WildEarth channel returns to DStv as CEO André Crawford-Brunt makes grovelling apology for nasty MultiChoice comments

by Thinus Ferreira

WildEarth is set to return to MultiChoice's DStv from December as its interim CEO André Crawford-Brunt is apologising for nasty comments he made earlier this year when he said he's removing the TV channel.

Seven months after WildEarth was yanked from DStv at the end of April, the nature channel will return to DStv's channel 183 and all packages, although it's not yet known whether WildEarth is getting paid or how much according to the new channel carriage agreement.

Earlier this year André Crawford-Brunt, chairman and interim CEO, went on a scathing public rant against MultiChoice, slamming the Randburg-based pay-TV operator on social media and in interviews, saying WildEarth will be removed from DStv over non-payment.

This was despite the existing channel carriage agreement that WildEarth had entered into with MultiChoice in August 2020 which wasn't one where the channel would be paid. 

MultiChoice agreed to carry and give WildEarth exposure on the DStv platform where it could then leverage that viewership to get advertising and sponsorships but André Crawford-Brunt was no longer happy with the contract.

In comments André Crawford-Brunt cast aspersions on South Africa's TV ratings system, claiming that the measurement of TV viewership in South Africa and on DStv was "archaic".

He also slammed MultiChoice repeatedly and said that WildEarth was "getting binned by a big corporate because someone sitting in an ivory tower or sitting in an office in London can make a decision that this doesn't fit the short-term goals and needs of a big corporate".  

André Crawford-Brunt also told 702 that MultiChoice "has put their head in the sand" and slammed MultiChoice for "having just increased prices" and saying "people are particularly unhappy with them".

Behind the scenes, insiders told TVwithThinus in March that MultiChoice was shocked and taken aback by André Crawford-Brunt's public outburst. 

MultiChoice at the time was only willing to comment and say that it was "disappointing that WildEarth is seeking to publicly pressurise MultiChoice into providing additional commercial support".

The pay-TV operator said that it "wouldn't comment further on this matter and wishes WildEarth success in its future endeavours" when the channel went dark on DStv.

Seven months later, in response to a media query, MultiChoice confirmed to TVwithThinus that WildEarth will now be back from December on DStv.

Asked why it's returning WildEarth to the DStv channel line-up, MultiChoice says it follows after "constructive discussions" that led to MultiChoice and WildEarth reaching a new agreement to bring the channel back to DStv.

"Both companies are dedicated to delivering unique, immersive local content, allowing customers to experience African wildlife in a truly engaging way. This aligns with MultiChoice’s commitment to providing African-centred content that resonates with audiences".

MultiChoice declined to say whether it is now paying WildEarth, after it earlier offered to pay WildEarth R6 million per year which was rebuffed. 

"The contractual terms between DStv and WildEarth are confidential. Both parties reached an agreement that benefits viewers by bringing back unique, nature-focused content to DStv," MultiChoice says.

André Crawford-Brunt, striking a much more conciliatory tone, is now apologising and says "Our transition from MultiChoice was deeply emotional for everyone involved, reflecting the genuine passion and dedication we all feel toward bringing wildlife into people’s homes".

"In the heat of this change, there were moments when things were said that, in hindsight, would have been better handled privately."

"In this regard, I express regret and thank MultiChoice for the willingness to re-engage and find a way forward. Our shared vision for connecting people with nature remains, and we look forward to exploring new ways to bring this vision to life."

Calvo Mawela, MultiChoice Group CEO, in a statement, says "We're pleased to have WildEarth back. Local, African-centred content has always been a focus of MultiChoice, and the unique programming on WildEarth is one of the ways we're fulfilling our priority of delivering the best and most inspiring local entertainment to our customers." 

ALSO READ: MultiChoice: GinX gone from DStv with WildEarth set to follow.

 ALSO READ: MultiChoice wishes WildEarth well away from DStv as channel will get yanked from its pay-TV service at the end of April.

MultiChoice wishes WildEarth well away from DStv as channel will get yanked from its pay-TV service at the end of April.

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice wishes the WildEarth channel well in its future endeavours away from DStv but says it's disappointed that WildEarth tried to publicly force it to pay for the channel, while WildEarth has decided to yank the channel from MultiChoice's pay-TV service at the end of this month.

WildEarth which was added to DStv with the understanding that the channel won't be paid for channel carriage, recently demanded that MultiChoice start paying for WildEarth to be carried on DStv. 

WildEarth (DStv 183) continued to slam MultiChoice in interviews over the past two weeks, claiming that MultiChoice doesn't support the creation of local content because it doesn't want to pay WildEarth and has its "head in the sand", yet also said the channel does want to be on MultiChoice's DStv. 

WildEarth chairman André Crawford-Brunt also cast aspersions on South Africa's TV ratings system, claiming that the measurement of viewership in South Africa is "archaic". 

At the end of this month, WildEarth will be the 10th linear TV channel going dark on DStv coming as MultiChoice's board considers a takeover bid from Vivendi's Canal+ in France.

WildEarth was originally added in August 2020 as a temporary pop-up channel but was then kept on DStv over the past three years.

WildEarth currently employs 72 people and originally entered into a contract with MultiChoice whereby WildEarth would not be getting paid by MultiChoice for carriage on the DStv platform. It did get the space on the DStv channel line-up to raise viewership with DStv subscribers and through that get possible advertising revenue and sponsorships.

Crawford-Brunt told Biznews "I made the call that if they weren't prepared to pay us, we needed to come off DStv. It was just too easy to keep providing something to them for free".

He claimed that WildEarth is getting "binned by a big corporate because someone sitting in an ivory tower or sitting in an office in London can make a decision that this doesn't fit the short-term goals and needs of a big corporate". MultiChoice's third-party content decisions and acquisition is made in Randburg.

According to Crawford-Brunt, MultiChoice "got away with paying us nothing for three odd years. After applying a huge amount of pressure they then agreed to come through with a notional amount of R6 million a year".

"They hope we're just going to go away. I've told them we're going to take it off DStv because we can't afford to be on DStv and not get rewarded in some way." 

Crawford-Brunt told 702 that MultiChoice "has put their head in the sand". He said MultiChoice "having just increased prices - when you read the comments across the numerous petitions, people are particularly unhappy with them, and they need to pay attention to them in our view". 

MultiChoice told News24 in response to a media query it's disappointed that WildEarth management decided to publicly force MultiChoice to financially support the channel. 

"WildEarth, a private enterprise, initially approached MultiChoice in 2020 regarding channel distribution. After thorough discussions, MultiChoice entered into a channel distribution agreement, providing both support and guidance to WildEarth."

"This non-exclusive agreement allowed WildEarth to showcase its content across various platforms beyond DStv, including YouTube and its own website."

"However, WildEarth has expressed dissatisfaction with the existing arrangements and has informed MultiChoice of its decision to remove the channel from DStv services as of 30 April 2024. While we respect WildEarth's decision regarding platform availability, it is disappointing that WildEarth is seeking to publicly pressurise MultiChoice into providing additional commercial support."

MultiChoice says that it "will not comment further on this matter and wishes WildEarth success in its future endeavours. We remain dedicated to offering our subscribers a diverse range of entertainment content, including significant investments in local African content."

ALSO READ: MultiChoice: GinX gone from DStv with WildEarth set to follow.

MultiChoice: GinX gone from DStv with WildEarth set to follow.

by Thinus Ferreira

GinX eSports TV is gone on MultiChoice's DStv as the 9th TV channel that has disappeared from the traditional pay-TV operator's channel line-up since the start of this year, with the struggling WildEarth set to likely shutter at the end of this month as the 10th channel leaving the platform.

Since 1 April with MultiChoice's latest price increase that came into effect from this month, DStv subscribers are paying more than ever for the service as global rivals like streaming services in the form of Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video proliferate.

GinxX eSports TV which resided on channel 127 is gone from DStv since midnight of 31 March, seven years after it was added in May 2017 as a stand-alone linear TV channel when MultiChoice said that "The deal with GinX is a massive leap forward ".

GinX eSports TV, a channel produced in the United Kingdom, ended as a linear TV channel in July last year and left Sky's traditional pay-TV service to continue as a streaming channel only. 

The move is similar to many overseas studios and channel distributors now no longer investing in their traditional, linear pay-TV channels that are struggling with a lack of new content, as budgets are funnelled towards the production of making content for their streaming services. 

MultiChoice didn't respond to a media query from TVwithThinus about GinX's impending demise made mid-March. 

So far this year DStv subscribers have lost access to Deutsche Welle, Emmanuel TV, B4U Movies, 1Free State TV, NWTV, People's Weather, as well as the 1Magic and ME channels.

The 1Magic and Me channels will soon be replaced with the 1Max TV channel that will carry and showcase a collection of Showmax content as a linear windowing channel for MultiChoice's relaunched Showmax video streaming service that is now run in partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal's Sky on the Peacock platform.

Next to disappear from DStv will be WildEarth (DStv 183), with the channel's operators that warned MultiChoice it will be pulling WildEarth from DStv at the end of April in a nasty channel carriage fight.

WildEarth was originally added in August 2020 as a temporary pop-up channel but was then kept on DStv over the past three years.

Although WildEarth, that currently employs 72 people to run the channel, originally entered into a contract with MultiChoice whereby WildEarth would not be getting paid by MultiChoice for carriage on the DStv platform, it got the space to raise viewership with DStv subscribers and through that get possible advertising revenue and sponsorships.

WildEarth chairman André Crawford-Brunt, slammed MultiChoice in an interview with BizNews last week, claiming that MultiChoice doesn't support local content financially.

Crawford-Brunt said "I made the call that if they weren't prepared to pay us, we needed to come off DStv. It was just too easy to keep providing something to them for free".

He said WildEarth is getting "binned by a big corporate because someone sitting in an ivory tower or sitting in an office in London can make a decision that this doesn't fit the short-term goals and needs of a big corporate".

MultiChoice's local content decisions and third-party acquisition strategy are made and managed from its MultiChoice City headquarters in Randburg, Johannesburg.

Although slamming MultiChoice and South Africa's TV ratings system TAMS which measures the number of TV viewership watching television, Crawford-Brunt noted that "it would have been our preference to stay on MultiChoice".

He said South Africa's TV ratings system "is as archaic as the dinosaur age where there are a number of set-top boxes that exist in a certain number of homes and obviously being a niche channel they try to extrapolate that data from I think 1 400 homes - they extrapolate what the audience is for advertising purposes".

"This is so backward when you consider that 25% of the day is load-shedding, the sample size is so small for a niche channel and they've never done any granular work around the type of dedicated audience that you get on an outdoor or wildlife channel."

According to Crawford-Brunt, MultiChoice "got away with paying us nothing for three odd years. After applying a huge amount of pressure they then agreed to come through with a notional amount of R6 million a year".

"They hope we're just going to go away. I've told them we're going to take it off DStv because we can't afford to be on DStv and not get rewarded in some way." 

He said DStv subscribers "who are paying subscribers to MultiChoice are feeling particularly aggrieved that there's potential that they lose out and that will obviously lead to attrition of more viewers - whether they care or not. You would hope they would care but they're in the middle of a merger."

MultiChoice hasn't responded to a media query about WildEarth made last week by TVwithThinus.

MultiChoice adds WildEarth as a new 2-month DStv pop-up TV channel complete with African waterhole 'Dam Cam'.

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice has launched WildEarth (DStv 183) as a new "wildlife and nature"-viewing pop-up TV channel for 2 months that will be available for DStv Premium and DStv Compact Plus subscribers until 25 November.

TVwithThinus asked MultiChoice for more information after WildEarth launched on Tuesday 25 August on DStv and for a WildEarth channel logo, since MultiChoice failed to communicate or notify the press about the launch of the channel beforehand.

MultiChoice on Tuesday afternoon said that it will make the announcement about WildEarth on Friday 28 August. DStv subscribers already have access to the WildEarth channel and can watch it. As it stands, there is no statement or press release from MultiChoice about WildEarth.

WildEarth's flagship programme is safariLive that has previously had broadcast slots on SABC3, National Geographic and elsewhere as an expert-hosted, live-broadcast wildlife safari show done from various African wilderness hotspots for 6 hours per day.

Sunrise safariLIVE is broadcast between 06:00 and 10:30, with Sunset safariLIVE that is broadcast between 15:00 and 18:00.

safariLIVE is currently done from the Djuma private game reserve, Chitwa Chitwa in The Sabi Sands, &Beyond Ngala private game reserve, and the Tswalu Kalahari.

The rest of the WildEarth schedule consists out of various pre-recorded wildlife programming revolving around animals and their sights and sounds, and safariLIVE Highlights.

WildEarth also employs the "Djuma Dam Cam" - a 24-hour live camera installed at the Gowrie Dam just outside of the Vuyatela lodgeat the Djuma private game reserve that shows what happens at the African waterhole.

"WildEarth is all about sharing nature with everyone so we can all see why we must conserve our beautiful home," says Graham Wallington a co-founder and CEO at WildEarth.

Emily Wallington, WildEarth co-founder and executive producer, says WildEarth's intention is "not that the viewer is wowed and awed through gruesome or dramatic behaviour of wild animals. Rather our mission is to enable them to have serendipitous moments of unscripted magic that touch the heart and let them suspend their disbelief and feel as if they are actually there".