The shutdown of the embattled Econet keeps rippling as it abruptly shutters its whole Econet Media division which includes Kwesé iflix as latest victim.

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.

The debt-laden Econet that has not paid retrenched staffers their severance money and told them it doesn't know when it will be able to, has seen its Kwese TV pay-TV division abruptly shut down and placed into liquidation, its TV channels like Kwesé Free Sports abruptly go dark and off air without warning, and its Kwesé Play streaming service and Roku-device terminated.

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".

iflix dumps Africa, sells its last remaining share to Econet Group that will now run streaming video service Kwesé iflix alone.

The video streaming service iflix that has been struggling to get a foothold in Africa has finally dumped Africa to refocus on its Asia business, with the Malaysia-based business selling its last remaining share to the Econet Group that will now be running the former joint venture brand, Kwesé iflix, on its own.

Kwesé iflix operates in 8 African countries - Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zambia and Zimbabwe - with Econet planning to expand the service further.

iflix and Kwesé iflix provides regionalised access to live sport, entertainment, an assortment of local and international series and movies, and some first-to-market exclusive programming.

iflix entered sub-Saharan Africa in 2017, after it then decided to team up with Econet's Kwesé that has since run into financial problems of its own.

Econet's pay-TV division, Kwesé Media, acquired a stake in iflix in February 2018 to help create the Kwesé iflix brand that it will now operate on its own. The past few months iflix got cold feet and reduced its share until now completely getting out of Kwesé iflix.

In Africa Kwesé iflix competes with Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, as well as Naspers' streaming service Showmax run by the MultiChoice Group, with the MultiChoice Group that will be spun off and list separately during the first half of 2019.

"It has been an incredible journey and learning experience, launching our service in Africa. The acquisition by the Econet Group, our regional partner and Africa's leading broadcast network, is a significant milestone for the African business, and further reinforces iflix's commitment to our core markets in Asia, particularly Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines which continue to grow from strength to strength," says Mark Britt, iflix CEO and co-founder, in a statement.

Hardy Pemhiwa, CEO of Econet Global, says in the statement that "the conclusion of our acquisition of iflix Africa is a natural progression for our revised business strategy as a group, particularly the Kwesé business, which offers premium broadcasting services".

"With the immense growth and positive uptake of video-on-demand (VOD) and over-the-top (OTT) services across the continent, we believe connected services – particularly mobile – are the future of broadcasting in Africa."

Hardy Pemhiwa says Kwesé iflix's original programming portfolio of of homegrown content will hopefully expand as Kwesé iflix rolls out into more African countries.

"The recently launched Kwesé iflix original Nganya, of Kenyan origin, has already enjoyed immense success. We look forward to continuing this trajectory with the introduction of an impressive slate of original programming, with an exciting Tanzanian telenovela set to launch in February 2019".

Econet Media's Kwesé iflix plans to roll out more original African programming on its streaming service, starts with Kenya-set drama series, Nganya, to be followed by Tanzania telenovela and Nigerian docu-series.

With Econet Media shuttering its Kwesé TV satellite pay-TV service to focus on its iflix over-the-top (OTT) streaming service, iflix, is planning to roll out more original content for the service.

Kwesé iflix says its working on a programming slate of new localised, scripted drama series, raw docu-series, as well as pan-regional alternative news and live coverage in Africa.

Kwesé iflix has premiered its first Kwesé iflix Original series in Kenya, Nganya. This 13-episode series, produced by Kenya's Assignments Studios production company, is a gritty Swahili drama centred around the matatu business in Nairobi's Eastlands. 

"In a criminal underworld teeming with shady characters, our hapless matatu team soon find themselves tangled in a web of corruption and deceit," says Kwesé iflix. 

Four episodes of Nganya can be watched weekly for free, with Kwesé iflix users with VIP passes who can watch all 13 episodes immediately.

The Nganya Kenyan cast includes Maina wa Ndung’u, Mbeki Mwalimu, Isaac Kiarie, Peter Oruka, Jerry Mokua, Mwaura Bilal, Tim King’oo and Nice Githinji.

"We are thrilled to be launching Nganya on Kwesé iflix and offering viewers a different way of consuming local content, one that complements both traditional and current viewing habits, expanding opportunities for the Kenyan film industry to grow," says Jeremy K. Muli, Assignment Studios CEO.

Following the launch of Nganya, Kwesé iflix says it will release its Tanzanian telenovela, Nyavu, in December.

Kwesé iflix describes Nyavu as "a captivating love story filled with drama, deceit and traditions".

In Nigeria, Kwesé iflix will be launching a docu-series which will be released in early-2019. Kwesé iflix says it has also greenlit a number of projects to support content localisation and "homegrown talent".

"Our new original content offering underlines Kwesé iflix’s ambition to lead an entertainment revolution in the markets we serve in Africa," says Mayur Patel, Kwesé iflix CEO, in a statement.

"Deeply relevant, action-packed and with a local antagonists, our original slate pushes the limits. We are thrilled to work with local top tier industry players to offer our users some of the region's top entertainment franchises."

"We want to grow and establish Kwesé iflix as the new home for the region's most talented producers and actors."

Kwesé iflix is currently available in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zambia and Zimbabwe with operations expanding to Rwanda, Botswana, Lesotho and Malawi.

BREAKING. It's over for Econet Media's once-hot Kwesé TV: Kwesé pulls the plug on its satellite pay-TV ambitions as Kwesé branded sports and entertainment channels, most third-party channels scrapped, focus shifted to Kwesé Free Sports and Kwesé iflix, Kwesé Play streaming services.

Africa's latest satellite pay-TV upstart, Kwesé TV, is abruptly downsizing and ending its lofty direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV plans to focus on a single branded sports channel and its streaming services.

After rapidly burning through millions, with aggressive content and country presence expansion across sub-Saharan Africa the past three years only to become ensnared by multiple missed payments and cancelled content deals due to cash flow problems, Econet Media, a subsidiary of Econet Wireless, is downscaling its once-lofty plans for a satellite pay-TV service.

Kwesé TV is scrapping its self-packaged and branded Kwesé general entertainment channels, removing all Kwesé branded sports channels except for the Kwesé Free Sports channel, and also getting rid of the majority of third-party acquired TV channels on its Kwesé TV bouquet.

The truncated Kwesé TV will henceforth just carry some free-to-air (FTA) channels, some news channels and some faith-based channels for a small fee, with Kwesé TV that will no longer require monthly subscription fees. Kwesé TV subscribers who have prepaid will get a refund.

To stop the bleeding, Kwesé TV run by Econet Media president and CEO Joseph Hundah will now focus on the Kwesé Free Sports channel (KFS) and providing streaming services through its mobile video-on-demand (VOD) service Kwesé iflix and its over-the-top (OTT) video streaming Kwesé Play brands.

Kwesé Play carries streaming channels like Red Bull TV, NBA, YouTube, TED and Bloomberg financial news.

Econet Media will also keep its Kwesé Studios and will continue investments in developing its own original programming with the help of African producers.

In an internal memo to staffers, Joseph Hundah says "We will streamline our direct-to-home, satellite television service. This means we will reduce our third-party channels as well as remove our own Kwesé-branded sports and general entertainment channels except Kwesé Free Sports".

Staffers are told in the memo that "We are in the process of reviewing our operational structures across our markets, which may result in changes across various business units".

Econet Media rapidly expanded its satellite pay-TV business with a presence in 11 African markets, excluding South Africa, with a free-to-air presence across 27 countries and sub-licensing content - mostly sport - across 37 countries.

That rapid expansion however came at a big cost as Econet Media's Kwesé TV burned through cash, signing deals with ESPN and partnering with VICE Media, trying to establish a foothold in the fierce Africa pay-TV market.

For the past three years Econet Media's Kwesé TV splashed the cash in a satellite TV market dominated by Naspers' MultiChoice in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa; as well as China's aggressive StarTimes making major inroads throughout Africa and operating under the StarSat brand in South Africa.

Kwesé TV especially went hard with signing up sports rights to compete with MultiChoice's SuperSport, going as far as sub-licensing and partnering with community channels in South Africa like Soweto TV and 1KZN to show boxing matches and NBA, to try and lure viewers to its offering.

After the past year and a half during which it became evident that the burning hot Kwesé TV's wheels is starting to come off as details about scuppered deals and late payments emerged, Econet Media has now capitulated, and is reorganising to focus on streaming services.

The past few months Kwesé TV suddenly started dumping TV channels as deals with the FOX Networks Group and other channel distributors got scrapped and derailed, in addition to multiple missed payments and cancelled deals including for content from FIFA, UEFA, Formula One, EPL, ESPN, NBA and the beIN Media Group.

Kwesé Free Sports - a pan-African free-to-air channel available in 27 African countries, including in South Africa on eMedia Investments' Openview free-to-air satellite platform - will now remain one of Kwesé TV's three core services.

Kwesé Free Sports has been showing Premier League matches, NBA, various FIFA tournaments including the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia and leagues, NFL, AVIVA Premiership rugby as well as sport-themed magazine shows like ESPN's SportCenter.


'Changes will safeguard the success of our business'
In a statement to TVwithThinus in response to a media enquiry on Thursday afternoon about the shuttering of channels on Kwesé TV, Joseph Hundah says "We believe these changes will safeguard the future success of our business as we continue to make an indelible impact on Africa's media industry".

"The revised business strategy will also ensure that Kwesé TV continues to remain competitive within the industry."

"Refocusing our business offering across markets is a strategic move which aligns our business to OTT and video-on-demand trends which present significant growth opportunities for Kwesé. This renewed focus on digital services will see us provide new compelling offers for our customer’s enjoyment."

"Additionally, through the development of the Kwesé Studios content hub, Econet Media will now have a legitimate claim to being the home of African content, as we will now create a place where Africans can tell their own stories and shape their own narrative."

"Kwesé's entry into the market had a game changing impact on the media industry. With these changes, we believe Kwesé will continue to positively disrupt the industry for the benefit of African consumers, as we continue to provide affordable premium content through digital media services."

Econet Media says that as a consequence of the revised business model it is "reviewing its operational structures across all markets where Kwesé TV has presence which may result in changes to the company's various business units".