up channel especially with sporting events.

For a while now, there has been a lot of commotion as to whether these could be the long awaited channels for Openview consumers. As both explore the public broadcaster's archived material aka repeats as they clearly highlighted for these new channels.

SABC Lehae would prove to be somewhat useful following the cancellation of News And Sport. Consumers were left without without a decent local news channel while SABC Sport fills up the sports and the channel would basically be rivalling with eNCA and Newsroom Afrika.

SABC Variety would serve as complimentary offering to Power Up when consumers miss out on shows. Similar to ePlesier and the former Rewind, the channel would invite nostalgia to viewer's screens.

News Shorts: Paw Patrol To Be Dubbed In isiZulu For Nicktoons, SABC Lehae Is Made Available On Squid TV And eExtra Adds Tomorrow With You And Kurt En Shura Rebroadcast

Paw Patrol is going local

Following the successful launch of SpongeBob SquarePants in isiZulu in 2022. Nickelodeon is looking to dub more content in local languages for sister network Nicktoons with the preschool series Paw Patrol airing at a much later timeslot from 18 March at 15:00.

The series focuses on a young boy named Ryder who leads a crew of search and rescue dogs that call themselves the PAW Patrol. They work together on missions to protect the shoreside community of Adventure Bay and surrounding areas.

Since its debut, the series has developed into a media franchise with two feature films Paw Patrol: The Movie and The Mighty One alongside spinoff Rubble & Crew.

Nicktoons serves as one of several broadcasters dubbing animated series with SABC (Ben 10, Zulu and Afrikaans), e.tv (Care Bears: Unlock The Magic, Xhosa) and Play Room (Cocomelon and Akili And Me, isiZulu).

Caroline Phalakatshela, SABC TV publicist, confirmed to Netwerk24 that the SABC has cancelled Fokus since it "no longer fits in" with SABC2 and the broadcaster's plan to move Afrikaans shows to SABC3 from March as part of a strategic decision.

When you look at it, I can kind of see where SABC was getting by moving Afrikaans to SABC 3. This portion of the channel had been ousted in favour of eExtra's Kuiertyd and kykNET so aligning it with SABC 3 is probably one way to help alleviate the viewership.

SABC has been trying to cater for all indigenous languages and for several years had burdened SABC 2 with 7 languages (including English) while SABC 3 would just cater to one with SABC 1 offering 2 languages.

SABC 3 similar with M-Net hasn't been dominant with the current demographic of SABC 1 and Mzansi Magic. While Uzalo is able to pull around 5 million viewers, Vetkoekpaleis was only able to obtain below 700,000 viewers which is almost half of SABC 3's current audience.

In general, most of the content like Noot Vir Noot and as mentioned Fokus had been pulling similar figures to SABC 3. The channel with a smaller number of viewers has a long journey ahead to try and retain the remaining viewers of Vetkoekpaleis and 50/50.

Could SABC Look Into Merging Their DTT Platform With eMedia Investments' Openview?

SABC and eMedia were arch rivals for a more than a decade and 3 years ago they put their differences aside and formed a new partnership. This led to the additions of SABC Sport and through a separate agreement on MultiChoice's DStv, SABC's 19 radio stations on Openview.

Since then, SABC Sport had become a trailblazer ranking as one of the top 10 most watched channels on the platform joining elites like eExtra, eReality and eMovies. The channel offers a variety of sport including Premier League, NBA, La Liga, Racing Today and TKO Boxing.

Ukhozi FM, Radio 2000, Channel Africa and Phalaphala FM, some of the many radio stations operated by SABC to consumers expands eMedia's local line-up.

During the week, it was reported that Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery are looking to launch a joint streaming service for sports. Similar to SABC and eMedia Investments these two had been rivalling for several decades and with the current economic climate are trying to sustain themselves.

It does lead one to wonder if SABC and eMedia Investments could look into doing something similar aside from channel additions. French company Canal+ is looking to acquire MultiChoice and should it exceed could help the pay-tv company compete on a more wider scale.

SABC and eMedia Investments services cover mainly South Africa for which most of MultiChoice's consumers resides. Another partnership could better position themselves against the likes of DStv as seen with SABC Sport it's making content more accessible.

One of the ideas that came to mind would be a merger of both their DTT platforms. SABC's current bouquet doesn't reach that many households and money is being wasted on manufacturing while eMedia's current offering doesn't offer much local content.

SABC's DTT platforms offers community stations like 1KZN and Tshwane TV a section that had been abandoned by Openview on top of local news, SABC Lehae. eMedia's offering such as eReality and eSeries are on the opposing side for M-Net as opposed to Mzansi Magic.

eMedia Investments is currently embroiled in a carriage dispute with MultiChoice for their 4 Openview channels. SABC on the other has been trying to seek revenue from the pay-tv company for SABC 1-3 and alongside eMedia better carriage fees.

Recap To The Year: SABC Silently Revived And Rebranded The Controversial SABC Encore Channel, Now On DTT As SABC Variety

SABC Encore was a general entertainment channel operated by the public broadcaster that was exclusive to MultiChoice's DStv alongside SABC News. It would broadcast content from the 1980s and 1990s including shows like Agter Elke Man and 'Sgudi 'Snaysi.

Following its exit from the DStv platform, the SABC was looking to continue the channel on another platform and since then there had been no updates or at least from the SABC. On their DTT platforms, the public broadcaster still had its remains within the channel number.

Often it would serve as a catch-up/pop-up channel to content viewed on SABC 1-3 (including Sports). This channel would often stream on TelkomOne (now SABC+) for mostly the sporting content before being removed.

During the year, the public broadcaster gave SABC Encore a facelift with the channel undergoing yet another name change, SABC Variety. As mentioned, the public broadcaster remained silent regarding the developments of this channel alongside the much anticipated SABC Lehae.

We assume similar to SABC Sport's expansion to Openview, the public could be looking to possibly launch these channels on more platforms. It doesn't seem fetched as their current STBs aren't seen as sustainable with consumers base said to be in less than 500,000 households.

Recap To The Month: SABC Education Silently Rebranded Into SABC Festive For The Holidays

SABC Education is a youth oriented brand in which the public broadcaster enlists to distribute a variety of TV based dramas and reality shows. Since 2020, it got a dedicated DTT channel which is basically "another SABC Encore" for the SABC's existing offering.

During the month, SABC launched their festive pop-up channel for a second time in a row. It is basically a youth oriented version to the current Qwest TV seen on DStv with locally produced shows like Afro Cafe and Gospel Classics alongside international favourites like The Comedy Roast.

As seen on the Go Digital and SABC+ platforms, the public broadcaster opted for SABC Education to promote the festivities as opposed to just spinning them off as seperate channels. With SABC Education which would most probably return earlier in the new year.

Taking to account, the mess regarding the potential rollout of the public broadcaster's spinoff/competitor to SABC News, SABC Lehae. Then there's also a possible revival to the SABC Encore format currently viewable on DTT,

SABC Variety.

The SABC even failed to notify consumers that SABC+ will be restructuring their domain (with a dash inserted to the link) as the current structure of the platform looks similar to MultiChoice's DStv Stream app but watershed as only the linear and radio stations are viewable.

SABC+ Undergoes A Major Restructure Which Sees Only TV And Radio Channels Accessible On The Platform, Archived And Third Party Programming Axed

Following SABC's acquisition of the TelkomOne streaming service from Telkom which had since then folded under SABC+. The streaming service has been struggling to garner any traction as seen with local players such as eMedia Investments' eVOD and MultiChoice's Showmax.

The SABC turned to high data prices as the cause for the little consumer consumption. Another reason would be marketing as the broadcaster hasn't invested in any exclusive content for the streamer as the latter has been viewed on their linear platforms with some third parties from Curiosity and Da Vinci.

A few months ago, SABC had removed their shows from MultiChoice's DStv Catch-up service with further content meant to reside within SABC+. 

From 1st December, SABC restructured their streaming service so much so that it doesn't look like a competitor to a majority of existing streaming services available in the market but to only DStv Stream which serves as a wireless version to the current linear platform.

It only features SABC 1-3, SABC Education, SABC Sport, SABC News and SABC Lehae alongside the 19 radio stations. There's currently no catch-up not even a section to view third party shows from Curiosity or an archived section for past SABC productions unless they plan to include that at a later stage.

During the year, they had licensed selected content to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and VIU. Theoretically, it could be possible that they'll licence content to competitors as a means to keep SABC+ sustainable if not abandon the whole streaming regime.

It is very possible that the latter could resurface or get supplemented but that would probably be possible if SABC+ is able to see any growth consumer wise. Otherwise it's current state will look like a watershed version to the existing DStv Stream service.

Recap To The Week: Disney's ESPN 1 Currently Seen On DStv And StarSat Is Set To Take On SABC Sport

During the day, it was reported that MultiChoice and Disney would be adding the US sports channel ESPN 1 to its R129 per month DStv Access package. It was previously only available on the R449-a-month Compact package or higher which concide with the addition of NWTV.

Since Openview's inception, it served as a rival brand to DStv's existing offering with general entertainment channels like eReality and eSeries, lifestyle brands like People's Weather and The Home Channel+ and Bollywood entertainment from Star Life and Zee One.

They had also garnered popularity from SABC Sport which serves as one of the top 10 most watched channels on the Openview platform.

In previous years, Access served as somewhat of an underling to the freemium platform as it lacked a worthy advisory to the current offering. Despite offering more channels there wasn't noteworthy content on the bouquet and in recent years MultiChoice had started to catch-up with eMedia Investments.

Zee Zonke was added back in August as the first Zulu dubbed telenovela channel and also Access consumers first Bollywood channel with the likes of Star Life and eExtra's Kuiertyd partially contributing to Openview's success and from December ESPN 1 will be added to the bouquet.

ESPN 1 features live football from the English Football League (EFL), Scottish Premier Football League (SPFL), Dutch Eredivisie and Major League Soccer (MLS), as well as local sports like West African Football Union (WAFU) Cup of Nations and featured boxing tournaments and events.

It will basically take on SABC Sport which too had been dominant on football particularly with Bundesliga, Cosafa Women’s Championship and Liverpool Football Club with other content like Racing Today (from 4Racing TV), Max Power and Retro Boxing.

Development Alert: SABC Reportedly Registered A New Channel On DTT, SABC Variety

Last month, SABC through a small press release on their website had unveiled their second news channel, SABC Lehae. After losing rights to SABC News, the channel would telecast news segments seen on SABC 1-3 alongside archived material with plans to offer live news.

Prior to that time, it was reported that the public broadcaster was in production of another TV channel with sources suggesting it to be a general entertainment channel which led to speculation of SABC Encore.

Following its demise on DStv, SABC was looking to revive the channel and for 3 years there has yet to be an update on when or if that is still on the cards. They had used it as a pop-up channel on their DTT platforms during that time but other than that nothing until now.

Not long ago, a viewer had spotted a channel on DTT known as SABC Variety which we presume was the rumoured channel the public broadcaster was looking to unveil within the first quarter of 2024. It could be a new name for the long-speculated SABC Encore channel.

The public broadcaster hasn't shared details about the content but SABC+ has a variety section known as SABC Reality for shows like Nyan Nyan, Motswako, Afro Cafe and Spykaart. So we can only assume that this a rival brand to eKasi on eReality, Via, Moja Love and HONEY.

Recap To Last Year: MultiChoice And Ngwato Nkosi Group Are Slowly Replacing SABC And eMedia Investments On DStv

Since last year, MultiChoice had been having an on/off relationship with eMedia Investments regarding the carriage of their 4 Openview channels. Prior to that, negotiations for carriage fees to SABC 1-3 had reached a dead end with the brands also retained on DStv. 

Honestly speaking, MultiChoice seems to have built a contingency plan which sort of revolves around SABC and eMedia Investments. Take for instance, Zee Zonke which is basically eExtra in Zulu then there's lesser known films on both Movie Room and eMovies.

Hailing from Easyview, Magic Showcase which is somewhat similar to the SABC 1 is flooded with local programming if not old content. Now we have a multilingual eToonz channel from Ngwato Nkosi Group joining the circuit in the coming months, Play Room.

Ngwato Nkosi Group manage Newzroom Afrika and Movie Room and from what's already seen here they are basically building themselves up as the eMedia/SABC of DStv as each of their brands are tailored to their audience.

With the launch of Play Room consumers remain curious on the number of channels Ngwato Nkosi Group plan to rollout on the pay-tv platform. Considering the feedback of Newzroom Afrika and Movie Room, it wouldn't seem far fetched if more channels were underway.

Some concepts I've seen by the media include a telenovela channel dubbing content in local languages (Story Room), an M-Net/eSeries inspired channel (TV Room or Entertainment Room), sports channel (Sports Room) and a music channel (Music Room).

Other names that were also brought up which revolve on the above-mentioned include Action Room, Fight Room, Series Room, Lounge Room and Novela Room.

Although the timing of some channels don't correspond with each other, MultiChoice has been doing a lot of quality control in the past year e.g. Hilaal TV (ITV Networks), Qwest TV (MTV Hits) and Racing240 (Tellytrack).

Could SABC Education Alongside Further New Channels No Longer Be Moving Forward On DStv And StarSat?

For three years, consumers on pay-tv platforms have wondered if plans were still underway to get SABC Education alongside other channels from the public broadcaster such as SABC Sport and SABC Lehae to DStv and StarSat as these brands are currently exclusive to free-to-view platforms.

Prior to the pandemic, SABC had unveiled an educational channel and as mentioned they were looking to get it on more platforms. Now the question is whether that's still on the cards or similar to the duration of SABC News on DTT those plans had been halted.

In recent years, MultiChoice had limited the broadcast rights to select sporting content to their consumers while as SABC removed their local content from DStv's catch-up service leaving consumers to rely on SABC 1-3 or to stream further repeats on SABC+.

It wouldn't really some far fetched to some if SABC Education alongside other channels by the public broadcaster never got the time of day on DStv (and it possible StarSat). The public broadcaster had been looking to charge pay-tv platforms if not collect TV licence for their channels.

Although, SABC Sport and SABC Education aren't under must carry regulations as seen with SABC 1-3. They are operated by the same company which kind of jeopardize their position on the platforms.

Another issue a viewer had brought up was the trust deficit for these channels. As seen with SABC Encore and e.tv's 4 Openview channels each had a 5 year duration on DStv and if SABC Education or SABC Sport lasted much longer then you'd know it's a success with MultiChoice.

Development Alert: SABC News Has Reportedly Been Blocked From DTT Platforms And Possible SABC+, Replaced With SABC Lehae

During the week, it was reported that the public broadcaster had renewed their agreement with MultiChoice for SABC News. It was also revealed that they officially launched their second news channel SABC Lehae although not much marketing was put to welcome the new channel.

Following the arrival of SABC Lehae, several viewers on SABC's DTT had reported that SABC News is no longer available on the platform cause as viewers browse to view the channel all they get is a coloured screen. So we assume that this new agreement with MultiChoice prevents consumers from accessing SABC News.

SABC Lehae has been added as collateral and likely a backup to SABC News but unlike the pay-tv counterpart it is very much riddled with old programming as well as telecasts of SABC 1-3. We assume the public broadcaster couldn't retain SABC News on their DTT platform for an extended period.

As my hunch suggested previously, SABC Lehae is basically what Zee One is to Zee World but with SABC News - competition. As one brand is confined to a paywall while the other is filtered to its likeness with some variation added every and now then which kind of removes any possibility I had of it being included on MultiChoice's DStv.

If anything, it wouldn't surprise me if the channel were to surface on eMedia Investments' Openview platform to replace the news part of e.tv's News And Sport. As that too was also riddled with repeats and licenced content from various other broadcasters so to speak.

If there's one thing that these recent SABC and MultiChoice developments had suggested there's a lot of beef brewing between the two. Initially, it was reflected on sports but now it's reflecting on other areas of the business with SABC's content removed from catch-up.

Just curious to wonder what's next for these two, my guess would be the carriage of SABC 1-3 as the two had been negotiating for fees but it reached a dead end. Honestly speaking, would it be surprising if SABC 3 were to exit the platform and program changes awaited SABC 1 and 2.

For a while now, SABC had managed to divide the content between platforms and honestly the chances of their channels particularly SABC 3 undergoing a similar scenario wouldn't seem far fetched as the channel hasn't been sustainable and is the least watched amongst the three channels.

Recap To The Week: SABC Extend Agreement With MultiChoice For News Channel, Rolls Out Second Local News Channel SABC Lehae On DTT Platforms

During the week, it was revealed by the public broadcaster that they extended their carriage agreement with MultiChoice for SABC News that promises to keep redefining the broadcasting landscape. Although, the duration of this agreement remains unknown.

Interesting to note, the public broadcaster finally gave an official brand name to their second news channel currently seen on DTT and DTH, SABC Lehae. After failing to officially roll it out during the year sources mentioned it had a soft launch.

Formerly known as SABC Parliament and SABC eKhaya, the public broadcaster views SABC Lehae as an alternative to SABC News. Not sure what that means when it comes to the multilingual brand's chances on pay-tv cause as seen with SABC Sport that's not seen on DStv.

But from what we've observed in a previous story, it's likely that the channel could be added onto eMedia Investments' Openview platform. The public broadcaster had promised the company as well as consumers two additional channels to accompany SABC 1-3 and Sport.

Aside from that, Openview doesn't offer a local news channel and SABC Lehae could help fill that void seeing as Newzroom Afrika and eNCA reside with DStv. Similar to these brands, SABC Lehae would hold an significant position keeping viewers up-to-date with daily happenings.

Could SABC eKhaya Be The Next Channel By The Public Broadcaster To Launch On Openview?

During the year, SABC announced the rollout of a second news channel on their DTT platform, SABC eKhaya. Formerly known as SABC Parliament, the news channel would serve as a spinoff to the current SABC News channel on DStv offering content in local languages.

Similar to SABC Education and SABC Sport, the channel would feature a lot of archived material and telecast content already seen on SABC 1-3. Overtime, the public broadcaster would work on ways to limit the rebroadcasts as the channel garner traction.

Unlike MultiChoice's DStv and SABC's DTT, eMedia Investments doesn't offer a local news channel on the free-to-view Openview platform. The last iteration News And Sport was shut down due to financial constraints and poor feedback from consumers.

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Most other local news stations like the already mentioned SABC News alongside Newzroom Afrika and eNCA are funded by MultiChoice's DStv.

From the looks of things, SABC eKhaya appears to be the only option for eMedia Investments and works under their platform's current budget. As mentioned, there's not much live content on the channel it basically serves as a catch-up service to SABC 1-3.

Similar to SABC Sport, it has longevity and could help fill that void left by News And Sport. The only issue would be funding as consumers would expect a brand like SABC eKhaya to function like SABC News but that is only possible if the SABC were to receive funding.

In other developments, SABC is said to have finalized details for the next TV channel which might be unveiled in the next financial period with rumours suggesting it to be a general entertainment brand similar to the defunct SABC Encore.

Could eMedia Investments Look Into Removing Their Content From DStv Catch-Up As Seen With The SABC?

During the week, MultiChoice was forced to SABC 1's Skeem Saam, Uzalo and Generations: The Legacy alongside SABC 2's Muvhango and 7de Laan also known as The Big Five. It forms part of a decision by the public broadcaster which has left consumers to rely on SABC+.

Not long ago, the public broadcaster announced that the streamer had failed to reach their expectations after only gaining 150000 out of 2 million households. With that came the decision to limit the platforms to view catch-up on these show's respective channels.

It could help lure more consumers to SABC+ but the only reason their streaming endeavours hadn't reached its peak would be lack of marketing. Another having to do with the fact that nothing newsworthy has been brought to consumers attention.

SABC+ comes off as a catch-up service and a platform to view past content by the public broadcaster while as local broadcasters like eMedia Investments and MultiChoice invest in original productions and other exclusive content for their streaming service.

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Something that wouldn't come as a shocker to some and this is something that somewhat been observed is if eMedia Investments were to undergo a similar route at some point. They had scrapped their content from VIU and kept them on DStv Catch-up as they believe in accessibility.

Since last year, eMedia Investments had been embroiled in a carriage dispute with MultiChoice over their 4 Openview channels which had remained onboard DStv for the time being due to court ruling.

They've tried several times to negotiate a new agreement but MultiChoice won't budge. Although SABC's decision to remove these programs wouldn't favour them viewership/money wise, you can clearly see where they're getting at I mean they want to be less dependant.

Similar with Disney+, they want to put more emphasis on their platforms and that's something that has yet to be seen by eMedia Investments and might as well be something they look into as more consumers flee to their platforms.

Recap To The Month: SABC Delays The Expansion Of Further New Channels On DTT

During the year, SABC was gearing up for the rollout of a second news channel only known as SABC eKhaya. After failing to rollout the news channel, the public broadcaster had a soft launch for the brand on their DTT platform featuring content already viewed on their linear platforms and archived material.

Similar to SABC Sport, the plan was to feature a "fresh offering" once the channel managed to garner traction and the public broadcaster was looking to negotiate with other broadcasters in the hopes that they could distribute the channel onto their platforms.

But as seen in recent months, consumers had been affected by load shedding that some went as far as cutting back on their DStv subscription and other expenses as the outcome of these blackouts had left people jobless and led some entrepreneurs to lose their businesses.

The SABC blames Eskom on why their revenue continues to drop in recent months and also the reduction of analogue frequencies and streamers like Netflix for why SABC+ is struggling. It was also stated that the public broadcaster had to delay the rollout of new channels due to the blackouts impact on viewership.

For almost two years, consumers had been awaiting on an update from SABC on the status of two yet-to-be-launched channels on Openview alongside SABC Education's expansion to pay-tv outlets. Since SABC hasn't been able to meet up with any of its deadlines and with these outlets rolling out new channels, consumers will just lose interest.

Unlike SABC, Multichoice and eMedia Investments continue to expand their content and portfolio of linear channels. Despite the decrease in consumption, there's still consumers viewing these brands and rolling out those "new channels" could have helped reduce their financial constraints as opposed to pausing/scrapping shows like The Estate and uBettina Wethu.