Deutsche Welle and Emmanuel TV going dark on MultiChoice's DStv.

by Thinus Ferreira

Two more TV channels are going dark on DStv with MultiChoice that lost access to Germany's Deutsche Welle, with the religion TV channel Emmanuelle TV going dark on 17 January.

Deutsche Welle (DStv 446) stopped broadcasting on 30 December 2023 as a linear TV channel. 

Its demise comes as linear TV channels and the traditional pay-TV bundle come under increasing threat and pressure, with channel distributors and operators moving out of the business meaning that the number of available linear TV channels for pay TV has started to decrease globally.

In March 2023 Deutsche Welle announced that it would be shutting down its linear broadcasting service to focus resources and money on its digital services as part of the digital transformation of its German international service.

"We have to make some difficult decisions as a precaution so that we don't find ourselves in an infinitely more difficult situation in 2024," Deutsche Welle director-general Peter Limbourg said.

"At the same time, we have to respond to the highly dynamic digital transformation, which poses a major challenge to us in the international media markets. The very young, digital-savvy target groups, not only in Africa and Asia, inform themselves primarily via digital offerings."

MultiChoice in response to a media query said "We regret to inform you that Deutsche Welle has decided to terminate this channel on all platforms, including DStv, across all territories worldwide, effective 30 December 2023".

Also going away is the controversial Emmanuel TV (DStv 390), with the religion TV channel, in a statement, announcing that it's exiting MultiChoice's DStv and GO, as well as other pay-TV services on 17 January 2024.

MultiChoice in response to a media query confirmed that Emmanuel TV "will no longer be available on DStv and GOtv packages, effective 17 January 2024."

The Christian television channel founded by the former TB Joshua that had a playout centre in Johannesburg is set to go dark on MultiChoice's DStv and GOtv across Africa from 17 January.

The Nigerian-based Emmanuel TV was founded by the late televangelist T.B. Joshua in 2006 and expanded to a YouTube channel where it became one of the most-subscribed Christian ministry YouTube channels worldwide.

In April 2021 following "gay curing" claims, YouTube shut down the channel over Emmanuel TV content with YouTube noting the channel isn't allowed to allege that "someone is mentally ill, diseased or inferior because of their membership in a protected group, including sexual orientation". Emmanuel TV had to start over on YouTube. Facebook also removed some Emmanuel TV posts.

Following T.B. Joshua's death in June 2021, Emmanuel TV has relied heavily on old rebroadcasts and repeat programming of the late televangelist, adding less new content nowhere close to the prolific scale while Joshua was alive.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 13 August 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:


■ Ghana groom leaves bride waiting in church ... to go fix a DStv dish on his wedding day.


■ Top veteran South African economist Dr Iraj Abedian slams what he calls MultiChoice's trash-bad DStv service and says he's done and cancelling - which leads to an outpouring of complaints from angry and highly upset DStv subscribers:
"DStv services have gone to the dogs. Their helpdesk doesn't answer, their Whatsapp responses are invalid, their website doesn't load. They message me that I have no decoder whilst I've been using their decoder for over 10 years! Such is the state of management at DStv. Embarrassing!"


■ Voice of America (DStv 853), now controlled by the controversial Donald Trump appointed Michael Pack, goes from an American radio station to propaganda station with glowing Mike Pence coverage.

■ Showrunners of Avatar: The Last Airbender leave live-action remake and slam Netflix:
Got no support from Netflix that created a "negative and unsupported environment".

■ Cartoon Network tried to de-gay Steven Universe.
- Cartier's romantic TV commercial with 2 men in China stirs censorship debate.

■ MultiChoice is an absolute joke says a DStv subscriber who has been waiting for months for a refund since cancelling his DStv subscription in June already.

■ Even more financial pain and ratings trouble because of lost advertising revenue due to lost sports content for ESPN (DStv 218 / StarSat 248) as more American college football tournaments are postponed to 2021.

■ Half-naked man walks in during live TV interview as frantic American football analyst Urban Meyer being interviewed freaks out.

■  Remote Control: Making TV amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
Will viewers watch the new "boxed-in" shows done with remote and skeleton crews and casts spending all their time inside?
- The post-Covid-19 TV industry starts to take shape in the United Kingdom, but with missing pieces, frustrated unions, ditched episodes and ruined castles.


■ Secret: Broadcasters believe 5G will replace traditional TV distribution.
- Can broadcasters survive the video streaming battle?

■ Is Disney done with physical disks?
Mouse House apparently ready to dump disks.

■ Breathtaking: Scammers sell $1 billion's worth of TV shows ... a year.
Fake sites sell pirate internet-protocol TV services worldwide filled with live feeds of linear TV channels and it's completely illegal.

■ India bans the import of TV sets.

■ Netflix goes to Hell.

■ Turkey's Ertuğrul: The Muslim "Game of Thrones".

■ He coined the phrase "Content is king". Media mogul Sumner Redstone dead at 97.

■ The big Generation X animation comeback.

■ International TV news channels like Deutsche Welle off the air and forced to end programmes as they are directly affected by Tanzania's shocking new dictatorial media clampdown regulations.

■ Amazon Prime Video gives away free ice-cream in Los Angeles.

■ Nigeria's film and video censorship board abruptly introduces a 30-day mandatory content registration regulation for producers; adds a 5% tax levy payable on all audio and visual content produced in Lagos.

■ New Zealand's Sky TV pay-TV operator sells off its outside broadcasting unit responsible for doing its Sky Sport coverage; will keep the production crew.
- Also removes local Covid-19 horror TV series INSiDE as new real-life coronavirus cases emerge.

■ Egypt extends the detention of the Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / StarSat 257) journalist Mahmoud Hussein.

■ Why is Nigeria's aggressive National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) fighting with MultiChoice, Nigeria' TV industry and the media?

■ The Princess Bride board game is an exercise in futility - which makes it brilliant.

Deutsche Welle launches new multimedia debate project and TV show, The 77 percent, for Africa's youth.

The German broadcaster Deutsche Welle carried on MultiChoice's DStv (channel 446) and the Deukom pay-TV platforms in South Africa has launched a new debate platform for Africa's youth, The 77 percent, to debate politics and other current affairs issues impacting them across the continent.

The 77 percent, an online multimedia project that started on 4 December, will include a TV show also called The 77 percent on Tour, presenter by Deutsche Welle presenter Edith Kimani.

The "77 percent" in the title comes from a World Bank report noting that 77% of the people in Sub-Saharan Africa are younger than 35 years old.

By 2050, around 1.8 billion young Africans will be attending school, studying and looking for jobs.

Yet, while they make up three quarters of the population of the African continent, their voices are not always heard.

"The 77 percent will serve as an established, go-to platform," says Claus Stäcker, head of Africa programming at Deutsche Welle (DW).

Over the last 13 months, DW, in cooperation with African broadcasting partners, has held townhall debates on the subject of migration in Abidjan, Accra, Bamako, Banjul, Conakry, Dakar, Jos and Niamey.

"The response from both the public and the media was enormous, as was the desire from young people for more information and dialogue. We want to continue that conversation," says Claus Stäcker.

Edith Kimani is currently reporting on the situation of young people in Ghana and her home country of Kenya.

"Until now, Africa hardly seemed to understand itself," says Edith Kimani. "But thanks to social media, more and more people are coming together."

"I realise what it means to be young, proud and African,” said Edith Kimani.

The 77 percent, funded by Germany's Foreign Office, will be presented in six different languages – Amharic, English, French, Hausa, Kiswahili and Portuguese and will debate the current political situations across Africa.

A weekly radio broadcast, 77 pourcent – nous les jeunes d’Afrique, is already being broadcast in Francophone Africa. The English version will premiere in January 2018.

"We want to listen to Africa's young majority and give the people a platform for debate," says Claus Stäcker.

MultiChoice returns Deutsche Welle (DW) to DStv in Southern Africa; German TV news channel once again available to Southern African viewers after absence.

MultiChoice has returned the German news channel Deutsche Welle (DW) to its DStv satellite pay-TV platform after dumping it a few years ago.

After signing a new carriage agreement, Deutsche Welle is back on DStv since 4 July to viewers in Southern Africa on the same channel number - DStv channel 446 - that it was seen on before MultiChoice ended Deutsche Welle.

Deutsche Welle is available to DStv Premium subscribers in South Africa only, as well as to DStv subscribers in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

"MultiChoice is one of the most important pay-TV providers in Sub-Saharan Africa," says Petra Schneider, Deutsche Welle director of distribution. "This agreement helps us to reach new audiences and show them the quality programming that DW is known for".

Deutsche Welle to unveil this new channel logo on Monday along with a new (24 hour?) channel line-up.

Deutsche Welle (DStv 446), Germany's international broadcaster that runs several customized regional DW channels (such as in South Africa from 05:00 to 14:00 daily) will be changing the various channels' line-ups, expand programming and unveil an new website and a brand-new logo (here it is above!) this coming Monday 6 February.

The DW changes starting Monday ''would be a milestone for an improved representation of Germany around the world,'' says Deutsche Welle's general director Erik Bettermann. The changes form part of general reform of Germany's international broadcaster.

The DW channel seen in South Africa and Africa, could very well also be changing from a 9 hour channel to a 24 hour channel, but whether this is definitely happening I don't know.

DW says the basic offering - which is the channel currently seen in South Africa - will turn into a 24 hour English programming channel in North America, Africa, Asia and Australia.

Deutsche Welle will run 6 distinct DW channels from Monday when a redesigned website will also be unveiled at http://www.dw.de/ ,well as a new logo (above) replacing the current DW logo (right).