eVOD: With 1.3 million registrations eMedia wants it to become 'the Netflix of South Africa'.

by Thinus Ferreira

eMedia says it is positioning its eVOD video streaming service "as the Netflix of South Africa" primarily filled with e.tv's local content in video-on-demand format and that its streamer passed 1.3 million registered users with 1.3 billion minutes in watch-time.

In eMedia's latest annual financial report for the year ending 31 March 2024 it just released, eMedia says it is planning further enhancements before the end of March 2025 "to increase registered viewership and ad revenue".

eVOD - with e.tv that continues to commission and produce and release eOriginals on the streamer - competes with the South African public broadcaster's SABC+ which passed one million users but earlier this month relaunched yet again, now requiring user registration which means that SABC+ is starting anew for a third time to lure users and viewers to build a base.

eVOD that launched in August 2021 is also competing with MultiChoice's Showmax and a flurry of global streamers operating within South Africa like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+ and a few smaller ones. 

According to eMedia, eVOD racked up 1.3 billion minutes in watch-time by the end of March - representing 19% growth in watch-time, and now has 1 129 162 registered users. It should be noted that the 1.13 million registered users don't represent active users, the number of which eMedia doesn't want to provide.

Over 23 eVOD original movies were released during the financial year, as well as six eOriginal series.

eVOD did its first-ever live-stream event in October for the Red Bull Sound Clash and is working to introduce live-stream advertising and display banner advertisements for viewers.

eMedia says e.tv continues to "lead the group and maintains a market share of approximately 33.5%". 

This is slightly down from its 34.5% in March 2023, although it outperforms the SABC's 27.3% and DStv's32.9% market share.

Antonio Lee, eMedia financial director, says eMedia's prime time share "averaged 34.4%, surpassing both the SABC's 30.5% and DStv's 28.9%, solidifying the group's position as the largest broadcaster during both 06:00 to 24:00, and prime time."

"This marks the third consecutive year that the group has outperformed the SABC in prime time."

About its free-to-air satellite TV service Openview, eMedia says it's "another key component of the group" and that eMedia's TV channels available on Openview "consistently rank among the top 20 satellite TV channels nationwide, indicating strong performance and audience engagement".

"The group is pleased with the growing market share of its channels on Openview and further growth in audience market share is anticipated with the increasing activations of Openview set-top boxes."

Openview reached 3 428 523 activated set-top boxes by March 2024.

In its ongoing battle with MultiChoice which wants to remove a collection of e.tv-packaged TV channels from DStv - a case that is still ongoing - Khalik Sherrif, eMedia Holdings CEO, says that "there is a looming threat of the channels being removed once again".

"It is concerning that the matter of dominance seems to be overlooked in a market where DStv commands approximately nine million out of about 12 million satellite homes."

"This absolute dominance has a significant impact on eMedia's revenue as the loss of advertising revenue from the audience viewing the channels on DStv will severely affect eMedia's ability to compete and acquire quality content."

"While eMedia will continue to fight for the channels to remain on the DStv platform, urgent measures must be taken to mitigate the loss of advertising revenue. Alternative strategies will be explored to compensate for this revenue shortfall."

eMedia notes that its legal battles with MultiChoice increased legal expenses over the past year by R8.8 million.

South African government to intervene over Sprinbok rugby broadcast block and sports rights fight between MultiChoice, SuperSport, eMedia's Openview and the SABC.

Thinus Ferreira

An explosive TV keg is on the verge of erupting as untenable pressure is building up over millions of South African TV viewers who continue to be blocked from watching Springboks rugby on free-to-air television, with South Africa's government that said it is now going to intervene.

The ongoing TV sports sublicensing fight between South African broadcasters continue to block South African viewers from seeing Springbok rugby tests on television and specifically on the South African public broadcaster - content that qualifies as sport of national interest and importance.

Two of South Africa's new ministers - Solly Malatsi as minister of communications and Gayton McKenzie as new minister of sports, arts and culture - both now say they want to meet as soon as this week in a sit-down meeting with all of the stakeholders that include MultiChoice and SuperSport, the SABC, eMedia and the South African Rugby Union (SARU).  

Gayton McKenzie says he will summon MultiChoice and SuperSport, eMedia and e.tv, as well as the SABC to meetings. 

"We are very close to a roundtable with all decision-makers. We shall not rest until all can watch the national teams. The nation owns the national teams and the owners must watch their teams playing," he said.

"We are actively dealing with this matter. It is inexcusable and a huge shame on us. We shall very soon revert back after concluding talks."

Gayton McKenzie said he "felt anger, disappointment and sadness that so many South Africans can't watch. We need them to share the Springbok joy. We can't say we are a pro-poor country but don't have the Springboks on SABC. This needs to change. It must change. It's going to change."

The fight over TV sports sublicensing rights revolve around money and the millions paid to broadcast these, as well as the reselling or sublicensing of it and which viewers then get access to it.

MultiChoice's SuperSport is willing to pay hundreds of millions to sports bodies, content distributors and licensors for something like the past two Saturdays' Springbok test matches against Ireland. This money is then used to fund sport organisations and bodies, as well as pay players.

DStv subscribers in turn pay to watch this sports content on pay-TV services like SuperSport-packaged channels on DStv.

SuperSport sold and sublicensed the rights of the Springbok test matches to the SABC but with a contract stipulation that the content is not allowed to be shown or be accessible on the version of the SABC channels carried on eMedia's Openview satellite service.

MultiChoice argues that eMedia and e.tv would otherwise get free access to premium sports content that e.tv isn't and hasn't paid for.

eMedia argues that what is being shown by and on the SABC should be accessible everywhere the SABC's TV channels are carried and that SuperSport is deliberately not willing to sell or sublicence sports rights to eMedia en e.tv but just to the SABC.

Since eMedia dragged MultiChoice to the Competition Commission Tribunal which is still to hand down judgment in this matter - the SABC, which originally agreed to buy and sublicence the rights from SuperSport had to backtrack and break the deal to broadcast the content.

While MultiChoice and eMedia are duking it out over sports sublicensing rights, the SABC and South African Rugby are caught in the middle with viewers sitting without access.

Mark Alexander, South African Rugby Union president, in a statement said SARU supports the SABC's decision to backtrack on its planned agreement with SuperSport to broadcast the Springbok test matches but also says SARU support the SABC's desire for Springbok matches to be broadcast on the public broadcaster.

"This may appear to be a minor and obscure issue to the general public but it is critically important to the Springboks and the future of rugby in South Africa, affecting to just the broadcasters but the sport itself."

He says it's not SARU, SuperSport or the SABC which are fighting with each other.

"It was the intervention of eMedia and its demand that Openview be permitted to broadcast the rugby without any financial contribution by eMedia that put an end to this agreement."

"eMedia's attempts to put an end to exclusivity in sports broadcasting rights would slash the rights fees, with the sport itself suffering the most, severely impacting our programme delivery from the grassroots level to the back-to-back Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks."

"It is absurd that eMedia should be allowed to broadcast sport without contributing to its support and development."

Khalik Sherrif, eMedia CEO, says SARU is wrong.

"It is an absolute shame when the real facts of a dispute in which there is a court decision in favour of the public is distorted by a national body such as SARU. SARU should act in the interests of all South Africans and not only the privileged few," says Khalik Sherrif.

Sheriff says SARU is simply parroting MultiChoice's views.

According to eMedia, it is "the SABC's decision which resulted in the rugby not being aired by it".

"It is clear that MultiChoice and SuperSport and the SABC are solely responsible for the broader public not being able to watch these sporting events, such as the Springbok/Irish test matches and the cricket T20 final. eMedia has been in the public’s corner trying to ensure the widest access to these events."

MultiChoice told TVwithThinus in response to a media query that MultiChoice is "sympathetic to the position of the SABC in guarding against free-riding by a commercial competitor and using its limited funds in a manner that would serve to further the commercial interest of a private commercial entity".

"The allegation that SuperSport gave too little time for eMedia to bid for the rights is completely false."

"Despite having known about the test matches for months, eMedia belatedly approached SuperSport to inquire about the rights and, after being probed, made an offer to sublicense the rights."

"Their bid was inferior to what the SABC offered and was therefore rejected. Even as late as last week, eMedia repeated its patently sub-commercial offer for the rights to the second test in spite of it having been made aware that its offer was not commercially viable."

"It appears to us that eMedia prefers to free-ride on the investments made by SuperSport and the SABC rather than to itself invest at the level which Springbok rugby deserves."

"Sports broadcasting requires a careful balancing act. While fans would understandably like to watch everything for free, the fact is our sports federations depend on the licensing of exclusive broadcasting rights to keep sport alive."

"SuperSport makes a substantial investment in South African rugby and as a country, we have witnessed the fruits of that investment with the World Cup-winning performances of the Springboks."

"SuperSport must protect its investment in exclusive broadcasting rights. But even so, SuperSport is mindful of the desire of audiences to also see the Springboks play on the channels of the public broadcaster."

"We have therefore endeavoured to reach appropriate sub-licensing arrangements with the SABC. It is eMedia alone who has disrupted those arrangements in pursuit of its own commercial interests."

The SABC in response to a media query told TVwithThinus "the SABC will not be pressurised to use public funds to finance private third parties for sports rights".

"The SABC remains committed to broadcasting sports of national interest."

The SABC said it had acquired the rights for the Olympics games directly from the rights holder, International Olympics Committee in 2017 and will show the upcoming 2024 Olympic Games on the SABC TV channels.

ALSO READ: SABC backtracks on promises to broadcast Springbok Test rugby, cites ongoing Competition Appeal Court case over SuperSport sublicensing rights.

e.tv takes SuperSport to court over SABC's sublicensed Rugby World Cup TV rights.

by Thinus Ferreira

A court scrum is coming with eMedia Holdings, parent company of e.tv, which is taking SuperSport to court over the inability of its Openview service to show the 2023 Rugby World Cup free on its satellite TV service, after the SABC acquired the sublicensing rights for R57 million.

While MultiChoice and SuperSport years ago acquired the licensing rights for the current 2023 Rugby World shown on SuperSport channels to DStv subscribers, the SABC - with days to spare - last month paid R57 million to SuperSport to acquire the sublicensing rights to show 16 matches of the 48 matches on its SABC TV channels.

While MultiChoice and SuperSport have its own Rugby World Cup sponsors, the SABC - which made another annual loss of R1.13 billion and doesn't have money to pay for the rights - managed to cobble together its own sponsors at short notice like South African Breweries (SAB), Hollywoodbets and insurer Pineapple, to pony up the R57 million to sublicence the sports rights.

The SABC TV channels which are available freely, are also carried on the satellite TV services of MultiChoice's DStv, StarTimes Media SA's StarSat, as well as eMedia's Openview.

The issue is this: MultiChoice is preventing the SABC from showing the Rugby World Cup matches it had acquired from SuperSport, on the versions of the SABC's TV channels carried on Openview.

While SABC2 on DStv will, for instance, show the Rugby World Cup match between the Springboks and Tonga, the SABC is forced to substitute it with other filler programming for the version of SABC2 shown on Openview, since Openview is a direct competitor to MultiChoice.

MultiChoice argues that it doesn't want content that it had to bid and pay for to be available for free - especially not on a competing satellite TV service. 

eMedia argues that the SABC is a public broadcaster and that content on its TV channels should be the same everywhere and be accessible as widely as possible and to all South Africans irrespective of the distribution platform.

After threatening to do so in two acrimonious letters sent last month to MultiChoice that eMedia also made public and gave to the media, eMedia has now lodged papers in the high court and has announced its decision to sue MultiChoice and SuperSport.

eMedia paid for three expensive black-and-white full-page ads in the Sunday Times, Rapport and City Press newspapers respectively. 

In the form of a poem, eMedia in the full-page ad published in Sunday, states that "The court is engaged, the court will decide if digitally migrated Openview homes will get to the Rugby World Cup. The court will decide if Openview homes, who must pay TV licences, get to see the Rugby World Cup on SABC2".

Khalik Sherrif, eMedia CEO, in a statement said "The anticompetitive action is nothing short of domination in trying to prescribe to the free-to-air partner on how to use its broadcasting rights".

"We believe the action should be strongly condemned and opposed. The 3.2 million households which have been affected by the decision should voice their dissatisfaction."

MultiChoice told TVwithThinus in a statement "We are in receipt of the application served on us by eMedia. We consider the application to be without merit and have notified eMedia of our intention to oppose it".

Satellite TV cold war

The frosty relationship between the Hyde Park-based eMedia and the Randburg-based MultiChoice steadily soured over the past decade as it steadily built to an all-out TV war.

The relationship between eMedia and MultiChoice frayed due to eMedia's own growing multi-channel content aspirations which led to its creation of Openview, as well as increasingly contentious channel carriage renewal deals for the eNCA (DStv 403) TV news channel and later other e.tv-packaged TV channels offered to DStv.

In a drawn-out case at the Competition Commission, e.tv's additional TV channels remain available on MultiChoice's DStv which the pay-TV operator wanted to axe at the end of March 2022.

MultiChoice wanted to get rid of eMedia's eMovies (DStv 138), eMovies Extra (DStv 140), eExtra (DStv 195) and eToonz (DStv 311) TV channels but in August the Competition Appeal Court granted yet another extension for e.tv's channels to remain on DStv for the time being.

MultiChoice was again ordered to keep the four TV channels on DStv until the conclusion of the Competition Tribunal's latest decision on case.

eMedia to enter South Africa's pay-TV market in 2023 competing against MultiChoice and StarTimes, will roll out new Openview decoder, Android box and build VFX studio.

by Thinus Ferreira

Sixteen years after it was awarded a licence in mid-2007 to start a subscription television service, eMedia finally plans to enter South Africa's pay-TV market in 2023 where it will more directly compete against MultiChoice and China's StarTimes operating as StarSat.

Besides competing with MultiChoice in the pay-TV market from 2023, eMedia plans to roll out a new, "smarter" Openview decoder, a new Android box, and to construct a new state-of-the-art visual special effects studio at its Hyde Park precinct in Johannesburg.

In its just-released integrated annual report for 2022, eMedia Holdings CEO Khalik Sherrif  reveals that the group has plans to finally enter the country's lucrative pay-TV space.

eMedia Holdings already runs South Africa's sole free-to-air commercial TV channel e.tv, the TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403) on pay-TV, the streaming service eVOD, the free-to-air satellite service Openview and owns support and production spaces like Sasani Studios, Cape Town Film Studios, Moonlighting Films and Media Film Service.

"The 2023 year will also see the group enter the pay television market," Khalik Sherrif notes on page 11 of the report. 

In response to a media query asking about its pay-TV plans and what it would entail, eMedia told TVwithThinus on Monday morning that "eMedia definitely has plans to venture into the pay-TV space".

"It's still early stages so we cannot say too much yet for competitive reasons. As soon as we are closer and in a position to share detail we will," a spokesperson said.

In 2007, eMedia under the header e.Sat was one of the successful applicants of a pay-TV licence from the South African broadcasting regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).

eMedia however decided against launching its own satellite pay-TV service, opting to become a TV channel supplier to existing pay-TV services instead, fearing that it would be too difficult and financially draining to launch its own pay-TV service given that Icasa handed out multiple other pay-TV service licences.

eMedia has been supplying pay-TV channels like eNCA to MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service since 2008, while it signed channel carriage agreements for various permutations of its other e.tv-packaged channels with MultiChoice and StarTimes over the past couple of years.

With the longtime frosty relation between Hyde Park and Randburg that further sourced this year when MultiChoice decided to drop and end the channels carriage agreement for a litany of e.tv-supplied TV channels on DStv - a case that ended up before South Africa's Competition Tribunal - eMedia is now clearly adamant to pursue a strategy of creating and funnelling it own pay-TV content directly to consumers.

eMedia already launched its own over-the-top (OTT) video streaming service, eVOD , in August 2021 as well as its eOriginals production banner, while its Openview satellite service continues to grow.

The e.tv-packaged TV channels like eExtra, eMovies Extra and eReality (rebranded as eXposed) - while they were available on MultiChoice's DStv and Openview simultaneously - have been ranking in the top 15-list of all satellite TV-channels available in South Africa regarding audience share, likely providing incentive for eMedia's plan to make a bigger push into pay-TV.

With eVOD already competing for consumer screentime, advertising income and subscriber numbers and revenue against the likes of MultiChoice's streamer Showmax and StarTimes's StarTimes ON, eMedia's plan to enter the pay television market will move eMedia into the crosshairs of these existing local players.

With the free-to-air Openview division already representing 21.9% of the group's advertising revenue, amounting to R468.1 million for the past financial year, and with eVOD that racked up 461 611 subscribers in less than a year, it's understandable that eMedia wants to see if it can derive more revenue from pay-TV content as well.  

2023: Smarter Openview STB, new Android box, VFX studio

Openview is close to reaching the 3 million mark for activated households across Southern African countries (2 774 454 activations by the end of March this year), while eMedia signed a channel carriage extension with MultiChoice to keep eNCA as a DStv exclusive news channel for another 5 years.

The group plans to invest another R100 million in local, original content development spend in eOriginals for eVOD and e.tv, with Openview that plans to launch another TV channel to its existing bouquet in October this year.

In the 2023 financial year eMedia also plans to launch "a new smarter set-top box which which include built-in Wi-Fi and the capability for the group to be innovative with advertising revenue," Khalik Sherrif says in the annual report.

eMedia is also working on "a new Android box which will hopefully hit the market in the second half of the 2023 calendar year".

eMedia will also start construction of a new state-of-the-art visual special effects studio at its Hyde Park precinct in Johannesburg.

"This will further enhance the already premium local content to a level that will compete with international players," the group says.

"The group is forging ahead with numerous technology advances and strategic planning to continue to be the audience share market leader. The investment in Openview provides the group with the strategic flexibility and is the plan to address the challenges of the transition that digital migration brings with it."

South Africa's TV ratings set to tank in suddenly rushed digital migration plan: TAMS and e.tv warn millions of TV households will be wiped away and lose access, severely damaging TV biz and advertisers.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's TV ratings are set to tank. 

That's the stark warning from the custodian body of South Africa's TAMS TV ratings system, as well as e.tv, raising red flags over the government's suddenly rushed plan to complete its long-delayed digital TV migration plan to switch off all analogue signal transmitters by February 2022.

This suddenly rushed plan will leave millions of TV households without any television access, will severely damage the entire South African TV ecosystem, advertisers, cause TV ratings to crater while it leaves millions of viewers without access to television news content.

On Tuesday, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, South Africa's latest minister of communications and digital technologies, announced the latest amended rushed plan to flip the kill switch on all remaining analogue signal transmitters in the country's 9 provinces within the next 3 months.

eMedia Holdings that says the plan is not practical and extremely damaging, has now filed papers in the High Court to attempt to stop Khumbudzo Ntshavheni's latest digital terrestrial television (DTT) plan for a 31 January 2022 hard switch-off of analogue signals.

Although the South African government more than a decade ago promised that analogue TV signals in South Africa won't be switched off before all TV households haven't been switched over to digital terrestrial television (DTT), the government will now take television reception away from millions of TV households in South Africa.

These viewers will no longer be able to watch or listen to any content on any SABC TV channels or radio stations, e.tv, or community TV stations in the country as they lose analogue TV signals but don't yet have the means of receiving digital TV signals.

These millions of TV households are part of South Africa's TV ratings system that TV channels use to set advertising rates according to TAMS viewership figures. The result is that these TV households will disappear in large swathes when analogue signals are turned off.

Millions of South African TV households still watch television using analogue TV signals and haven't bought digitally-capable TV sets, or are poor households that haven't received the free government-subsidised set-top box (STV) for DTT because of corruption and incompetence, industry-in-fighting and ongoing delays in the country's digital migration process that had severely hampered and delayed the process for a decade and a half.

Over the past decade, TVwithThinus had reported numerous times - as lately as March this year - about the looming danger that analogue transmitters in South Africa will be switched off before all TV households have been migrated that will inflict massive damage on free-to-air broadcasters who depend on ratings and advertising revenue, advertisers, as well as the TV ratings system.

Analogue signal hard kill: Millions of viewers left in the dark

Khalik Sherrif, Media Holdings CEO, in an interview on eNCA (DStv 403), said Media and e.tv don't agree with the suddenly changed and rushed plan to switch off all analogue TV signals by the end of March 2022 "because we don't believe it's achievable at all".

"Analogue switch-off must happen," he said, "but in the way it's being rushed now, it is absolutely unachievable to do this by January 2022." 

He said there's an STB shortage with decoders that are not available, there's a microchip shortage around the world in all industries depending on chipsets, and that there are big questions around the logistics on installations.

"How is it going to be done? 5.6 million TV households in this country rely on analogue transmission," Khalik Sherrif said. "You need to do 500 000 boxes a month to meet the January deadline. It's not going to happen. Absolutely not." He said that eMedia's plan and suggested for the government's amended DTT plan has not been heard.

"This is an absolute problem for the country. There are people who are going to be left in the dark. There's going to be no television available to many millions of households and that's the problem."

He said that "more than 50% of people in this country watching television are watching it through analogue. 

SA's TV ratings: Warning of severe impact

Gary Whitaker, Broadcast Research Council of South Africa (BRCSA) CEO, warned that South Africa's TV population will decline and that the country's TV ratings will tank if analogue signals are switched off before all viewers have migrated, with massive implications for the TV industry and advertisers. 

South Africa's TV universe is roughly 15.9 million TV households.

The passive TV households forming part of the TAMS panel are just over 3000 TV households that represent the almost 16 million TV households in the country. 

TAMS also measures analogue TV viewing, with 28% of the households in the TAMS panel who are analogue viewers and who represent 5.6 million TV households.

"TAMS reflects what is actually happening in the market. If analogue signals go off, anyone in our panel that loses their signal, we don't throw them out of our panel - they stay on - and they get measured as nil viewing. Zero viewing. Their viewership cannot be traded as a currency. The broadcasters cannot make money."

Gary Whitaker said that "the deadline as it stands now - we know that's there's going to be a severe impact on free-to-air channels".

He said that if there is a hard switch-off of analogue transmitters in South Africa wiping away millions of viewers "we have to abide by what's happening in the market and we will be agile as far as we can. If there is a switch-off by March 2022 that's when we will enact our plan to establish a new TV universe that will take into consideration fewer TV viewers. The TV population will decline." 

DTT: Free-to-air broadcasting in jeopardy

Khalik Sherrif said that the government's plan for a sudden hard switch-off of analogue signals within months will have a massive negative impact on free-to-air broadcasters like community TV stations, the SABC, e.tv and others.

"Free-to-air broadcasters make their money from advertising. Now you switch off everybody on a date. Hard switch-off. Viewers won't be measured. Advertisers will be disappointed. Marketers will pull away. Free-to-air broadcasting in the country stands in jeopardy because we lose our businesses," Khalik Sherrif said.

He said there must be a planned approach with Media suggesting a timeframe of 15 to 18 months - not 5 months.

Khalik Sheriff said that it's not just eMedia that will be impacted but all of free-to-air broadcasting in South Africa. "What is the recourse? We have to go to the court. There's no other way. We're definitely not partnering with the department of communications on this matter".

In the court affidavit eMedia filed in court, Antonio Lee, eMedia COO, states that "very recent events have raised alarm bells regarding the process that the minister and Icasa intend to follow to achieve analogue switch-off".

"The so-called 'fast-tracking of digital migration at a 'rapid speed' - without the preconditions for a lawful digital migration process having been achieved - fundamentally threatens e.tv's ability to continue to reach the majority of its audience".

"It also threatens the rights of the public to have access to free-to-air television from either the SABC or e.tv - both of which use analogue spectrum for the purposes of broadcasting their programmes."

"Around 23.5 million viewers in South Africa watch e.tv on average each month. This equates to approximately 6.7 million households in which e.tv is viewed."

"Given than 58% of these households are dependent on the analogue broadcasting of e.tv's news and programming, an analogue switch-off would deny some 13.6 million viewers in South Africa the opportunity to view the broadcasting of the only source of free-to-air independent television news and information programming."

"Many of these viewers are among those who do not have sufficient economic resources to afford digital subscription platforms such as DStv, and who cannot afford to purchase sufficient data to stream news and programming via mobile networks."

"To comply with constitutional obligations and public promises, before digital migration can be completed, the government must ensure that these 13.6 million viewers are provided with the necessary equipment, be it set-top boxes and/or reception devices, to continue to receive these broadcasts."

"e.tv has calculated that an additional 3.9 million set-top boxes are still to be provided to its viewers to achieve this purpose."

ALSO READ: South Africa's TV ratings system and broadcasters risk damage in new monthly analogue TV hard switch-off approach as signal transmitters are shut down in provinces before all viewers have switched to DTT or received set-top boxes.

ALSO READ: e.tv and the SABC silent over the drop-off danger and the threat of disappearing audiences in South Africa's digital terrestrial TV switch-over.

ALSO READ: South Africa's government now ready to leave millions of poor analogue TV households behind in long-delayed digital migration switch that that gets yet another revised deadline of March 2022 for completion.

ALSO READ: SA'S DIGITAL TV SHOCKER: The 'secret' R800 South Africa's TV viewers don't know they'll have to pay just to keep watching their free television.

e.tv and VIU to court over streaming rights contract for Scandal! and Imbewu after online piracy fight.

by Thinus Ferreira

e.tv and VIU are squaring off in court today with the free-to-air commercial broadcaster and the foreign video streaming service operating in South Africa that are fighting over piracy claims that led to an alleged breach of the R38 million content licensing contract for streaming.

VIU an over-the-top (OTT) streaming service, trading as PWWC Vuclip PTE Ltd, applied for an urgent court interdict in the Johannesburg High Court in a case that will be heard on Tuesday, 17 August, demanding that eMedia stops streaming e.tv's own soaps Scandal! and Imbewu on its own, just-launched video streaming service eVOD.

e.tv launched eVOD a week and a half ago but before that licensed the streaming rights of shows like Rhythm City, Scandal! and Imbewu to VIU. 

Box set episodes from season 14 of Rhythm City, season 3 and 4 of Imbewu, as well as seasons 18 and 19 of Scandal! are still available on VIU but e.tv has halted sending VIU any new further episodes or any new e.tv content.

At eVOD's media launch when TVwithThinus asked e.tv if its content will still be available on VIU, the broadcaster said that its existing shows of which Catch Up rights have been licensed to MultiChoice's DStv Now will remain accessible on that pay-TV provider's streaming service but that e.tv's content is no longer available on VIU and is being moved to eVOD.

"As our contractual obligations ride themselves out, we're consolidating our content on our OTT service which is the logical thing to do," Khalik Sherrif, eMedia Holdings CEO, said.

Sunday World reported that according to the court papers filed by VIU, the streaming service says that it acquired the exclusive streaming rights from e.tv for Scandal! and Imbewu for over R37 million on 31 December 2019 as part of a content licensing agreement that is supposed to run until 2024.

According to the terms of the contract VIU is supposed to get the back catalogue of library episodes from the series older than a year, as well as the latest episodes that collectively contributes to 20% or one-fifth of the overall revenue that VIU makes in South Africa.

Ryan Solovei, country manager and co-founder of VIU Africa, claims that e.tv allegedly abruptly cancelled the streaming content licensing contracts with VIU, after eMedia discovered that another platform, Philosopher App, was uploading pirated copies of Scandal! and Imbewu to a type of online streaming platform called Philosopher: Stream Mzansi SA Soapies.

According to Ryan Solovei, e.tv allegedly accused VIU of colluding in the piracy of e.tv's content and cancelled the content licensing deals, damaging VIU that is allegedly suffering financial harm.

"The ineluctable conclusion is that e.tv engineered a contrived cancellation of Vuclip's licensing agreements to gain access to exclusive content, which was exclusively licensed to Vuclip, but which e.tv wished to broadcast on its own platform," the court documents state.

e.tv told TVwithThinus that it stopped funneling content to VIU due to piracy concerns, that Scandal! and Imbewu is e.tv's content and confirmed that there is a case pending.

"eMedia can confirm that we are aware of the pending case and allegations made by VIU," e.tv said in response to a media enquiry.

"eMedia had a licensing agreement in place with VIU to stream the eMedia owned-programmes Scandal! and Imbewu, which it recently terminated due to piracy concerns."

"We have a responsibility to safeguard the intellectual property and integrity of our programming content, and we are acting in the best interest of all our stakeholders. Piracy threatens the livelihoods of many and we have a duty to act against it."

Ryan Solovei didn't respond to a media enquiry at the time of publishing and comment will be added here if received.

Why eMedia changed the name before launch of its video streaming service from Openview Plus to eVOD.

by Thinus Ferreira

eMedia originally started out with the plan last year to launch e.tv's video streaming service under the brand name of Openview+ but changed it some months before it launched last week to eVOD to avoid confusion with Openview and to make a clear distinction that eVOD is its own service and not an add-on or "plus"-extension of its existing Openview satellite TV service.

Last week eMedia Investments launched eVOD as e.tv's homegrown,"freemium" video streaming service, filled with content from its existing and expanding linear e.tv channels set.

e.tv plans to invest R100 million per year to produce 10 eOriginal films and 4 eOriginal TV series annually that will be made available on eVOD first before broadcast to drive sampling and uptake of its streamer.

eVOD joins a crowded video streaming services field in South Africa with ITV Studios and the BBC's BritBox SA that also launched last week, and the existing Showmax from MultiChoice, Netflix SA, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, PCCW Media's VIU, Vodacom Video Play and TelkomONE. 

The SABC, far behind in the streaming race, plans to launch its own video streamer, modelled after the BBC's iPlayer, before the end of the current financial year and South African consumers are still waiting for other global streamers like WarnerMedia's HBO Max, along with Disney+, Paramount+, NBCUniversal's Peacock and Discovery+ to launch locally.

Last year, Khalik Sherrif, eMedia Investments CEO, in his CEO report in the 2020 eMedia Holdings annual report, told investors that "by October 2020 the group will launch its own over-the-top (OTT) offering called Openview Plus".

That was the first time that e.tv confirmed that it was working on a video streaming service, and the first time it got a name: Openview+. By May this year eMedia had decided to change the name from Openview+ to eVOD after it had to push out and missed the planned launch date of October 2020.

In its annual financial results for the year that ended 31 March 2021, released in May, eMedia now said that "The new financial year will also see the launch of the group's over-the-top (OTT) service eVOD in July 2021".

TVwithThinus asked Khalik Sherrif about the name change from Openview Plus to eVOD during the virtual Q&A session that e.tv held last week for eVOD.

"Openview remains Openview. Openview is our service of almost 20 channels that's part of our free direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV service. Nothing happens to Openview, it doesn't change its name".

"Openview is the biggest thing to happen in free television in South Africa - we have 2.5 million households in South Africa and growing with a reach of more than 45 000 a month. Openview has some of the best channels in the country - the leading channels on satellite TV come from Openview - eExtra, eMovies."

"This is DTH on satellite. This is a new totally new business. It's not a name change, it's a game change. It's eVOD. This is OTT. This it the eMedia group coming to you on analogue, DTH, DTT and now on OTT. So Openview and eVOD are very separate businesses."

"We think that today Openview is flying but that in a few years eVOD will be our number one," Khalik Sherrif said. 

ALSO READ: e.tv launches its eVOD video streaming service.

ALSO READ: e.tv to launch its video streamer eVOD in July.

ALSO READ: eMedia Investments to launch Openview Plus as streaming service, Openview Connect as a new broadband internet service.

e.tv launches its eVOD video streaming service.

by Thinus Ferreira

e.tv has launched the South African broadcaster's homegrown video streaming service, eVOD (e-Video-On-Demand) as a so-called freemium streamer with over 2 500 hours of content at launch, including different premium subscription tiers for exclusive content.

e.tv plans to spend at least R100 million per year on creating brand-new local content for eVOD that will include 4 eOriginal series and 10 original South African feature films, and the plan is to add the streaming of live linear TV channels on eVOD in the future.

As e.tv is a free-to-air commercial broadcaster, eVOD offers thousands of hours of free library content that is available after a customer registers an eVOD profile.

eVOD also offers daily (R5 for 24 hours), weekly (R15) and monthly (R29.99) subscriptions, giving a viewer access to all content and offering more exclusive content including a first-run eOriginal movie, and access to the next week's 5 episodes of e.tv's top local prime soaps and telenovelas in a functionality called FastForward (FF).

eVOD subscribers can for instance watch the first episode of the new local drama series Is'phindiselo before broadcast, as well as Atlantis, the first eVOD Original movie in which a young woman sets out to find her missing brother involved in a gang and starring Bronte Snel, Maurice Carpede, Chumani Pan, Keenan Arrison and Ettienne Gertse.

eVOD customers can pay with debit or credit cards, airtime or partner billing with e.tv that has partnered with MTN and with MTN customers who register for eVOD who get 4GB data free monthly until 31 January 2022 that can only be used to watch eVOD content.

eVOD is available to download as an app for mobile devices on the Google Play and Apple's App Store, and is online at www.evod.co.za as a browser experience for computers. 

e.tv's existing "e On Demand" website service where people could watch Catch Up episodes of shows, will now redirect users to the eVOD website.

eVOD launches in South Africa just a day before BritBox SA that is launching on 6 August with the country that is adding two new video streaming services in an already crowded video-on-demand space and where the South African public broadcaster plans to launch its own SABC VOD service, modelled on the BBC's Player, before the end of the year.

Besides eVOD and BritBox SA, South African consumers already have access to MultiChoice's Showmax, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+ that are all competing with PCCW Media's VIU, Vodacom Video Play and TelkomONE. 

Consumers are still waiting for other global streamers like WarnerMedia's HBO Max, along with Disney+, Paramount+, NBCUniversal's Peacock and Discovery+ to launch locally.

"We decided to meet our audience in places where they will be at - so if not on the TV set, on the mobile, or on the PC, and eventually they will get the eVOD content again on TV," said Khalik Sherrif, eMedia Holdings CEO, the eVOD virtual launch event on Wednesday night.

"We have a huge following in South Africa through e.tv and all the other TV channels and we understand in our business that our customers and audiences are changing on a daily basis these days, getting content through means that we didn't conceive of 10 years ago - the TV has evolved from analogue to DTH to DTT and the last couple of years we went to OTT."

Multiple new eOriginal series, films planned

Marlon Davids, e.tv managing director said that "the investment in the local broadcasting industry will be R100 million per year - that's what our investment is going to be - and it will include at least 4 eOriginal series for eVOD, as well as at least 10 local movies per year".

"Atlantis is available to watch on eVOD and up until the end of March 2022 next year we will launch another 4 movies, and possibly 2 more. In a full financial year there will always be 10 movies that we will launch."

Excluding Atlantis that is already on eVOD, the other eOriginal films will be available on a T-VOD basis on eVOD as a transactional video-on-demand offering.

"This means that eVOD users will pay a to-be-determined once-off fee to watch a movie because it won't be available on TV or in cinemas and will be territory premieres," Marlon Davids said. The price for T-VOD films has not been decided yet.

"A big part of eVOD will be Catch Up, so users will be able to watch last night's episode of series like Durban Gen or House of Zwide or even the Turkish telenovelas dubbed into Afrikaans."

"In that space we know that viewers are obsessed with those shows like Gebroke Harte, so we will also offer FastForward for Elif to see the next 5 episodes that will still be broadcast on the eExtra channel."

"Also some of these Turkish drama series that haven't been on e.tv channels before will now premiere on eVOD even before it goes to one of our linear TV channels."

"After Is'phindiselo our 13-part series that has already been renewed for a second 13-episode season, we will launch another one towards mid-September called Housewives, that is in production."

Plan to move e.tv content to eVOD

e.tv told TVwithThinus that its existing shows like soaps of which Catch Up rights have been licensed to MultiChoice's DStv Now will remain accessible on that pay-TV provider's streaming service but e.tv's content is no longer available on VIU and has been moved to eVOD.

"As our contractual obligations ride themselves out, we're consolidating our content on our OTT service which is the logical thing to do," Khalik Sherrif said.

"We are introducing what is the mass audience of South Africa to content that is now going to be streamed. As data becomes cheaper, the numbers will grow. But we had to be in this business. We had to start somewhere."

eMedia Investments to launch Openview Plus as streaming service, Openview Connect as a new broadband internet service.

by Thinus Ferreira

Seven years since it launched as a free-to-air service, e.tv now plans to extend its Openview satellite-TV service and to launch Openview Plus in October this year as a video streaming service in South Africa, as well Openview Connect within a few months as a new internet broadband service for consumers.

Openview Plus will carry eMedia's Openview channels and content as a direct-to-consumer offering funneled through the internet, and will very likely be available as a bundled-offer together with Openview Connect that eMedia plans to launch as a new broadband connection service.

No specific launch date for Openview Plus is known, nor pricing, but eMedia Investments wants to expand and augment its existing Openview satellite-TV footprint as soon as possible into the streaming service arena where it will compete with the likes of MultiChoice's Showmax, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Vodacom's Video Play and some smaller services like VIU that are all available in South Africa.

After launching Openview in 2013, eMedia and e.tv now want to get into and carve out a space in the still small but rapidly growing video streaming consumer market in South Africa, before the already overcrowded market becomes even more congested with offerings.

Several others international streamers like ViacomCBS Networks' Paramount+, Disney's Disney+, and WarnerMedia's HBO Max are not yet available in South Africa but are likely to launch and join the OTT fold in time.

While South Africa's public broadcaster hasn't launched an OTT service for the SABC but likely will in future similar to the BBC's iPlayer, MultiChoice just launched Showmax Pro as an upsell-offering that bundles Showmax with SuperSport content, and plans to offer streamers like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video on its new DStv Explora Ultra decoder.

Khalik Sherrif, eMedia Investments CEO, says in his CEO report in the latest 2020 eMedia Holdings annual report that "by October 2020 the group will launch its own over-the-top (OTT) offering called Openview Plus".

According to Khalik Sherrif, "Work on this offering is happening in earnest as this report is published".

The Openview satellite-TV service that is now available in 2 million TV households across Southern Africa carries self-packaged channels besides e.tv like eExtra, eMovies, eMovies Extra, eToonz, eReality, eRewind and eAfrica with channel carriage agreements for some of channels that are also available on the platforms of pay-TV operators like DStv and StarSat as the South African branded affiliate of China's StarTimes.

Some e.tv content are also licensed to the VIU streaming service which will become a direct rival for Openview Plus, and it's not clear how launching Openview Plus might affect that content availability, with eMedia that might elect to keep its premium locally-produced soaps and series for itself.

It's also not clear whether Openview Plus will be a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) model where users will have to pay to watch, or if it will go the advertiser-funded "freemium" route of NBCUniversal's just-launched Peacock streaming service in America where consumers have to watch a number of adverts per hour.

About its plans to launch Openview Connect as a new broadband internet service - a utility service that will help to carry and funnel its Openview Plus as a content service - Khalik Sherrif says it will expand eMedia's technology offering and target South African households that don't have internet fibre connections yet.

"Openview Connect will be an advancement in the technology-based offerings of the group. Openview Connect is set to launch in the next few months," says Khalik Sherrif. "The target market
for this offering is homes in South Africa that have no access to fibre as yet."

On Monday TVwithThinus asked eMedia in a media enquiry to please shed some more light on Openview Plus, what it is and will entail, confirmation of the October launch date, whether it will duplicate and mirror the existing satellite-TV Openview, and what it might offer additionally.

eMedia's marketing and publicity executives didn't respond with any answers.

Gareth Cliff in a second TV talk show try will host So What Now? in new e.tv primetime talker.

by Thinus Ferreira

Gareth Cliff is making a TV return 4 years after he was cut loose as a judge from M-Net's Idols and will now be the presenter of a new talk show, So What Now? that will start on Wednesday 17 June at 20:30 on e.tv.

Before he became an Idols judge first seen on M-Net (DStv 101) and later the Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) channel, Gareth Cliff did the topical The Gareth Cliff Show in 2009 with the local talk show that was cancelled after its first season.

In 2014 ViacomCBS Networks Africa added The Gareth Cliff Show Live on its Comedy Central (DStv 122) channel as a simulcast radio-on-TV broadcast that was a visual showing of the weekday breakfast broadcast of Cliff's CliffCentral media outfit.

e.tv say that in his new second TV talk show, Gareth Cliff will "talk to influential thought leaders, opinion-makers, and unheard voices about current affairs in South Africa and beyond".

Khalik Sherrif, eMedia Investments CEO, says in a statement that "eMedia wants to ensure that it remains definitive with outstanding, entertaining, and informative programming".

"The inclusion of personalities such as Gareth Cliff will ensure that difficult conversations will be had, no matter how provocative it seems at the outset. With Gareth and Devi Sankaree Govender joining us, we are moving towards the narrative of being more informative, more thought-provoking, and more challenging."

Khalik Sherrif in aspirational and first public speech as new eMedia CEO says e.tv's free-to-air satellite TV service Openview is transitioning 'from the outbuilding to the main house'.

In his first public speech as new CEO of eMedia Investments, Khalik Sherrif says e.tv's rebranded and fast-growing free-to-air digital satellite TV service, Openview, is moving to the "main house", shedding its image as a TV service just for domestic workers and granny.

In a fiery and aspirational public speech at the exclusive black tie launch event of Openview's new TV commercial, Khalik Sherrif who took over as new eMedia CEO since the beginning of this month, weighed in on Openview's growth, future prospects and ambitions, and the platform's role in South Africa switch from analogue to digital terrestrial television (DTT) - a process known as digital migration.

The experienced veteran TV executive who has been with eMedia for over 15 years, started with an anecdote of how e.tv that in October celebrated two decades of broadcasting in the country, helped to change and shape the South African television landscape.

"When e.tv started, nobody gave us a chance. Twenty years ago they said, 'What do those guys know about TV? Who are they? They are not going to last?' Twenty years later we are still here and we are growing because we dared to be different over all those years."

"When all of you grew up watching the TV news at 20:00 on the SABC, there came these little fellas and they said 'South Africa, stop. Don't watch your news at 20:00 anymore, watch your news at 19:00. And we moved the whole nation."

"When we put our eNews at 19:00 so many years ago, everybody else put the news at 19:00. Do you know why they did that? Because we said 'Watch the news on e.tv at 19:00 because by 20:00 it's history' and they came along to join us at 19:00."

About digital terrestrial TV migration - the switch from analogue to digital TV in South Africa, Khalik Sherrif said "8 million South African TV households have already been migrated - 6.5 million on DStv and 1.5 million on Openview."

"South Africa has 14 million TV households which means that another 5.5 million TV households still need to be migrated."

"We had a meeting with the department of communications, saying 'We will help you to get to the other 5.5 million'. The department of communications will give R400 per household that can't afford to buy a set-top box (STB), and they will go out to the market, and they will buy a box."

"The department of communications has 500 000 more STB to sell and they're not manufacturing any more. They will buy a box and they will buy Openview. Why? Because for the first time in the South African landscape there is world-class television in high definition (HD), for free," said Khalik Sherrif.

"People in South Africa will buy a STB at any of the retailers for about R400 and will then have world-class television - 20 channels on Openview at the moment; all of the SABC - SABC1, SABC2, SABC3, and all of e.tv - and e.tv isn't just one channel any more."

"There is eMovies, there is eExtra, eReality, there's OpenNews, there's Star Life, there are plenty of them," said Khalik Sherrif, "with Openview growing at 30 000 to 35 000 box activations per month."

Openview: Transitioning from the outbuilding to the main house
"We started Openview on this premise: When the government was pushing digital television to us, the little fellas in Hyde Park realised the following - that we need to own some property in the TV space," said Khalik Sherrif.

"The SABC is the public broadcaster. MultiChoice has their property in Randburg which is the DStv decoder. What do we do? If MultiChoice is fed up of us one day and kicks us out, where do we take our channels? If we maybe don't like the [government-supplied] DTT [STB] performance because it's inferior and standard definition and not high definition, what do we do?"

"So we decided 5 years ago, let's launch our own little thing. We started it with OpenView HD, and now it's Openview.  Let me tell you, when we started it, we made some mistakes. We made some mistakes," said Khalik Sherrif.

"And the mistake we made is that we positioned it for the outbuilding. We didn't think about it really. People were buying it for the outside house. If it was not for the helpers, it was for granny. Today you are witnessing the transition of Openview from the outbuilding to the main house - that's where we belong," said Khalif Sherrif.

"Mark my words: Openview is going to be the biggest thing in South African television. Why do I so confidently say this? Because throughout the world, traditional pay-TV is declining. Free-to-air television viewing is increasing."

"If you visit the United Kingdom, you'll know that the most popular medium of receiving television is Freeview - not Sky, not BT. Freeview. Why is this so?"

"While a lot of people are lucky enough to be able to afford pay-TV, they're not watching it because they're watching Netflix. We're streaming this; we're getting Amazon Prime Video. So you're viewership of traditional pay-TV is declining and you're viewership of Netflix is increasing."

"And as that happens, people are coming to the realisation of 'What am I really paying them for? I'm not watching them anymore?' And when you seize to pay them, when you stop paying for television, you know what will happen? You won't throw away your TV set because your lounge suite has to face somewhere," said Khalik Sherrif.

"The TV set belongs in the lounge and when you stop paying for TV and your TV set is not receiving pay-TV anymore, your TV set will receive something else - it will receive Netflix, it will receive Amazon, it will receive Google. It will receive Apple. It will receive Facebook."

"But you will also need to know the local news, you will also need to catch up with the local TV soapies, you will also need to know the local gossip, so you will have Openview. Don't say to anybody I didn't tell you," Khalik Sherriff concluded.