MultiChoice's latest crash of DStv Now didn't just paralyse its video streaming service - it also collapsed its communications with the media and the public, with MultiChoice that comes across as confused and looking terribly inept about how to respond to the press about it.
MultiChoice and its Connected Video division that was repeatedly asked for answers over the past few days, as well as who is available to talk about what happened and what is happening at the moment, doesn't want to talk about why its DStv Now video streaming service imploded and turned into DStv Not.
MultiChoice is seemingly under the mistaken belief that if it doesn't talk about its terrible and non-available service or when it has a big service interruption that there won't be media coverage, or that the media won't keep reporting on it if it deliberately stays quiet and doesn't answer questions about it.
MultiChoice takes customers' money but when it doesn't provide the service it promises in return - like when upgrades to DStv Now caused that service to unexpectedly crash - it doesn't take accountability and doesn't want to explain to its customers and the media exactly what happened and what is being done to fix and improve it.
Having a service interruption is one thing, but MultiChoice during and afterwards not wanting to talk about it reeks of an arrogant and dismissive attitude towards both its customers as well as the media.
After asking MultiChoice on Monday morning who the right person is to talk to (after multiple enquiries since DStv Now crashed on Sunday), Joe Heshu, MultiChoice's head of corporate affairs referred TVwithThinus to Richard Boorman, MultiChoice Connected Video's head of communications.
After reaching out to Richard Boorman, it took the whole of Monday to get a response at the end of the day, saying its best to speak to Joe Heshu.
If a company can't even decide internally who speaks to the media when there is a crisis or problem, what chance does the general public or the industry have to find and get the right, relevant person from a company to answer very basic questions about non-service?
MultiChoice's latest slogan for DStv is "feel every moment". When DStv Now broke - the 4th time that happened over the past month - the DStv Now blackout lasted for hours on Sunday and into Monday.
By not being open and more transparent, by not responding to the media's questions and by refusing to talk about it, MultiChoice added insult to injury - ensuring that its consumers paying for something they're not getting and the broader TV industry just wanting to know what is going on, are feeling every bad moment of MultiChoice's absence of agency when it comes to proper public communication as a company.
By not wanting to answer questions and being open and upfront with the press doing their job asking about what went wrong, by not explaining what is being done and when customers and South Africa's TV and media industry can expect something like DStv Now to be operational again, MultiChoice is doing itself a disservice, the industry a disservice, and adding additional damage to its brand reputation.
Instead of coming across as being able to handle a crisis and communicate during it, MultiChoice and its Connected Video division that runs DStv Now and Showmax displays a run-and-hide attitude when there's a problem instead of being responsive and open about it.
The MultiChoice Group has executives like Nicklas Ekdahl, CEO of its Connected Video division; Nicolas Callegari, senior manager for customer experience in its Connected Video unit, and several others.
None of them or anyone else has yet come forward to talk about what went wrong and how MultiChoice fix problems when something like DStv Now implodes. MultiChoice has offered up nobody to publicly speak and answer basic questions about what happened.
Yet this is the company that wants customers and the industry to continue to give it money for something that when it doesn't work, it's not willing to answer questions about.
As digital streaming services grow and expand, services like these from MultiChoice, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and others, don't just build trust and reputation through normal day-to-day costumer-touchpoint interaction but also when things go wrong and something isn't working -perhaps especially during those times.
MultiChoice and its Connected Video division don't seem to understand that yet, or if it does, doesn't care.
When something like a streaming service "breaks" - especially for such a long time as what happened on Sunday with DStv Now, companies like MultiChoice and its Connected Video division can actually build and keep trust by showing customers and potential customers that it won't simply "disappear" and go mute at the first sign of trouble.
It can show - like when an airline's flight gets disrupted or a bank's services go down - that it's bigger than its problem, that it will remain responsive, will and can communicate, and will explain what went wrong and what is being done to fix things.
It can show that although it's chaotic inside its corridors, that it will make the interrupted and bad "customer experience" better.
Sadly that's not yet DStv Now.
