Cell C enters South Africa's crowded video streaming market with black.

Cellular operator Cell C has become the latest entrant in the crowded subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) arena, launching a new video streaming service called "black".

As a separate business from Cell C, black will try to eke out a spot in the very crowded South African streaming services market already populated by Netflix South Africa, Naspers' Showmax, DEOD, PCCW Global's ONTAPtv.com, PrideTV and Amazon's Amazon Prime Video.

Cell C says black will give users access to live streaming of five top European football club channels (ManU TV, Barca TV, Liverpool TV, Chelsea TV and Real Madrid TV), as well as services like sports betting and hotel bookings. Consumers not using Cell C can also access black.

Black is available on Android and iOS apps, but also has its own set-top box (STB) called the blackBOX that cost R1 500, with black that can also be accessed through web browsers at black.co.za. 

At launch black says it offers a video-on-demand offering of up to 5 000 movies, series, music and documentaries with international and local content.

On black customers can also watch local soaps from the SABC and international shows like Generations, Uzalo, Mary Kills People, Catastrophe, Power, High Rollers and Survivor’s Remorse, as well as catch up on previous seasons.  

A deal has also been signed between black and Fox Networks Group Africa (FNG Africa) to add its FOX+ streaming service in South Africa  for the first time. Under the deal, FOX will give black linear and on-demand content from 21st Century Fox.

It gives black access to content from channels like FOX and National Geographic that has until now only been available on MultiChoice’s DStv and StarTimes Media SA and On Digital Media’s (ODM) StarSat satellite pay-TV platforms. 

Through black consumers will get access to 8 FOX channels from FOX+, with full seasons on-demand shows from 21st Century Studios, 20th Century Fox Television and FOX News Channel programming. TV shows range from Modern Family and Homeland to Empire and The Walking Dead.

Channels available through FOX+ include FOX, FOX Life, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, FOX Sports 1, FOX Sports 2, FOX News Channel and BabyTV.

“We are exceptionally excited to have signed this momentous deal, which will add to the premium content already available on the black platform,” says black’s content boss, Surie Ramasary, of the FOX+ deal.

“FOX is a natural content partner for black. Fox Networks Group are particularly proud to partner with Cell C as they undertake to revolutionise the mobile TV space, undoubtedly a key pillar in the future of entertainment,” says Adam Theiler, the executive vice president of Fox Networks Group Europe and Africa.

"Content services around the world are growing as fast as mobile did in its early days and true to Cell C’s form we are embracing content by bringing black to South Africans," says Cell C CEO Jose Dos Santos.

Customers can access black by using vouchers as well as debit and credit cards and Cell C subscribers will be able to pay using prepaid airtime.

Customers can buy blockbuster movies from R59 to own and watch as many times as they like, or rent them from R29 for 48 hours. 

"FLEXI Access" cost R10 per day up to R39 per month, with "FLEXI Premium" ranging from R39 per day to R99 per month. BTV Premium with access to 60 channels cost R189 per month with BTV Access with 18 channels costing R69 per month.

The football channels cost extra as a separate subscription ranging from R5 per day to R25 per month.

Cell C's new video-on-demand service, black, adds Fox' FOX+ VOD service and a selection of its existing channels in Africa.

Cell C's little publicised new subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) attempt, black, has acquired the streaming rights for 21st Century FOX TV by adding FOX+, Fox's video-on-demand platform.

There's been no statement from either Cell C or Fox Networks Group Africa on Tuesday regarding FOX+.

In September at its latest upfront event, FNG Africa did pre-announce that it is working on rolling out its own FOX+ and NatGeo+ online video-on-demand streaming services in South Africa as well.

Since users have to pay for data - as they have for Netflix in South Africa, Naspers' Showmax, ONTAPtv.com and others - Cell C's black means that paying for expensive data to stream shows, and sport, makes black pretty much the same cost as for DStv or a monthly pay-TV subscription.

Not all FOX content will be available on FOX+ but will include shows from channels like the FOX News Channel, Baby TV, FOX Sports and FOX Sports 2 currently available as linear channels on StarTimes Media SA and On Digital Media's (ODM) StarSat.

It will also include the FOX channel, FOX Life and National Geographic channels that are available on MultiChoice's DStv platform and StarSat.

The deal means episodes from shows like The Walking Dead, Empire, Modern Family and Homeland will be made available on FOX+ for black, although the latest episodes and seasons will likely still have to be broadcast on DStv and StarSat first.

No word yet on when black as Cell C CEO Jose Dos Santos' latest plan, becomes commercially operational or what other actual specific content is going to be available on the service.

Both VIDI and Altech's Node failed and shut down due to low uptake of these SVOD services.

The lack of communication about the content and what people can really specifically watch, means that consumers - who do go out and buy set-top boxes but access to content - never knew what was available, and never were persuaded to try these services.

It remains to be seen if this "black" - with Cell C that is similarly and oddly punting it as a generic service instead of what it has and what's actually on it - will attract customers, or if ti will go the way of VIDI, Node and the dodo.

New #BreakTheNet mobile TV reality show the first foray into original television content creation for Cell C looking to build its own VOD service.

A new mobile TV reality show, #BreakTheNet, is coming to Cell C that plans to start its own video-on-demand (VOD) service and hopes to cash in on the "trending" social media craze with user-videos that end up going viral.

By downloading the specifically designed Cell C Reality App from the Apple App store or the Google Play store, people can enter from Thursday 15 September until 15 October to become one of the 30 contestants on the show.

#BreakTheNet, produced by Bl!nk Pictures, is part of Cell C's plans to launch its own Netflix and ShowMax style video-on-demand (VOD) service with the show that will have a second season in 2017.

The first episode of #BreakTheNet will be shown on 19:00 on Sunday 23 October on the Cell C Channel on YouTube with the first season that will conclude on Sunday 11 December with the chance to win R250 000 and a trip to Hollywood, Los Angeles.

From 23 October viewers will be able to watch a continuous digital flow of content from the weekly shows, to tasks and behind the scenes clips as well as celebrity one-on-one interviews. 

Contestants will be given a task to include in the filming of their videos and will be selected to continue week by week based on the number of views that they receive for each video. 

#BreakTheNet contestants will get 48 hours to complete and upload a video, with the aim of getting videos to go "viral" and to create "the next online sensation".

Derick Watts and the Sunday Blues are the presenters of #BreakTheNet with Whackhead Simpson as the Task Master.

Mentors include the YouTube star, Suzelle DIY, the Instagrammer Ofentse Mwase and the online personality Theodora Lee. The South African actor Blessing Xaba is participating as a "celebrity" contestant.

Cell C says #BreakTheNet will be a never-before-seen talent search show that will challenge the typical way in which television content is produced and consumed and is Cell C's start into "content production for a future content delivery platform".

"How and where content is delivered to consumers is changing dramatically in South Africa as internet access becomes more pervasive. As an innovator, Cell C is taking its first steps into playing a role in the production and delivery of incredible content," says Cell C CEO, Jose Dos Santos.

"This is just the first step for Cell C into this arena and as a business, we plan on taking it by storm," says Jose Dos Santos.

"In the move towards a digital world, it's becoming more and more apparent that if it doesn't exist on your smart phone, it doesn’t exist at all," says Bl!nk Pictures director, Odette Schwegler.