by Thinus Ferreira
MultiChoice wishes the WildEarth channel well in its future endeavours away from DStv but says it's disappointed that WildEarth tried to publicly force it to pay for the channel, while WildEarth has decided to yank the channel from MultiChoice's pay-TV service at the end of this month.
WildEarth which was added to DStv with the understanding that the channel won't be paid for channel carriage, recently demanded that MultiChoice start paying for WildEarth to be carried on DStv.
WildEarth (DStv 183) continued to slam MultiChoice in interviews over the past two weeks, claiming that MultiChoice doesn't support the creation of local content because it doesn't want to pay WildEarth and has its "head in the sand", yet also said the channel does want to be on MultiChoice's DStv.
WildEarth chairman André Crawford-Brunt also cast aspersions on South Africa's TV ratings system, claiming that the measurement of viewership in South Africa is "archaic".
At the end of this month, WildEarth will be the 10th linear TV channel going dark on DStv coming as MultiChoice's board considers a takeover bid from Vivendi's Canal+ in France.
WildEarth was originally added in August 2020 as a temporary pop-up channel but was then kept on DStv over the past three years.
WildEarth currently employs 72 people and originally entered into a contract with MultiChoice whereby WildEarth would not be getting paid by MultiChoice for carriage on the DStv platform. It did get the space on the DStv channel line-up to raise viewership with DStv subscribers and through that get possible advertising revenue and sponsorships.
Crawford-Brunt told Biznews "I made the call that if they weren't prepared to pay us, we needed to come off DStv. It was just too easy to keep providing something to them for free".
He claimed that WildEarth is getting "binned by a big corporate because someone sitting in an ivory tower or sitting in an office in London can make a decision that this doesn't fit the short-term goals and needs of a big corporate". MultiChoice's third-party content decisions and acquisition is made in Randburg.
According to Crawford-Brunt, MultiChoice "got away with paying us nothing for three odd years. After applying a huge amount of pressure they then agreed to come through with a notional amount of R6 million a year".
"They hope we're just going to go away. I've told them we're going to take it off DStv because we can't afford to be on DStv and not get rewarded in some way."
Crawford-Brunt told 702 that MultiChoice "has put their head in the sand". He said MultiChoice "having just increased prices - when you read the comments across the numerous petitions, people are particularly unhappy with them, and they need to pay attention to them in our view".
MultiChoice told News24 in response to a media query it's disappointed that WildEarth management decided to publicly force MultiChoice to financially support the channel.
"WildEarth,
a private enterprise, initially approached MultiChoice in 2020 regarding
channel distribution. After thorough discussions, MultiChoice entered into a
channel distribution agreement, providing both support and guidance to
WildEarth."
"This non-exclusive agreement allowed WildEarth to showcase its
content across various platforms beyond DStv, including YouTube and its own
website."
"However,
WildEarth has expressed dissatisfaction with the existing arrangements and has
informed MultiChoice of its decision to remove the channel from DStv services
as of 30 April 2024. While we respect WildEarth's decision regarding platform
availability, it is disappointing that WildEarth is seeking to publicly
pressurise MultiChoice into providing additional commercial support."
MultiChoice says that it "will not comment further on this matter and wishes WildEarth success in its
future endeavours. We remain dedicated to offering our subscribers a diverse
range of entertainment content, including significant investments in local
African content."
