by Thinus Ferreira
StarTimes operating as StarSat in South Africa has abruptly lost the Smithsonian Channel after a year and a half.
The Smithsonian Channel (StarSat 226) replaced Disney's National Geographic and Nat Geo WILD in December 2019 on StarSat at the time.
The Smithsonian Channel is an American pay-TV channel, run as a joint venture between and distributed by ViacomCBS Networks International and the Smithsonian Institution.
The channel offered a range of non-fiction programming that covers a wide range of historical, scientific and cultural subjects with several series as well as once-off TV specials.
There's been no prior statement or press release ahead of time from ViacomCBS Networks Africa to the media that it would be taking the Smithsonian Channel away from StarTimes, or even on the day.
TVwithThinus asked StarSat on Friday in a media query about the loss of the Smithsonian Channel and why the channel was removed.
A StarSat spokesperson said "the channels has been discontinued and we did communicate this to our customers prior to disconnection". StarSat gave no reason why the Smithsonian Channel was removed.
