OpenView HD (OVHD) is dumping 4 TV channels from its service that it says is under-performing - ASTV, Spirit Word, Wild TV Africa and Ekurhuleni TV - and says it will add a new TV channel in October.
Following the news that OpenView HD is done with ASTV - a channel it actually acquired a shareholding in in mid-2014 but failed to grow as a partner - the free-to-air satellite platform run by eMedia Investment's Platco Digital says it is also getting rid of the Spirit Word, Wild TV Africa and Ekurhuleni TV channels.
ASTV will go dark on OpenView HD on 14 October with Spirit Word, Wild TV Africa and Ekurhuleni TV getting cut from the end of September through to mid-October.
Wild TV Africa that was added to OpenView HD in August 2015 lasted just a year since OpenView HD said in July 2015 its "excited" about adding it.
ASTV that will continue to be seen on On Digital Media (ODM) and StarTimes Media SA's StarSat platform, willgo dark three years after it was picked up by OpenView HD in October 2013. The community TV station, Ekurhuleni TV was added to OpenView HD in January 2014.
OpenView HD says it will add a new TV channel in October.
"The decision to terminate the 4 channels' contracts came after careful consideration of their performance and the overall OpenView HD strategy going forward," says Ziyanda Mngomezulu, OpenView HD's channel and acquisitions executive.
Ziyanda Mngomezulu says OpenView HD's overall audience and business objectives mean that the available channels on OpenView HD require constant reassessment.
