by Thinus Ferreira
MultiChoice is doing away with 4 of eMedia Investments' TV channels from 1 April with eMovies, eMovies Extra, eExtra and eToonz that are getting axed although the eNCA (DStv 403) TV news channel and etv (DStv 194) will continue to remain available.
eMedia in a statement on Wednesday said that MultiChoice is dropping e.tv channels and that MultiChoice will carry fewer e.tv channels from 1 April.
eMedia said that it has renewed a channels carriage agreement with MultiChoice but that MultiChoice decided "not to carry certain eMedia channels, namely eMovies, eMovies Extra, eExtra and eToonz".
"Effective 1 April, DStv will only broadcast eNCA (DStv 403) exclusively, and the daily Afrikaans eNuus news bulletin on kykNET (DStv 144)."
eMedia said that "e.tv, licenced under a separate agreement, will continue to air on the DStv platform".
"All the e.tv channels will continue to broadcast and are still available on the Openview platform. Viewers have access to eMovies, eMovies Extra, eExtra, eToonz, and so much more on the Openview platform," eMedia said in the statement.
MultiChoice was asked for comment in a media query regarding the removal of eMovies, eMovies Extra, eExtra and eToonz from DStv from April, why it decided not to renew the carriage agreement for these specific channels and what research or financial reasons informed the decision.
Comment will be added here when received.
MultiChoice is removing the 4 channels from DStv on the same day that its annual price increase for DStv subscriptions for 2022 comes into effect.
The removal of eMedia's channels from DStv, with the exception of eNCA and e.tv, means that all of e.tv's TV channels carried on DStv are being taken away.
NBCUniversal said that it will be adding the DreamWorks kids channel to DStv soon, which has been terminated on China's StarTimes and StarSat service.
