Twenty-four after a major technical failure saw MultiChoice's DStv platform experience an unexplained and abrupt blackout of several TV channels at 12:30 on Saturday, the pay-TV operator is yet to make any statement explaining why it happened and what exactly caused the failure.
MultiChoice chief operating officer (COO) Mark Rayner who should have been front and centre in an unexpected crisis like this which impacted the service of millions of DStv subscribers countrywide, has been silent so far and has not offered up any explanation, statement or reassurance to subscribers or South Africa's TV industry on why the blackout of channels happened.
The DStv Call Centre was unavailable on Saturday for hours following the crisis.
When TV with Thinus eventually got through to a DStv Call Centre operator she said she couldn't help with an explanation to DStv subscribers and didn't know what caused the problem.
Exactly a day after the major technical problem, MultiChoice's corporate communications division has not responded with an official statement of why MultiChoice lost several TV channels on Saturday afternoon and failed to respond to media enquiries asking what the cause of the disruption was which impacted its paying DStv subscribers.
Several TV channels on DStv went dark on Saturday - all M-Net supplied channels ranging from M-Net (DStv 101), M-Net Edge (DStv 102) to the set of M-Net Movies channels, VUZU and the Big Brother Mzansi channels.
SuperSport's channels starting at the 200 and upwards channel number range on DStv's channel line-up also experienced the blackout with subscribers getting a "service not available" on-screen message.
MultiChoice managed to restore the lost TV channels on Saturday afternoon and apologised to DStv subscribers but without being transparent about what exactly happened and what caused what the pay-TV operator refers to as "a technical failure".
"Earlier today some channels on DStv were unavailable due to a technical failure. The issue has since been resolved. We apologise to our customers for the interruption in their viewing".
