Telkom to try and compete with MultiChoice's DStv - again - with a 'content mall' of bundled streaming curation.

by Thinus Ferreira

It might be a case of third time lucky for Telkom which plans to once again compete with MultiChoice's DStv by creating a curated, bundled video streaming offering through a "content mall" that's cheaper than subscribing to streamers directly, after attempts over the past decade to create its own satellite TV service and then its own streaming service both failed.

Lunga Siyo, Telkom consumer CEO, told the ITWeb On The Road podcast that the telecom is busy setting up its own "content mall" through which it wants to bundle various video streaming services at a bundled price that's cheaper that subscribing to each streamer individually.

Multiple American studios and streamers are currently exploring and working on the same idea of offering bundled streaming services similar to the traditional satellite pay-TV bundle, as the industry starts to consolidate and consumers are saying they no longer want to pay for a bunch of different streamers.

In this Telkom "content mall", Telkom customers would be able to subscribe to streamers like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and others at a cheaper price than subscribing to those streaming services directly.

"Instead of investing in content and becoming a content producer, we've taken a position that we create a content mall. So we become the access. So in our own platform you're able to subscribe to these platforms, for a fee, which might be cheaper than if you were to go directly."

"So we will aggregate all of these services, and offer it you it to you as a bundle," Siyo said.

"They bring their own content, we bring our own platform."

Telkom's latest plan might be easier said than done. 

Not only has MultiChoice stalled in its own plan three years after announcing that it was creating a "one-stop shop" for streaming services through its DStv platform, but Telkom has struggled and gave up on both its previous tries to create a traditional and streaming video service.

In 2006 Telkom was one of the few successful bidders for new satellite TV service licences in South Africa and set up Telkom Media into which hundreds of millions of rand was poured with executives appointed and international content agreement signed.

After planning to invest over R7 billion, Telkom then abruptly decided to pivot Telkom Media which never launched, into an IPTV service instead of traditional satellite pay-TV and, two years later in 2008 slashed its funding.

After another year, Telkom dumped Telkom Media in 2009 which was sold off to Shenzhen Media Group which never launched and shuttered.

In November 2020 Telkom tried for a second time with launching its own video service when TelkomONE was launched into which Telkom again poured hundreds of millions of rand.

Barely two years later in November 2022 Telkom decided to get rid of TelkomONE and abruptly shuttered it and sold it off to the SABC for the South African public broadcaster to create its SABC+ streamer.

Streaming bundling future

MultiChoice had the same idea as Telkom a few years ago but MultiChoice's attempt has not fully come to fruition - although in America studios, broadcasters and video service providers are realising they need to aggregate streamers and are trying to come up with new consumer bundling approaches and offerings.

Calvo Mawela, MultiChoice CEO, in 2021 said the traditional satellite pay-TV service would work to become a "one-stop shop" and a "super aggregator" for video entertainment services like streamers. 

Over the past three years MultiChoice has added third-party streaming apps through DStv like Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and the recently shuttered BritBox but that's where its efforts stalled. 

Warner Bros. Discovery's Max isn't available in South Africa yet, and Paramount added its Paramount+ not as a stand-alone streamer in South Africa like elsewhere in the world but as a studio tile folded for free into MultiChoice's own Showmax streamer with a limited Paramount+ title offering.

Other global streamers like Apple TV+ and local streaming services are also not available on, or through DStv. 

In the United States, consumers who have had to subscribe to four or five different streaming services are cutting back as streamers from Netflix to Disney+ are aggressively hiking subscription fees, adding ads, and making it much more expensive to be a subscriber than when they launched.

Media companies, legacy pay-TV services and content providers like Disney are trying to figure out how to offer bundled streaming services where they don't cannibalise other offerings but provide consumer value in a way where they can drive sustained subscriber growth and profitability, while it also makes sense as a bundle.

Earlier this year Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney with its ESPN and Fox announced they would start a joint sports streaming service Venu which has quickly become mired in a court battle.

MultiChoice's Showmax partners with Skyworth's QVWi to launch preloaded app Leap S2 streaming stick and Leap S3 streaming TV box from August.

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice's video streaming service Showmax has partnered with Skyworth's QVWi and will launch a Leap S2 streaming stick as well as a Leap S3 streaming TV box from August pre-loaded with the Showmax app and a 2-month subscription.

With these streaming devices, older and incompatible TVs are transformed into smart TV sets.

From August QVWi, a Skyworth company which KwaZulu-Natal's largest local manufacturer of electronic products, will preload Showmax as a video streaming service app and a 2-months free subscription. 

It comes as Netflix's app is no longer working from this week on multiple models of older Sony smart TVs and Apple TVs and consumers and viewers are forced to buy new TV sets.

The QVWi Leap TV S2 streaming stick has built-in Google Chromecast technology and the device can be plugged into a TV's HDMI port to start streaming shows directly from the Showmax app to the TV.

The QVWi Leap S3 streaming TV box works in the same manner and will also offer access to Showmax's content library. 

Showmax warns that only Showmax subscribers on the Showmax Entertainment plan will be able to watch Showmax on their flat-screen TVs. 

Subscribers on the Showmax Entertainment Mobile and Showmax Premier League Mobile plans will not be able to use these QVWi devices to watch on big-screen TVs.

The QVWi Leap TV streaming stick has a recommended retail price of R999 and the QVWi Leap S3 streaming box has a recommended retail price of R1199, with both making it possible for TV viewers to upgrade older model TVs to latest streaming technology.

The QVWi devices are compatible with a wider range of TVs and home entertainment systems for a premium HD viewing experience, has lightning-fast processors, and come with dual-band Wi-Fi and up to 100M ethernet support for a lag-free viewing experience. 

It has Chromecast built-in for cordless viewing using a phone, tablet or laptop, an easy-to-use navigation interface and a Google Assistant button on the voice remote that can be used to request specific shows or to do a search by genre, actor and more.

It also has Bluetooth compatibility and provides personalised recommendations and watchlists based on viewing habits.

"We are thrilled to partner with QVWi to bring these innovative, affordable streaming devices to the market," says Marc Jury, Showmax CEO.

"Our goal has always been to make entertainment accessible to everyone. This partnership helps us achieve our mission to be the home of streaming for Africa by providing our customers with more affordable options to enjoy our fantastic content."

Nazim Cassim, QVWi retail CEO, says "Collaborating with Showmax allows us to leverage our technological expertise to create products that enhance the user experience".

"These devices provide a smooth and lag-free viewing experience that will immerse you in the action, whether you're binge-watching a show or enjoying a blockbuster movie. Prepare to be amazed by the incredible sights and sounds that await you."

BBC Studios shutters its BritBox video streamer in South Africa after 3 years.

by Thinus Ferreira

The BritBox video streaming service is shutting down in South Africa and exiting in August just three years after it launched in South Africa and forms part of the ongoing trend of global streamer operators closing the taps on their money-guzzling video-on-demand plans for the African continent.

BritBox SA, run by BritBox International as a joint venture between BBC Studios and ITV, launched in South Africa in August 2021 as the fifth territory and only African region it expanded to. 

Earlier this year BBC Studios bought out ITV's share and took over full ownership of BritBox, also shutting down BritBox as a standalone service in the United Kingdom. 

BBC Studios runs the existing portfolio of BBC branded linear TV channels like BBC Brit, BBC Lifestyle, BBC Earth and CBeebies on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service.

In a statement, BritBox SA says "Sadly BritBox will be closing. Subscribers can watch all their favourite shows until August". BritBox joins the list of failed streamer attempts in South Africa like Altech Node, PCCW's OnTAPTV, Cell C's Black, Telkom ONE and Vodacom's Video Play. 

BritBox SA's PR company in South Africa in response to a media query says "BritBox is refocusing on its more established markets and the areas of the business that will have the highest opportunities for growth".

"A large proportion of the content on BritBox has been exclusive to the service in South Africa; however, we expect some of this great British programming will find a new home on other platforms and channels in the territory in the future. There is also a suite of BBC Branded channels on DStv - BBC Earth, BBC Brit, BBC Lifestyle, BBC UKTV, CBeebies and BBC World News".

It's unclear with how many subscribers BritBox exits South Africa and why BBC Studios felt that continuing with the investment into BritBox for the territory wouldn't bear fruit.

A year after BritBox launched in South Africa, Reemah Sakaan, BritBox International CEO, noted that the company was pleased with the performance of BritBox SA, that it had "a really fantastic start" in the country and had "thousands and thousands" of users. 

The shuttering of BritBox SA comes after the abrupt exit of AMC Networks' Acorn TV, another British streaming service, from South Africa in November 2022 after four years.

The shuttering of BritBox SA is part of a larger trend of the ongoing funnel of investment into streaming services in South Africa and across the African continent being markedly decreased.

It follows after a reset and decrease in budgets for content spending for streamers in the United States and with these decisions rippling outwards globally.  

Earlier this year Amazon MGM Studios shocked producers in South Africa and elsewhere on the African continent when all further projects and all TV and film projects already under development for its Amazon Prime Video service were abruptly cancelled. Amazon also retrenched its South African and Nigerian content commissioning teams.

Last year Netflix also said that it's decreasing its investment on content spending for African Originals, while Disney+ - which is only operational in South Africa in sub-Saharan Africa - also saw the culling of already-commissioned and filmed projects for the EMEA region.

MultiChoice's relaunched Showmax streamer as a joint venture with Comcast's NBCUniversal and Sky is the one African streaming service that has upped its capital expenditure and content investment over the past year to try and radically increase subscriber acquisition on the continent.

Paramount Global, which is struggling and under immense financial pressure in the United States, took too long to launch in South Africa and shelved plans to launch Paramount+ as a standalone service in the country. 

Instead, it recently opted to partner with MultiChoice and become just a branded studio tile destination within the relaunched Showmax service. Warner Bros. Discovery is yet to indicate when or whether it still plans to launch its streaming service Max in South Africa.

Showmax, Netflix SA, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and Apple TV+ are the main video streaming services aggressively trying to scoop up subscribers in South Africa. While battling each other, they also contend with smaller services like SABC+, eMedia's eVOD, PCCW Media's VIU, Marquee TV, PrideTV and CineMagic all trying to make inroads into the space.

South Africa's government silent on its planned R1 billion streaming service.

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African government is silent after plans leaked that the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) plans to start its own video streaming service at a cost of over R1 billion.

The Rapport and City Press newspapers on Sunday quoted sources noting that the GCIS is working on setting up its own over-the-top (OTT) streaming service, budgeted to cost around R1 billion, and already started canvassing for presenters, camera operators and voice-over artists in all 11 languages.

After the SABC launched its own SABC+ video streaming in mid-November, and the parastatal signal distributor Sentech had said it also has plans to start a streaming service, the GCIS plan is raising eyebrows since the SABC just reported yet another annual loss of R1.13 billion saying the government isn't doing enough financially to help fund the public broadcaster's so-called unfunded broadcast mandate.

William Baloyi, GCIS spokesperson, told TVwithThinus on Tuesday morning in response to a media query asking about the OTT setup and for confirmation and clarity around its cost that "For now we are not in a position to offer any comment, however we will make the announcement at the appropriate time".

It's unclear what the GCIS streaming service would show with parliamentary coverage already carried on parliamentary TV channels and on parliament's existing YouTube channel.

Natasha Mazzone, shadow minister of communications of the Democratic Alliance (DA) political party on Tuesday said the DA will submit a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application to the presidency over the GCIS' plan "to develop a streaming service, which will cost the taxpayer R1 billion".

Natasha Mazzone said that communications minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni must urgently provide answers.

"A government streaming service is not only a waste of taxpayer funds but is also unnecessary, as GCIS already makes use of social media platforms and YouTube for its broadcasts," she says.

"Parliament also shares its broadcasts on YouTube with no issues. Further, the SABC, South Africa's public broadcaster, already has a streaming platform, as it seeks to make its constitutional mandate more accessible to the public."

"GCIS' plans seek to contradict the SABC. This once again demonstrates how out of touch and depth this administration has become, with little regard for the genuine interests of South Africans."

SABC blames data prices and ad integration problems for underperforming SABC+ that 'hasn't grown to levels anticipated'.

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African public broadcaster's SABC+ video streaming service it launched in November has not performed to expectations, marred by problems around trying to add advertising and with the SABC blaming high data prices for not enough people signing up and using the service.

After late out of the racing gates, the SABC suddenly announced in mid-November that it was taking over Telkom's TelkomOne streaming service which had been in existence for two years, and which was suddenly rebranded as SABC+.

The SABC inherited just over 150 000 users and said it had an "aggressive plan" to reach 2 million SABC+ users by December 2023 but will likely fall short of that target.

As a late market entrant SABC+ has been facing an uphill battle in the hotly contested video streaming space in South Africa.

SABC+ has to compete for time, attention and users against the likes of MultiChoice's Showmax which will be relaunched within months in partnership with Comcast's NBCUniversal, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Apple TV+, eMedia's eVOD and smaller players like PCCW Media's VIU, BritBox SA, Marquee TV, PrideTV and CineMagic.

Besides these, Paramount Global's Paramount+ as well as Warner Bros. Discovery's relaunched Max is yet to launch in South Africa.

Nada Wotshela, acting SABC CEO, told parliament's portfolio committee on communications on Tuesday that the SABC+ "performance is not quite what we had expected" and has fallen short of performance targets.

"It's a platform we acquired from a third party because the process to acquire our own OTT platform was taking too long. So we entered into an agreement," she said.

"It's a platform we had to perfect as we go along. For instance, the functionality for placing adverts has been an issue. We've had to acquire this service from an external service provider. There have been some issues there in terms of the contract and other technicalities."

"SABC+ hasn't grown to the levels we had anticipated," Nada Wotshela told parliament. "One of the issues is the cost of data in South Africa. A lot of the audiences that we are targeting cannot afford to just afford on the over-the-top (OTT) platform to watch the programmes."

Ian Plaatjes, SABC COO, told parliament that SABC+ had to pivot from being an SVOD platform to being an advertising video-on-demand (AVOD) platform and service.

"We took SABC+ over from Telkom and TelkomONE was a subscription-based platform. We had to redevelop it for an advertising base."

"We changed strategy - we can't compete with our competitors with launching new channels which they did to mitigate the impact of loadshedding and we actually used SABC+ for that."

Launch plan for SABC+ in advanced stage as broadcaster's 'missing piece' in its digital TV strategy.

by Thinus Ferreira

The projected roll-out and launch plan of SABC+ as the South African public broadcaster's own planned video streaming service - something the broadcaster calls a "missing piece" in its digital TV strategy - is in an advanced stage although no specific date is known yet.

As global and local video streaming services are making inroads in trying to sew up subscribers in South Africa in the hotly contested over-the-top (OTT) players space, the SABC says that plans to launch its own video streaming platform are in an advanced stage.

The SABC's own public access video streaming service which it plans to bring to market within months will function in a similar way to the BBC's iPlayer in the United Kingdom.

The SABC initially said that it would be launching its own streaming service before the end of March 2022 but failed to do so. 

The SABC then pushed the launch of its streamer, tentatively called SABC+, to the next financial year, with Ian Plaatjes, SABC COO, who said that the SABC's streamer would launch in the third quarter of its current financial year, meaning between October and December 2022.

The SABC also said that with the launch of its streamer, it would also debut new SABC TV channels which will be carried on its streaming services, together with existing ones.

Asked for an update on the SABC's streaming service and what the envisioned launch date for the service is, Gugu Ntuli, SABC spokesperson told TVwithThinus that "the SABC will communicate in due course".

When the SABC's streaming service eventually launches it will be what is known as a late-market entrant and will face an even bigger challenge to lure users in a market where South African consumers already have access to MultiChoice's Showmax, The Walt Disney Company's Disney+ since earlier this year, Netflix SA, Amazon Prime Video, VIU, TelkomONE, e.tv's eVOD, Britbox and AcornTV, as well as a few smaller services.

Paramount is supposed to launch its Paramount+ in 2023 in South Africa, while NBCUniversal's Peacock isn't yet available in the territory. Warner Bros. Discovery has no date for a possible launch in South Africa of its combined HBO Max and discovery+ streamers which will be rebranded and getting a new name.

In its recent latest financial report for 2021/2022, the former SABC board chairperson Bongumusa Makhathini, says that the public broadcaster remained "fully committed" to two digital television projects, one being "the launch of an SABC streaming platform".

He notes that "the SABC will implement an over-the-top (OTT) streaming strategy, with the short-term goal of leveraging online and mobile platforms to allow customers to access all SABC content and services anywhere, anytime, and on any device".

"The streaming platform will consolidate all SABC television and radio content for IP transmission over mobile and web. The potential for this platform is limitless, and remains one of the missing pieces of the SABC's distribution strategy."

"Currently, the SABC is a 'pure-play' content provider that is required to do distribution deals with third-party platforms, including Sentech, OpenView and TelkomONE. By procuring its own streaming platform, the SABC will be able to control its destiny in this regard," he says.

"It is our sincere hope that telecommunications companies will make good on their promise to drop data prices in lieu of the additional spectrum obtained through the digital dividend. At current rates, our poorer households cannot afford to stream SABC video or audio services on their mobile devices."

The SABC's 2021/2022 financial report states that the broadcaster's "plans to launch its own OTT streaming platform are advanced" and that it "will go to market during the 2022/2023 financial year.

Once it does launch "SABC content and channels on this platform will provide audiences with more choice and free-to-air services" the broadcaster says.

The SABC plans to launch its video streamer as well as new TV channels from September, promises 'compelling new content' as it shakes up its content acquisition process.

by Thinus Ferreira
 
The South African public broadcaster has had to delay the launch of its own video streaming service but now plans to do so from September and during the third quarter of this year – with the SABC that will also launch new TV channels and promising "compelling new content" while it's drastically shaking up the way that it's acquiring content for its existing and planned TV channels.
 
The SABC also admitted publicly for the first time that the government's drastic province-by-province switch-off of analogue transmitters in the country’s long-delayed digital migation process to digital terrestrial television (DTT) is damaging and adding to the SABC's TV audience losses as viewers who haven’t yet switched over are disappearing from the existing TAMS ratings system when they can no longer access TV signals and watch public television.
 
eMedia last year warned that the government’s drastic shutdown of transmitters will negatively impact ratings and in turn the advertising revenue of broadcasters like e.tv and the SABC.
 
The SABC - late to launch its own over-the-top (OTT) video streaming service in South Africa - previously said that it would be launching its own streamer before the end of this financial year, ending 31 March 2022.
 
This has now been pushed to the third quarter of 2022 into the broadcaster’s next financial year. The SABC says that with the launch of its streamer it will also debut new SABC TV channels which will be carried on its streaming services, together with existing ones.
 
Yolande van Biljon, SABC CFO, told parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (SCOPA) that the SABC’s revenue decline is driven by the migration of audiences from linear television to digital platforms.
 
“In our new financial year, our focus shifts to putting measures in place to ensure we generate revenue from the digital platforms. There are of course our partnerships with Telkom and eMedia and the likes which also provides us access to their platforms that are additional platforms where we are able to generate revenue from."
 
Ian Plaatjes, SABC COO, said "the decline in audience has a direct impact on the decline in advertising revenue".
 
"The decline in audience is multi-causational – the global trend that there is. There’s not much we can do about that. There is an impact on the analogue switch-off but we are managing that with the department of communications and digital technologies."
 
 
SABC moving into the digital space
Ian Plaatjes said that the SABC now plans to launch the public broadcaster's own video streaming service, similar to the BBC's iPlayer, by the third quarter of this year and that a big driver of audience loss for the SABC is audience migration to digital.
 
"Right now we do not have our own digital platform. We have gone to market and are in the final stages of testing the responses of that and we will have our own over-the-top (OTT) platform in the market by the third quarter of the next financial year."
 
"What that means is we're going to be launching additional channels within the new financial year but we are also changing the process of acquiring content for our channels – we are optimising that. It's a big game-changer. You will see a lot more compelling content coming through on our existing platforms but also on the new channels that we are going to be launching that will also be available on our OTT platform."
 
"We will be aggressively playing in the digital space," Ian Plaatjes said.
 
He said that the SABC started testing the software on Tuesday this week that would allow the broadcaster to commercialise its own streamer's platform as well as the third-party platforms it is using.
 
"We will be using it as a pilot phase for this month and will go live from next month. So for the first time, we will start off a financial year where we have the ability to monetise our digital platforms as well."

ALSO READ: South Africa's public broadcaster wants to replace SABC TV Licence with a compulsory 'media levy'.

Launch of SABC's video streaming service pushed to next financial year, delayed to sometime before March 2023.

by Thinus Ferreira 

The SABC has pushed out the launch of its own video streaming service with the South African public broadcaster that will no longer make its deadline of this financial year and has now postponed the launch to somewhere before the end of March 2023.

As part of its video streamer plans, the SABC also is redeveloping the online offering of all of its TV channels.

The SABC's delay in launching its own over-the-top (OTT) service before the end of March 2022 means that it will be pipped at the post by another two streaming services that will now launch in South Africa before the SABC launches its player, while existing video streamers will further entrench their positions in a rapidly expanding market.

While the SABC has postponed its streamer launch, modelled on the BBC's successful iPlayer, The Walt Disney Company plans to launch its highly-anticipated Disney+ video streaming service in South Africa anytime from June this year.

Meanwhile, Paramount last month confirmed that it will be bringing Paramount+ to South Africa and the rest of the African continent in early-2023.

South African video consumers already have access to a range of video streamers showing growth but from a small base, ranging from Netflix SA and Amazon Prime Video, to MultiChoice's Showmax, Apple TV+, VIU, Vodacom Video Play, BritBox, Acorn TV, TelkomONE, eMedia's eVOD, Marquee TV, PrideTV, CineMagic and some other smaller players.

Also still to launch in South Africa are WarnerMedia's HBO Max that will also come to South Africa once existing HBO content contracts with MultiChoice and M-Net run out and lapse, Discovery+, and NBCUniversal's Peacock - all of which are available to overseas pay-TV consumers already on for instance Sky in the United Kingdom.

In his latest speech at a SABC CxO conference, Madoda Mxakwe, SABC CEO, revealed that the SABC's video streaming service, modelled after the BBC's successful iPlayer, will now only come to market before the end of the broadcaster's next financial year - meaning before the end of March 2023 - and no longer the end of the SABC's current financial year.

"In our next financial year we'll launch an even more full HD TV channels, we'll go live with our own over-the-top-platform, and we'll also redevelop our online offerings for all our television channels as well as our radio stations," Madoda Mxakwe said.

The SABC currently provides some of its locally-produced entertainment content on MultiChoice DStv streaming service, licenses some series to VIU, and places some of it on YouTube.

Various permutations of the SABC's linear TV and radio channels are currently carried by MultiChoice on DStv, StarTimes' StarSat and eMedia's Openview, with different collections of linear SABC TV channels streaming and SABC on-demand content available on the streaming services of TelkomONE and VIU.

In March 2021, Ian Plaatjes, SABC chief operating officer (COO), told TVwithThinus about the SABC's video streamer plans that "Our strategy is to have a multi-OTT presence and we are not going to be competing with others".

He said "We are going to be launching our own and it will be during this financial year. We will be going to market pretty soon with our own but it will be complementary to the other OTT providers as well."

In August 2021, Bongumusa Makhathini, SABC board chairperson, in a SABC News interview reiterated that the SABC planned to have its own video streaming service up and running in South Africa before the end of its current financial year which is 31 March 2022.

"We are going to be launching our own and it will be during this financial year. We will be going to market pretty soon with our own but it will be complementary to the other OTT providers as well," Bongumusa Makhathini said at the time.

TVwithThinus asked the SABC in a media query why the launch of its video streaming has now been pushed out by what could be as much as a year, what factors contributed to it, and how work is progressing on its streaming service.

"The SABC can confirm that in the next fiscal, the corporation will launch more TV channels, which will also be available on its own over-the-top (OTT) platform," says Gugu Ntuli, the SABC's group executive for corporate affairs and marketing.

"The SABC is cognizant of the fact that launching an OTT platform is a sizable project with many complex technical and content requirements and considerations for the public service broadcaster."

"The SABC chose to delay the implementing of the OTT platform to firm up its requirements, strategy, business case and prepare the environment for rapid deployment," she says.

South Africa's SABC plans to launch its own video streaming service in 2021, streamer will mimic Britain's BBC iPlayer.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's public broadcaster plans to launch its own SABC video-on-demand streaming service in 2021 with the SABC video streamer that will look and function in the same way as Britain's BBC iPlayer. 

The SABC's plan to roll out its own bespoke entertainment VOD streamer comes at the same time as the country's ANC-led government and the financially struggling broadcaster are crafting controversial plans and possible legislation changes to try and force private pay-TV companies and subscription video-on-demand services to pay the SABC through harvesting their customer databases to tack on compulsory SABC TV Licence fees.

What is means is that the SABC and the government want to amend the existing legislation so that the South African Broadcasting Corporation will get paid money from the likes of DStv and Netflix South Africa at the same time that the SABC might be running its own video streaming service.

Only about a third of South African TV households still bother to pay their annual SABC TV Licence fee of R265 with the beleaguered SABC that is owed billions over many years in outstanding licencing fees.

Besides millions of viewers who have abandoned the SABC, a growing number of video viewers have shifted to digital platforms where they don't watch or listen to any SABC content.

These digital content consumers watch YouTube or are subscribing and using the offerings of pay-TV services like MultiChoice (DStv) and China's StarTimes (StarSat) - as well as the flurry of international and local companies providing subscription video-on-demand services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Vodacom's Video Play, Apple TV+, VIU, Showmax and others - using laptops and mobile devices and gadgets like tablets.

The SABC and the country's department of communications and digital technologies want to broaden the definition of the existing SABC TV Licence so that consumers who are for instance watching Netflix SA on a tablet, DStv on a laptop, or StarSat through the StarTimesON app on a cellphone, all have to pay a SABC TV Licence although they don't use or consumer SABC content.

With even more local and international SVOD service that might launch in South Africa in future like The Walt Disney Company's Disney+ or Star, Discovery Inc.'s discovery+, ViacomCBS' Paramount+, WarnerMedia's HBO Max and others, a compulsory, tacked on SABC TV Licence fee to subscribers' monthly bill will mean a multi-million rand revenue boost for the SABC's cash-strapped Auckland Park kitty.

eMedia Investments that runs South Africa's commercial free-to-air e.tv channel and a collection of e.tv-packaged channels on its Openview free-to-air satellite service also plans to launch its own Openview Plus video streaming service soon. It's unclear whether e.tv would have to "help" collect SABC TV Licence fees.

SABC streamer to mimic the BBC iPlayer

While details around the SABC's planned video streaming service is still sketchy, the streaming service will mimic the BBC iPlayer and work in the same way as the SABC's recently-launched SABC News app. 

The SABC currently provides some of its locally-produced entertainment content on MultiChoice DStv Catch Up service, licenses some series to VIU, and places some of it on YouTube. 

With its own "SABC iPlayer" the public broadcaster will be able to bundle most of its own content on its own platform, where a limited volume of entertainment content will be freely accessible and with the bulk of its library catalogue and new entertainment content that will only be accessible after registration and login, for instance by entering a valid SABC TV Licence number.

"The SABC can confirm that it is planning to launch its video and audio streaming services in line with the ever-changing industry trends and consumer needs," Mmoni Seapolelo, SABC spokesperson confirmed to TVwithThinus in response to a media enquiry.

"At this stage the SABC is not in a position to provide more detail, due to the commercial sensitivity of the information," she said.

The SABC says that it plans to launch its own SABC video streamer in 2021, and said that the broadcaster sees the launch of its own bespoke video streaming service as crucial and necessary because of reasons including competitive advantage, responding to industry needs, fulfilling the role of being a content aggregator and being a platform operator.

ALSO READ: South Africa's SABC now wants DStv and Netflix viewers as well as mobile device users to pay a SABC TV Licence.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 19 October 2020.

 

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:  

■ MultiChoice Nigeria suddenly allows DStv subscribers and GOtv subscribers unencoded access to all TV channels, leading to fake news claims that MultiChoice has been hacked by Anonymous.

- Of course the same thing happened in August in South Africa as well when MultiChoice South Africa gave DStv subscribers complete access to all TV channels as well, saying it was a technical mistake.

- MultiChoice Nigeria says in a statement that it is upgrading its system until 16:00 on Monday afternoon and decided to rather open all TV channels for DStv subscribers and GOtv subscribers on all packages than having to deal with subscribers who complain about problems.

- Even DStv subscribers who no longer have a DStv subscription are able to watch DStv and all of the TV channels.

■ Shocking: Bangladesh supreme court that advertisers can now do sponsored TV news and headlines in TV channels.

■ Netflix's new teen vampire series is being called the gay Twilight.

First Kill will tell the story of a lesbian vampire who falls in love with a lesbian vampire hunter.

■ Mark Burnett is the American TV producer who shaped Donald Trump's image long before he became president of the United States. Now he's lost his touch with a string of TV flops.

■ Netflix has hiked prices in Australia and Canada - is the United States next?

■ Netflix is making a documentary about the protests in Belarus.

■ Public hearings will continue and end this week in Zimbabwe as 14 applicants apply for 6 new commercial TV channel licenses.

■ Some of the new shows set to go global as Covid-19 changes TV.

■ The British have replaced sex for TV watching during the Covid lockdown period.

■ A second Covid-19 wave will likely boost the subscriber numbers of all video streaming services, including Netflix that will again be reporting numbers this week.

■ Kim Kardashian at 40.

■ Reality TV is inching closer to The Running Man - and nobody seems to care.

Although our world has not devolved into a Stephen King nightmare, we're not moving in the opposite direction either.

■ Netflix doing a documentary on the Saqqara archaeological find of 59 sealed sarcophagi in Egypt.

■ A profile piece on Bada Akintunde-Johnson, the country manager in Nigeria of ViacomCBS Networks Africa.

■ TV news in a video streaming world.

The news part of the television business - more so than entertainment - is in a particularly bad place.

■ Netflix facing backlash for "cancelling everything worth watching".

■ The SABC gives trade unions Bemawu and CWU a last chance before massive retrenchments will start at South Africa's struggling public broadcaster.

600 workers to get fired soon after consultations between the SABC and unions collapsed on Friday.

BREAKING. ViacomCBS Networks International to launch its new global video streaming service in early-2021 - South Africa and Africa initially excluded just like Disney+.

by Thinus Ferreira

ViacomCBS will launch its as-yet-unnamed new global video streaming service to compete with Netflix, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video and others internationally in early 2021 although South Africa and Africa are not included in the initial launch plans.

Similar to Walt Disney Company's decision to skip South Africa and Africa with the initial roll-out of its Disney+ subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service which isn't available on the continent yet, ViacomCBS will roll out in early-2021 starting in Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Mexico), Australia and the Nordic countries first.

ViacomCBS Networks International (VCNI) revealed more in an investors' presentation about its global new video streaming plans on Thursday during its latest quarterly earnings call with investors.

It's CBS All Access streaming service in the United States is already available in Australia - which will relaunch under the new brand, and similarly, Paramount+ is already available in parts of South America and Eastern Europe and will also just switch over.

ViacomCBS Networks International will roll out its streaming services in other international territories over time after it launches in Australia, South America and the Nordics.

New upcoming series like the Halo science-fiction drama based on the video game, will be placed on this new streaming service, similar to what Disney has done with Star Wars The Mandalorian on Disney+.

A clue as to part of the reason why VCNI will not initially launch in South Africa and in sub-Saharan Africa comes from VCNI that said in countries where its streamer will launch, it will honour existing licensing and distribution deals with broadcasters and pay-TV operators.

A drama series like Billions will for instance not be available on the streamer in countries like Australia. Similarly, in South Africa, a lot of content - from Billions and The Good Fight acquired by MultiChoice and M-Net (DStv 101) simply won't be available, which would make for a truncated offering and user experience if such a service were to launch in South Africa.

VCNI says that its global video streamer will target "audiences of all ages with a competitively priced and super-sized selection of 'must-see' exclusives, premieres and box sets from ViacomCBS’ much-loved entertainment brands".

Pierluigi Gazzolo, president, streaming for VCNI, says "With more than 200 million new streaming subscriptions due to come online internationally by 2025, we're very confident we can build a meaningful subscriber base in the next few years".

"ViacomCBS is one of a very small handful of elite content companies with broad enough content pipelines and deep enough content libraries to lead in all segments of the video entertainment market."

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 30 July 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:


■ The SABC is once again/still busy with expansions and deviations of contracts.
The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) criticises the South African public broadcaster for its ongoing lack of proper planning in supply chain and contract management.
- South Africa's parliament says the abuse with contracts are central to the SABC's financial woes.

■ TV boss in India arrested over fraud after pretending to be a government official handing out houses.

■ The irony of Netflix that produced Indian Matchmaking that didn't involve Netflix India.


■ Fahmeeda Cassim Surtee, DStv Media Sales CEO, was a child of the 80s, one of her favourite shows was MacGyver with Richard Dean Anderson and because it was appointment viewing she planned her life around every episode.


■ America's 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards will be a virtual event on 20 September because of Covid-19.
M-Net (DStv 101) will basically be broadcasting a glam, star-studded Zoom-event since nobody will actually attend in person at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles.
- Producers looking to "create a moment that is more relaxed, more entertaining, more enjoyable".

■ BBC journalist Fiona Lamdin uses uncensored "N"-word in TV news report.

■ Stripper TV drama P-Valley coming to Showmax shocks viewers with graphic phone sex scene complete with full-frontal nudity.

■ Greek TV channel ANT1 dumps Turkish series in protest over the conversion of Hagia Sophia from museum to mosque.

■ A brief history of Australian television: From black-and-white to video streaming.
- Still in Australia: Fixing TV content rules is one step to help the troubled industry.

■ Judge Dredd TV series written but on hold because of Covid-19 pandemic.

■ The most pirated TV series during the Covid-19 pandemic includes The Mandalorian of Disney+, The 100, Game of Thrones and a sponge.

■ After worldwide protests against police brutality, what does the future of cop TV shows look like?

■ Is the future of video streaming services a more curated experience?

■ Tom Fussell appointed as temporary BBC Studios CEO from September 2020.

■ Tamar Braxton's new reality TV show postponed after overdose.

■ The toxic Ellen DeGeneres controversy explained.
- Her celebrity friends are deserting her.

■ The profound oddness of watching televised Major League Baseball (MLB) on ESPN during Covid-19.

■ We're about to run out of new TV shows and new movies - and I can't wait.
The upcoming content drought caused by Covid-19 might be the best thing to happen to entertainment in ages.

■ The United Kingdom's Boris Johnson now wants to do White House-style TV briefings.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 29 July 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

Netflix breaks HBO's record for the most Emmy nominations ever.
HBO's Watchmen earned 26 nominations - the most of any show - and the Television Academy gave newcomers Disney+ and Apple TV + their first nominations.
- Emmy 2020 snubs and surprises: Baby Yoda breaks through.
- TV critics on whether television should be celebrating itself when the Covid-19 pandemic rages on.


■ "Kosher Netflix" launches in Israel.
No dancing to be seen as religious Jewish subscribers can press the "Skip" button to protect their modesty and flick past "problematic" scenes in the new video streaming service, Tov.

■ What is the optimum number of seasons for a TV sitcom before it jumps the shark?
Season 7, episode 3.

■ Television cinematography takes a Quantum Leap.

■ Pay-as-you-go for solar-powered pay-TV in Africa.

■ Convicted paedophile worked on the set of New Zealand children's show.

■ Britain's Sky pay-TV operator embraces the possibilities of showcasing Art on television.

■ How 2020 pressed Fast Forward on the video streaming wars.
- And the early winners and losers: The "What's gone right", What's gone wrong" and the "Verdict".


■ Major League Baseball (MLB) shown on ESPN might get cancelled this season because of Covid-19.
- Slimmed-down baseball on TV has broadcast workers worried about job cuts.
- Major League Baseball pulls the rug out from Amazon Prime Video with shortened season.


■ Apple's Apple TV+ video streaming service is off to a very slow start and isn't generating revenue.


■ "Shame on Big Brother Naija."
Is Edafe Ufoma Holy on drugs or something? In a c-r-a-z-y and hilarious rant over MultiChoice and M-Net's latest 5th season of Big Brother Nigeria, "Ebuka, the presenter got penis erection while interviewing that lady with massive breasts", and "The most handsome of all the male contestants is a yellow skin guy but with little manhood".


■ DStv now charging the same for less, says a subscriber, while DStv Customer Service says "We do not have replacement channels".
"We are left with 20-year old repeats and channels which give us films with excessive violence".

■ If Facebook and social media is the new cigarettes, then this is what we must learn fro the 1970's.

■ Hollywood's lost summer.


■ Adewunmi Ogunsanya, MultiChoice Nigeria chairperson recovers after Covid-19.
Unadulterated joy blossoms in the bosoms of relatives, friends and associates of the successful, beefy lawyer who had coronavirus with the news about Erujeje's healing that has sent his people rejoicing and felicitating with him.

■ Australia's version of Farmer Wants a Wife wants to bring back "wholesome reality TV".

■ Nigeria finally adds sign language to national news briefings on TV.
- While South Africa's SABC puts out a new tender looking for sign language service providers for 3 years.

■ The future of video streaming services is ongoing subscriber churn.
Viewers will subscribe and unsubscribe as new content comes and goes that they might be interested in.

■ SABC chief financial officer Yolande van Biljon says the South African public broadcaster wants to get to a place where it doesn't have to ask for government bailouts again.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 23 July 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ Disney, Sky and Netflix are the best of Frenemies.
Sky's pay-TV boss reveals - just like the case is with MultiChoice's DStv - an initial nervousness over allowing Netflix onto its Sky Q pay-TV service.

■ Ellen DeGeneres - Th evil stepmother of American daytime TV.

■ Woman tries to steal a 165 cm flatscreen TV set.

■ Love on the spectrum - a dating show that celebrates autism.

■ How I found my female legal mentors on TV.

■ As TV evolves, so too does the scale and scope of innovation.

■ Netflix's Indian Matchmaking misses the full story on arranged marriages.
 - Triggers debate.   - Doctor Who's Mandip Gipp slams the show over its portrayal of colourism.
-Viewers slam show as a "cesspool of casteims, colourism, sexism and classisim".

■ The 5th season of The Crown will only start in 2022.

How to shoot a TV sex scene during Covid-19 - cue the mannequins.

■ How Hollywood accidentally built Netflix.


■ Let the Game of Thrones Video Streaming Wars begin.
With the launch of Peacock in the United States, there is now Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max, Quibi, Hulu and a few other video streaming services. Now we'll see - literally - who survives.
- Psst: Long-term success will be determined by the user experience (UE) - the way in which and experience viewers have in discovering and controlling the content.


■ How the on-screen depiction of romance is changing in Korea's "K-dramas" and disappointing viewers.
It has to do with ... marriage.

■ When did reality TV get so sexual?

■ How far is too far? The most-complained and disgusting TV commercials of the past decade in the United Kingdom and Australia.

■ The traditional linear TV business tries to adapt ...
...  left managing a melting ice-cube while they adapt operations for a video streaming future.

■ StarTimes Nigeria to add DreamWorks animation TV channel in September.

■ CAN (Christian Association of Nigeria) declares that M-Net's 5th season of Big Brother Naija on MultiChoice's DStv is evil.

■ Were the flashback scenes in the American drama series This Is Us seen on M-Net (DStv 101) filmed years in advance?

■ MultiChoice launches Enhanced Decoder Notification (EDN) for DStv decoders across Africa.
The new functionality adds icons that display different types of notifications on the Live TV screen

CineMagic launches in South Africa as short-form video streaming service.

by Thinus Ferreira

Yet another new subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service has launched in South Africa, with CineMagic that is offering a range of short-form video movies, series and documentaries, for smaller screens.

CineMagic that will be available in South Africa through the mobile streaming content platforms of Vodacom's Vodacom Video Play and MTN Play will now compete against the likes of existing video streaming services such as Netflix, MultiChoice's Showmax, Apple TV+, Amazon Prime Video, VIU and some other SVOD players.

CineMagic comes from Exceptional Rights, and offers director-driven, high-value curated video content ranging from 5 to 30 minutes in duration.

Users can sign up through their mobile devices with a subscription for the video streaming service that costs R5 a day with the first 3 days free. Subscriptions can be stopped at any time.

"There is an unmet consumer demand for short movies that display beautifully on mobile," says Joanne Raphael Katz of Exceptional Rights. "The support from the mobile networks recognises the confidence they have in CineMagic’s snackable little movies and the fact that South African mobile users want video designed for their cellular devices and not for traditional TV broadcast".

She says that "there are very few movie studios globally dedicated to the production of short movies and series. This means we proactively procure content from individual companies, film makers, producers and artists and pre-Covid-19, we also actively visited African and European film festivals to source short movies".

Categories on CineMagic include Africa’s Best, Drama, Comedy, Action, Romance, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Horror, Animation and Thriller. Both movies and series titles are available to be streamed from www.cinemagic.co.za to users' devices through using mobile or Wi-Fi.

CineMagic is also looking for new content and says local creative talent can submit their content for consideration to contact@cinemagic.co.za.

CineMagic plans to roll out beyond South Africa to other sub-Saharan countries and also sourced a range of French short-form content secured for the Francophone African territories.

DEVELOPING. Niclas Ekdahl out as MultiChoice Connected Video CEO after less than 2 years and before pay-TV operator is supposed to launch a flurry of DStv internet-connected streaming services.

by Thinus Ferreira

I'm told that Niclas Ekdahl, MultiChoice Connected Video CEO, is out and has resigned from the pay-TV operator less than 2 years after he took the job, over "personal interests".

MultiChoice on Tuesday night in response to a late-night media enquiry from TVwithThinus confirmed Niclas Ekdahl's exit and said that Yolisa Phahle, currently CEO of general entertainment at MultiChoice, will take over Niclas Ekdahl's responsibilities as well for the time being.

Niclas Ekdahl joined MultiChoice in September 2018 and his resignation - without any announcement from MultiChoice - comes just a week after MultiChoice's video streaming service Showmax launched Showmax Pro as a folded-in sports content differentiator service supplied by SuperSport.

Niclas Ekdahl leaving comes before MultiChoice is supposed to roll out its so-called "DStv dishless" service, DStv Streaming, similar to its current DStv offering but not requiring installation or a physical satellite dish.

MultiChoice is also supposed to launch a new DStv Explora that will add the capability to deliver and will carry subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

Joe Heshu, MultiChoice's group executive for corporate affairs, told TVwithThinus that "We can confirm that Connected Video CEO Niclas Ekdahl has decided to leave the MultiChoice Group to pursue personal interests".

"We are grateful for his contribution in which he oversaw the growth of the Showmax and DStv Now platforms. We wish Niclas well in his future endeavours.  Yolisa Phahle will now take over the leadership of our Connected Video business in addition to general entertainment."

Asked how Niclas Ekdahl's absence will influence or impact on MultiChoice existing plans, research and development and service roll-outs, Joe Heshu said that "the work of our Connected Video business unit continues".