1max gone after as year as MultiChoice axes its Showmax second-window channel on DStv from April 2025

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice is axing its 1max channel on DStv with the channel - that reran streaming content from its Showmax video streaming service on a linear schedule - that will be removed at the end of this March.

The 1max channel is the first linear TV channel that MultiChoice is taking away from DStv subscribers in 2025.

MultiChoice, M-Net and Showmax added the 1max linear TV channel a year ago from April without any announcement.

That was a very unusual move since MultiChoice press releases are always issued for new channel additions. It means that 1max will have existed for exactly a year on DStv when it is culled at the end of this month.

The 1max channel logo, name and colour comes from the "new" Showmax that MultiChoice and Comcast's NBCUniversal launched just over a year ago.

The "1" is from the 1Magic channel that M-Net shut down a year ago, with the "max" as a suffix from the word Showmax, to indicate that it was a derivative linear TV channel from the streamer.

Showmax Originals that got a second window on 1max will now be scheduled and shown on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161).

Similar to how it didn't announce the start of 1max, MultiChoice and Showmax didn't announce its axing. Late on Wednesday confirmed the channel is being removed from DStv, in response to a media query.

"As part of its ongoing channel simplification, MultiChoice will be integrating its 1max programming onto the Mzansi Magic channel and bringing 1max to a close on the DStv platform, effective 31 March 2025," MultiChoice.

According to the pay-TV operator, "The decision follows detailed research into audience consumption behaviour. Notably, the new development will see 1max's slate of upcoming titles now move onto Mzansi Magic, further boosting that channel's already significant local content line-up".

MultiChoice says Showmax subscribers can watch series like Youngins, Adulting and Soft Life directly on the streaming service.

"The outcome of the latest changes means that audiences can access their favourite title either within a scheduled channel, or on demand, depending on their product and their viewing preference."

Byron du Plessis, MultiChoice CEO, says the update to remove 1max channel from the DStv line-up is part of MultiChoice focus on improving content discovery for customers.

"We know that our customers want to find their content as quickly as possible, without having to navigate across multiple channels or platforms. This consolidation also allows Mzansi Magic to further build its stellar lineup, becoming a stronger premium local content offering than ever before."

ALSO READ: 1max: What MultiChoice's new Showmax channel on DStv is. 

1max: What MultiChoice's new Showmax channel on DStv is.

by Thinus Ferreira

At the beginning of April, MultiChoice and Showmax launched a new 1max linear TV channel on DStv without any fanfare as a TV channel to showcase content that is available on MultiChoice's video streaming service - but shown to DStv subscribers.

Here is what 1max is, and entails.

First things first - Oddly, MultiChoice, M-Net and Showmax made absolutely no effort to bring 1max as a new TV channel under the attention of the media. There was not even a press release or a channel logo issued.

To put this into context: A press release is always sent out as an email blast to media by MultiChoice that a new TV channel would be starting or has been acquired, even before the actual TV channel makes its debut on DStv. In this case nothing happened for 1max.

Secondly, the 1max channel borrows its design and brand colours from MultiChoice and Comcast NBCUniversal's relaunched Showmax video streamer.

The channel replaced M-Net's discontinued 1Magic TV channel on DStv channel 103 from the beginning of this month. The "1" is a legacy hold-over from 1Magic; the "max" is a suffix from the word Showmax to indicate it's a derivative linear TV channel from the streamer.  

Thirdly: Who is responsible for 1max - MultiChoice, M-Net or Showmax? The answer is: All three.

Now let's get into 1max and what it is, for who it is, why it exists and what DStv viewers can see. 

This information has been gleaned from MultiChoice, M-Net and Showmax, after a media query had to be made with specific questions since the information wasn't volunteered unsolicited as had been the case with TV channels added to DStv in the past.

1max on these DStv bouquets

Which DStv packages can get 1max and which DStv subscribers have access to 1max? DStv Premium and DStv Compact Plus subscribers have access to 1max according to MultiChoice. 

1max is also just for DStv Premium and DStv Compact Plus subscribers in South Africa.

This tiering decision of MultiChoice and Showmax for this linear windowing channel is odd and here's why: DStv Premium subscribers already get Showmax as a video streaming service for free. Anything that is on 1max (on a schedule!) is already accessible on Showmax as a streamer (accessible at any time). 

If MultiChoice and Showmax want to showcase what Showmax is, and what DStv subscribers could potentially get access to, it makes sense that 1max should really not be for DStv Premium subscribers but be accessible to lower-tiered DStv subscribers (which it is not).

What DStv Premium subscriber will wait to watch an episode of Yellowstone on 1max late at night, when it has already aired on M-Net (DStv 101), and is also accessible on Showmax itself, for free, at any time? 

Similar to M-Net which had a daily unencoded "Open Time" when it launched to entice potential TV viewers to become subscribers, "Open Time" didn't do anything for people who were already M-Net subscribers. The function was to showcase and window what people could get access to who were not subscribers.

1max replaced 1Magic but what about ME?

MultiChoice and M-Net yanked both the struggling 1Magic and lower-tiered repeat ME channels at the end of March. With 1max replacing 1Magic, what is MultiChoice's replacement for lower-tiered DStv subscribers who got access to ME?

The answer is: Nothing.

MultiChoice and M-Net were asked what the replacement is for ME. 

The answer is: "1max features award-winning content from Showmax, reality shows and a host of acclaimed local and international titles. 1max will be available to DStv Premium and Compact Plus subscribers in South Africa. The channel is available to subscribers that had access to 1Magic. 

How long will 1max last?

What do MultiChoice and M-Net say about 1max? We asked for a quotable from an executive - the type of prepared quote which usually features in a press release about a TV channel launch.

We got this quote ascribed to from Shirley Adonisi, M-Net channel director for local entertainment:

"Launched on 1 April 2024 on DStv channel 103, 1max gives DStv Premium and Compact Plus subscribers who haven’t yet signed up to the streaming service a taste of the Showmax universe. 1max is an opportunity to introduce customers that prefer a linear experience to Showmax content, international titles and content from our other territories across Africa."

MultiChoice and M-Net were also asked whether 1max is a temporary pop-up channel or a permanent DStv channel, and if it is a permanent addition to DStv - meaning more permanent than pop-up, how long foreseeable 1max will run with Showmax content on DStv. The question wasn't answered.

Surprising content allocation on 1max

A surprise is that some of the content on 1max is brand-new content commissioned for the relaunch of Showmax as a video streaming service. Instead of watching the Thabo Bester doccie on Showmax, DStv subscribers can watch Tracking Thabo Bester on 1max.

That begs the question: Why are MultiChoice, M-Net and Showmax allowing 1max as a linear TV channel to blatantly cannibalise Showmax as a video streaming service? 

Putting brand-new content on a linear TV channel as a "second window" while it's still on a "first window" means that the brand value and content value of the original destination - in this case Showmax - is devalued by the adjacent TV destination - in this case 1max.

Logically it would make more sense if just older Showmax content runs on 1max.

We asked why brand new Showmax content is on the linear channel and how this factors into the motivation to push people to sign up for, and sample Showmax as a streamer.

The answer: "The content on 1max gives viewers a sample of what’s available on the Showmax streaming service and encourages viewers who enjoy the shows to go to showmax.com and get streaming. The full Showmax content library comprises tens of thousands of hours of content from Showmax and our partners which customers can enjoy at their leisure".

"DStv Premium subscribers get Showmax at no additional cost and other DStv subscribers get Showmax at a discounted price."

How the 1max schedule works

How does the 1max schedule grid work?    

The response from MultiChoice and M-Net is that 1max kicked off its content offering with a variety of Showmax titles such as Red Ink, Youngins, Sports Wives and content such as the Nigerian telenovela Wura and The Real Housewives of Lagos, as well as international series like Ted, Yellowstone and season 6 of The Good Doctor. 

"One episode of new content per show will be available each week as the channel follows a linear format," the pay-TV operator explains.

"The first month also includes the much anticipated and talked about series Tracking Thabo Bester which recently broke the record for the highest first-day viewership when it launched on Showmax and is must-watch viewing for South Africans."  

1max's name

We asked what the name 1max means.

The response: "1max is the linear home to diverse local and international content as well as samples of content from the Showmax service."

MultiChoice: GinX gone from DStv with WildEarth set to follow.

by Thinus Ferreira

GinX eSports TV is gone on MultiChoice's DStv as the 9th TV channel that has disappeared from the traditional pay-TV operator's channel line-up since the start of this year, with the struggling WildEarth set to likely shutter at the end of this month as the 10th channel leaving the platform.

Since 1 April with MultiChoice's latest price increase that came into effect from this month, DStv subscribers are paying more than ever for the service as global rivals like streaming services in the form of Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video proliferate.

GinxX eSports TV which resided on channel 127 is gone from DStv since midnight of 31 March, seven years after it was added in May 2017 as a stand-alone linear TV channel when MultiChoice said that "The deal with GinX is a massive leap forward ".

GinX eSports TV, a channel produced in the United Kingdom, ended as a linear TV channel in July last year and left Sky's traditional pay-TV service to continue as a streaming channel only. 

The move is similar to many overseas studios and channel distributors now no longer investing in their traditional, linear pay-TV channels that are struggling with a lack of new content, as budgets are funnelled towards the production of making content for their streaming services. 

MultiChoice didn't respond to a media query from TVwithThinus about GinX's impending demise made mid-March. 

So far this year DStv subscribers have lost access to Deutsche Welle, Emmanuel TV, B4U Movies, 1Free State TV, NWTV, People's Weather, as well as the 1Magic and ME channels.

The 1Magic and Me channels will soon be replaced with the 1Max TV channel that will carry and showcase a collection of Showmax content as a linear windowing channel for MultiChoice's relaunched Showmax video streaming service that is now run in partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal's Sky on the Peacock platform.

Next to disappear from DStv will be WildEarth (DStv 183), with the channel's operators that warned MultiChoice it will be pulling WildEarth from DStv at the end of April in a nasty channel carriage fight.

WildEarth was originally added in August 2020 as a temporary pop-up channel but was then kept on DStv over the past three years.

Although WildEarth, that currently employs 72 people to run the channel, originally entered into a contract with MultiChoice whereby WildEarth would not be getting paid by MultiChoice for carriage on the DStv platform, it got the space to raise viewership with DStv subscribers and through that get possible advertising revenue and sponsorships.

WildEarth chairman André Crawford-Brunt, slammed MultiChoice in an interview with BizNews last week, claiming that MultiChoice doesn't support local content financially.

Crawford-Brunt said "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 said 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 local content decisions and third-party acquisition strategy are made and managed from its MultiChoice City headquarters in Randburg, Johannesburg.

Although slamming MultiChoice and South Africa's TV ratings system TAMS which measures the number of TV viewership watching television, Crawford-Brunt noted that "it would have been our preference to stay on MultiChoice".

He said South Africa's TV ratings system "is as archaic as the dinosaur age where there are a number of set-top boxes that exist in a certain number of homes and obviously being a niche channel they try to extrapolate that data from I think 1 400 homes - they extrapolate what the audience is for advertising purposes".

"This is so backward when you consider that 25% of the day is load-shedding, the sample size is so small for a niche channel and they've never done any granular work around the type of dedicated audience that you get on an outdoor or wildlife channel."

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." 

He said DStv subscribers "who are paying subscribers to MultiChoice are feeling particularly aggrieved that there's potential that they lose out and that will obviously lead to attrition of more viewers - whether they care or not. You would hope they would care but they're in the middle of a merger."

MultiChoice hasn't responded to a media query about WildEarth made last week by TVwithThinus.