DStv Compact Cup Scoops Prestigious Competition Sponsorship Of The Year Award

It was a moment worth capturing and etching on the walls of history, when the DStv Compact Cup won the prestigious Event or Competition Sponsorship of the Year award, at the Hollard Sports Industry Awards 2022; a platform recognised as South Africa’s most notable awards ceremony - honouring pioneers and innovators in the sports industry.

The DStv Compact Cup was nominated in two categories namely, Event or Competition Sponsorship of the Year and Fan Engagement.

The awards which were held in Newtown on Thursday evening, 24 November, hosted ground breakers in the sports and business industry.

In the Audio-Visual Content of the Year category, the Longform Content of the Year Award was bagged by Makazole Mapimpi for his self-titled documentary which premiered in March 2022.

“We’re incredibly proud of this win, as this award is a confirmation of how powerful it is to engage and interact with our DStv consumers across various touchpoints. The DStv Compact Cup was an innovative way for DStv Compact customers to fully engage with the brand, by using their voting power to participate in the tournament,” said Tshepiso Sathekge – Senior Manager of Sponsorships at DStv

Could VIU Be The Next Streaming Service To Shut Down In South Africa?

Three years ago, South African viewers were introduced to VIU a brand new streaming service and also PCCW's second attempt at in the streaming game following the termination of OnTapTV.

For those who weren't present at the time, the brand failed to give the media specific details on the content viewed on the platform but ramped up partnerships with eMedia Investments and the SABC for some of its content part of which led to its relevancy.

Last year, the brand got into a brawl with eMedia Investments regarding the agreement for various local productions seen on e.tv such as Scandal and Imbewu as eMedia failed to hold their end of the bargain.

According to VIU at the time, consumers were alarmed to see that the content wasn't available on the platform as the e.tv productions had a following for which impacted their subscriber base with the brand set to lose the content to eVOD by 2024.

During the month, SABC viewers were alarmed to see that the public broadcaster recently launched SABC+ is missing several ties as their packaged exclusively by VIU with consumers having to wait until a certain timeframe to get access to the remaining content.

VIU was a bridge between both these parties and as seen now both of them now offer their own OTT platforms which puts the streamer in the very precarious position as most of the consumer base are big fans of the local providers.

Sure, VIU has a lot to offer outside these two with various content from BBC Studios alongside Crime + Investigation from A+E Networks. But is that enough to guarantee success for the platform I honestly doubt it.

South Africa had a various streamers such as A+E Networks' Acorn TV, Cell C's Black, Vodacom's Red and Telkom's TelkomOne streaming service all of which had a similar trait to VIU which includes bundling a lot of third party content and less to no original content - all of which have been dusted.

Now questions amount to how the future of the streamer as they keep sourcing out more and more content kind of like how abovementioned did before closing down.

Acorn TV Closing Down By The End Of The Year In South Africa, Still No Clue If AMC+ Will Launch In The Market

A few months ago, AMC International unveiled plans to rollout AMC+ in Central Eastern Europe by the coming year with the brand joining the likes of NBCUniversal's Peacock and Warner Bros Discovery's soon to be merged HBO Max and Discovery+ that have yet to launch in the market.

AMC International already supply various channels in the market including CBS Reality and CBS Justice in partnership with Paramount Global which are said to be up for renewal by early 2023 on MultiChoice's DStv alongside JimJam.

Now their AMC+ streaming service kind of like Peacock's effect on the NBCUniversal's channels, there's not much clashing going between them as both are one of the few companies to balance their portfolio as the streamer comes with content from AMC, Sundance Now, IFC and Shudder.

Just recently, Acorn TV announced on all their platforms that they would be inactive by the end of the year which leads me to wonder as to why this may be taking effect. I mean my guess has to do with BritBox offering most of their content.

On the other, could AMC+ have some involvement I mean the little original offering would make a perfect fit for the brand's existing offering.

As of right now, Acorn TV is scheduled to close by the end of the year which joins another streaming service TelkomOne which was acquired and rebranded into SABC+ during the month of November.

New Series Alert: Laxmi And 4 Other Series Still Awaiting On Star Life (Drafted Version)

During the week, various sources shared posters to Star Life's upcoming show Laxmi and just like Family Secrets on S3, they mistook the show for the one produced by the SABC. So we composed a demo of what's to come on the channel.

Trust me when I say the final list is WAY TOO BIG and this is only a draft of it due to sources mislabeling content as we are planning to publish this alongside Zee World by next month unfortunately that's not entirely the case.

Here's a recap errors committed by DStv in regard to the launch of Moonbug Kids and INX Prime (before and after).

Now, the list of shows supposedly airing on the channel are:

Laxmi (Main Lakshmi Tere Aangan Ki) - 26 December
Lakshmi, a middle-class young girl aims at earning money as her mom died of pneumonia and they failed to afford her treatment. Aged 9, she has a crush on and wishes to marry Arjun Agnihotri but he moves to London for 10 years to complete his studies.

Unforeseen Love (Mehndi Hai Rachne Waali)
The story revolves around a hardworking widowed woman named Pallavi who loves her law family very much and sacrifices everything to fulfill all their needs.

Pandya Store
The Pandyas are a middle-class family residing in Somnath. Their daily life is dependent on their beloved store and only source to income, Pandya Store. Dhara is married to Gautam, the eldest brother of the Pandya family. Her young brothers-in-law consider her like their mother. After facing several tribulations, Dhara is finally accepted by her mother-in-law.

Stand By Me, My Beloved (Saath Nibhaana Saathiya 2)
The Modi family is seen to be heading their way to Surat, to visit Kokila Modi's long lost brother Praful Desai and his family. Gehna works there at the Desai house as a househelper. Gopi learns that her first husband Ahem, who died 5 years ago, was actually alive as Gehna saved him. The Modis retrieve and unite with Ahem, and head back to Rajkot.

TUNE IN DETAILS (channel premieres)
Friday, 16 December
16:15   –   Last Action Hero (1993)
18:30   –   Bad Boys (1995)
20:30   –   Bad Boys II (2003)
22:55   –   Bad Boys For Life (2020)

Christmas Special
Relax, recharge, and get the feel-good spirit flowing in the lead-up to Christmas with four fun, family-friendly movies every day! There’s nostalgia from Big Fish, romance with Click, and humour with The Animal.

TUNE IN DETAILS (channel premieres)

Friday, 23 December
15:00   –   The Karate Kid (1984)
17:10   –   Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005)
18:50   –   Mr. Deeds (2002)
20:30   –   Click (2006)
Saturday, 24 December
14:40   –   Hero Mode (2021)
16:10   –   Last Action Hero (1993)
18:25   –   Rush Hour 2 (2001)
20:30   –   Big Fish (2003)
Sunday, 25 December
14:55   –   Groundhog Day (1993)
16:35   –   The Animal (2001)
18:00   –   Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
20:00   –   Jumanji: The Next Level (2019)