by Thinus Ferreira
After Uganda's government on Monday passed one of the world's harshest anti-LGBTQ laws criminalising the so-called "promotion and abetting of homosexuality", MultiChoice says it won't be showing any gay content on DStv in the country - although censoring content for pay-TV for Uganda could mean it's kept away for multiple other countries too.
MultiChoice makes use of satellite transponders for instance covering the whole of South Africa, Southern Africa, East Africa and West Africa as multi-country regions - as opposed to a satellite used per specific country.
This means that keeping Uganda's government happy through keeping LGBTQ content away and off the programming schedules of DStv's channels as they're beamed down through Eutelsat's transponder, is in effect a lowest-common-denominator type of soft-censorship of certain content in East African countries where Uganda's anti-gay laws are not applicable.
Reuters reports that Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni on Monday signed one of the world's toughest anti-LGBTQ laws, including the death penalty for "aggravated homosexuality" - laws that now decree a 20-year sentence for "promoting" homosexuality.
In response to Uganda's new anti-LGBTQ laws, MultiChoice, in response to a media query after being asked its view on this, said the pay-TV operator will adhere to Uganda's laws. It means content that could be considered "promoting" LGBTQ people won't be shown on DStv.
"MultiChoice takes into account all laws and
regulations under which we are governed and aim to adhere by those set rules in
the countries in which we operate," MultiChoice says.
"We are a business that enriches the lives of
many people through film and television in our quest to remain Africa's best-loved storyteller."
MultiChoice was asked how it will keep any LGTBQ content away from just Uganda, considering that the satellite transponder covers more countries than just Uganda.
MultiChoice was asked if it had already done content interventions, for instance censorship of certain content in Uganda and since when this has been done.
MultiChoice declined to answer these questions.
Shifting strategy
Instead of outright censoring LGBTQ content, MultiChoice over the past number of years has shifted its programming and content allocation approach in two very specific ways in response to growing anti-gay sentiment in parts of Africa.
Firstly, MultiChoice has shifted the responsibility to international channel providers to package their programming schedules for channels on DStv with content that doesn't feature overt LGBTQ characters or themes.
Overseas channel providers have been asked to pro-actively not schedule certain content, to prevent the situation of having to pull content and change schedules after complaints from DStv subscribers and regulators in anti-LGBTQ countries.
In June 2022 Warner Bros. Discovery which ran a Pride Month content line-up on its TLC channel in South Africa for instance, self-censored and kept this content away from the TLC channel version running across MultiChoice's other satellite transponders so that it wouldn't air in anti-LGBTQ countries like Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria.
Warner Bros. Discovery told TVwithThinus last year that it is "aware of the sensitivities in these regions and therefore TLC Pride isn't scheduled to air in these countries".
In October 2015 Discovery Networks International was forced to pull the reality series I Am Jazz about a transgendered teen's struggle and life journey from TLC across Africa just before it was to begin broadcast following government censorship in Nigeria that impacted its screening across the entire continent.
In May 2016 NBCUniversal was forced to pull the second season of I Am Cait, a reality show about the transgender Caitlyn Jenner – formerly known as Bruce Jenner - from E! in Africa after complaints and a DStv TV-ban in Nigeria.
In July 2016, Viacom International Media Networks Africa, now Paramount Global, said it would be censoring an episode of The Loud House on Nickelodeon and won't be broadcasting it on its linear channel on DStv in Africa since it featured animated gay dads.
In June 2017 Kenya's Film Classification Board (KFCB) banned 7 kids cartoon for bogus reasons like saying one character "has a dick for a head", and that in another two characters of the same gender went on an (unseen) "implied romantic vacation", ordering MultiChoice Africa to remove Loud House, The Legend of Korra, Hey Arnold, Clarence, Steven Universe, Adventure Time and Star vs the Forces of Evil from DStv because of "homosexual themes".
In November 2017 Kenya banned the Disney Channel show Andi Mack because it featured a gay teenager, keeping it off television for the entire Africa, including South Africa.
Secondly, M-Net has also adapted its approach with its self-packaged M-Net, Africa Magic and Maisha Magic channel sets seen outside of South Africa.
M-Net (DStv 101) which has different regionalised channel feeds for South, East and West Africa is pro-actively keeping certain content away from DStv subscribers in East and West Africa which are shown in South Africa without any complaints, where the same timeslot on the DStv guide is filled with other shows.
In March this year eMedia launched Openview Ultra as a pay-TV add-on for its fast-growing Openview free-to-air satellite TV service in South Africa, and started with a gay bouquet consisting of the OUTtv and Fuse TV channels at a subscription fee of R75 per month.
