HBO's controversial '30 dicks' drama, Euphoria, the first show that MultiChoice will only have on Showmax and not on M-Net, insiders say.

HBO's full-frontal, penis-packed and pornographic Euphoria drama series will apparently be the first show - from both HBO, but also in terms of broader acquisition strategy - that MultiChoice will only make available on its Showmax video streaming service and not on M-Net (DStv 101), according to insiders.

According to MultiChoice insiders who spoke anonymously since they're not authorised to speak about it officially, changes have been implemented to the acquisition and "bucket" allocation strategy of where which shows go, especially regarding "dual-play" programmes from HBO and other content providers that had a window on both Showmax as the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service from MultiChoice's Connected Video division, and its linear in-house pay-TV channels group, M-Net.

According to insiders who spoke to TVwithThinus in June, changes in acquisition and "scheduling" strategy will see certain shows that used to be on both M-Net (DStv 101) and Showmax in future reside on only one of these "starting with Euphoria as the first".

Since 25 June TVwithThinus have been asking both Showmax and M-Net for guidance as to the right person within the MultiChoice/M-Net/Showmax trifecta who is knowledgeable about the allocation and acquisition strategy overall and who can talk about it.

Showmax and M-Net were asked about the apparent change to certain TV series that will from now on only be placed on one platform - either Showmax or M-Net, and for clarity about the shift. Answers were also sought as to the reasoning behind what is placed or allocated where, and why the decision was made to have some shows on only one platform going forward.

Neither Showmax's head of communications, Richard Boorman, nor M-Net's head of publicity, Lani Lombard - who were both asked for help - responded with any answers to the media enquiry, background about what was asked, or who to talk to.

To try and lift Showmax subscriber numbers and usage volume as it tries to compete with Netflix South Africa, insiders say MultiChoice over the past two years allowed and in fact actively pushed and sanctioned the "cannibalisation" of premium international content  - programmes that used to be allocated to M-Net exclusively before.

While MultiChoice and M-Net as part of a unique selling proposition to DStv subscribers previously still touted M-Net as the "exclusive home of HBO", that brand proposition was blatantly blown up and had to be discarded when MultiChoice bosses shortly after the arrival of Showmax ordered M-Net placed shows - especially from HBO, but also others - to be "given"to and shared with Showmax.

Adding insult to brand dilution injury, M-Net has not only seen it having to "share" HBO shows, but having more and more new shows, as well as new seasons of shows made available on Showmax ahead of their linear debut dates on M-Net.

Not only has M-Net been quietly forced to slink away from the "exclusive home of HBO" moniker, but also had to see shows from HBO and others ranging from Succession to Marvel's Runaways, Billions, Condor and many  more become available on Showmax first.

In the case of Game of Thrones, MultiChoice has gone as far as to sign off on the simultaneous roll-out on M-Net and Showmax, damaging the M-Net brand as a channel that used to offer exclusive international content, in an attempt to leverage buzz around the international TV asset to lift Showmax streaming viewership at the expense of M-Net ratings.

Now Euphoria - with actor Eric Dane doing a full-frontal, stiff penis and statutory rape scene in the first episode of the lurid show, followed by 30 boys' penises in the second and scenes of masturbation, drug use and violence in others - will apparently be the first show that will "just" reside on Showmax, and not later on M-Net as well.

Insiders said the decision over Euphoria - publicised as a "first on Showmax" although it will actually be a "Showmax only" series - dove-tailed with concerns and executives' reservations about the degree to which South African DStv subscribers would have a negative reaction to the nihilistic youth drama and its pornographic depictions of gratuitous nudity, violence, sex scenes, drug use, abuse and sexual abuse.

Without help from Showmax and M-Net is not yet clear which shows like Euphoria will be(come) "Showmax-only" series and which shows will be "M-Net -only" series and how those decisions are and will now be made.

"From now on some [shows] will be for them [Showmax], and some will be for them [M-Net], and to each his own," said an insider.

WHEN DStv Now WENT DStv NOT: MultiChoice's crash of its DStv Now Sunday service didn't just paralyse its video streaming service - it also collapsed its communications, with MultiChoice confused and unwilling to talk about what happened.

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.

'ERROR 500'. MultiChoice explains latest DStv Now video streaming crash: Systems upgrade failed.

MultiChoice says the latest hours-long crash of its DStv Now streaming service that happened on Thursday evening was the result of a systems upgrade that failed when it was made live.

Thursday's DStv Now blackout was the second in four weeks since many DStv subscribers in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa couldn't watch the 8th season premiere episode of HBO's Game of Thrones live on MultiChoice's video streaming service when it crashed on Monday 15 April after they stayed up and woke up wanting to watch it at 3am.

On Thursday night DStv subscribers who wanted to watch the first season finale of The Bachelor South Africa on M-Net (Dstv 101) and soccer on SuperSport couldn't do so, getting a black screen saying "Error 500 - There is a problem with the page you requested".

It was eventually fixed hours later on Thursday night but after MultiChoice's non-service outraged many M-Net and sport viewers who complained not just about the technical breakdown and bad customer experience but also the lack of DStv customer communication.

Richard Boorman, MultiChoice Connected Video head of communications responded to a media enquiry on Friday afternoon and told TVwithThinus that "we're currently busy with a full post-mortem to determine the exact cause, but broadly the cause was a systems update which we'd tested ahead of deployment without any issues arising, but unfortunately in the live environment it failed".

Asked if it was the same problem or connected to the DStv Now outage that messed up the Game of Thrones live viewing on 15 April he said that it " isn't related to the incident four weeks ago". 

"We're acutely aware of how our customers rely on DStv Now and we're working flat out to ensure these type of incidents don’t happen. We apologise to everyone affected."

"Clearly we will incorporate the lessons learned from these incidents when developing new services to avoid any kind of recurrence," said Richard Boorman.

Calvo Mawela, MultiChoice Group CEO, in 2018 said that the pay-TV company plans to launch a "dishless" DStv streaming-only service offering - similar to DStv Now - in the latter part of 2019.

This stand-alone and commercial DStv streaming version is MultiChoice's next attack beyond the launch of its own subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service Showmax in the growing video streaming wars in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa where MultiChoice now competes against the likes of primarily Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, as well as a few other smaller players.

Showmax shutting down in America over unexplained legal reasons upsets sad, disgruntled and desperate users.

Showmax is shutting down in America and Canada, following its termination in Poland, with users who have been making use of MultiChoice's subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service to stay "connected" to South Africa and kykNET's Afrikaans programming who are very sad and upset.

Showmax tells TVwithThinus the service is shutting down in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean "due to legal reasons". These were not explained.

The website SAPeople, providing news to South African expatriates, first reported that Showmax is ending on 30 April 2019 and won't be available to viewers in the US, Canada, Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Cayman Island and Montserrat. 

In December 2018 Showmax in Poland announced that it's shutting down at the end of January 2019 after 2 years.

"Very sad here in Canada. Showmax closing down. Where will I now watch Kwêla, Binnelanders, Suidooster and Getroud met Rugby?" said one upset user who paid to watched the Afrikaans kykNET (DStv 144) programming from that country.

Another expat Showmax user, Daleen Loest said "Why oh why has Showmax decided to stop their streaming services to North America? Expat Facebook pages are exploding with the sad, the disgruntled, the despondent, and the desperate".

"Watching South African shows keep us connected to our beloved Mzansi and I am one of them. How are we going to watch Carte Blanche, Boer Soek 'n Vrou?, Sara se Geheim, Koekedoortjie, Afrikaans movies etc.?"

"Watching South African shows keep us connected to our beloved Mzansi, and having it taken away it feels like having a part of your soul torn out… again. For us expats, that connection is very, very precious. It means so much more than just being able to watch a few TV shows."

"Come on Showmax! Please don't stop streaming. I for one will gladly pay double, heck-even triple, to keep the service running. And I suspect most expats will gladly pay more to help keep it on the internet waves!"

Richard Boorman, Showmax spokesperson told SAPeople "we're gutted too – especially given all these kind words but unfortunately this one is out of our control. Thanks so much for all the support and sorry we can't be there for you."

Richard Boorman in response to a media enquiry told TVwithThinus the decision to shutter Showmax in America, Canada and the Caribbean was taken due to legal reasons.

"Broadly speaking there are two different types of Showmax service – the version we see in South Africa which has both local and international content, and then a 'diaspora' service which focuses just on the local content and is aimed at South Africans overseas."

"The first version is available in more than 40 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and after this change, the diaspora service will still be available in more than 25 countries."

Showmax again claims video streaming viewership records - this time for The Girl from St. Agnes; declines to provide any actual numbers.

MultiChoice's Showmax is again making boastful claims about viewership records for its subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service in South Africa without giving any numbers, and declining to do so when asked.

Showmax, competing locally with Netflix South Africa, says in a press statement that its new local drama series, The Girl from St. Agnes, has beaten out Hollywood heavyweights as well as Showmax's previous original series, Tali's Wedding Diary, to become the most-watched show on its debut".

Showmax says "the number of unique viewers in the first 24 hours exceeded that of the previous record-holder, Tali's Wedding Diary. In addition, the number of views was more than double that of the most popular Hollywood series on its debut".

Showmax fails to provide any viewership numbers or statistics for "the record" number of viewers who watched The Girl of St. Agnes, and also doesn't provide any numbers for Tali's Wedding Diary, or the "most popular Hollywood series" that the new show is being compared to.

Candice Fangueiro, head of content for the Connected Video division of MultiChoice, says in the Showmax statement about the viewership record citing no actual numbers to substantiate the claim or to add credibility or a real-world reference point between its shows, that "we're over the moon".

"This shows without a shadow of a doubt that local content is a major differentiator, and it also shows that African productions can not only hold their own against the best in the world but they can actually come out on top".

TVwithThinus asked Richard Boorman, Showmax spokesperson, for help for the numberless Showmax viewership claims. Showmax's response is "we still don’t disclose the absolutes".

Showmax appears to be taking its cue of not wanting to release viewership numbers from its global SVOD service competitor, Netflix.

Netflix only recently started releasing limited statistics and ratings information, making it difficult if not impossible for marketers, producers and the rest of the TV industry chain to make judgement and place values on streaming services and shows' successes and failures.

Earlier in the week in the United States, John Landgraf, FX Networks CEO, slammed Netflix for its secretive approach to ratings and viewership numbers, as well as its selective, and in his opinion, misleading number press releases.

John Landgraf also criticised media and reporters who publish and republish the limited-numbers and numberless programming performance information from streaming services like Netflix.

John Landgraf said that streaming services like Netflix are deliberately and intentionally confusing journalists and the public to make as if new shows or films are breaking records and luring massive audiences "which would mean it's the biggest hit on TV".

He advised journalists and media outlets to refrain from accepting the "cherrypicked and unverified data" issued by streaming services like Netflix.

"Because Netflix doesn't report Nielsen numbers, we are hard pressed to know what is real. It's just not a good thing for society when one entity gets to unilaterally make the rules or pronounce the truth," John Landgraf said.

SHOWTIME FOR SHOWMAX: Naspers' ShowMax officially launches in South Africa, 'we're aiming to change the game,' says boss John Kotsaftis.

Naspers officially launched its new streaming subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service ShowMax on Wednesday afternoon at its brand-new South Africa headquarters in Greenstone House in the Stonemill Office Park in Randburg.

ShowMax Premium that costs R99 per month unlimited access and with ShowMax Basic for free with a limited number of free content available, will be competition for Naspers' pay-TV division MIH's MultiChoice which runs the DStv satellite pay-TV service.

ShowMax - managed by John Kotsaftis as the general manager, and who was the CEO of DStv Digital Media until he left mid-2014 - is however aiming to create a foothold and commercial market presence in the South Africa's new but growing SVOD market before the arrival of the global over-the-top (OTT) streaming operator, Netflix which will be its real competition in the market segment.

ShowMax will now also be competing with other VOD services such as MTN's FrontRow costing R119 and Times Media Group's VIDI that announced on Wednesday - the same day as ShowMax' launch, that its teamed up with Samsung to bring a streaming Smart TV app to Samsung TV sets.

ShowMax now has the biggest selection of SVOD content in South Africa of all operators and subscribers who get a  7-day free trial, can access the service through internet browsers or on tablets and smartphones through the ShowMax app.

ShowMax raided - and Naspers allowed it - top MultiChoice and M-Net talent like Victor Eckard who was the director of general entertainment at M-Net and who is now the head of content at ShowMax, and industry heavy-weights like Richard Boorman, formerly at Vodacom.

ShowMax is launching with 750 TV series, 850 complete seasons, with more than 19 000 individual episodes and a total viewing time of more than 11 000 hours - content adding up to more than a year's continuous viewing of series, movies, documentaries, kids shows and classic programming from the vaults of the SABC.

"This is just the beginning," said John Kotsaftis. "We are going to grow this platform and adapt it based on what people want to watch", saying ShowMax is a "long-term investment for Naspers".

"This is where the world is going to and we want to be there and grow with it. ShowMax brings customers two unique benefits - a library many multiples larger than those currently available through local services and also African content not available through services originating outside the continent."

"We're unashamedly ambitious in what we're aiming to achieve with ShowMax," says John Kotsaftis.

"The ongoing change in viewing habits has given us the opportunity to build a video-on-demand powerhouse to feed the marathon viewing trend."

"We've got the best content from Hollywood and beyond, but at the same time we also have the local content that consumers here expect. Importantly, we're bringing this in at an attractive price, and doing this across more devices than ever before," says John Kotsaftis.

"We're aiming to change the game. ShowMax won't just be the best subscription video-on-demand service available in South Africa - we're competing with the best in the world."