The expanding shutdown of the embattled Econet's divisions keeps rippling through the embattled business with Econet that has now abruptly shuttered its whole Econet Media division as well, that includes its Kwesé iflix streaming service as apparently the latest victim of its cash-crunch.
Now Econet,owned by the Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa, has been forced to shut down its entire Econet Media subsidiary where Joseph Hundah has been Econet Media CEO and that racked up more than $130 million in debt in content costs including expensive sports rights and other services, with Econet Media that housed Kwesé TV, Kwesé Play and Kwesé Iflix.
The Econet Group in a statement says that "The Econet Group regrets to confirm that Econet Media Limited has ceased operations with effect from 5 August 2019".
"It is a difficult decision that we could not postpone. Over the last 4 years we sought to disrupt Africa’s media landscape and enable Africa to tell its own stories using a variety of technologies including satellite broadcast, video streaming and free-to-air TV."
"The Econet Group invested heavily into Econet Media and supported the business over the period it operated without any third-party funding. Unfortunately, market conditions and content price inflation got in the way of us completing our mission."
"We are particularly grateful to all our dedicated staff and contractors who have worked tirelessly to bring a great product to market and who until the last day believed in the Kwesé story. We are also grateful to our customers and our partners who believed in the Kwesé vision and who worked with us as we tried to change how Africans consume and pay for media."
"We deeply regret the impact that this decision has had on our staff, contractors, customers, regulators and content providers."
"We will engage with each of our valued stakeholders transparently and will seek to meet our obligations to each of them as provided under law."
"The Econet Group is entrepreneurial and believes in Africa and its potential. Our belief in 'an inclusive connected future that leaves no African behind' remains undaunted."
"We would like to emphasise and reiterate that the rest of the Econet Group businesses continue to operate normally as each of our companies are separate legal entities with their own management teams and boards."
In its statement, Econet mentions nothing about its alleged bad management, rapid and aggressive expansion plans and cash splurges, bad and often non-existent customer care and foolish content acquisition strategies that were all self-inflicted damage that led to Econet Media's downfall and implosion.
Econet said in July that its beleaguered pay-TV and TV business struggled to compete with China's StarTimes and MultiChoice's DStv.
Meanwhile several current and former South African workers of Econet who are enduring living hell but who were once "promised heaven" if they join Kwesé TV, showed TVwithThinus correspondence of them not having been paid their severance packages after being retrenched and Econet executives telling them that there isn't money and that they can't give answers as to when they will be paid.
ALSO READ: Embattled Econet announces it will be shutting down its struggling Kwesé TV entirely on Monday 5 August 2019 after owing R1.9 billion to third-party content providers.
ALSO READ: Living hell after Kwesé implosion: Massive problems, fear, secrecy, non-payment and scared staffers at Econet Kwesé TV in South Africa where workers were once "promised heaven".
