South Africa’s public broadcaster, already suffering from a lack of licence fee income and a downturn in advertising, is facing a controversial arbitration over its ‘must carry’ obligations towards pay-TV operator MultiChoice. South Africa broadcasting regulator ICASA has admitted that its negotiations with DStv and SABC have reached an impasse. SABC COO Ian Plaatjes has […]
In years past there have been African and Middle East broadcasters who have happily stolen pay-TV’s exclusive coverage of key sporting events. DStv has now issued a clear warning to broadcasters in Africa saying, in essence, ‘hands off our signals’. The most blatant thefts of football signals occurred during the Saudi Arabian beoutQ transmissions of […]
South Africa’s MultiChoice has cautioned investors that its half-year results (to the end of September) will be affected by the increased costs of set-top box subsidies. The costs, of about R700 million (€40m) directly related to the take-up of subscribers for the FIFA World Cup. MultiChoice’s trading update said that its profits would rise by […]
WWE and MultiChoice have announced a major broadcast partnership that will see streaming platform Showmax become the new home of WWE Network in Africa. The partnership incorporates all WWE Premium Live Events, including premium live event WrestleMania, as well as WWE Network’s library of original and archived programming available to stream on-demand. Additionally, SuperSport, the […]
South Africa’s MultiChoice is going after South Africa’s fibre-based users, and is launching an aggressive campaign to win potential customers seeking uncapped fibre access. It is offering a linked fibre service plus DStv pay-TV bundles at what are seen as ‘deeply discounted’ prices. DStv is currently promoting two options: The first offers a 25 MB/s […]
Maxime Saada, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Canal+ Group, confirmed earlier this month at a press conference that Bollore’s subsidiary has increased its stake in the capital of Multichoice, the leading South African pay-TV operator in Africa, to reach 26.26 per cent of the capital. The French group first took a 6.5 per […]
MultiChoice’s DStv says it will add a pair of 4K channels in readiness for the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar. The tournament kicks off on November 20th. Nyiko Shiburi, CEO of MultiChoice South Africa, speaking at the company’s annual media event in Johannesburg, said that a significant amount of technical work had been done […]
MultiChoice subscribers in South Africa can enjoy significant price cuts if they switch from satellite to a broadband (‘dishless’) service. The cuts range from 13 per cent to 17.5 per cent depending on the level of package taken. DStv Premium, which currently costs R839 per month (about €48.40) can save 16.7 per cent by switching […]
MultiChoice Group (MCG), the South African entertainment and services platform, will become Sky’s second global syndication partner for its Glass offering. The syndication partnership will allow MCG to offer its customers more ways to connect to their favourite content, including: Glass panels: a range of 4K QLED TVs with integrated sound bar featuring Dolby Atmos […]
French media company Canal+ has raised its stake in South African pay-TV operator MultiChoice to 26.26 per cent, up from 20.12 per cent in July 2022, when MultiChoice advised that Canal+ had acquired an additional interest in the ordinary shares of the company. In a regulatory disclosure, MultiChoice said that it remained committed to acting […]