BREAKING. VIDI fails: Times Media Group's streaming service quietly shuts down as the next victim in South Africa's video-on-demand battle.

VIDI has become South Africa's second commercial video-on-demand (VOD) failure with the Times Media Group that has abruptly shut down the streaming service just a year and 4 months after it launched in September 2014.

There's been no announcement of the closure of the struggling VIDI, with the website saying VIDI is no longer available.

It leaves Naspers' ShowMax, China's PCCW Global and its OnTapTV.com, MTN's relaunched VU, as well as Netflix South Africa as the remaining subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) players who all arose quickly within the past year and already saw Altron's disastrous Altech Node crash and burn in October 2015.

In the same month last year, investor group Tiso Blackstar which has full ownership of the Times Media Group, announced that it is pulling out of VIDI and said that that the purple SVOD service that was launched with great fanfare hasn't been a success since it went commercial.

VIDI launched a marketing campaign offering a Ferrari 458 Spider in an attempt to get more people to try the video service - which at launch said that it would need 40 000 regular users to break even.

Both ShowMax and ONTAPtv.com at their respective launch events refused to say how many users and subscribers they would need to be viable and successful but both ShowMax and ONTAPtv.com said there won't be immediate pressure.

Tiso Blackstar attributed VIDI's failure to "weak market penetration and the slow pace of meaningful broadband growth in South Africa".

Compared to Netflix South Africa, ShowMax and OnTapTV.com, VIDI had the smallest number of film titles, the smallest number of TV titles, as well as the shortest trial period of just 7 days.

According to a recent study by research firm BMI-TechKnowledge, South African consumers have a very low awareness of VOD providers with only 18% of people knowing what and who video-on-demand players are.

According to the study there could be between 692 000 and 917 500 active video-on-demand (VOD) households by 2020 in South Africa.

MultiChoice with DStv and its BoxOffice service stands out with the highest awareness as the leading pay-TV service, with low levels of awareness of the pure-play VOD providers," according to the market research.

40th BIRTHDAY: South African television marks its 40th anniversary today since the first nationwide TV broadcast of the SABC on 5 January 1976.

You're reading it here first.

Television in South Africa turns 40 years old today with the SABC TV service that marks its 40th anniversary since the very first nationwide broadcast on 5 January 1976 when Dorianne Berry and Heinrich Marnitz welcomed viewers to the "opening night" of TV in the country.

The past four decades saw the SABC's television offering going through various channel permutations with the South African public broadcaster currently providing 5 TV channels in the form of SABC1, SABC2, SABC3 and then two channels – SABC News and the archive rerun channel SABC Encore – produced exclusively for MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

The past 4 decades in South Africa also saw the launch of pay-TV with pay-TV broadcaster M-Net (that will be turning 30 years old in October), together with MultiChoice's DStv and StarTimes Media SA's StarSat as satellite pay-TV offerings.

Services like Platco Digital's OpenView HD free-to-air satellite service in addition to a growing plethora of video-on-demand (VoD) services like Naspers' ShowMax, Times Media’s struggling VIDI, MTN’s VU and PCCW Global's ONTAPtv.com are enhancing consumer choice in South Africa’s growing videosphere. 

Meanwhile the global streaming giant Netflix that told me that it will be launching in South Africa before the end of this year.

The 40^th anniversary milestone comes as the SABC that introduced television in South Africa continues to lurch from crisis to crisis four decades later.

Currently the largely rudderless South African Broadcasting Corporation sits with a suspended CEO off the job just 4 months after being appointed to a position that was vacant for a year and a half, a chief operating officer (COO) mired in protracted court cases and who wants journalists "licensed", a gutted SABC board, a reported loss of R403 million for the latest financial year, and with a looming controversial Broadcasting Amendment Bill set to change the SABC from a public broadcaster to a state broadcaster under the control of the minister of communications and the president.

The SABC isn't today celebrating the 40^th anniversary since its first national TV broadcast was done from Auckland Park – complete with studio curtains and in colour – but the milestone is highly significant as the South Africa's television industry is hovering on the verge of the biggest sea change since the introduction of what dr. Albert Hertzog, the then minister for posts and telegraphs, called "the devil's own box".

In 2016 the long-delayed commercial switch from analogue to digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcasting will simply have to start in South Africa after the country missed the internationally agreed to deadline for the switch-off of analogue TV signals by June 2015.

Government incompetence over years, a lack of leadership with the process over the past decade, as well as a wayward department of communications are blamed for the shambolic DTT quagmire.

SA's digital TV challenges

While DTT will ring in the biggest sistemic change for South Africa’s television industry since the medium started in 1976 and will bring ordinary South African TV viewers access to many more TV channels from e.tv and M-Net in addition to the SABC's 5 existing channels, big problems and challenges await in South African television's 40th anniversary year.

While millions of poor South African TV viewers qualify to get a government-subsidised set-top box (STB) – a compulsory decoder necessary to receive and watch digital television – these TV households without a SABC TV licence and who can't pay for an annual licence are already being denied a STB.

This will see thousands of TV households cut off in a TV market where viewers can't get enough of their beloved local South Africa weekday soap operas, impacting things like TV ratings, audience measurement and advertising.

As channels and new broadcasters under DTT are rolled out it will also lead to the biggest demand for TV content since the start of TV in South Africa in four decades ago.

Lost in the squabble over STB contracts and tenders, numerous digital migration standards and regulation amendments, as well as industry infighting and broadcaster litigation, has been the discussion about the actual TV content – what it will be, the financial cost to produce and acquire it, and where it will come from to fill new schedules.

While broadcasters like the SABC, e.tv and M-Net will each transmit more channels leading to further fragmentation of the existing TV audience, advertisers, agencies and ad buyers will battle with having to slice their existing ad spend to try and capture ever thinning audiences spread out over more channels.

Meanwhile local broadcasters will have to pay for foreign content and produce more local content for new TV channels to try and entice South African viewers to switch to DTT – burning through content that will have to be good enough to make viewers feel they need to switch in order to make the digital migration process successful, although these channels will not initially have a lot of viewers to make its existence commercially feasible.

Digital television will ironically require a huge capital investment for South Africa's broadcasters in their own new TV content that won't be initially seen by a lot of viewers.

Broadcasters will also have to continue to pay for "dual illumination": broadcasting a DTT version of their existing and new TV channels' signals but also continuing to transmit in parallel, the analogue signals of existing TV channels for a period of a few years until these analogue signals can be switched off.

This switch-off can only take place when the bulk of millions of TV households have eventually bought or received a set-top box and switched over … in a country where roughly two-thirds of all TV households don't even have or pay for a SABC TV licence.

Study: Viewers now feeling completely overwhelmed by too many TV shows; so much TV to choose from 'that it's hard to know where to start'.

According to a new study viewers are feeling completely overwhelmed by too many TV shows, saying there's so much TV to choose from "that it's hard to know where to start".

While South African viewers complain bitterly about the SABC as well as about repeats and rebroadcasts on MultiChoice's DStv and StarTimes Media SA's StarSat, the latest American study about TV viewing habits indicate that viewers are drowning in a glut of TV programming and choices.

In South Africa the new TV offering has steadily been increasing, with more and more local productions, more local and international channels being added, and several video-on-demand (VoD) services starting all offering overlapping but also exclusive content ranging from MTN FrontRow now rebranded as VU, Naspers' ShowMax, Times Media Group's VIDI, PCCW Global's ONTAPtv.com, and Netflix set to launch in South Africa sometime in 2016.

According to the study from Hub Entertainment Research entitled "Conquering Content", although viewers are complaining about there not being enough to watch, they're actually overwhelmed by too much television. The study found that viewers say there are so many shows to choose from that they've never seen and that's showing new episodes at any given moment that it's hard to know where to start.

The Hub Entertainment Research was done in America doing a survey under 1 200 American TV viewers between the ages of 16 and 74 during the month of October.

Viewers are saying online platforms help them in finding new TV shows and almost 60% of viewers in the study said that they are more likely to choose TV sources that make it easy to find and discover new shows.

The study is good news for South Africa's SABC and e.tv which both started adding and rolling out their linear content to YouTube and online platforms, as well as new SVoD services like ShowMax and ONTAPtv.com.

According to the study, online TV episodes and placing and having content there, creates live TV viewers who would otherwise never have existed.

More than half (52%) of TV viewers say they've first discovered a TV show from an online source, and then went on to watch the same show from traditional non-online sources.

MTN FrontRow video-on-demand service rebranded as VU as its drops its prices to compete with ShowMax, ONTAPtv.com and VIDI.

MTN is rebranding its MTN FrontRow service as VU and dropping prices in a bid to try and lure more customers to its subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) service.

 

MTN FrontRow that is now VU (pronounced "view") is clinging on in a South African SVoD market quickly getting saturated and where broadband data costs remain stubbornly high and already claimed its first victim in the form of Altron's misguided Altech Node which became the first major failure.

 

Then there's The Times Media Group's VIDI that's already struggling after it launched at the end of last year with Tiso Blackstar that is disinvesting from the venture. 

Meanwhile Netflix is set to launch sometime in 2016 in South Africa. 

China's PCCW Global is operating the SVoD service ONTAPtv.com since September and Naspers' ShowMax that launched in August is expected to expand within months beyond South Africa's borders into other countries.

 

Besides the name change, MTN's VU that has content from six of the big Hollywood studios, is dropping its prices to now match rivals like ShowMax and ONTAPtv.com and all existing MTN FrontRow subscribers will be moved to VU.

 

VU streams content in standard definition (SD) and five devices can be linked to one VU account. VU subscribers can pay by credit card, have the amount due deducted from their prepaid airtime or bill it to their MTN account.

 

The new VU now has three packages: MaxVU (R99 per month), PremiereVU (no monthly subscription; individual movie rental ranging between R15 and R27), and WeekendVU (R39 per weekend, with access to movies rentals).

 

MTN rival Vodacom that is in talks with Netflix, is expected to announce its own VOD and integrated SVoD service within the first half of 2016.

ShowMax set to expand outside of South Africa in 2016 to 3 other continents; Naspers' VoD service signs distribution deal with Samsung and Telkom

Naspers' new video-on-demand (VoD) service ShowMax plans to go global and to expand outside of South Africa soon in 2016 into at least three other continents, the business news wire service Bloomberg reports.

Asked about ShowMax's global expansion plans and roll-out, the VoD service that launched in August told TVwithThinus it had no comment.

According to Bloomberg, ShowMax will launch in North America, across territories in Europe and in Australasia in 2016.

According to Bloomberg, ShowMax will make its video streaming service accessible outside of South Africa from next month by giving access to Afrikaans content from December, and will add West African content in 2016.

Netflix plans to launch in South Africa sometime during 2016.

At the moment in South Africa, ShowMax, Times Media Group's struggling VIDI, MTN's FrontRow and China's PCCW Global that launched  ONTAPtv.com in September are all competing against each other as VOD service.

Naspers’s fledgling video-on-demand (VOD) platform, ShowMax, will be expanded to three new continents in the coming year, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.

Samsung is meanwhile also silent about ShowMax's addition to its range of Smart TV's as an app.

ShowMax has signed distribution partnerships with Telkom and Samsung in South Africa and is also negotiating with Vodacom.

The missed opportunity of M-Net, MultiChoice's DStv, Ster-Kinekor and Nu Metro on October 21, 2015 with Back to the Future Day.

I mean, really.

How long have they we all known about it?

Today is Back to the Future Day across the globe. The day that Marty McFly and Doc Emmett Brown arrive in the "future" in Back to the Future II, the film that Steven Spielberg calls "the most iconic and best time travel story ever".

Is Back to the Future II showing today on M-Net (DStv 101) or any of the M-Net Movies channels on MultiChoice's DStv? Nope.

Is Back to the Future II showing on any of the other channels carried on DStv? Nope.

Is Back to the Future II showing in limited release in cinemas at Ster-Kinekor, or at Nu Metro theatres where it would definitely have filled seats as a once-off special event "thing"? Nope.

Is Back to the Future II or any of the Back to the Future trilogy films avaiable on Naspers' ShowMax? Nope.

Type Back to the Future in the struggling Times Media's VIDI and what do you get? Nothing.

Then perhaps PCCW Global's OnTapTV.com has Back to the Future? Guess again.

After M-Net, Disney and MultiChoice did a DStv Star Wars pop-up channel earlier this year, one would really expect better from M-Net Movies and MultiChoice. Much better.

Actually it's a collective and total failure - an embarrassment - for all the video streaming and video broadcasting entertainment media platforms in South Africa that none of them have the movie. On the one day it really matters. 21 October 2015.

None of them knew, or bothered to cash in and make an "event" of something that's really movie and video event-worthwhile and to get some added marketing mileage out of that time-travelling DeLorean.

The only thing worse than being old in media is being out of touch with popular culture. Especially if you work in television or movies.

And yes. You can be old, just be a snappy dresser. Like Doc Emmett Brown.

With cinema attendance at Ster-Kinekor and Nu Metro way down and plunging according to the latest AMPS (and with DStv BoxOffice up), it appears that neither Ster-Kinekor nor Nu Metro have yet realised that special "event-ising" or mining once-off movie movements and moments is what will save and drive its business in future.

Last week I scanned all the DStv channels to look for Back to the Future II today. I couldn't find it. I looked because I planned to do more about it today. Instead, last night, I just watched the movie again, in high definition. On my laptop.

I've watched Back to the Future II more times than I can count, but I wanted to go back and zoom in on the details, especially on the newspaper headlines of the day.

In the 2015 of Back to the Future II it depicted that newspapers like USA Today still exist. Not just online, but in actual paper form. That's great, and true.

On the USA Today cover (technically tomorrow's newspaper of October 22 2015) there is a story of a terrorist threat - very in keeping with the times.

America also has a female president - again very apt - if you note the use of the female pronoun "she". Perhaps Hillary Clinton will be the next president.

Of course there is no "Queen Diana" as the movie predicted, it's still Queen Elizabeth II after all these years.

In 2015 people are stealing thumbs and fingerprints to get access to other people's accounts and entry.

And you can see a USA Today news drone drop down with cameras in front of the Hill Valley Town Hall to capture news - which is exactly what happens today with news gathering.

In the 2015 "future" besides the USA Today, there's a lot of other interesting things - like the multiple channels in people's homes with very little on it to watch. Go back (to the future) and see if you can see Oprah Winfrey whose Oprah Winfrey Show is playing in reruns insidethe 80s cafe.

Jaws19 is showing at the holomax (at least we got to the IMAX but have to watch with 3D glasses).

Go back to the past on Back to the Future Day and go rent Back to the Future II at the video shop (gasp!) today to see how, in several surprising aspects, the film got a lot of things about the future right (and hilariously wrong).

Unsuccessful VIDI struggling with poor uptake of the Times Media Group's video-on-demand service; Tiso Blackstar pulling out of VIDI.

As quickly as it started South Africa's nascent video-on-demand (VOD) operators are coming under pressure largely due to a lack of fast and cheap broadband with VIDI from the Times Media Group (TMG) now struggling and under big pressure due to poor uptake.

Investor group Tiso Blackstar which has full ownership of the Times Media Group is pulling out of VIDI saying the purple video-on-demand service that was launched with great fanfare hasn't been a success since it went commercial exactly a year ago in September 2014.

VIDI recently launched a marketing campaign offering a Ferrari 458 Spider in an attempt to get more people to try the video service which at launch last year said that it would need 40 000 regular users to break even.

News of VIDI's poor uptake comes straight after the shuttering of the disastrous Altech Node. Altron similarly launched the Altech Node with big fanfare at the same time in September 2014, then struggled to offload the expensive flop a few months later but couldn't find any buyers.

Investment in the Altech Node gobbled up millions with a loss of R75 million for the six months to the end of August. "Increased competition in the video-on-demand (VOD) environment resulted in insufficient subscribers for the business to be viable," said Altron.

While the Altech Node is a gonner and with VIDI struggling with poor uptake, there's since been MTN's FrontRow VOD service, with Naspers' ShowMax that was launched in August this year, followed in mid-September by China's PCCW Global that launched its orange ONTAPtv.com service in South Africa as well.

Both ShowMax and ONTAPtv.com at their respective launch events refused to say how many users and subscribers they would need to be viable and successful but both ShowMax and ONTAPtv.com said there won't be immediate pressure.

ShowMax said within "a period" it will have to start showing results and Naspers said ShowMax will be unprofitable until at least 2017, while ONTAPtv.com said there won't be immediate pressure but that "the metric of success is measured in financial terms".

While Tiso Blackstar will exit the VIDI business within the next 12 months the VOD service struggling to gain traction is now busy "re-engineering the business" due to its "weak market penetration and the slow pace of meaningful broadband growth in South Africa". It's not clear what will happen to VIDI without Tiso Blackstar.

The burgeoning yet struggling VOD market in South Africa is happening before the arrival of Netflix which told TV with Thinus at the beginning of the year that it would definitely launch in South Africa before the end of 2016.

According to a just-released study by research firm BMI-TechKnowledge, South African consumers have a very low awareness of VOD providers with only 18% of people knowing what and who video-on-demand players are.

According to the study there could be between 692 000 and 917 500 active video-on-demand (VOD) households by 2020 in South Africa.

MultiChoice with DStv and its BoxOffice service stands out with the highest awareness as the leading pay-TV service, with low levels of awareness of the pure-play VOD providers," according to the market research.

Today's interesting TV stories to read from TV with Thinus - 15 October 2015

■ Complete news round-up of the SABC's ongoing Hlaudi Motsoeneng court circus.
From Hlaudi Motsoeneng's lawyer accusing the judge of racism, to Hlaudi Motsoeneng wanting his disciplinary hearing broadcast on live television in South Africa, to the court hearing the SABC thinks Hlaudi Motsoeneng is "the best thing since sliced bread".

■ MultiChoice's DStv commercial with Suits' Gabriel Macht on M-Net is a failure.
Why did DStv bastardise Harvey Specter? As the DStv brand ambassador the DStv advert leaves viewers "unwowed and unmoved" and the DStv ad's copy is "stiff and pedestrian", awkwardly overstyled as DStv failed and took Gabriel Macht as a favourite TV star and turned him into an advertising puppet.

■ MultiChoice Africa fires DStv marketing and sales executives over theft.
In Uganda, DStv's marketing manager Brian Muwonge and sales manager Jude Kalema have been fired over misappropriation and stealing money using it for private business and sex.

■ ITV's new Jekyll and Hyde will be Downton Abbey with monsters.
The new British drama series of course grabbed quickly by ShowMax for South African viewers.

■ DStv iRock Festival in Polokwane apparently a disaster for the press
Almost none of the journalists who went wrote anything; now this shocking report weeks later about leaving late, an extremely boring pre-party like "a shebeen in Hillbrow", having to leave one hotel for a "horrible, horrible, horrible" other hotel.
Then there was the bad food problems; and those big green flies...

■ The new Victoria's Secret Fashion Show coming to e.tv.
Will be broadcast on 19 December and this year Rihanna, The Weeknd and Selena Gomez are performing.

■ Video-on-demand (VOD) service VIDI is struggling
VIDI suffering from poor South African uptake and VIDI is struggling to gain traction in the market, and now investment partner Tiso Blackstar is dumping the unsuccessful VIDI which will try to re-engineer the business.

■ South Africa's digital terrestrial television (DTT) encryption battle is about to get even nastier.
The "fight of the decade" is on in the battle over South Africa's DTT.

■ Comatosed Lamar Odom who's organs are shutting down in hospital is not being filmed.
The Keeping Up with the Kardashians cameras are not rolling for E! Entertainment (DStv 124) at Sunrise Hospital because the reality family now wants privacy. They did film the drama as they all prepared and got ready to go to hospital.

■ America's Next Top Model cancelled after 12 years.
The Tyra Banks show failed after it went from industry competition to branding pageant.

ONTAPtv launches in South Africa as the latest video-on-demand service with 2 500 movies and episodes; will add exclusive local content.

ONTAPtv entered South Africa's fast-growing internet streaming video-on-demand (VOD) market with the launch of its new service offering streaming and downloads of shows and movies at the low entry point of R39 per month or R15 per movie.

The new service from Hong Kong's telecom HKT is done through its international operating division PCCW Global.

The launch of ONTAPtv is once again fast-upending the apple cart in South Africa's exploding VOD and SVOD market. It comes less than a month after the launch of Naspers' ShowMax, where it will also compete with Times Media Group's VIDI launched late last year, as well as MTN's FrontRow.

PCCW Global is introducing revolutionary features for the South African market with ONTAPtv in the suddenly, constantly one-upping game of brinkmanship of VOD players in South Africa - before the global giant Netflix has even launched.

The dramatic introduction of ShowMax and now ONTAPtv - both with slick interfaces, easy to use platforms and competitive prices for quality content is set to not just ferociously compete with each other within the VOD space and other competitors like VIDI, but also established satellite pay-TV operators like MultiChoice's DStv, On Digital Media's StarSat and the pay-TV broadcaster M-Net.

Like ShowMax, ONTAPtv has content from the vaults of the SABC archives, as well as from BBC Worldwide - indeed some of the same BBC Worldwide programming like Planet Earth also available on ShowMax.

ONTAPtv also has international content from Warner Bros, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) as well as Chinese and other African content.

PCCW Global is also bringing brand-new and exclusive South African drama content to ONTAPtv soon, according to the company - something that ShowMax at launch also said it would be doing.

ONTAPtv will bring projects of the Maxum Media Accelerator (MMA) to its service later this year.

"This partnership [to produce local content] demonstrates our commitment to the development of exciting local content, whilst helping to grown the South African film and entertainment industry," says Lindsay Servian, the head of ONTAPtv.com.

PWWC Global says ONTAPtv has 2 500 movies and episodes of TV shows and is constantly adding more and will be cycling content regularly. Viewers can watch ONTAPtv through streaming, but can also download the content and watch it later.

Users have 48 hours to watch downloaded content before it expires and where content exists in high definition (HD) that content can be downloaded and watched on a big TV set for example with a HDMI cable connected to a smartphone or tablet.

"Customers can even link their devices to TVs for a great viewing experience. This is a major VOD innovation in South Africa and will, we believe, greatly expand the number of customers who will now be able to enjoy the service, and at a highly affordable price," says Lindsay Servian.

PWWC Global says ONTAPtv offers "a revolutionary  offer "à la carte approach" to watching video-on-demand.

ONTAPtv customers can choose from a range of packages specifically tailored to their viewing needs. Users can pay additionally to add more packages within the mega-pack offering.

The ONTAPtv app is free to download through the Google Play and iOS App stores. A free subscription with limited access is also available.

ONTAPtv's packages available at launch include the Family Package (R69 per month) with international TV series and movie content suitable for children under age 16. The content is predominantly in English and some Afrikaans content is included in the package. Additional content will be added regularly.

The TV Series Package (R69 permonth) includes international TV series content suitable for viewers who are 16 and older. Like the Family Package the content is predominantly in English, with some Afrikaans content also included.

The Movie Package (R69 per month) includes international movies for all ages. The content is predominantly in English.

ONTAPtv's Mega Pack (R89 per month) is the flagship product and includes all content available in the Family Package, TV Series Package and the Movie Package.

For R79 per month an ONTAPtv user can get two of the Family Package, TV Series Package and Movie Package together.

"Specials" Packages include the African Package for R39 per month, the Chinese Package for R88 per month and the CSI FightSport Package for R69 per month.

Single movie rentals on ONTAPtv costs R15 permovie for an older blockbuster and R25 per movie for a new blockbuster.

In a partnership with AlwaysOn, ONTAPtv also did a deal for data use with specially priced data packages when ONTAPtv is used at AlwaysOn Wi-Fi locations in South Africa like at airports, restaurants, shopping malls, hospitals and other public spaces.

This include a 15GB package for R29, or a 50GB package for R59, both of which are valid for 30 days.

Yet another video-on-demand (VOD) service for South Africa, VuClip, launching as early as next week from China's PCCW.

Yet another video-on-demand (VOD) service will be launching soon in South Africa - very likely the orange VuClip this one from China's PCCW.

Bloomberg reports today that a new VOD service is likely to launch as early as next week as a rival to Naspers' ShowMax.

It's highly likely that its called VuClip.

The news comes a day after Viacom announced that its Viacom Play Plex video-on-demand app service will launch globally in the 4th quarter of this year and will also be available in South Africa with content from Nickelodeon, MTV, BET and Comedy Central.

With Viacom Play Plex, ShowMax, the Times Media Group's VIDI, MTN's FrontRow and PCCW's as yet unnamed service, it means that the VOD market in South Africa is quickly hotting up and getting crowded.

It's not clear what content PCCW's unnamed VOD service will launch with but it won't be as extensive or carry the large range of recent and premium titles as ShowMax which has shown up the rights to hot content like Game of Thrones and a lot other premium television for months.

PCCW, owned by the Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li, will roll out the new VOD service as early as next week, Bloomberg reports.

PCCW has a majority stake in the mobile VOD service Vuclip and has aggressive plans to grow and take Vuclip into new markets, including Africa.

PCCW's VOD service has a vast catalogue of mostly Asian centric content - primarily Bollywood movies, but also Bollywood movies, shows and music videos.

The service has content in 25 languages, including English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Indonesian Bahasa, Arabic, Malay and Thai which wouldn't be applicable for African and South African audiences.

Weber Shandwick's South African office is the PR company for PCCW Global in South Africa and last week send out an invitation - but only to some journalists covering the TV and IT industry and ignoring several - for the launch event next week of a new video-on-demand service.

It's already leaving journalists wondering where's the communication and who is supposed to talk about PCCW's new product - and why details are already leaking, just like what happened with ShowMax last month - way ahead of the media event and service launch that Weber Shandwick is supposedly organising.

BREAKING. Viacom's new global Viacom Play Plex to South Africa as latest video-on-demand app; will have new and library shows from all Viacom channels.

Viacom has unveiled Viacom Play Plex, a new subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service it will roll at the end of the year globally, including South Africa, offering TV shows and programming from channels including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and MTV through a mobile TV app.

Viacom Play Plex will debut in the 4th quarter of this year in 180 international territories in which Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) operates channels.

A spokesperson for VIMN Africa confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that Viacom Play Plex will also be for South Africa.

"Viacom Play Plex will be available to pay-TV and mobile operators in South Africa and the rest of Africa from the fourth quarter of 2015," a spokesperson told TV with Thinus.

VIMN Africa is responsible for channels seen in South Africa and the rest of the continent like MTV Base, MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and several BET channels on satellite pay-TV providers like MultiChoice's DStv and On Digital Media's (ODM) StarSat.

Viacom Play Plex will consist out of mobile apps for Android and iOS enabled devices which Viacom's distribution partners can offer to their customers.

Viacom Play Plex will become the latest VOD addition in South Africa where Naspers' ShowMax launched last month and where the Times Media Group's VIDI and MTN's FrontRow are trying to make inroads.

The global streaming service Netflix told TV with Thinus at the beginning of the year that it plans to be commercially operational in South Africa before the end of 2016.

Viacom Play Plex will be offering access to a range of current and library content, as well as a live, localised linear stream of Nick Play curated from Nickelodeon specifically for every territory. Nick Play is the current Nick app which is being rebranded as Nick Play.

All of VIMN's channel brands from MTV and Nickelodeon to BET and Comedy Central will funnel content to Viacom Play Plex.

"Viacom Play Plex offers us maximum flexibility in distributing our content as the way viewers consume their favorite TV shows continues to evolve," says VIMN president and CEO Bob Bakish.

"These apps are designed to complement our linear pay TV channels and to allow our existing distribution partners to deepen and improve the entertainment experience they offer their subscribers."

"We believe no other international entertainment company is offering this type of innovation at this scale, serving every major demographic in every major TV market," says Bob Bakish.

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."

ShowMax to launch in South Africa as a Netflix competitor with free ShowMax Basic and ShowMax Premium for R99 per month.

ShowMax, South Africa's answer to Netflix, will likely launch with a limited free version called ShowMax Basic and ShowMax Premium costing R99 per month.

The launch of ShowMax – will officially be announced on Wednesday in Johannesburg, with the service set to start shortly thereafter.

ShowMax is Naspers' attempt to get traction and a foothold in the over-the-top (OTT) subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) market in South Africa before the coming launch of global on-demand video internet subscription service behemoth Netflix.

While Naspers has remained silent and PR company Atmosphere Communications handling the ShowMax contract hasn't issued any information to the press, information is already leaking impacting the new brand – the word ShowMax apparently an amalgam of the names Showtime and Cinemax both known as premium TV providers in America.

According to the cached information on ShowMax's website at showmax.com and which might still change, the service will launch with two options: ShowMax Basic which will be a limited free subscription service which will give users a taste of the ShowMax library and try to upsell them to tho the second option – ShowMax Premium at what will likely cost R99 per month for unlimited access to all movies and series.

The service will only be available in South Africa at launch with possible expansion into the rest of Africa later.

ShowMax will also be offering a 7 day trial period. People who sign up will get 7 days to try the service and can cancel anytime. ShowMax has categories like Hollywood, Best of British, kykNET, South African content and Kids.

Showmax' cost of R99 – a psychological consumer number – is interestingly compared to the basic monthly subscription fee of R699 for MultiChoice's DStv Premium package. In America Netflix and Amazon subscribers pay around $10 for the streaming service, compared to between $80 and $90 per month for a premium satellite or cable pay-TV service.

‘The face of entertainment is changing’

ShowMax is set to show content through adaptive streaming in high definition (HD) (720p). 

ShowMax says subscribers should have a minimum internet speed of 2 megabits per second (Mbps) but that an uncapped 4Mbps connection or faster is recommended for the best experience.

Viewing is unlimited, but ShowMax is warning that the use of the service is subject to fair usage – although it’s not currently explaining what "fair usage" means.

"The digital experience gives you the freedom to choose when, where and how you watch. The face of entertainment is changing, and you can be part of it," says ShowMax.

According to the indexed site, ShowMax will work on personal computers (through web browsers), iPhones and iPad running iOS7 and higher, Android phones and tablet running Andriod 4.1.0 or higher; Samsung Smart TVs from 2012 to 2015, Samsung Tizen Smart TVs from 2015, LG NetCast Smart TVs from 2012 – 2014 and LG WebOS Smart TVs from 2014 and 2015.

ShowMax subscribers will likely be allowed to watch on two devices simultaneously and will be allowed to register up to 5 devices.

Shows from BBC, SABC, M-Net, international studios

Naspers has culled a massive number of locally produced shows from pay-TV broadcaster M-Net's archives which will be offered to subscribers ranging from M-Net (DStv 101), Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) to kykNET (DStv 144) shows on offer.

Besides programming from BBC Worldwide which has been seen on MultiChoice's BBC channels on DStv like Frozen Planet, a large number of programmes from the SABC archives also appear which will also be available for streaming through the subscription service – some iconic programmes from the public broadcaster like Skoppensboer, Gazette, Vyfster, Agter Elke Man, Arende and several more.

Besides library cult titles like True Blood, ShowMax also features a large number of international shows currently on M-Net, from Arrow and Grey’s Anatomy, The Good Wife and The Big Bang Theory to Suits, Under the Dome, Elementary, Chicago Fire, Teen Wolf and many others.

"See it as the new M-Net but for the internet age," a source told TV with Thinus earlier this week.

"A lot of the prime content that will be on ShowMax people can already see on DStv but it will be a new way for customers to watch. Also the economic model is different – the service is more about enabling people to really go for binge-watching and things a SVOD player are better at than traditional pay-TV operators," said the insider.

ShowMax will be new competition in the growing local VOD field where the Times Media Group runs VIDI, MTN has its FrontRow service which just lowered some of its prices, MultiChoice has DStv BoxOffice and Altron last year launched the flopped Altech Node decoder which it is now getting rid of.

The Times Media Group's video-on-demand (VOD) service, VIDI, now looking for local South African content.

VIDI, the over-the-top (OTT) service from the Times Media Group (TMG) is now looking for local South African video content for the video-on-demand (VOD) service.

VIDI will pay producers of local material for their accepted content and sign a commercial agreement for their work being made available over the VOD network.

Both professional and amateur producers of local video can contact the service which launched late last year.

"This is a golden opportunity for producers of South African content to access a well-visited platform on which to showcase their talents," says Janene Matsukis, VIDI spokesperson.

Video content can now be submitted to VIDI online at www.vidi.co.za at a dedicated link where VIDI's local content team will review it.

Tiso Blackstar Group takes full ownership of the Times Media Group; acquires 22.9% stake in Kagiso Tiso Holdings.

Tiso Blackstar Group SE, renamed from Blackstar Group SE from today, has taken over the Times Media Group (TMG) with full ownership of the South African media, publication and TV company.

The full ownership now gives Tiso Blackstar, listen on London's AIM and Johannesburg's Altx market full control over the Times Media Group which includes newspapers like The Sunday Times of South Africa, Sowetan, The Times, Financial Mail and Business Day and some radio stations.

The Times Media Group's (previously Avusa) TV assets include TV channels like Business Day TV (DStv 412) and The Home Channel (DStv 176) on MultiChoice's DStv, production company Ochre Media, various TV stations elsewhere in Africa like Ghana and Kenya, as well  as the video-on-demand (VOD) service VIDI which launched in late 2014.

Tiso Blackstar also acquired a 22.9% equity stake in Kagiso Tiso Holdings (KTH), one of South Africa's large black-controlled investment companies.

KTH holds Kagiso Media, which has several radio stations and the Glow TV channel (DStv 167 / OVHD 108) available on DStv and Platco Digital's OpenView HD.

Andrew Bonamour is the CEO of Tiso Blackstar Group.

"Tiso Blackstar brings together many of sub-Saharan Africa's most exciting media businesses into one group," says Andrew Bonamour.

"The digital and mobile opportunities in these markets are only just beginning, and we have the talented people, relationships and experience to make the most of them.

Samsung in South Africa to add VIDI and Simfy Africa as video streaming and music streaming apps to its new range of Tizen TV sets.

Samsung will be adding Times Media's VIDI video streaming service and the music streaming service Simfy Africa to its new range of Tizen TV's as apps.

The apps are in development and Samsung gave no date of when the apps would be launched on the TV sets.

Times Media launched VIDI in September last year.

"VIDI, a video-on-demand (VOD) application is being developed which will provide consumers with 30 days of free access and Simy Africa, an online music streaming service, with more than 20 million songs for 90 days for free access," Matthew Thackrah, the deputy director and head of consumer electronics at Samsung Electronics SA said on Wednesday night at a product launch.

"Details of these value-adds will be made available once all development and testing has been concluded," said Matthew Thackrah.

The apps will make it easier for Samsung users to stream video and music through their TV sets.

Samsung is apparently also working with eNCA (DStv 403) to get news and weather content for users. Samsung is also working with Vonetize to launch Aflix, offering Hollywood movies, TV series and other video entertainment content to consumers in 30 African countries.

Samsung unveiled a new range of curved SUHD TV sets for South Africa. From this year, all of Samsung's Smart TV's, including the new SUHD, will be powered by Tizen, an open-source platform that supports web standards for app development.

Times Media Group's VIDI adds some local South African content to its VOD service in signed deals with the SABC.

Times Media Group's VIDI service which launched in the latter part of 2014 has signed deals with the SABC and local producers to add some TV series and local South African movies to the video-on-demand (VOD) service.

From February VIDI will add South African TV shows which has been shown on the SABC like High Rollers and My Perfect Family, as well as children's programming like URBO: The Adventures of Pax Afrika and African Sky Stories.

VIDI is also adding immediately some locally produced films, like Between Friends, How to steal Two Million and Paradise Stop, as well as Afrikaans films like Liefling, Jimmy in Pienk and Semi-Soet.

"VIDI is delighted that it will now offer such quality and popular local television shows and movies," says Taryn Uhlmann, VIDI's marketing manager. "These homegrown titles now on the platform all deliver high production values, outstanding casts and compelling storylines".

A VIDI subscription costs R149 per month and users have to pay for their own data use of the streaming video service as well.Movies cost R27 per title or R15 for library movies.

VIDI says more local content will be added in the coming weeks and months.

BREAKING. Altech Node launches in South Africa as brand-new video-on-demand (VOD) consumer console to compete with DStv, VIDI.

Altech is launching the Altech Node in the suddenly white hot video-on-demand (VOD) market with South African consumers and TV viewers who will be able to buy the VOD console, using MultiChoice's DStv dish, from Friday at R3 499, and giving access to 700 hours of entertainment.

The launch of Altech's Node comes a week after the launch of Times Media Group's VIDI with Node viewers who won't suffer buffering issues like VIDI and who will also be able to watch the latest movie releases as well as library TV shows.

Altech didn't release a list of the TV programming and movies available at launch and didn't respond with a list to a media enquiry seeking a list on Thursday.

(Altech didn't make the Node device available for testing ahead of the launch to national TV critics who were not invited to, nor told of, the launch event on Thursday evening).

With MultiChoice's DStvBoxOffice on the one side of the spectrum, Times Media Group's VIDI on the other side and Altech's Node in the middle of the existing - and suddenly exploding - VOD market, South African consumers and viewers suddenly have a lot more choices and options.

Like DStv BoxOffice on the DStv Explora and HD PVR the content on the Node console is updated through satellite and stored on the 1TB internal hard drive and viewable in 1080p high definition (HD).

Unlike VIDI, Node users won't have to pay for massive internet downloads to watch the actual video content.

Like DStv Catch Up and unlike VIDI, the Node includes video-on-demand sports content (80 episodes at launch). It's not live sports content but packaged content.

Node will have 200 hours of TV series at launch, 140 movies at launch, 150 hours of kids programming, 150 hours of documentaries, and 30 hours of current affairs programming that can be watched instantly.

Altech's Node will carry 7 to 10 new movie titles per month at any given time available for rent, as well as 100 titles per year.

In the subscription library there will be 140 movie titles which are available to watch at any time and which doesn't require an additional payment. These will be refreshed at a rate of 10% to 15% per month, says Altech in a press release.

Altech's Node will work with any TV set that has HDMI ports, and the Node console itself has 3 HDMI ports.

Besides the R3 499 cost of the console which includes free installation and which people will be able to buy from Friday at Altech Autopage Cellular, Cell C, Dion Wired, Game, Hifi Corporation, Hirsch's, Incredible Connection, JetMart, Makro and Pick n Pay Hyper, there is a monthly subscription fee of R299.

This R299 monthly subscription fee gives the user access to the majority of the library content on the Node which regularly is cycled through and replaced just like on DStv BoxOffice on DStv PVR decoders.

Similar to the licensing rights agreements of DStv and DStv BoxOffice and VIDI, Altech has licencing rights agreements with Hollywood studios which include Sony, Disney, MGM and Universal.

On the Node the latest blockbuster movies cost R25, compared to the R27 for DStv BoxOffice and R27 for VIDI. This R25 will be in addition to the R299 monthly subscription fee.

Like DStv BoxOffice and VIDI, a movie on Node remains available for a 48 hour period to watch.

Older movie titles on Altech's Node will cost R15.

Subscription and rentals of and through the Altech Node can be paid by using debit and credit cards or Altech's Eyenza wallet.

Older non high definition (HD) content will have a higher bit rate on Altech's Node says the company "to ensure the content still looks great in an HD screen".

"Sound is delivered through 5.1 Dolby. YouTube videos will stream at a minimum of 720p resolution".

"Node is much more than video-on-demand," says Craig Venter, Altech CEO, saying that Altech's Node is "like a DVD store in your home".

"It is an entertainment hub, a streaming server, a Wi-Fi hotspot, an e-commerce platform".

"It is the most sophisticated home gateway in the world and is a true reflection of Altech's mission to provide its customers with value-added products, services and solutions through the convergence of telecommunications, multimedia and information technology".

Movies and library TV series will be updated monthly as older content is replaced with new releases and other TV shows.

The Altech Node come with a built-in 3G modem which enables users to buy data, airtime and pre-paid electricity and pay for municipal services like Eskom and Telkom through using the device.

The Node also allows for consumers to download Android apps, access the internet, access their email and to control certain home appliances through what Altech calls "Node branded Smart Plugs".

Altech's Node comes with a built-in media player, MyMedia, which allows content to be played off other devices, such as the Altech Node branded USB flash drive.

The Node's Wi-Fi- functionality also enables an environment to be turned into a Wi-Fi hotspot where up to 5 devices like the TV set, computer, smartphone and tablet can be connected to stream content to these devices.

Node users who have DStv or had DStv won't need to install a new satellite dish since Altech's Node makes use of the same Intelsat-20 satellite, which means that a existing DStv dish is already aligned.

Although installation cost is included in the R3 499 price, Altech says the Node is easy to install. "Users can do it themselves, even with the most rudimentary technical skills, and install their own automation and security equipment".

Users will have to pay for the data used of the internet return path which enables the rental of titles and on demand content.

"Node has been designed to connect to both Wi-Fi and ethernet networks," says Altech. "Node can also function as a wireless internet access point or hotspot, providing connectivity through its 3G modem. Node does not consume data for movie and series downloads but will consume data for internet access activity and any purchases made".

Node can access the internet through its 3G modem which Altech says is powered by Autopage Cellular. "However you will need a SIM card and your data cost will be in addition to the Node subscription".

"While there are other products currently on the market that offer aspects of Smart TV and video-on-demand content, Node is the first comercially available product that offers a complete, integrated package, incorporating elements of Smart TV and smart entertainment together with a smart home solution," says Altech.

As to why Altech chose satellite downloading like MultiChoice does with DStv BoxOffice to the DStv Explora and HD PVR, Altech says "even though fibre internet is fast and exciting, it is also a new arrival to the South African market".

The Altech Node is however fbire ready with an ethernet and USB modem port.

"Fibre internet is still expensive and can consume a lot of data, which may lead to excessive data costs depending on the customer's internet service provider package. By employing cost-effective and reliable satellite systems, Node can ensure content that is always available for instant play without any time-delays and costly surprises".

Purple-branded VIDI from Times Media Group launches as new streaming video-on-demand (VOD) service with '1 000 hours of entertainment'.

Times Media Group (TMG) has launched its VIDI video-on-demand over-the-internet commercial service as a competitor to MultiChoice's DStv BoxOffice and DStv Catch Up services with South African consumers who can rent and watch TV shows and movies for R149 per month or watch blockbuster movies for R27 and older library titles for R15.

The R27 per movie that TMG's new purple-branded VIDI is charging is exactly the same as the R27 price tag of MultiChoice's DStv BoxOffice.

The Times Group owns TV channels like BusinessDay TV and newspapers like Business Day, The Sunday Times and The Sowetan.

VIDI, the Latin for "saw", calls itself an "online streaming TV service built for South Africans" and gives people a 30-day free trial period for its service which is trying to mimic overseas on-demand internet services like Netflix that's not yet been available in South Africa.

For the subscription free service users need a credit card and a fast enough internet connection and can stream and watch the content on PC or Mac, as well as smartphones and Apple and Android tablets, or on a TV set through one of these connected devices.

VIDI says it is launching with "over 1 000 hours of entertainment".

TMG made a deal with Disney's ABC Studios for older already broadcast seasons of drama series and comedies from American studios that's available as ABC on Demand like Grey's Anatomy, Cougar Town, Brothers & Sisters, Pretty Little Liars and Lost.

Besides that there's new movie releases, older library movie titles, kids movies and library TV series like Breaking Bad, The Shield and The Tudors, and documentaries like Walking with Dinosaurs - 21 TV series in total.

VIDI is ad free and will carry 100 films in deals with studios like Warner Bros, Sony, Disney, Lionsgate and Relativity with more which will be added in future.

It's not clear what the internet data size will be for a 40 minute TV show or a 90 minute movie using VIDI which is making use of Microsoft Silverlight as its player technology. It's not known whether VIDI content will be available and streamed in high definition (HD) or standard definition (SD), or a combination.

South Africa's foray into online video streaming and on-demand television services remain hampered by slow broadband, limited broadband penetration, as well as exorbitantly high costs for consumers.

It led the satellite pay-TV platform MultiChoice to develop the DStv Explora decoder as a way to try and circumvent someof these issues by mimicking a VOD service through the PVR, using a direct-to-home (DTH) satellite service.

Vidi from Times Media to launch in September in South Africa as a brand-new video-on-demand (VOD) service to compete with DStv.

Vidi from the Times Media Group (TMG) will be launched in September in South Africa as a brand-new video-on-demand (VOD) service that will compete with MultiChoice's DStv BoxOffice to provide TV shows and films to South African consumers as a commercial service.

Similar to MultiChoice's DStv BoxOffice which currently charges R27, Vidi will also make use of the window between cinema showings and movies being distributed for DVD rentals.

The Afrikaans movie, Die Windpomp, will for instance be released on Vidi and DStv BoxOffice on 12 September.

Times Media Group owns TV channels like BusinessDay TV (and newspapers like Business Day, The Sunday Times and The Sowetan) and Nu Metro Cinemas.

Vidi's pricing plan and details for the on-demand video service will be revealed by Times Media on 10 September in Johannesburg. Vidi is of course Latin for "I saw".

Vidi will be an online service only, similar to DStv BoxOffice Online. Customers who will be paying per rental, will have to stream the rented video content to their computer or tablet.