Paramount Skydance ends Paramount Africa and 4 TV channels on DStv including BET Africa, MTV Base, CBS Justice and CBS Reality end of 2025

by Thinus Ferreira

Paramount Africa is shutting down 31 December 2025 as part of dramatic Paramount Skydance corporate downsizing, ending its localised Africa operations after more than two decades, with linear TV channels BET Africa, MTV Base as well as CBS Justice and CBS Reality run by CBS AMC Networks International also shutting down at the end of the year.

All four TV channels will go dark on 31 December on DStv run by Canal+'s MultiChoice in South Africa as well as across the Rest of Africa (RoA) territory and its Bryanston head office in Johannesburg is closing down.

In July, Craig Paterson, Paramount Africa senior vice president and general manager, as well as Monde Twala, senior vice-president and general manager of Paramount Africa and lead of BET International, told Paramount Africa staff that Paramount is considering shutting down local operations in Africa as the company "evaluates its pay-TV strategy and local channel footprint here in Africa".

Paramount Africa (then Viacom International Media Networks Africa or VIMN Africa) launched BET Africa (DStv 129) a decade ago in April 2015 to bring African audiences a localised version of "Black Entertainment Television". 

As previously reported, it will burn off episodes later this month of its last original, the South African telenovela Black Gold from Black Brain Pictures, to amortise what's left of its final local production before BET Africa is gone for good.

MTV Base was launched 20 years ago in South Africa in February 2005 and grew to split into three distinct channel feeds for West Africa and East Africa.

MultiChoice in response to a media query told TVwithThinus "MultiChoice can confirm that BET Africa and MTV Base will be discontinued on the DStv and GOtv platforms from 1 January 2026 at 9:00 CAT, following updates from our channel partner, Paramount. Our customers can continue to enjoy other international channels from Paramount, including Nickelodeon, NickToons, Nick Jr., Comedy Central, and MTV."

"We thank Paramount for their continued partnership and look forward to working with them on the remaining channel offering."

The CBS Reality (DStv 132) and CBS Justice (DStv 170) channels on DStv are also getting axed.

CBS Reality (previously Zone Reality) was added to DStv in November 2001. CBS Justice was added to DStv in November 2019.

"In response to a media query, MultiChoice says "MultiChoice confirms that CBS Reality and CBS Justice will be leaving the DStv platform on 31 December 2025 at 23:59 SAST."

"Following a strategic review, CBS AMC Networks EMEA Channels Partnership – the owner of CBS Reality and CBS Justice – has decided to close both channels."

"We thank CBS for their continued partnership and look forward to working with them in future. Customers can continue to enjoy a wide range of local and international reality and investigative content across our bouquet of channels."

Paramount Africa, in response to a media query, told TVwithThinus "Paramount is adjusting its international pay-TV strategy in response to industry-wide changes and evolving audience habits".

It said that "Paramount is proud of the legacy these channels have built and thanks their viewers and partners for their support over the years."

ALSO READ: Paramount Africa burns off Black Gold in double episodes further raising fears about future of BET Africa

ALSO READ: Paramount Skydance to get rid of 2 000 workers in the United States and globally, also affecting Africa 

Paramount Africa burns off Black Gold in double episodes further raising fears about future of BET Africa

Thinus Ferreira

Paramount Africa is switching to burn off episodes of its Black Gold telenovela on BET Africa (DStv 129), further raising fears about the perilous future of BET Africa and Paramount Skydance's collection of TV channels available in Africa.

In a bizarre and unexplained move, Paramount Africa will now burn through double episodes of Black Gold on BET Africa from Monday 22 December.

Black Gold, produced by Black Brain Pictures and set in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province, similar to Uzalo and Amalanga Awafani on SABC1, started with little fanfare in mid-August on BET Africa, and is moving to double episodes just four months later.

TV channels move to a scheduling strategy of double bills or more when they want to amortise content or programming to either get rid of it or burn through it as quickly as possible to get to a date whereby the timeslot is required for other programming.

Other reasons range from a TV channel shutting down as part of a termination decision, the relaunching of a TV channel, when it is changing ownership or when a TV channel is altering its channel proposition and the existing content gets dumped because it no longer fits.

Black Brain Pictures doesn't film and complete post-production on more than one episode of Black Gold per day. 

It therefore makes no sense for Paramount Africa or any channel provider to burn through more than one new episode per day of a soap or telenovela, since the return on investment - financially, ad revenue, and ratings - simply isn't there.

Channels deliberately stretch out the run of seasons of soaps and telenovelas to capture viewers and encourage habitual viewing for a series for as long as possible.

A second clue is when the double-billing playout of Black Gold starts - 22 December.

Not only is summer viewership of television in South Africa down during the warmer season when the potential total TV audience dips, but it plunges overall even further over the end-of-year Christmas period.

Broadcasters and TV channels don't start new and definitely no premium content during this period when sampling potential is down, let alone waste it by showing multiple episodes in double bills, stacking or omnibusses.

It therefore makes absolutely no sense for Paramount Africa and BET Africa to start wasting double episodes of an original airing - which is a bad idea at any time of the year - especially starting during the end stretch of December.

One of the only reasons it would be happening, is if Paramount Africa bought something - like Black Gold - and is now possibly scrambling to amortise it against the balance sheet and to get it all out and done and shown if BET Africa is to be shuttered. 

Paramount Global is reportedly shutting down all of its MTV-related TV channels in the United Kingdom by the end of this year. 

Paramount Africa was asked about the future of its TV channels, like MTV, MTV Base and others carried by Canal+'s MultiChoice on DStv, and whether those will also be shut down by the end of this year, but Paramount Africa said it had no comment.

If it is a case of BET Africa ending as a linear TV channel soon, burning off what remains of Black Gold's episode order in sudden double episodes daily, would fit with what TV executives and programmers are forced to do.

It's unknown if Black Gold will see a second season, with Paramount Africa's PR agency describing what remains as "the final stretch of the season" in a press release.

Black Gold is BET Africa's fourth local telenovela-styled series, following after Isono, Redemption and Queendom, which all had mixed success with viewers and in the ratings.

Isono and Queendom - both from Clive Morris Productions ran into financial problems and shuttered that inflicted big reputational damage on Paramount Africa, BET Africa and the production company that failed to pay the casts and crews of both shows.

Black Brain Pictures has since added Tina Jaxa as the character of Nomvelo Hlela, Enhle Mlotshwa as Azania Lwandle, Amogelang Telekelo as Mimi, and Nicole Bessick as Sasha Willems.

Paramount says looming retrenchments will be 'painful'; will no longer sell BET but pivot pay-TV channels to streaming

Thinus Ferreira

After Skydance's buyout, Paramount Global bosses say the coming retenchments - something that will very likely affect South Africa's Paramount Africa as well - will be "painful", although the company is no longer looking at selling off BET and will transition its pay-TV channels to video streaming.

On Wednesday evening, new Paramount CEO David Ellison and a few top executives, at a press event for some media in Los Angeles, took questions about the plans for Paramount Global under Skydance ownership.

David Ellison's LA press conference about the looming downsizing of Paramount came at the same time as Paramount Africa's event for some media and influencers in Bryanston, Johannesburg, for its upcoming new South African telenovela Black Gold from Black Brain Pictures.

Jeff Shell, Paramount president, told media that the coming Paramount Global retrenchments is "going to be painful".

"It's always hard, but we don't want to be a company that every quarter is laying people off. So, it is important for us to get done what we're doing in one big thing and then be done with it," he said.

Paramount Global has around 18 000 staffers remaining following brutal, almost constant cuts over the past few years. 

David Ellison said the upcoming retrenchments and restructuring of the company could amount to saving of more than $2 billion. Under new ownership, it is however no longer looking for a buyer and to spin off TV channels like BET.

"In terms of specifics and timelines, we're in day 7, and I hope you can respect when we get there, we're going to talk to team members first before talking to anybody else," he said about the upcoming retrenchments.

About no longer looking to sell off BET and other channels, David Ellison said "It is our intention to keep the company together and invest in that lens."

Last month, Paramount shocked when Paramount Africa told staffers of the shocking decision that it's considering shuttering its entire localised operations and offices based in South Africa and Nigeria.

This also has implications for its traditional linear pay-TV channels like BET Africa, MTV Base and others, which are carried on MultiChoice's DStv platform.

After 20 years Paramount Africa might close down the local content operations it had established, together with its Bryanston building as part of Paramount Global's cost-cutting and downsizing.

Craig Paterson, Paramount Africa senior vice president and general manager, as well as Monde Twala, senior vice-president and general manager of Paramount Africa and lead of BET International, told Paramount Africa staffers last month that Paramount is considering shutting down local operations in Africa as the company "evaluates its pay-TV strategy and local channel footprint here in Africa".

"We are at a point in our journey where we are facing immense industry disruption. Our team is not immune to potential changes," they said.

"We understand the coming weeks may be tough and feel unsettling. Through it all, please know your efforts are valued beyond measure."

In response to a media query last month about the decision, Natalie Mdladla, Paramount Africa senior director of communications, said Paramount Africa declines to comment.

About the future of Paramount Global's struggling linear pay-TV channels, George Cheeks, Paramount's chairman of TV media divison, said at the press conference on Wednesday evening that it's "a super challenging business" and "we’re all seeing the pay-TV business shifting over to streaming".

"So there’ll be a lot of conversations about what iconic franchises we want to continue, shift maybe to streaming, etc. We're 7 days in, but I do feel like there's a lot to preserve there. There's a lot of great, iconic franchises."

Jeff Shell added that "You look at a brand like BET, which is a pretty strong brand that's going to be a pretty important building block of our of our streaming strategy" and that "We're thinking of them as brands that we have to redefine".

David Ellison said "Nickelodeon is also one of those. Kids and family is so important to the world, and making sure that we're doing the right thing for Nick and that whole cadre of content is critically important to us as well."

While Paramount never got around to launching Paramount+ in South Africa, Paramount's new owners will now look to integrate the different streaming options like BET+ and Pluto TV in the United States all into Paramount+, similar to what Disney has done with Disney+.

In South Africa, Paramount+ is a content tile on MultiChoice's Showmax video streaming service that MultiChoice runs in partnership with NBCUniversal.

Cast and crew of Paramount Africa's BET's Pound 4 Pound keeps up fight for payment from Bakwena Productions

by Thinus Ferreira

The crew and cast of Bakwena Productions and Paramount Africa's Pound 4 Pound series on BET (DStv 129) who are still unpaid after months are adamant that they must and will get the money owed to them and and won’t stop exposing the hidden plight of casts and crews who remain unpaid and are often forced to suffer financially in silence.

After multiple failed payment promises by Kagiso Modupe and Rashaka Muofhe's Bakwena Productions the crew and cast refuse to let the non-payment issue go.

Since September crew and cast members have lost homes and been evicted, had to give up rentals in Johannesburg and move further away to where there's less potential work, had to sell camera equipment and even cars to try and survive financially.

Paramount Africa which commissioned the 13-episode Pound 4 Pound says it had paid its part of the production cost for the boxing series that was aired on its BET Africa (DStv 129) channel. 

Paramount Africa was asked last week but remains silent on whether it will work with Bakwena Productions again in future and whether it's changing the way it's dealing with South African productions in order to ensure that with upcoming shows an issue of non-payment of cast and crew does not occur.

Pound 4 Pound is the third Paramount Africa production where cast and crews are struggling to get their money due after the same thing happened with Clive Morris Productions' Isono and then also Queendom this year which were both BET Africa shows as well.

Last month Monde Twala, Paramount Africa senior vice president and general manager and lead for BET International, in response to a media query last month said that Paramount Africa had communicated with Bakwena Productions "to ensure that any outstanding payments are processed accordingly" and that it wants ensure that "any outstanding payments are addressed as swiftly as possible." 

That didn't happen and many workers are struggling to survive. 

None of the payment promises were kept and at the end of December, there were again no payments.

In October when a Pound 4 Pound crew member told Rashaka Muofhe in a text message that he is desperate to get paid what he was promised, Muofhe responded with a disinterested: "I'm of the opinion that the home was not purchased on my name".

Around 60 crew, actors and call actors who worked on Pound 4 Pound are represented by Advocate Carol-Ann Myburgh who have taken Bakwena Productions and Kagiso Modupe and Rashaka Muofhe to court to get their money owed.

Brandon Auret who portrayed the character of Frans on Pound 4 Pound, tells TVwithThinus "another production that hasn't paid their crew and cast have now joined on as well".

"It's incredible how many people have come out the woodwork now. I think what's really sad is how scared people are to come forward and to speak out because they are afraid of working for people again, that then won't pay them."

Last week Auret had to put his own car up for sale as well. "Luckily my wife's got a car but I'm owed thousands of rand. They owe someone else R120 000, someone else R80 000," he says.

Paramount Africa didn't respond to a media query made since earlier last week asking what has been done to resolve the situation with the BET show, what its stance is towards Bakwena Productions, and what it makes of industry workers saying they're wary of working on BET shows in future, fearing now that they will also meet a fate of not getting paid.

Kagiso Modupe's phone rang unanswered when called for comment since earlier last week he didn't respond to text messages.

ALSO READ: Legal action starts against producer Kagiso Modupe after he fails to pay crew and cast of BET Africa's Pound 4 Pound: 'Poor show of morals'

Rhythm World Productions tells unpaid Umkhokha cast and crew it has 'cash flow' problems as MultiChoice vows stronger checks on growing trend of payment-skipping producers

by Thinus Ferreira

The crew and cast of yet another South African TV show are struggling to get paid, with Rhythm World Productions telling the workers of DStv's Umkhokha: The Curse it has "cash flow" problems.

MultiChoice now says it will introduce stronger check-ups to ensure and try and prevent that production companies making TV shows for DStv and that have been paid, actually pay their workers.

While DStv subscribers are watching episodes of Umkhokha: The Curse on MultiChoice's Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) the cast and crew are struggling with not being paid for their work by Duma Ndlovu's Rhythm World Productions.

Sadly they are hardly alone in what has become a troubling growing trend in South Africa's TV and film industry.

Just this year so far, Clive Morris of Clive Morris Productions (CMP) defaulted on paying the crew and cast of Paramount Africa's Queendom on BET (DStv 129) multiple times, while the crew and cast of the drama series Pound 4 Pound, produced by Kagiso Modupe's Bakwena Productions, are also fighting with Kagiso Modupe to just get paid for the show which is also being broadcast on BET. 

Paramount Africa says it has paid its part of the costs and it is the production companies of these shows who have not paid the crews and casts.

Meanwhile, workers on SABC2's Muvhango, produced by Duma Ndlovu's Word of Mouth Pictures, also struggled to get paid after the show restarted production for the SABC after it got a new contract.

After not getting paid at the end of October, without any explanation, Rhythm World Productions told the crew and cast of Umkhokha: The Curse last week there is a "cash flow" problem.

Nobukhosi Ndlovu, Rhythm World Productions CEO, told workers in a "October 2024 payments" letter "This memo serves to inform you of a delay in the end of October payments due to a challenge with cash flow".

"Please be advised that payments will be affected as soon as the funds are received. Kindly accept our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused. We further note the level of stress that the late notification may cause."

According to insiders, MultiChoice executives are livid over Rhythm World Productions defaulting on properly paying the Umkhokha cast and crew on time and keeping it a secret, while MultiChoice has fully paid the production company. 

Earlier this year MultiChoice was also initially not aware of the struggle of the crew and cast of Paramount Africa's Pound 4 Pound trying to get paid by Kagiso Modupe who has still not done so. 

He is now facing legal action from the workers who have had to sell gear to survive and have lost accommodation over their failure to pay rent.

MultiChoice and Mzansi Magic in response to a media query over the Umkhokha: The Curse crew and cast waiting to get paid, told TVwithThinus "We at MultiChoice and Mzansi Magic take the welfare of everyone who brings our stories to life very seriously, including the cast and crew on all our productions".

"It is troubling to hear about any delays or difficulties in receiving payments, as we are committed to supporting the livelihoods of all involved."

"We understand that the timely payment of cast and crew members is essential, and we are actively addressing any payment delays through close collaboration with our production partners."

"We require all production companies we work with to meet industry standards, including fair treatment and timely payments for their teams."

"While we are aware of recent instances where cast and crew members have experienced hardship, please know that we are closely monitoring these situations and working to implement stronger checks and accountability mechanisms with our production partners to prevent these issues from happening in the future."

ALSO READ: Legal action starts against producer Kagiso Modupe after he fails to pay crew and cast of BET Africa's Pound 4 Pound: 'Poor show of morals'

ALSO READ: Cast and crew of Paramount Africa's Queendom telenovela on BET once again shuts down production after going unpaid again with 'milestone not met'

ALSO READ: SABC2's Muvhango forced to stop production again after writers, cast and crew again go unpaid by Word of Mouth Pictures

Legal action starts against producer Kagiso Modupe after he fails to pay crew and cast of BET Africa's Pound 4 Pound: 'Poor show of morals'

by Thinus Ferreira

The extremely upset, unpaid crew and cast of another BET Africa (DStv 129) show, forced to sell gear to pay rent and buy food, are ready to go to court in a type of class action case after Kagiso Modupe of Bakwena Productions failed to pay them for the Paramount Africa drama series Pound 4 Pound.

Crew members and actors who worked on Pound 4 Pound, produced by Bakwena Productions for Paramount Africa's BET Africa (DStv 129) channel, haven't been paid for months by the production company.

Kagiso Modupe made several false promises and once again promised them that they would finally be paid at the end of October. But the date of 31 October once again came and went with no payment.

Kagiso Modupe hasn't responded to requests seeking comment.

The Pound 4 Pound crew and cast are furious after Modupe won a Golden Horn at the 18th South African Film and Television Awards this past Saturday in the category for Best supporting actor in a TV comedy for Netflix South Africa's Y'oh! Christmas.

In his boastful acceptance speech, Modupe on stage claimed that he had created 2 000 jobs in the local film and TV industry and that he is one of the only producers to pay actors "royalties".

Yet the crew and cast of Pound 4 Pound, starring actors like Enhle Mbali, Mduduzi Mabaso, Gabisile Tshablala, Nicole Bessick and Brandon Auret haven't been paid for months.

They were first promised that they would be paid by mid-September. 

Then it became 25 September. 

Then Modupe promised them in a message: "Team, please note we will start making payment from 17 October with targeted completion by 30 October so all final payments are done".

Both the dates of 17 October and 30 October came and went. By yesterday no payments were made.

This is the third TV show commissioned by Paramount Africa where the cast and crew were not paid and have struggled to get their monies due. 

Notably, Pound 4 Pound is also the third show where Paramount Africa paid a portion towards the overall production costs with the production company that had to put up the other portion.

The same financial problems and non-payment issues happened in each of these three production cases, with the other two being Clive Morris Productions (CMP) shows.

CMP made Isono and ran into payment problems and after that the troubled Queendom for BET had to shutdown earlier this year, only to restart and immediately again failed to pay the cast and crew at the end of September.

When Bakwena Productions failed to pay the Pound 4 Pound production in September Kagiso Modupe initially blamed Paramount Africa.

In a voicenote he told the cast and crew that the non-payment was BET Africa's fault and that "This is beyond our control. The channel has its own processes of how it operates and because it's an international company, money is not readily available. There are processes that we need to follow, and it needs to go overseas to be approved before it comes to our account".

"We’ve been promised since last week that the money is going to come in. Our payment has been finally loaded and the money should be coming in this week."

That didn't happen. Paramount Africa also disputed Modupe's message to the crew and cast, saying that all money owed was paid over to Bakwena Productions.

In response to questions in a media query, Monde Twala, Paramount Africa senior vice president and general manager and lead for BET International, told TVwithThinus "BET and Paramount acknowledge the recent reports regarding payment concerns related to the production of Pound 4 Pound".

"We take these matters seriously and want to assure all involved parties that we are committed to finding a resolution. We have engaged with Bakwena Productions and await a cost report to ensure that any outstanding payments are processed accordingly."

"We would like to clarify that BET is up to date with all payments made to Bakwena Productions and that the production company is responsible for disbursing payments to the cast and crew."

"We appreciate the hard work and dedication of all cast and crew members and are in ongoing communication with Bakwena Productions to ensure any outstanding payments are addressed as swiftly as possible."

Besides sending a letter of demand to Bakwena Productions, Brandon Auret has taken the fight for their money for working on Pound 4 Pound public, nothing that "BET Africa and Paramount Africa flighting a show that has not paid its people is a poor show of morals".

"This is not even about what is owed to me. An entire production crew with families and payments to be made, while massive weddings are enjoyed is sick and disgusting."

MultiChoice declined to comment when asked what the Randburg-based pay-TV operator made of Auret's saying it is "a poor show of morals" for a show to be broadcast on DStv where people have not been paid.

Brandon Auret says the cast and crew - some of whom have had to resort to selling gear to pay rent - will now start a type of class action lawsuit to get what they're owed.

Brandon Auret told TVwithThinus on Friday "We gave Kagiso Modupe the benefit and we gave him the doubt. So, it's off to court we go".

Cast and crew of Paramount Africa's Queendom telenovela on BET once again shuts down production after going unpaid again with 'milestone not met'

by Thinus Ferreira

Production has shut down yet again and filming abruptly stopped on Paramount Africa's embattled Queendom telenovela produced by Clive Morris Productions (CMP) for BET Africa (DStv 129) after the show's crew and cast decided to stop working a second time, after they were once again not paid as promised.

There's been no public statement to the industry or MultiChoice's DStv subscribers from Clive Morris Productions or from Monde Twala, Paramount Africa senior vice president and general manager and BET International lead, about the latest Queendom production shutdown that started two weeks ago already.

Paramount Africa has remained silent in previous months over the reasons behind why the scandal-plagued show's crew and cast have not been paid and what exactly Paramount Africa and the production company have been doing about it.

The cast and crew on Queendom again stopped working on 2 October after they were again not paid by Clive Morris Productions at the end of September despite promises of payment.

The past two weeks' worth in lost episode production due to filming downtime and work stoppage over non-payment will likely once again force Queendom off the air soon and Paramount Africa to once again schedule repeats when it again runs out of completed episodes to air.

New episodes of Queendom just started again on BET on 23 September, two months after Paramount Africa was forced to switch to padded filler with rebroadcasts of episodes already completed since 22 July, after Clive Morris Productions ran out of money to film and even to pay cast and crew.

Paramount Africa didn't respond to earlier media queries about the rebroadcasts or how it would work, or what was going on.

Paramount Africa was forced to switch to repeats of Queendom just four months after its debut on BET Africa due to financial problems and not being able to finance and pay for production.

There been no explanation, and no response to earlier media queries made to Paramount Africa, on where Clive Morris Productions found the money to restart the embattled production which already saw cast and crew forced to sell possessions to buy food, while a crew member couldn't pay for a parent's funeral after a funeral policy lapsed due to non-payment.

On 25 September, just days before the Queendom crew and cast were supposed to be paid at the end of the month, Paramount Africa held what it called a "Paramount Summer Showcase" event for some Johannesburg media at Rockets in Bryanston and where some Queendom actors appeared and talked up the returning, yet floundering show's prospects.

About the latest Queendom work-stoppage which has been going for two weeks, a crew member told City Press newspaper "We are not going to work, we are still not paid".

According to the person, Clive Morris Productions told cast and crew they would be paid by Friday.

The person told City Press "If we get paid, we will resume work on Monday if the actors are available. This is the second week of not going to work. It's not looking good. People are not happy in the group because they said funds would be released but there is still nothing."

According to insiders they were duped by Clive Morris Productions and lured back to work with promises of getting paid again - which then didn't happen. 

Meanwhile, several crew and cast didn't return last month when filming restarted after the show shutdown and have since been lost to the show after they opted to take other work.

Clive Morris sent a message to the Queendom crew and cast about not being paid yet again, noting "I acknowledge this is difficult to understand. The funder is still there but requires various milestones to be met to release funds. A milestone was not met but we are attempting to get that closed so that funds can be released".

Unfulfilled payment promises

As I've reported earlier, Queendom started out as a co-production, with BET responsible for half of the investment, which was fulfilled by BET Africa and Clive Morris Productions responsible for the other 50%.

According to CMP, a backer pulled out that would have paid its 50% towards the production costs, but it's unclear why pre-production and filming started before the funding was fully paid over.

Insiders told TVwithThinus earlier that MultiChoice, Paramount Africa and Clive Morris Productions (CMP) are all equal parts responsible for the financial scandal of letting a show go into production without having secured the total money upfront to make it.

According to insiders Queendom had to shut down since MultiChoice placed massive pressure on Paramount Africa to maintain a contractual local content quota for BET Africa whereby Paramount must produce and air a number of local hours per year on the channel.

Paramount Africa, under pressure to adhere to its local content contract with MultiChoice or face stiff penalities, went ahead to programme Queendom on BET, with CMP which started filming even though the show's complete budget wasn't covered by production money in the bank.

Further complicating matters: Clive Morris Productions wanted to retain a stake in the show in order to benefit over the long run from back-end licensing - which is why the production company was and is responsible for putting up the financing of its "part" in the show's production equity.

When the available Queendom money ran out, angry and upset crew and cast continued working unpaid for a while based on payment promises, but eventually decided to down tools collectively.

ALSO READ: Paramount Africa's Queendom on BET shut down with cast and crew unpaid by Clive Morris Productions as MultiChoice's Showmax also gives Empini to another producer.

ALSO READ: Paramount Africa silent over unpaid Queendom crew and cast and why BET signed off for filming to start on Clive Morris Production show that didn't have production money fully in the bank.

ALSO READ: Paramount Africa refuses to explain anything as BET Africa's cash-crashed Queendom from Clive Morris Productions restarts filming after shutdown and payment failure scandal.