MultiChoice's DStv And The SABC Are Becoming A Thing Of The Past

As some are aware, SABC and MultiChoice are on the brink of collapse as their financial woes continues to accelerate. The SABC find themselves having to use most of their income to pay expenses while MultiChoice is trying to find another money maker through Showmax as the pay-tv market deteriorates.

A financial transaction between Canal+ and MultiChoice is the only lifeline for the company so should this deal not move forward it could prove to be challenging to keep the company afloat. Aside from DStv, MultiChoice has other titles under their belt including M-Net, SuperSport, Showmax, Irdeto and Namola. 

As for the SABC, they've been grasping through straws relying on sponsors and other companies to manage the expenses for shows like The Masked Singer SA and Deal Or No Deal SA. Since then, they've been various proposals on how to get the company out of financial turmoil one includes a household levy with another a sale of assets.

While MultiChoice has gambling, cybersecurity and insurance the SABC only rivalled offering for the company is content which in recent years has been under threat. Before a large number of households relied on these companies for a portion of their lineup now there's Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and even TikTok.

Yes, TikTok has become another alternative from DStv and the SABC cause the reality is their lineup don't cater that much to Gen Z and Gen A as these consumers prefer the internet for their indulgence. DStv can say they offer Cocomelon but you get that on YouTube freely while there's a whole generation of viewers estranged to the SABC.

With Canal+ in pursuit of MultiChoice, I think the big question is how they'll be able to grow its value especially with its recent performance. Because of how cable is at this stage, a lot of investors would probably want out of this venture as seen already MultiChoice is eyeing Showmax to manage those losses in DStv consumption.

SABC is planning to introduce some cost cutting mechanisms although they haven't been detail oriented on how they'd go about it I presume one would have to deal with Deal Or No Deal SA which is funded by Primedia Studios. Another would be Muvhango cause after the show was cancelled only to be revived it's production budget was reduced.

StarSat Looking To Launch A Streaming Service To Rival With YouTube

During the month, ICASA and SARS raided the offices of StarSat confiscating several equipment belonging to owners On Digital Media and StarTimes Media. This has led to a number of TV channels viewed in Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda to have been blocked while consumers in South Africa experience a complete blackout.

In an interview on SABC News, the company's head of public affairs had outlined plans to launch its own YouTube type service which would allow bloggers podcasters and other local creators to curate content on that platform. This was part of a recovery plan as the broadcaster was dealing with financial woes during that time.

With this market already crowded with other platforms such as Showmax, Netflix, YouTube, eVOD and SABC+ the best guess here would be that this platform will rollout on the StarTimes app. With the StarSat already platform already having very little consumers this seems like the only probable option for sustainability.

Considering this will take up a format similar to YouTube, it may join the rankings of SABC+ and Freevision Play and offer no monthly fees while as offering a pay service similar to DStv Stream. A lot of streamers are struggling right now so I don't see how StarSat would be any different as some like SABC and Showmax rely on partners to survive.

Let's say this platform does launch how are local creators getting compensation and better yet will this platform ever get anywhere in terms of consumer growth. If StarSat from its 10+ years in South Africa sees their reach sitting under half a million how sure are they that these endeavours won't up like TelkomOne or Acorn TV.

With the company already facing several hurdles with their pay-tv operations, consumers are probably going to refrain themselves from these endeavours. Besides that, YouTube and TikTok are already dominant players in that regard so similar to the likes of DStv it would be challenging to find an audience in a market filled with constraints.

StarSat Offering Bonuses To Those Who Paid Them In The Month Of October But There's A Catch

During the month, ICASA and SARS raided the offices of StarSat confiscating several equipment belonging to owners On Digital Media and StarTimes Media. This has led to a number of TV channels viewed in Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda to have been blocked while consumers in South Africa experience a complete blackout.

Since then, the company had seen an influx of angry consumers demanding answers on why their services are down and some had paid (or are continuing to pay) for the month. StarSat said they'd reimburse consumers although haven't done so yet and had warned consumers to withhold further payments to their services.

After the raiding by SARS, their hands are kind of tied now with employees roaming aimlessly wondering how they'll pay for their expenses. With channel providers such as One Freestate Televisual and Rising Sun TV having no other means of continuing their services things are currently at a standstill.

Now StarSat took it to their social platforms to announce the temporary suspension of payments so further charges could as well bounce back to the owner. Those who already paid are promised bonuses once the signal is restored of course that can't be guaranteed as they've been operating without a license for over a year and failed to close as advised.

Even if legal action was underway these things do take a considerable amount of time something consumers don't have. By the time, StarSat were to return only a portion of these consumers would be using their services while a majority migrate to DStv and Openview.

Could Openview Get More Subscribers Than DStv?

As some people may have already seen, DStv has lost over 400000 in the last financial year leaving their consumer base to plunge from 8 million to 7.6 million. This is due to the current economic climate which has the average consumer having to wind down on expenses which has becoming an epidemic in other parts of the world.

Netflix would release an entire season of Wednesday or He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe and consumers would try to stream as much of it within a short pan of time. This has even splashed onto DStv when consumers would resubscribe when a major sporting event is on or Big Brother Naija.

Even with Canal+ having to acquire DStv's parent company MultiChoice this wouldn't necessarily improve these numbers but rather lead MultiChoice to rationalize on things like TV channels. These numbers are anticipated to decline which could lead other competitors such as Openview to edge out DStv numbers.

Openview is operated by e.tv's parent company eMedia Investments and has since seen a lot of growth in recent years with its activations reaching over 3.5 million homes almost half of DStv's consumer base. This does lead some to wonder if Openview could eventually have an advantage over DStv with numbers.

Free-to-air broadcasters already dominate the viewership spectrum I mean e.tv pulls over 5 million households and MultiChoice had already been accustomed to not having these figures on any of their brands but DStv was one way to exercise their dominance. So with Openview having close to half these figures could this edge out DStv.

Free viewing hasn't really slowed down in most parts of the world of course that doesn't mean its dependency remains under siege as Netflix continues to be a money grabber. In the UK, Freeview which serves as a free tier has its services in over 18 million homes while Sky the pay-tv counterpart has only 12 million.

Content wise you find that Sky continues to be a dominant player if you're used to getting the freshest content but if you're more prone to a selection of this lineup then Freeview is the best option.

Weekly Roundups #4: Rugrats Live-Action/Hybrid Film Is In Development At Paramount Studios, Canal+ Acquires French Rights To e.tv's Smoke & Mirrors, Totally Spies! Premiere On Cartoon Network Has Been Pushed To November And More

• Canal+ acquires rights to e.tv's soapie Smoke & Mirrors for A+ channel in French speaking territories 

• Rugrats CGI/live-action film is in development at Paramount Studios and Nickelodeon 

Paramount is developing a live-action/ CG hybrid feature film that’s based on the beloved ’90s animated children’s TV show. Tommy Pickles and his pals Chuckie Finster and Phil and Lil DeVille will be animated in the movie, which is set in the real world as “Sonic the Hedgehog.”

• Rihanna's upcoming film The Smurfs had been delayed to July 2025

• Dragon Ball Daima launches on Netflix in Asia by October 14th and globally on the 18th which concide with Barney's World launch on Cartoonito 

• Anupama switches back to 1 hour on Star Life from October 14th

• Coming to America star John Amos dies at the age of 84

• An RPG game for Avatar: The Last Airbender is in development 

• Villains Of Valley View and Hailey's On It cancelled on Disney Channel after its current season

• Princess Diaries 3 is officially moving forward 

• Saweetie guest stars in Max's animated series Velma 

• That 90's Show cancelled on Netflix after 2 seasons

The spinoff of popular early aughts TV sitcom "That '70s Show," which catapulted Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis as well as Topher Grace and Laura Prepon into stardom, has been canceled by the streaming service, according to its star Kurtwood Smith.

• Batwheels renewed for a season 3 by Cartoon Network 

• Totally Spies premiere on Cartoon Network has been pushed to November in Africa with another series also set to join the lineup 

Reminder: MultiChoice Africa Will Be Axing SuperSport Variety 2-4 By Next Week, When Or If MultiChoice South Africa Will Follow?

A few weeks ago, it was reported that MultiChoice Africa will be axing SuperSport Variety 2-4 on DStv after being introduced to consumers in September 2020 alongside SuperSport Select 1-3 on GOtv. The switch is expected to go live from October 9th with SuperSport Action being added to DStv Compact.

SuperSport Africa formerly SuperSport Variety 4 will offer football, athletics, MMA, boxing and wrestling to GOtv Lite and DStv Access consumers on channel 227. While SuperSport Africa 2 formerly SuperSport Variety 3 will launch on channel 228 which offers mainly football to DStv Family and GOtv Max consumers.

SuperSport Variety 2 will be merged into a new repositioned SuperSport Action channel which moves from channel 230 to 226 to DStv Compact consumers. This channel is currently residing on the Compact+ and Premium bouquet offering mixed martial arts and MMA will offer cricket, rugby and tennis.

Questions flooding is how MultiChoice Africa was able to do this without any input from MultiChoice South Africa which is simple as SuperSport maintains two feeds one for Southern Africa with the other for the remaining parts. The content and pricing differs immensely for these regions which brings up another agenda.

SuperSport Variety existence in South Africa could be numbered I mean this is what happened to Novela Magic and Maisha Magic Movies. These were brands that were stripped from consumers within Southern Africa before migrating to other parts of Africa and MultiChoice has a tendency of making changes in phases.

If I had to guess why SuperSport Action is not coming to DStv Compact or SuperSport Variety switching to SuperSport Africa or simply SuperSport has to deal with the content. MultiChoice is probably trying to piece out the structure of these brands and will probably announce it in the coming months if not 2025.

But what's certain here is that MultiChoice may not refer to them as SuperSport Africa but simply SuperSport and revert back to the numbering system if not a local trademark like SuperSport Mzansi. MultiChoice Africa has a lot of channels under its belt with the Africa trademark including TLC, Nickelodeon and M-Net Movies.

Could DStv Be Closing Down In Some Countries?

A few months ago, it was revealed that both Canal+ and Bruh Entertainment PLC that launched a rival platform to StarTimes and DStv in Ethiopia back in 2021 will be closing down by 31 December 2024. This is due to the dominance of free-to-air operators in the region with the French broadcaster putting more focus on existing agreements with BeMedia.

This had led to further speculation that a similar fate could be awaiting DStv as Canal+ tries to completes it's acquisition of MultiChoice. Let's remember, Canal+ is also in pursuit of a rival pay-tv platform in Mauritius after increasing its hold in MC Vision to 75% which is awaiting regulatory approval as well.

Whenever there's a clash it always lead to one of the two getting closed if not sold which is what could be awaiting MultiChoice in the region. Canal+ could look into merging both DStv and MC Vision and build a localized feed as seen in South Africa with their broadcasting license limited to 20% needing local partners to have indirect influence over it's operations.

MultiChoice Africa hasn't been profitable in a long while and on top of massive layoffs Canal+ could as well look into minimizing the pay-tv company's presence in some markets. You'll find some like Mauritius offering MC Vision that could as well be the only reminisce of MultiChoice as they look to package certain brands on those platforms.

Then there could be an instance where MultiChoice follows a similar route as Sony Pictures Television and BBC Studios and explore partnerships to retain portions of DStv I mean the idea wouldn't seem far fetched a stretch. As Canal+ has adopted to similar mechanisms in the areas they reside being both content and pay-tv provider.

NFL Is In Talks To Acquire Some Of Skydance's Assets Ahead Of Merger With Paramount Global

The National Football League is in talks with David Ellison’s Skydance Media and one of his major investors, RedBird Capital Partners, that could result in some of the league’s media assets changing hands, according to people familiar with the conversations.

The talks could include a sale of NFL Media and its NFL Network cable channel, or an acquisition by Paramount Global of the league’s interest in Skydance Sports, a joint venture that produces movies and TV shows, according to the people, who asked to not be identified because the discussions are private.

Paramount, which holds rights to broadcast NFL games, is in the process of merging with Skydance, an independent film and TV studio, in a deal expected to close next year. Paramount’s contract with the league includes a change of control provision that could allow the NFL to seek another media partner, the people said. The NFL’s deal with Paramount’s CBS network is worth about $2.1 billion a year through 2033.

Although it is unlikely that the NFL will seek to replace CBS as its broadcast partner, the provision has prompted a wider conversation about business opportunities between the league, Skydance and RedBird. The league is already in business with both parties and Commissioner Roger Goodell has praised Skydance in interviews.

In 2022, the NFL invested $45 million in Skydance Sports in a deal that valued the entity at about $100 million. Skydance and NFL Films produced a new season of HBO’s Hard Knocks documentary series, focusing on the New York Giants, this year. The two companies are also working on a 10-part documentary series on Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

The league and RedBird are partners in EverPass Media, which distributes the NFL Sunday Ticket games to bars and restaurants. RedBird is also an owner of the United Football League, which plays in the spring season. Larry Ellison, the father of the Skydance founder and one of the world’s richest men, has previously expressed interest in owning a professional football team.

The NFL has been shopping its media assets for a few years. NFL Media includes the league’s digital operations, the NFL cable network, the film unit and NFL RedZone, a subscription service. Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN sports division had been in talks about a potential deal that could have seen the company acquire NFL Media, giving the league a stake in ESPN in return. Those talks have stalled, however.