Important Notice: Digital TV Europe And TBI Magazine Are Shutting Down After 35+ Years Of Publication

Statement regarding Digital TV Europe

Digital TV Europe was launched just over 40 years ago. Originally published as Cable & Satellite Europe, in those distant pre-internet days exclusively as a monthly print magazine, it provided news, features, analysis and data about the nascent multichannel TV industry.

Cable & Satellite Europe, morphing into Digital TV Europe, has therefore covered the European multichannel TV business almost from the beginning, Eutelsat having launched the first European direct-to-home satellite channel a couple of years before our first print issue appeared.

The title was around for the launch of Canal+’s terrestrial pay TV service, the launch of Sky TV by Rupert Murdoch and its doomed rival BSB, and the near simultaneous launches of Canal+/Bertelsmann/Kirch Group-backed services such as Premiere in Germany and Telepiù in Italy.

It also covered the flawed franchising and rollout of cable TV in the UK (and the debt-financed attempts to bring about its rational consolidation thereafter) as well as the evolution of cable in western Europe from a local utility model to a commercial multiplay one), and the rollout of pay TV in central and eastern Europe from the 1990s.

In signing off, I’d like to thank the wider DTVE team past and present, along with our external contributors and other Informa colleagues, for their commitment, enthusiasm and expertise in designing, populating and commercialising this website and associated resources (including our long-running print magazine).

It has been a privilege to work with the many fantastic people who have contributed over the years, and I’d like to give a special thanks to our current team – marketing manager Abigail Appiah, product manager Alba Bayes, sales manager Grazyna Gray, creative lead Matthew Humberstone and associate editor Melissa Kasule, along with colleagues from our sister title Television Business International – senior account manager Michael Callan, deputy editor Mark Layton and editor Richard Middleton.

Finally, I extend my thanks to our external industry partners, our clients and, not least, our readers, without whom we would never have lasted those incredible 40 years.

Statement regarding TBI Magazine 

After more than 35 years of publication, Television Business International (TBI) is to close and will stop publishing new content from today.

TBI has documented everything from the emergence of pay TV to the decline of linear broadcasting and the ongoing drama caused by the shift to streaming.

Its archives are a treasure trove of history that reflect how the industry has transformed and how people have adapted along the way.

We thank you for your unwavering support and hope that you found insight and perhaps also entertainment in our coverage of what remains a fascinating, dynamic and vitally important global industry.

Farewell, we hope to see you soon in some other capacity and thank you for being a part of the TBI family.

Interesting Note: Canal+ France Also Has Services In Africa Which Is Likely To Merge Or Get Spun-Off With MultiChoice Africa

Canal+ Group is a French based pay-tv provider operated by Vivendi that distribute various films, series and TV channels. Not long ago, Canal+ had been granted permission to acquire remaining shares in MultiChoice after owning at least 45% of the company. 

Now both parties seek to fight regulatory hurdles which limit the broadcasting license of a foreign entity in order to get this approved. Canal+ is looking to shape MultiChoice into a global powerhouse against the likes of Disney and Netflix.

As we've discussed time and time again, both these companies have rivaling assets all of which would be subjected to a merger and will be trialed for. These would lead to a reduction of content and services while the Canal+ side of things garners more reach.

Despite Canal+ already serving 8 million households in Francophone Africa all of these operations are handled by Canal+ in France. Based on MultiChoice's audience reach, Canal+ could build its own division as seen in Poland and Luxembourg. 

With that in mind, MultiChoice's DStv and GOtv will likely fold under the Canal+ tier within those regions. If anything, Canal+ will try to save most of the content and services from their packages as they rollout under MultiChoice's offering. 

Local legislation within these areas won't just let Canal+ operate two separate services of the same stature co-exist unless there were some backing involved. In this case, the phasing out of the France feed of Canal+ in favor of a localized feed through MultiChoice. 

Celebrate World Oceans Day with Discovery Channel’s Premiere of ‘X Trillion’

In honour of World Oceans Day on June 8th, Discovery Channel Africa is proud to present the premiere of X Trillion, a compelling documentary highlighting the urgent issue of plastic pollution in our oceans. This special screening will take place on Discovery Channel Africa on Saturday, 8 June, at 18:00 CAT.

 

X Trillion follows the extraordinary journey of eXXpedition’s all-women crew, led by the inspiring skipper and ocean advocate Emily Penn. The 14-member team, comprising scientists, sailors, designers, engineers, and teachers, embarks on a challenging 3,000-mile voyage across the North Pacific Ocean. Their mission is to conduct groundbreaking research on microplastics and bring attention to the pervasive plastic pollution crisis in one of the most remote regions on Earth.

 

The film captures the crew's month-long expedition, navigating through the planet's densest accumulation of ocean plastic. Facing high seas, storms, and sea sickness, these dedicated women leave their families and homes behind to confront one of our time's most pressing environmental challenges. Under Emily Penn’s leadership, the team explores the environmental and toxic chemical impacts of microplastics, including their potential effects on pregnancy and future generations.

 

Celebrate World Oceans Day by exploring the unseen impacts of microplastics and the incredible efforts of these women to protect our oceans for future generations.

Is WWE Planning To Revive WCW??? After Netflix Had Gained Exclusive Rights To The Wrestling Promotion

World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988. It was home to legends such as Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho and Eddie Guerrero all of which formed part of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Through the United States Patent And Trademark Office (USPTO), WWE seems to have filed a new trademark for the former promotion. For those who aren't aware, WWE had purchased select assets from WCW and this included contracts from various talents. 

According to the website, it is being used for entertainment purposes in the field of sports. Including the production and exhibition of professional wrestling events rendered live through broadcast media including television and radio.

Of course, this wouldn't be the first time WCW made headlines as another instance came when AEW revived Bash At The Beach. This came with a lawsuit by the WWE for trademark infringement so this was proceeded with AEW's own version of WarGames. 

Earlier in the year, Netflix had garnered exclusive rights to wrestling promotions Raw and Smackdown alongside live events like Summerslam. This leads one to wonder if WCW's possible revival may have to do with the endeavors of the streamer. 

Netflix is begun entering the world of sports as mentioned they have garnered rights to WWE for 2025 season and this was followed by an NBA Christmas special and Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson's fight.

‘SpongeBob’ Universe Expands With Three Paramount+ Spinoff Movies, New Theatrical Film

Three new SpongeBob SquarePants character spinoff movies for Paramount+ are in the works at Nickelodeon Studios, in addition to a new theatrical release about the porous resident who lives in a Pineapple-under-the-sea. The news was announced today by Brian Robbins, Chief Content Officer, Movies and Kids & Family for Paramount+ at the ViacomCBS Investor Event.

The first of Paramount+’s SpongeBob character spinoff movies, which focus on different Bikini Bottom residents, will drop in 2023.

The expansion of the SpongeBob franchise follows the recent success of SpongeBob series offshoots Kamp Koral on Paramount+ and The Patrick Star Show on Nickelodeon, the first season of which will be available soon to stream on Paramount+.

Paramount has made three SpongeBob feature movies, the first in 2004, which altogether have grossed close to $471M worldwide. The highest grossing installment was 2015’s The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water which grossed over $325M WW. However, because of the pandemic, Paramount was forced to pull The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run from U.S. release in 2020. The sequel received a Canadian theatrical release in August of that year, making $4.8M, while the film in the states served as the branded launch for Paramount+ in 2021. The pic’s foreign rights, except for China, were sold to Netflix.

“As we’ve known with Nickelodeon’s long-standing success, the kids and family audience is incredibly loyal, and we see that on Paramount+ as well, with kids and family ranking as one of the strongest genres on the service in terms of both engagement and subscriber acquisition,” said Robbins. “So as they stay for our shows and look for even more of them, we’re doubling down on giving them what they want by expanding the universes of the characters they love the best.”

Will WildEarth Return To MultiChoice's DStv?

A few months ago, MultiChoice bid farewell to WildEarth and wished them well on their future endeavors. After the channel had failed to secure payment had opted to discontinue their service with the brand serving as one of 11 TV channels to exit their platform in 2024.

As some readers are aware, Canal+ is looking to expand their operations and further diversity. They currently own close to 50% of MultiChoice with the French company that had been granted rights to acquire remaining shares from an independent board. 

Of course most of that is still up for discussion as local legislation have strict regulations awaiting both Canal+ and MultiChoice before any of this can move forward. Restructuring plans are currently underway with further details set to be announced in due course. 

Canal+ served as a rival to MultiChoice's DStv with a similar lineup of entertainment and since 2020. If this merger moved forward one of the things consumers would expect from all this is a merging of the Canal+ platform with DStv and GOtv.

Canal+ offering is home to channels like Africa Magic Epic, M-Net Movies and Telemundo all of which were exclusive to DStv at the time. They even have other channels like FilmBox, Love Nature, W-Sport and even the former Toonami and WildEarth.

Whenever mergers are formed something is bound to get dissolved. This happened when Disney acquired 20th Century Studios as they had a bunch of already completed projects in development most of which got axed or shipped to another platform. 

Taking that to account, there's not much guarantee that WildEarth would be reinstated after this merger. Considering the number of DStv channels viewed on Canal+ platforms its possible that these are the channels Canal+ could as well keep onboard.

But that doesn't mean that some of this entertainment won't just reappear on the new DStv/GOtv. Canal+ has built a local portfolio and I doubt they'd want to throw that away so they'd have to find some way to keep some of this offering.