BREAKING. Trouble is brewing for M-Net and DStv's AfricaMagic channels as filmmakers refuse to sell Nollywood movies after 1 May.

Big trouble is brewing for M-Net's set of AfricaMagic channels which M-Net compiles for MultiChoice's DStv pay TV platform, with movie makers in Nigeria declaring war against the pay TV operators who they allege isprimarily responsible for the major drop in Nollywood DVD sales. 

The AfricaMagic channels from the M-Net stable and seen on various and and very soon expanding set of AfricaMagic channels from 16 April across MultiChoice's DStv pay TV platform across Africa specialize in ''Nollywood'' movies and programming, so-called ''bubblegum'' movies or cheaply made film productions under a Nigerian work model emphasizing quantity over quality.

Now the Film, Video Producers and Marketers Association of Nigeria (FVPMAN) called a press conference in Lagos, Nigeria to announce that from 1 May it will no longer sell any so-called Nollywood films to any of DStv's AfricaMagic TV channels.

The Vanguard reports that the FVPMAN and Nollywood movie producers are telling MultiChoice and pay TV operators about their decision, alleging that these operators have ''not only reduced the purchase of Nollywood movies but also have affected the entire business of movie making".

What it means is that the Nollywood production industry is concerned over the precipitous drop in over-the-counter sales of Nollywood DVDs. Although M-Net pays for the broadcasting rights, producers and the industry is concerned that that income doesn't make up for the decline in hard copy sales.

It seems as if Nollywood viewers no longer buy DVDs (or enough DVDs - the biggest single revenue stream on which the premise of the Nollywood economic model is based), and are rather waiting to watch it on television, such as the AfricaMagic channels.