by Thinus Ferreira
In its channel carriage fight with Warner Bros. Discovery, Canal+'s MultiChoice has announced that the 12 TV channels from WBD will now definitely be removed on 31 December 2025 for DStv subscribers in South Africa as well as across the Rest of Africa (RoA).
In a statement, MultiChoice says "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."
MultiChoice's face-off and unprecedented announcement come after a stalemate between WBD and MultiChoice in channel carriage negotiations for a new channel carriage extension of WBD's linear TV channels.
WBD was MultiChoice's largest third-party TV channel supplier, with some channels like CNN International, Discovery and the Travel channel which were part of DStv's line-up for 30 years since it launched in 1995.
Comment from Warner Bros. Discovery will be added here when received.
MultiChoice's unequivocal announcement on Tuesday that the 12 TV channels are gone comes just a day after MultiChoice on Monday evening still said that "discussions between the parties continue".
It's not yet clear what changed on Tuesday.
On Monday WBD told TVwithThinus "Warner Bros. Discovery remains unequivocally committed to finding a resolution."
Maxime Saada, Canal+ CEO, promised regulators and South Africa's Competition Commission - something that was reiterated by David Mignot, Canal+ Africa CEO - that DStv subscribers across Africa would be getting more content, not less, after Canal+'s buyout of MultiChoice.
Now DStv subscribers are going into 2026 with the four TV channels gone from Paramount Skydance when BET Africa, MTV Base and CBS Justice and CBS Reality all disappear from DStv on 31 December.
Then the 12 TV channels from Warner Bros. Discovery are also removed, bringing it to a total of 16 TV channels that will be gone from DStv at midnight on 31 December 2025.
Six years ago in October 2019 the Lifetime and Crime + Investigation (C+I) channels from Hearst Networks (then A+E Networks) went dark on DStv after extremely acrimonious channel carriage negotiations between MultiChoice and the channel provider that saw only the History channel remain.
In 2013 in another channel carriage negotiation that went bad, MultiChoice yanked Bloomberg TV from DStv.
The backtracking and restoration of Bloomberg Television after a blackout of three weeks on DStv followed after massive negative reaction and immense pressure on MultiChoice's top brass .
MultiChoice's top executives and content execs were told in no uncertain terms behind-the-scenes by South African government officials as well as business leaders that Bloomberg is crucial for business leaders, the image of the country, economists, traders and viewers and must be restored.
