MultiChoice doesn't have any plans to add the Syfy channel from Universal Networks International (UNI) to its DStv satellite pay-TV platform, and is explaining the criteria it looks at when considering the possibility of adding a third-party channel to its channel line-up.
Viewers are constantly clamouring for the Syfy channel but MultiChoice has never brought Syfy back since The Sci-Fi channel - as it was previously known when it was on DStv for years - was removed in 2004.
Renewed resurgent requests for Syfy to be added to DStv as a TV channel filled the TV with Thinus inbox as pay-TV viewers in America and the United Kingdom are able to watch the new science fiction show Defiance - currently watched in 55 countries globally from Canada and Germany to France - but not South Africa.
Since there's no Syfy channel in South Africa, M-Net has picked up the rights to Defiance and plans to show it on M-Net Series (DStv 114), but South African viewers won't see the new drama series and its episodes as concurrently as the rest of the world.
A channel such as Syfy is considered (what the trade calls) "a genre channel", meaning it has a small(er) potential audience.
What science fiction as a genre has however, is an incredibly loyal audience who tune in and remain tuned in, are very vocal, specific and makes them easier to target by marketers and advertisers who know more exactly who they're talking to than with other fare.
MultiChoice says that "at present, we have no plans to add the Syfy channel to the DStv platform".
"MultiChoice continually scans the broadcasting environment for available channels, locally and abroad. We use market research and analysis to determine whether a specific channel will fit into the mix of our channels on various packages."
"Once we have signed agreements with channels in place, we place these into our packages and make the necessary announcements to our customers in the media."
MultiChoice says the satellite pay-TV service has 6 criteria it considers before acquiring a new TV channel: audience, availability, technological feasibility, financial feasibility, available new content time zoning and rights clearances.
"Audience [is determined through] availability as determined through market research; technological feasibility, for instance a channel must be available on a satellite that is correctly positioned to transmit to Randburg; financial feasibility of the channel, the new content available on the channel to avoid an unreasonable amount of duplication of content that is already available on DStv; time zoning of the schedule, and lastly rights clearance must be obtainable for this territory."
