SuperSport adds active rugby player Siya Kolisi as brand ambassador as MultiChoice and SuperSport ignore questions over conflict of interest.

by Thinus Ferreira

In a questionable move, SuperSport has added the still active rugby player Siya Kolisi as a SuperSport brand ambassador, with MultiChoice and SuperSport ignoring questions about creating a conflict of interest with the move.

SuperSport now pays Siya Kolisi to be a SuperSport brand ambassador. How will - or will - SuperSport do credible, critical commentary and reporting about Siya Kolisi and his on-field performance?

Why did SuperSport decide that it's okay to sign an active player as a SuperSport "brand ambassador" when and while SuperSport is also in the game of commenting and talking about active rugby players?

Since Rendani Ramovha took over as new SuperSport CEO following a lot of turmoil behind-the-scenes at SuperSport, SuperSport no longer seems inclined to respond to media queries. SuperSport was asked about the apparent conflict of interest in a media query and decided to ignore it.

A week ago SuperSport in a press release announced that the former Springbok rugby captain who is currently playing for French club Racing 92 is now getting paid to be an official SuperSport brand ambassador.

This move makes it unlikely that SuperSport will ever say anything critical of Siya Kolisi as their official brand ambassador or will tone down anything "negative" about his gameplay, decisions, on-field mistakes or anything else that might be true or fair, but not deemed "positive".

"It is such an honour for me to be a brand ambassador for SuperSport, to join such an incredible team of people who are responsible to bring the world's best sport to the continent," Siya Kolisi said in a prepared quote in the press release. 

"I've always said I want to impact as many people as possible, whether on or off the rugby field, and this is another way to reach people across the continent and hopefully make a mark and inspire people."

Siya Kolisi is represented by Roc Nation Sports International.

Rendani Ramovha, SuperSport CEO, is also quoted in the press release saying "Siya Kolisi is someone who truly embodies the meaning of being a champion and we are extremely proud to welcome him to the World of Champions".

Sibusiso Mjikeliso, SuperSport spokesperson, was asked twice in a media query about the perception of a conflict of interest and how SuperSport will do independent and credible coverage, commentary and reporting on the gameplay of someone who is also a brand ambassador of SuperSport.

Sibusiso Mjikeliso didn't respond.

On Tuesday this week, MultiChoice was asked why SuperSport doesn't respond to media queries. 

Keabetswe Modimoeg, MultiChoice corporate affairs and stakeholder relations group executive, didn't respond to the media query.

MultiChoice boss Calvo Mawela's full internal memo to staffers on 'void left by seasoned executive' as Showmax CEO Yolisa Phahle steps down and other top exec shuffles.

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice staffers - especially those at Showmax - at shocked at the latest top executive changes the Randburg-based pay-TV operator announced internally late on Friday, which include Showmax CEO Yolisa Phahle stepping down and MultiChoice SA boss Marc Jury now also taking on this responsibility.

MultiChoice insiders are wondering about, and pointing to, what seems like a growing and ongoing lack of leadership and executive succession planning inside MultiChoice City - with especially Yolisa Phahle's exit as Showmax boss raising fears and anxiety levels since the relaunch of MultiChoice's video streamer set for mere months from now in partnership with Comcast's NBCUniversal and Europe's Sky pay-TV division.

News about Yolisa Phahle's exit as Showmax CEO first started circulating last week on Thursday, with MultiChoice staffers who got told in an internal memo on Friday evening.

Collen Dlamini, who was MultiChoice group executive for corporate affairs but who has now been replaced in this position, didn't respond to media queries made about this last week. 

TVwithThinus first asked MultiChoice on Thursday evening about Yolisa Phahle stepping down as Showmax CEO and her resignation. Collen Dlamini on Friday morning told TVwithThinus "to give me an hour and I will get back to you" but didn't.

On Friday afternoon when called again, Collen Dlamini asked for an emailed media query to again be sent and said he would "respond in writing" but never did.

Laura Cooke, Showmax publicist, didn't return calls and didn't respond with answers to a media query around Yolisa Phahle's resignation.

As TVwithThinus reported on Friday, besides MultiChoice SA CEO Marc Jury immediately taking over oversight of Showmax as well from 1 September and Yolisa Phahle providing "advisory support" for a period of 6 months, Collen Dlamini has been replaced by Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng as MultiChoice's new group executive for corporate affairs and stakeholder relations, reporting to MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela.

Besides being group exec for corporate affairs, Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng will continue to oversee stakeholder management and regulatory functions for the rest of Africa outside of South Africa.

MultiChoice has also moved up its sport prince to be, Rendani Ramovha's full-time appointment as new SuperSport CEO. Rendani Ramovha who would only have started full-time in the position from 2024 is now SuperSport CEO since 1 September.

Below is the full internal memo MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela sent out to staffers on Friday evening:

"I am pleased to announce the following leadership changes effective 1st September 2023.

In what could be characterised as the end of an era defined by a solid career and almost two decades with the Group, it is with mixed emotions to announce that our Showmax CEO, Yolisa Phahle, is making her way into the next chapter of her career.

Discussions have been underway with an understanding that she will be entering the retirement phase of her career in the near future, thus the need for a seamless transition.

Knowing the void that would be left by this seasoned executive, we have been planning a smooth and seamless transition with Yoli for a while. After careful deliberations, we have concluded that Yoli will start a handover process wherein Showmax will report to Marc Jury from 1st September, with Yoli providing full time advisory support to Marc for a period of six months.

From March 2024, Yoli will continue to consult to the Group for a period of 12 months and reporting into Marc. This means that Marc will run Showmax and our South African operations as we continue our search for a new Showmax CEO.

Yoli will be remembered for her unparalleled work since joining M-Net in 2005 as General Manager for Channel O, and later being appointed Channel Director for Local channels SA where she launched the Mzansi Magic portfolio of channels. 

Due to her distinguished work, Yoli was appointed M-Net CEO in 2015. In 2020 Yoli was appointed as CEO for Showmax and having worked with me and the board to set the new direction we wish her the very best of luck as she begins the new episode of her professional life.

Chief Executive Officer for SuperSport

We are pleased to follow up on the initial announcement made earlier this year regarding Rendani Ramovha’s appointment as SuperSport CEO.

On this note please be informed that Rendani will assume his new role from 1st September 2023, reporting to Marc in the interim to ensure a seamless handover of strategic relationships with sporting bodies. 

In his current role as Head of Marketing and Commercial, Rendani has led some exciting initiatives within SuperSport including SuperSport Schools, Super Picks (BetKing and SuperSport partnership) and the SA20 Cricket league.

Group Executive Corporate Affairs and Stakeholder Relations

In order to enhance our Group’s positioning in the industry, and to cement the stakeholder-centric posture of our platform vision, we have decided to make changes in the Corporate Affairs division.

These changes will form part of the broader process of reviewing and repositioning the division going forward. 

Collen Dlamini will step out of the role and provide advisory services on legislative, regulatory and policy effective from 1st September. We wish Collen well in his future endeavors and thank him for his contribution over the years- most notably his role in positioning MultiChoice as the platform of choice as well as his key role in various internal and external programmes.

I am pleased to announce Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng as the new Group Executive Corporate Affairs and Stakeholder Relations, reporting to me. He will continue to oversee the Rest of Africa Stakeholder management and Regulatory functions. 

In his current Corporate Affairs and Stakeholder Relations role within MAH, Kea has in a short space of time proven himself by assisting the business to navigate complex stakeholder issues and forging meaningful partnerships across the continent.

Kea, who is a former Sunday Times award-winning journalist, brings a wealth of experience from both the private and public sectors where he held senior corporate governance, corporate citizenship and public affairs roles across the African continent. 

He holds a PhD in Managerial Sciences from Durban University of Technology, a Senior Executive Fellows programme at Harvard University- and completed an Executive Development Programme at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

We wish Rendani, Marc and Kea the best as they take on their new responsibilities and gratitude goes to Tex Teixeira who has been diligently holding the fort on the SuperSport front. We look forward to their contributions as we pivot our bold content ambition to fruition.

Regards, Calvo"

ALSO READ: MultiChoice's Showmax CEO Yolisa Phahle resigns - plus other executive changes.

MultiChoice shuts down DStv in Malawi after price hike is denied.

by Thinus Ferreira

Pulling the trigger in a Mexican standoff, MultiChoice is shutting down its DStv service in Malawi effectively immediately and leaving subscribers without access to news and entertainment – the first time the pan-African pay-TV operator has ever done so – after Malawi's communications regulator blocked it from hiking prices.

DStv Malawi is telling subscribers to stop payments for DStv and that all existing subscribers in the country will be cut off within 30 days or less, with no new DStv subscriptions or reconnections that will be done from today.

In January this year, Malawi's regulator, the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA), fined MultiChoice Malawi for its DStv price hike it implemented in July 2022 and also ordered it to refund all DStv subscribers for adjusting its DStv tariffs without approval from the regulator.

Malawi's latest price increase for 2023 was set to come into effect from August as part of the latest in a string of DStv price hikes done by MultiChoice Africa and which has seen DStv price increased this year in various countries across the continent ranging from South Africa to Ghana, from Nigeria to Uganda, as well as Zambia and Tanzania.

In August, MultiChoice hiked DStv fees by up to another 6% in Kenya for a second time this year after a 10% increase a few months earlier in April and in Ghana MultiChoice also increased DStv fees by up to another 18% in a second increase this year after raising prices by up to 19% in February in the West-African nation.

MultiChoice Africa blames weakening African currencies as well as runaway inflation rates for the large increases, as well as the double yearly hikes in Ghana and Kenya.

After MultiChoice Malawi announced yet another price hike in the Southeast African country which was set to come into effect from August 2023, the country's communications regulator, Malawi's regulator ordered MultiChoice not to implement any price increases from August.

MultiChoice Malawi then went to court on 31 July and applied for an emergency injunction against the regulator's order, which was granted by the country's High Court and which remained in effect until yesterday, 8 August.

MultiChoice Malawi said that it had no choice but to increase DStv fees, since it's not MultiChoice Malawi but MultiChoice Africa Holdings (MAH) based in Dubai which is overall deciding on the DStv price increases across the continent which are then implemented by various countries' localised MultiChoice executive management. 

After MultiChoice Malawi's injunction was granted, Daud Suleman, MACRA director-general, in a statement, said that once it lapsed the regulator will still not allow MultiChoice Malawi to charge higher DStv fees.

Daud Suleman said that "the current, unchanged and approved DStv tariffs will apply from 8 August 2023 unless otherwise directed by the court", with the regulator that remained adamant that MultiChoice was not going to be allowed to charge its subscribers more from August.

Now MultiChoice has decided to shut DStv down in Malawi since it's not allowed to increase pay-TV fees.

MultiChoice Africa Holdings confirmed to TVwithThinus that MultiChoice is withdrawing "services from Malawi with immediate effect. This follows the injunction issued by the High Court in Lilongwe in a matter between MultiChoice Malawi and MACRA prohibiting an adjustment to the DStv tariffs".

According to Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng, MultiChoice Africa group executive for corporate affairs, "MultiChoice Malawi does not offer the DStv service to the public and therefore cannot set or adjust tariffs for this service, a point repeatedly made to MACRA".

"As a result, the order handed down to MCM is incapable of being implemented by them but carries with it grave consequences for the directors and management of MultiChoice Malawi, including imprisonment."

"MultiChoice Holdings Africa, given the impact on its supplier MultiChoice Malawi and an increasingly adverse regulatory environment is therefore left with no option but to terminate the DStv service indefinitely."

DStv subscribers in Malawi are "requested to halt payment for the DStv service," the pay-TV operator says.

"Customers who have already paid their new subscription for the DStv service will have those services honoured until the current 30 day viewing cycle ends on or before 10 September 2023. From Wednesday 9 August 2023 no new subscriptions or reconnections will be accepted."

"MultiChoice Africa Holdings would like to thank customers for their support over many years. MAH would also like to thank MultiChoice Malawi for their professional conduct in supplying services to MAH over as many years."

MultiChoice Africa Holdings shutting down DStv in Malawi breaks a promise it made 14 years ago in 2009 when the pay-TV operator said its DStv service would not exit the country. 

After another pay-TV operator in the country shut down, MultiChoice told DStv subscribers in Malawi that it has "a track record that shows that we are going to be there until time in memorial" and that "MultiChoice has been in operation for over decades and operates within 48 countries in Africa so it is an assurance that we are stable economically".

ALSO READ: MultiChoice Malawi in price hike court fight as country's regulator says DStv tariff increases are not allowed and that 'current, unchanged' fees will apply.

BREAKING. The Russia Today TV channel abruptly disappears on Wednesday evening from MultiChoice's DStv, and TelkomONE in South Africa.

by Thinus Ferreira

Russia's propaganda TV channel Russia Today (DStv 407) known as RT, late on Wednesday abruptly disappeared from the channel line-up of MultiChoice's DStv as well as Telkom's TelkomONE video streaming service.

DStv subscribers on Wednesday evening got a black screen on DStv channel 407 with the on-screen notification "This channel is closed".

On Wednesday night it wasn't immediately clear whether MultiChoice and Telkom decided to remove RT, similar to how pay-TV operators and streaming services in multiple other countries from America to Australia decided to do since this past weekend, or whether Russia Today decided to remove its signal, or whether other technical problems interrupted the RT channel feed.

MultiChoice and Telkom were asked for comment on Wednesday evening.

On Wednesday night MultiChoice said that "As of today, 2 March 2021, Russia Today (Channel 407) shall not be carried on the DStv platform until further notice. Sanctions imposed on Russia have led to the global distributor of the channel ceasing to provide the broadcast feed to all suppliers, including MultiChoice."

On Monday, MultiChoice in response to media queries said that "We have no editorial control over third-party channels". 

SA’s broadcasting regulator demands answers

South Africa's broadcasting regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) in a statement to TVwithThinus on Wednesday night, said that "ICASA wants to put it on record that the broadcast of RT on the DStv platform is and continues to be a commercial agreement between the subscription TV broadcaster, MultiChoice and RT".

"The authority's role in the broadcasting of RT has been solely limited to channel authorisation as submitted by the licensee  – in this case, MultiChoice – and approved by ICASA prior to the channel being introduced."

ICASA said that this is a regulatory requirement fulfilled by the licensee before introducing any new channel for consumption by the South African public.

"Our licensing and compliance division has not received any notification by MultiChoice confirming the discontinuation of the channel on its DStv platform,” ICASA chairperson Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng said.

According to Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng "it is in the public interest to know the reasons for this discontinuation since the authorisation was approved by the authority".

"Given the underlying principle of the South African broadcasting system for promoting plurality of views, it is only prudent for ICASA to enquire with DStv on the rationale for the discontinuation of the RT channel."

Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng said that ICASA continues to monitor the developments regarding this matter.

Petition against and global RT offboarding

The Kremlin-backed TV channel came under fire globally especially since last week, following Russia's invasion and unprovoked war with Ukraine.

In South Africa, the country's Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) confirmed that it has been receiving complaints from DStv subscribers asking why MultiChoice has not removed RT.

A DStv subscriber Jared Myroff also started an online petition on change.org, directed to MultiChoice CEO Calvo Mawela and the pay-TV operator's chairperson Imtiaz Patel, imploring MultiChoice to remove RT from DStv.

The petition says that RT "is a tool of the greater Russia propaganda machine" and that is "currently using its air time to spread misinformation on the invasion that Russia has undertaken on Ukraine".

"As a DStv customer, part of your fees goes towards DStv to paying for this channel to have air time in our country and poison the minds of our citizens."

"Essentially our MultiChoice subscriptions help fund Russia and Putin's propaganda machine. The goal of this petition is to gain the attention of the top management of MultiChoice and to remove the Russia Today "news" channel from our screens," the petition states.  

Australia's biggest pay-TV operator Foxtel also removed RT on Sunday as a linear TV channel and from its streaming service. 

"In view of concern about the situation in Ukraine, the Russia Today channel is currently unavailable on Foxtel and Flash," Foxtel said in a statement.

Canada's two biggest pay-TV services, Rogers Communications and Bell Canada both announced on Monday that they're dropping RT completely.

America's DirectTV on Monday announced that it's removing RT "and will no longer offer their programming effective immediately".

The 1+1 Media Group, a Ukrainian media conglomerate, on Monday said they wrote to media companies worldwide, asking them to stop transmitting Russia's propaganda-filled TV channels like RT.

"More than 20 local providers from Poland, Australia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Canada, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Germany, as well as representatives of international corporations have already responded to the request," 1+1 Media Group said in a press release on Monday.

"As of 26 February they have started the turning off of the propagandistic TV channels on their satellites, cable networks and across other platforms and sources."

YouTube also blocked RT from generating any advertising revenue from any of its content placed on Google’s video streaming service.

"In light of extraordinary circumstances in Ukraine, we're taking a number of actions,” Michael Aciman, global communications and public affairs manager at Google, said in a statement. 

"We're pausing a number of channels' ability to monetize on YouTube, including several Russian channels affiliated with recent sanctions. We will be significantly limiting recommendations to these channels. And in response to a government request, we've restricted access to RT and a number of other channels in Ukraine."

In the United Kingdom where RT still remains on the air, that country's broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, on Monday announced in a statement that it had " opened 15 new investigations into the due impartiality of news programs on the RT news channel."

"We have observed a significant increase in the number of programs on the RT service that warrant investigation under our Broadcasting Code," Ofcom said.

On Wednesday Ofcom announced that it has added another 12 investigations into RT, bringing the total number to 27.

"We are very concerned by the volume of programmes on RT that are raising potential issues under the Broadcasting Code, and as we progress our investigations we are considering whether RT should retain a U.K. license," Ofcom said in a statement late on Wednesday. 

ALSO READ: As DStv viewers wonder why MultiChoice continues to carry the propaganda channel Russia Today, the BCCSA gets complaints while MultiChoice says it has no editorial control over RT and a subscriber starts a petition for its removal.

Keabetswe Modimoeng appointed as acting Icasa chairperson at South Africa's broadcasting regulator.

Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng has been appointed as the acting Icasa chairperson at South Africa's broadcasting regulator from today to replace the fired Rubben Mohlaloga convicted of fraud.

Icasa says that the process to find and appoint a permanent chairperson for South Africa's broadcasting regulator will start soon.

Dr Keabetswe Modimoeng is a member of Icasa's executive board and has an MBA and PhD degrees in management sciences, and is also a Harvard senior executive fellow and has completed both an executive development programme from Wharton University and an Africa director programme from Stellenbosch University.

"We will continue to work closely with all key stakeholders, including government, to ensure that the authority's regulatory decisions advance transformation in the ICT sector, support economic growth and unlock opportunities presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the digital economy," says Keabetswe Modimoeng in an Icasa-issued press statement released on Monday afternoon.