Paramount+ is scheduled to launch in Africa later in 2023 and questions amount to the fate of the current linear offering available on DStv and several other pay-tv outlets within the market.
Although, Paramount (at the time ViacomCBS) expressed no interest in closing their linear offering as seen with The Walt Disney Company. It doesn't really take out the possibility that perhaps they'll close down only a few channels before the rest follow due to the rise in streaming.
As seen in other markets, Paramount has been reducing the amount of linear channels mostly brands that leverage repeats or other old programming even channels with less views are put on a pedestal.
As I've browsed in the linear offering for Paramount Africa there's about 4 channels which need saving or could be Paramount+ next appetizer and it goes as follows:
Comedy Central - before the overseas counterpart become an animation channel, Comedy Central features old shows like The Big Bang Theory, Two And A Half Men, Friends and Modern Family and fast forward to 2022 they remain attached to those programs.
BET - my least favourite amongst the three continues to build their existence from other brands. If you're not watching a program from a rival station then you're getting a mashup of Comedy Central, MTV and not long ago Nickelodeon.
MTV - although it has the same flaws as the other two mentioned channels. It builds itself on originality I mean you have shows like Catfish, Ridiculousness, Just Tattoo Of Us and Ex On The Beach but what's sad about this brand is the overshadowing particularly with MTV Base.
Also not long ago, the social pages of Comedy Central Asia is being phased out for Paramount Network which not long ago was terminated in some parts of Europe. The brand was said to be a flagship channel for drama series and sitcoms but with Paramount+ all that fell into the cracks.
Paramount in Africa had at the one point thought of including the channel in their portfolio but not much was done at the time and from what experts speculated if the brand were fortunate enough to launch it would be no different to Asia of replacing channels.
From another site's perspective, they targeted MTV for Paramount Network for the reasons mentioned above overshadowing but from my perspective what if the brand wanted bigger bait in this case, Comedy Central.
What if MTV and Comedy Central were to merge to form Paramount Network or another brand like Spike with few MTV series forming part of MTV Base and BET's offering.
This supposed channel can have a large chunk of MTV as there's a lot of originals on there with Trevor Noah being the star attraction and somewhere along the line a 2 hour block for sitcoms with 1 hour for drama series and movies allocated when needed.
I mean the concept could help reduce the level of repetition amongst stations. In the end, the decision is entirely up to Paramount if they want to repeat Friends for another 10-20 years let them as others move to streamers or find other means of entertainment.
But again the idea of them possibly reducing channels hasn't left my mind. What if the reason for the slow terminations had something to do with the ongoing rollout of Paramount+.
Most of the international content in Africa is often referred to as (EMEA - Europe, Middle East and Africa) and whenever the A hits something always happens sometimes the A is the first to undergo those changes even before EME but when new merchandise comes in we're often the last ones to get it.
