DStv SHOWCASE SEPTEMBER 2017: MultiChoice CEO Mark Rayner: DStv remains hard at work at driving down repeats and helping viewers with content discovery; DStv Now has 'surpassed expectations'.

MultiChoice CEO Mark Rayner says DStv remains hard at work at driving down repeats and rebroadcasts across the various DStv channels - one of the biggest complaints from subscribers - while viewing and use of the DStv Now service has "surpassed expectations".

On Thursday Mark Rayner addressed the media at MultiChoice's DStv media showcase held in the cinema auditorium at MultiChoice City in Randburg, Johannesburg.

As part of his presentation, Mark Rayner told the press that MultiChoice remains committed to not just reducing old content across DStv TV channels as part of an increased focus to reduce repeats, but has also been putting a lot of focus on improving scheduling to make it easier for viewers to watch shows.

MultiChoice is also pro-actively working to create new ways for DStv subscribers to find the content that's available that they might want to watch, through creating and implementing better content discovery mechanisms.

"We're making pro-active moves to limit DStv repeats; complaints have been coming down nicely," said Mark Rayner.

There's been a strong focus at MultiChoice the past few months to reduce the number of repeats and rebroadcasts of content across various TV channels on DStv's platform and to help viewers find new programming.

With a lot of work that's been done to reduce repeats on the various M-Net packaged channels for DStv, Mark Rayner said that the focus on reducing repeats resulted in an increase in the viewership and ratings of the M-Net (DStv 101) channel for instance.

And it's not just M-Net.

MultiChoice has also been having ongoing discussions with the distributors of third-party supplied TV channels for DStv's platform who have been urged to reduce repeats where they're not working - even in instances where they still got good ratings.

A repeat problem that has been addressed for instance has been old Top Gear episodes from BBC Worldwide shown on a channel like BBC Brit (DStv 120), with DStv subscribers who complained that they had been forced to watch the same old episodes over and over.

"Sometimes I pity the TV channels that get a call from Aletta Alberts [MultiChoice's head of content] and her content team. Aletta has argued vehemently with the BBC for instance over repeats of old Top Gear episodes in particular," said Mark Rayner.

He said that DStv subscribers' use of MultiChoice's over-the-top (OTT) service DStv Now "has surpassed expectations".

MultiChoice defends DStv repeats: 'A repeat is not a repeat if you haven't seen it'.

MultiChoice is defending something that irritates a lot of DStv subscribers - repeats and rebroadcasts, but on Wednesday morning said the old content shown isn't a repeat if a DStv subscriber hasn't seen it before.

On Wednesday morning at the Main Beach Marquee, MultiChoice held a MultiChoice Africa Media Roundtable press conference with some MultiChoice and M-Net executives attending the MultiChoice Content Showcase 2015 at the Outrigger Mauritius Resort & Spa in Mauritius.

In attendance as part of the panel was Tim Jacobs (MultiChoice Africa CEO), David Booth (the chief content officer for MultiChoice Africa), as well as Theo Erasmus ((M-Net regional director for East and Southern Africa and Lusophone countries), and Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu, who is M-Net West's regional director.

It's here where the satellite pay-TV operator defended repeats of programming.

"A repeat is not a repeat if you haven't seen it," David Booth told the press invited to MultiChoice's 5 day content showcase.

It partially explains the strategy behind MultiChoice adding content and channels like the recent SABC Encore (DStv 156).

Although it is a 100% rebroadcast channel with SABC archived content, and although it is decades old, not luring viewers as "appointment television" and while several shows are of dubious quality, it counts as "new" for DStv subscribers who've never seen it.

"Repeats are a part of the eco-system of multichannel television," said David Booth.

"It's about giving audiences another opportunity to see programming – the chances of coming to something first time round is getting smaller by the day because of the increasingly-fragmented viewing environment."

"We're seeing repeats and archive programming having more life. Having exclusively live content available costs billions and no broadcaster in the world has that kind of offering," said David Booth.

"The challenge for us is balancing fresh hours of content and archive programming, which is a fine balancing act."

DStv and several pay-TV channels - ranging from Sony Television and the BBC to SuperSport, M-Net, BET, MTV Base, A+E Networks UK's History, Lifetime and many others - are presenting their latest and upcoming programming and content over the next few days at the MultiChoice showcase.

Following anger and outrage from DStv subscibers across Africa after the English Premier League (EPL) was just moved to higher SuperSport channels on more expensive DStv packages, MultiChoice told the media on Wednesday that its EPL rights costs have increased by 70%.

That cost must be passed on to the consumer. 

Tim Jacobs who explained how EPL rights impacted DStv subscription fees, said EPL rights went up 70% this year. "In order to absorb that in our cost structure we had to rebalance content".

MultiChoice in some African counries like Kenya and Uganda - after MultiChoice Uganda in mid-August blatantly lied and said it won't happen - is shockingly hiking monthly DStv subscription rates by 25% from 1 October in Uganda and 15% in Kenya - the second price increase in one year.

DStv subscribers in Uganda are furious over the 2nd DStv price increase in 2015. In Kenya there is similarly outrage over the DStv hike

It's now fueling speculation over whether another price hike for South Africa and other African countries is also on the card who are also battling with weakening currencies against the dollar - the reason given for the latest DStv increase.

Nico Meyer, MultiChoice Africa CEO on DStv repeats: 'Repeats are a bit of a balancing act. It's to make the service affordable to consumers'.

Nico Meyer, MultiChoice Africa CEO says the pan-African satellite pay-TV operator which runs DStv in South Africa and across Sub-Saharan Africa broadcast repeats as part of a balancing act which is to make pay-TV affordable to subscribers and to give the opportunity to watch shows at different times.

Meyer is in Mauritius at the MultiChoice Content Showcase which kicked off this past Tuesday evening with African artists, journalists, international content distributor executives and on-air talent, as well as guests who were flown to the Trou Aux Biches Resort & Spa.

The MultiChoice Content Showcase Extravaganza ends today, 28 June.

In an interview with Kenya's NTV programme The Trend and asked about subscribers complaining about repeats on DStv, Nico Meyer says "that's the nature of pay television".

"If we would bring just simply new content all the time it will simply make it far too expensive. And also people's viewing behaviour are very different. Some people want to see it in the early evening. Some people want to see it in the afternoon".

"So it is a bit of a balancing act. It is to make the service affordable to consumers, but also the ability to be able to view something which they might have missed in another opportunity," said Nico Meyer.

ALSO READ: MultiChoice launches new "Africa Rising" music video and campaign - although one of the six artists in the music video fails to show up.