by Thinus Ferreira
The People's Planet channel, which launched as People's Weather in 2010, has gone dark after 16 years.
People's Planet disappeared from eMedia's Openview at the end of August, after MultiChoice dropped it in March 2024. The channel's content catalogue however remains available for international distribution.
People's Planet ceased broadcasting altogether at the end of August 2026.
Stephan le Roux, People's Planet channel head, says the channel didn't shutter due to a lack of audience but because "dedicated wildlife
and environmental content has no reliable home on South African and African
platforms".
"Over 16 years on air, People's
Planet built something rare in South African broadcasting: a loyal, committed
audience for wildlife, conservation and environmental storytelling. That
audience did not go away," he says.
"What was missing was platform
commitment. Environmental and natural-history content in this market is treated
as filler rather than as a category worth investing in, and a channel built
entirely around it has nowhere to absorb that pressure."
"There is a real and
committed audience in this country for stories about the natural world, and we
saw it every week for 16 years."
"What there isn't, is a platform environment willing to
back that content for the long term. We didn't run out of viewers or ideas. We
ran out of shelf space."
According to Stephan le Roux, from 2020, roughly 95% of People's Planet's content was locally produced, something that "came at a real cost in a market where imported content is cheaper and easier to schedule".
The content catalogue of People's Weather remains available for international distribution.
City Beasts and Family in the
Wild are out for international distribution with ORF-Enterprise in Austria.
Snake Season, presented by Durban snake rescuer Nick Evans, has three
seasons running on Sky Germany, with season 3 having aired on EarthX and the first two seasons on Curiosity Stream.
Monkey Helpline and Snake Season
are licensed to Big Media for Eastern Europe, with the snake series dubbed into
German and Russian.
"There are South African
stories, told by South African filmmakers, playing to audiences across Europe
and the United States," said Julie Laurenz of Film Mamba, the production
house behind Apex Alley, Snake Season and Monkey Helpline.
"The international market values this work. That's what makes the position
at home so difficult to accept."
Stephan le Roux says "People's Planet extends its
thanks to its viewers, to the production partners and independent filmmakers
who built its catalogue, and to the journalists, producers and crew whose work
defined it".
"While this chapter of People's
Planet has come to an end, the need for a dedicated home for wildlife,
conservation and environmental storytelling in South Africa has not. The
audience is there. The stories are there. The talent is there. What is still
needed is a platform willing to give this content the space, investment and
long-term commitment it deserves."
"The need for this
storytelling isn't going away. This may be the end of
People's Planet in its current form, but we haven't given up on what we set out
to build."
"South African wildlife and environmental stories deserve a platform
and an audience at home, and we still believe there is a future for that."
