The new deal between FOX and DStv is causing South African TV viewers to see at least one TV show not sooner and close to the American broadcasting date but ironically much later because of DStv: the third season of the science fiction drama Falling Skies is deliberately getting delayed by months due to the new channel carriage agreement between MultiChoice and Fox International Channels Africa (FIC Africa) which impacts not just DStv viewers but also TopTV viewers.
Whereas the first and the second seasons of Falling Skies, the well-done science fiction drama from Steven Spielberg starring Noah Wyle as the leader of a ragtag bunch of survivors on a post apocalyptic Earth overrun by mysterious aliens, started relatively close to the American broadcasting date, the new third season won't be seen in South Africa that soon at all - neither by DStv, nor by TopTV subscribers.
When MultiChoice signed a new carriage agreement with FIC Africa to carry FOX as a new TV channel which was only available on rival On Digital Media's (ODM) TopTV satellite pay-TV platform, the undertaking from FOX shifted to catch specifically DStv viewers up on premium, buzz-generating series such as The Walking Dead and Falling Skies and even lower-tiered shows such as The Listener.
While the third season of Falling Skies will start in less than a week in America, the third season won't be seen in South Africa anytime soon since FOX has to first catch up specifically DStv viewers with Falling Skies by broadcasting the first and second season.
TopTV and DStv subscribers therefore are going to have to wait until September before the third season of Falling Skies starts in South Africa - well after the entire third season's 10 episode order has ended by early August in America.
MultiChoice and pay-TV broadcaster M-Net have ironically been on a concerted and pro-active effort to narrow the window gap between the American broadcasting date of premium content shows and when episodes of those on-air properties are shown on South African television.
Falling Skies, due to the channel carriage deal, has however had the opposite effect, delaying the starting date of the show which otherwise would have occurred earlier than September.
