Canal+ is in a carriage dispute with Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) in South Africa. The latest threat is that if the dispute is not resolved then a slew of channels will disappear from DStv. This would include Discovery and CNN.

Twelve channels are involved in the initial dispute, and the current position is that the WBD channels will vanish for viewers when the current contract expires on December 31st.

A message to subscribers from DStv said: “Please be advised that Discovery Channel, TLC Africa, Discovery Family, Real Time, TNT Africa, Food Network, Travel Channel, Investigation Discovery (Discovery ID), Cartoon Network, Cartoonito and CNN International will not be available from 31 Dec.”

Canal+ has said it is focused on reducing costs at MultiChoice. Distribution agreements with major supplier/broadcasters is a prime target for cost-cutting.

However, local reports say that not one of the channels under dispute is in the South African ‘Top 10’ of pay-TV channels.

It also emerged that the affected channels would exceed the initial dozen. Paramount Africa confirmed on December 2nd that BET Africa and MTV Base would also end their distribution. CBS and AMC Networks have also said that their CBS Reality and CBS Justice channels would end transmission on December 31st. Quite what this means financially for subscribers is – as yet – unclear.

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Categories: Articles, Broadcast

Tags: cnn, dstv, south africa, WBD