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Aletta Alberts, MultiChoice's general manager for content, officially welcomed the brand-new Studio Universal (DStv 119) channel to the DStv bouquet with the movie channel from Universal Networks International that's now available in South Africa as well as 46 other African countries from October.
''That this is a new channel produced and packaged by one of Hollywood's biggest studios, makes us very excited; this will be the first one on the DStv platform,'' said Aletta Alberts. ''When we look at our own movie channels that are currently on DStv, we do have content from the studios, but this is a brand, a studio brand. With Studio Universal the DStv subscriber will definitely get that studio feel. It's blockbuster big. That makes this channel a really, really exciting addition for us,'' she said.
''I think as we all know, movies and sport have been and remain the mainstay of any pay television platform, and therefore movies will remain very important to us at DStv,'' said Aletta Alberts.
''Some people might ask why another linear movie channel? Well, I'm just back from a big television conference overseas. The great news is that people are not watching less television. They're not watching less linear TV now that there's other options. They're in fact watching more.''
''We have been working with Universal, in various forms, for the last 15 years,'' said Aletta Alberts. ''I think our relationship is just building and building. We already carry 3 of their channels on the DStv platform [Universal Channel, E! Entertainment, Style Network] - Studio Universal will be the fourth.''
''So thank you very much Universal team, we know what you are going to deliver is going to be excellent. And I know you still have many more channels in the Universal Networks International stable and hopefully, in the near future, we can talk again, and launch another new channel.''
''Thank you very much for your professionalism, your dedication and for actually surviving our business development people. Studio Universal, thank you; welcome to the DStv family,'' Aletta Alberts said.
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