by Thinus Ferreira
Africa's MultiChoice pay-TV operator and The Walt Disney Company have teamed up during Covid-19 that has put the brake on sports globally, to restack the ESPN channels on the DStv pay-TV service and to squeeze the lemon for what lemon juice there is to make during the global pandemic.
In a borderline desperate move, the two ESPN channels from The Walt Disney Company is returning to MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service exactly 7 years after an acrimonious split between ESPN and MultiChoice at the end of July 2013 when ESPN suddenly decided to dump Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
Given the huge financial pressure and loss of TV content especially live sports brought to bear by the growing Covid-19 pandemic, Disney and MultiChoice have decided to work together again over ESPN.
Disney will be able to squeeze some more revenue from its fast-eroding international channels distribution business by adding ESPN back to DStv in sub-Saharan Africa as linear TV channels.
Meanwhile a very worried MultiChoice that is highly concerned about the possibility of increased DStv subscriber churn is hoping that it will be able to pad some of the massive Covid-19 hole left by the loss of sports content on SuperSport with the bit of live sports left on ESPN in the form of mostly NBA basketball and MLB baseball.
The communications hardsell to tell DStv subscribers that ESPN is back is done so hard and is very evident in the way that MultiChoice is even roping in SuperSport to shamelessly help promote awareness about the re-addition of ESPN - a direct competitor to SuperSport - to MultiChoice's DStv service.
MultiChoice in a statement says that "the deal allows the company to provide a larger sports offering than ever before", although it used to provide ESPN before, before ESPN decided to get out of Africa.
Christine Service, senior vice president and country manager of The Walt Disney Company Africa, in a statement says that "From reliving the greatest moments in sports history to seeing those moments being made, ESPN’s compelling content and unique personality will be a complementary addition to MultiChoice Group’s sports offering"
"We are thrilled to be bringing the achievements and triumphs of both international and local athletes, our quality storytelling and innovative programming to a whole new audience of sports fans in Africa."
Disney provides no explanation as to why ESPN decided to be back in business with MultiChoice, or that it's back 7 years after backing out of DStv and the African continent.
Disney and ESPN that had no real desire to really be back in South Africa or Africa, in reality only returned to availability through a structural reorganisation when Disney bought out FOX's international channels business and decided to get rid of the FOX Sports channels.
If it wasn't for FOX Sports that were already widely distributed as linear TV channels internationally in existing contracts, it's doubtful that ESPN would exist outside of the United States now.
FOX Sports were switched to ESPN following the Disney corporate takeover, with the FOX Sports channels that changed to ESPN on China's StarTimes and StarSat pay-TV service in South Africa although even that didn't go smoothly and were underpinned by fraught contract conflict.
ESPN that will broadcast in English will go live on 29 July at 18:00 on DStv channel number 218 (137 Ghana, 337 Uganda, 618 for MultiChoice's Portuguese markets, GOtv channel 38).
ESPN mostly features European and African-centred sports like soccer, including the Scottish Premier Football League (SPFL), Dutch Eredivisie, Major League Soccer (MLS), the West African Football Union (WAFU) Cup of Nations and some boxing tournaments.
ESPN will be available to DStv Premium, DStv Compact Plus, DStv Compact, DStv Family/Familia (Mozambique) and GOtv Max subscribers in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa.
ESPN2 that will broadcast in English will go live on 29 July at 18:00 on DStv channel number 219.
ESPN2 usually carries content like the NBA, NFL (National Football League), NHL (National Hockey League) and MLB (Major League Baseball) although the bulk of it is not taking place or being played in the United States currently because of Covid-19.
ESPN2 will only be available to DStv Premium and DStv Compact subscribers in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa.
Both channels carry studio and documentary programming.
Some ESPN programming like documentaries, films and magazine shows will be made available through MultiChoice's DStv Catch-Up service. No repeat of any ESPN matches will be carried on MultiChoice's Catch-Up service.