The plan for major online expansion and boosting its online presence through video output on the internet has been in the works for the past two years and picked up steam towards the end of last year when e.tv rolled out the new eNCA website and started a new, beta version of the e.tv website with richer content.
e.tv now reaches 16,5 million viewers and the 24-hour South African TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403) on MultiChoice's DStv remains the most-watched of all the TV news channels on that pay-TV platform.
The holding company Remgro which has an interest of 31,6% in Sabido Investment Limited, the owner of e.tv, says e.tv is looking at a multi-channel strategy to enhance its revenue streams. This multi-channel strategy include the start of online channels.
"The focus of the group for the forthcoming months is the ongoing development of a multi-channel strategy to enhance its competitiveness across a multiplicity of platforms and provide opportunities for new revenue streams," says Remgro in reporting its interim results. "This includes the launch of e.tv Online and eNCA Online in the first half of 2013."
"Despite aggressive growth in pay television, which is impacting on audience share for free-to-air services, e.tv has managed to hold its own against the increasing competition."
Remgro says e.tv's audience and advertising share remains increasingly under pressure from pay-TV due to the ongoing delay in the launch of digital terrestrial television (DTT) in South Africa which is effectively preventing e.tv from launching more TV channels within a digital television broadcasting environment in South Africa.
"The future of free-to-air television in South Africa, including e.tv, is critically dependent on the availability of a free-to-air platform which can compete effectively with the dominant pay-TV player," says Remgro, meaning MultiChoice's DStv.
Remgro says advertising sales on e.tv and the eNCA remain under pressure, while programming and operating costs at the channels remains stable.
