by Thinus Ferreira
With tepid viewership on SuperSport in South Africa for WWE and a massive drop in buzz since the American wrestling entertainment franchise jumped a few years ago from eMedia's e.tv to pay-TV, MultiChoice and SuperSport are shunting WWE away from its linear channels on DStv to its streaming service Showmax.
SuperSport took over WWE from e.tv in September 2017 but over the past five years buzz and ratings for WWE on DStv were nowhere near the viewership it once had on the free-to-air channel.
In a new multi-year contract extension WWE is now pushed off SuperSport where a linear wrestling TV channel was created specifically for it, to Showmax which has an even smaller potential audience and viewership as a streaming service.
The result is that even fewer viewers will be watching WWE wrestling in South Africa and Africa, down from the number of people who watched as DStv subscribers on SuperSport, and down from the viewers who watched when WWE was on e.tv.
SuperSport will continue to broadcast live weekly episodes of shows such as Raw, SmackDown and NXT on a linear SuperSport channel, as well as WWE's premium live events.
MultiChoice and SuperSport are not specifying whether the WWE TV channel on channel 128 on DStv is getting terminated and removed but it wouldn't be surprising if the bulk of WWE content will now sit on Showmax.
The WWE's new deal with SuperSport to house WWE content on MultiChoice's Showmax is similar to what the WWE Network has done in the United States, where it has moved its content in a licensing agreement to NBCUniversal's Peacock video streaming service.
WWE has done the same in Australia where its wrestling is now on Foxtel's Binge streaming service, and in Indonesia and the Philippines with Disney+ Hotstar.
In a statement Matt Drew, WWE senior vice president of international, says "Showmax Pro is the
market leader and a perfect home for WWE content. By delivering our premium live events including
WrestleMania, we believe this partnership will expand our audience and deliver
even more to WWE fans throughout the region".
Barry Dubovsky, MultiChoice Connected Video chief operating officer, says in the statement "Adding WWE to the
Showmax platform is an exciting development that we know our entertainment and
sport-loving African subscribers are going to enjoy, making WWE even more
accessible and affordable".
Hilariously, Yolisa Phahle, MultiChoice Connected Video chief executive officer, is attributed the exact same drop-in quote in the WWE and MultiChoice press release issued to American media, saying "Adding WWE to the Showmax platform is an exciting development that we know our entertainment and sport-loving African subscribers are going to enjoy, making WWE even more accessible and affordable".
