Individual DStv
subscribers can't each just pick their own TV channels as they choose because
the model doesn't work, says MultiChoice South Africa CEO, Calvo Mawela.
In an interview on SABC News Calvo
Mawela explained why DStv subscribers in South Africa and across
Africa can’'t each pick only the TV channels each one of them want, and why
MultiChoice bundles TV channels in a few bouquets.
"The model doesn't work. The model
just doesn’t work," said Calvo Mawela.
He cited Canada that "went through
a very rigorous, time-consuming regulation change in Canada where they insisted
that pay-TV operators need to do a la carte. Guess what? Today there is no
uptake because consumers end up paying more for the same number of TV channels
that they're getting today".
"So it came up to a zero-zero sum
where they went through this whole process. What consumers don't understand is
that we look at our research across the market and then what we do is that we
bring everybody together with different tastes of content."
"In that way we attract a much
larger audience and then prices come down. That's how we do our packaging in
order to ensure that we keep prices down, that will attract a bigger audience
because we've got children, we've got sport, you've got movies and all other
content that we have."
Calvo Mawela said that "consumers –
probably because they're not exposed to other markets that are trying this type
of thing where it's failing horribly, like in Canada that just introduced
this" are not aware of how pay-TV works.
In August MultiChoice will be dumping
the former Gupta-owned ANN7 from DStv that recently changed its name to Afro
Worldview and changed ownership hands to Mzwanele Manyi, with
MultiChoice that says it hopes to announce the new local TV news channel
replacing Afro Worldview before then.
"We are targeting to make sure
that we make an announcement before the expiry of the current contract so that
we can people an opportunity to know exactly what's coming next,"
said Calvo Mawela.
