From 2022 Disney will take you to space for a holiday adventure for just R86 869 for 2 days - breakfast and a planet adventure included.

by Thinus Ferreira

It's not just Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos who are tripping in space - you can now get your chance as well with Disney that will give you an out-of-this-world space adventure holiday from 2022 aboard the Halcyon starcruiser for just R87 000.

The Walt Disney Company finally released the astronomical pricing for its Star Wars: Galactic StarCruiser "holiday-adventure" that will open in 2022 as a hotel-cruise ship experience but on land with eye-popping prices that surpasses even expensive real cruise ships on water pricing.

Together with a new trailer, Walt Disney announced some of the cabins and new details around Star Wars: Galactic StarCruiser that will open in the middle of next year and in which individuals, friends or families can book for a two-day immersive experience at the "spaceship" at Walt DisneyWorld Resort in Florida in America.

Aboard the Halcyon, a starcruiser operated by the Chandrila Star Line, you will check-in and experience a jam-packed two-day adventure where you will "build" your own story and its outcome depending on the choices you make.

On day two, guests will take a shuttle down to Batuu, the planet that is the setting for Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge at Disney World, do the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon: Smuggler's Run rides, and return to the "ship".

Aboard, with your own Star Wars outfit (anything from Jedi garb to Coruscant refinery), characters and staff will behave around you as if you're really in the Star Wars universe playing out a developing and immersive role-playing adventure in-between learning how to play Sabacc, bridge training, droid racing competitions, eating and drinking exotic galactic foods and cocktails and having fun in the sublight lounge.

During the voyage, travellers will meet new and familiar Star Wars characters and interact with them, some of whom will ask to join them on daring missions.

As daring is the astronomical pricing. The Halcyon will have small standard cabins (sleeps 4 to 5), galaxy class suites (sleeps 4) and grand captain suites (sleeps 8) but Disney has only released pricing for the standard cabins so far.

Star Wars fans will have to cough up from (R17 556 ($1209) per individual per night for a cabin or R69 833 ($4809) for the voyage if 2 people per cabin, all the way up to R86 869 ($5999) for a cabin of 4 people. The first voyage is expected to leave 20 August 2022.

e.tv launches its eVOD video streaming service.

by Thinus Ferreira

e.tv has launched the South African broadcaster's homegrown video streaming service, eVOD (e-Video-On-Demand) as a so-called freemium streamer with over 2 500 hours of content at launch, including different premium subscription tiers for exclusive content.

e.tv plans to spend at least R100 million per year on creating brand-new local content for eVOD that will include 4 eOriginal series and 10 original South African feature films, and the plan is to add the streaming of live linear TV channels on eVOD in the future.

As e.tv is a free-to-air commercial broadcaster, eVOD offers thousands of hours of free library content that is available after a customer registers an eVOD profile.

eVOD also offers daily (R5 for 24 hours), weekly (R15) and monthly (R29.99) subscriptions, giving a viewer access to all content and offering more exclusive content including a first-run eOriginal movie, and access to the next week's 5 episodes of e.tv's top local prime soaps and telenovelas in a functionality called FastForward (FF).

eVOD subscribers can for instance watch the first episode of the new local drama series Is'phindiselo before broadcast, as well as Atlantis, the first eVOD Original movie in which a young woman sets out to find her missing brother involved in a gang and starring Bronte Snel, Maurice Carpede, Chumani Pan, Keenan Arrison and Ettienne Gertse.

eVOD customers can pay with debit or credit cards, airtime or partner billing with e.tv that has partnered with MTN and with MTN customers who register for eVOD who get 4GB data free monthly until 31 January 2022 that can only be used to watch eVOD content.

eVOD is available to download as an app for mobile devices on the Google Play and Apple's App Store, and is online at www.evod.co.za as a browser experience for computers. 

e.tv's existing "e On Demand" website service where people could watch Catch Up episodes of shows, will now redirect users to the eVOD website.

eVOD launches in South Africa just a day before BritBox SA that is launching on 6 August with the country that is adding two new video streaming services in an already crowded video-on-demand space and where the South African public broadcaster plans to launch its own SABC VOD service, modelled on the BBC's Player, before the end of the year.

Besides eVOD and BritBox SA, South African consumers already have access to MultiChoice's Showmax, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+ that are all competing with PCCW Media's VIU, Vodacom Video Play and TelkomONE. 

Consumers are still waiting for other global streamers like WarnerMedia's HBO Max, along with Disney+, Paramount+, NBCUniversal's Peacock and Discovery+ to launch locally.

"We decided to meet our audience in places where they will be at - so if not on the TV set, on the mobile, or on the PC, and eventually they will get the eVOD content again on TV," said Khalik Sherrif, eMedia Holdings CEO, the eVOD virtual launch event on Wednesday night.

"We have a huge following in South Africa through e.tv and all the other TV channels and we understand in our business that our customers and audiences are changing on a daily basis these days, getting content through means that we didn't conceive of 10 years ago - the TV has evolved from analogue to DTH to DTT and the last couple of years we went to OTT."

Multiple new eOriginal series, films planned

Marlon Davids, e.tv managing director said that "the investment in the local broadcasting industry will be R100 million per year - that's what our investment is going to be - and it will include at least 4 eOriginal series for eVOD, as well as at least 10 local movies per year".

"Atlantis is available to watch on eVOD and up until the end of March 2022 next year we will launch another 4 movies, and possibly 2 more. In a full financial year there will always be 10 movies that we will launch."

Excluding Atlantis that is already on eVOD, the other eOriginal films will be available on a T-VOD basis on eVOD as a transactional video-on-demand offering.

"This means that eVOD users will pay a to-be-determined once-off fee to watch a movie because it won't be available on TV or in cinemas and will be territory premieres," Marlon Davids said. The price for T-VOD films has not been decided yet.

"A big part of eVOD will be Catch Up, so users will be able to watch last night's episode of series like Durban Gen or House of Zwide or even the Turkish telenovelas dubbed into Afrikaans."

"In that space we know that viewers are obsessed with those shows like Gebroke Harte, so we will also offer FastForward for Elif to see the next 5 episodes that will still be broadcast on the eExtra channel."

"Also some of these Turkish drama series that haven't been on e.tv channels before will now premiere on eVOD even before it goes to one of our linear TV channels."

"After Is'phindiselo our 13-part series that has already been renewed for a second 13-episode season, we will launch another one towards mid-September called Housewives, that is in production."

Plan to move e.tv content to eVOD

e.tv told TVwithThinus that its existing shows like soaps of which Catch Up rights have been licensed to MultiChoice's DStv Now will remain accessible on that pay-TV provider's streaming service but e.tv's content is no longer available on VIU and has been moved to eVOD.

"As our contractual obligations ride themselves out, we're consolidating our content on our OTT service which is the logical thing to do," Khalik Sherrif said.

"We are introducing what is the mass audience of South Africa to content that is now going to be streamed. As data becomes cheaper, the numbers will grow. But we had to be in this business. We had to start somewhere."

'Tied destinies' predicts nothing but danger for remaining Survivor SA Immunity Island castaways.

by Thinus Ferreira

Another never-seen-before, must-see-it-to-believe-it moment awaits at tribal council in tonight's eye-popping episode of Survivor South Africa: Immunity Island on M-Net (DStv 101) at 19:30 that TVwithThinus has seen and that is as explosive as unexpected.

Tonight's episode has the title of "Tied Destinies" and it means nothing good for the 10 remaining castaways as a random draw will pair them up. 

Whatever advantage a castaway might win, will also benefit their partner - but when a castaway is voted out, their partner will be getting their torch snuffed by Nico Panagio as well.

This means that at least two castaways are leaving Survivor SA: Immunity Island in tonight's episode and what will happen at a furious and fractured tribal council and what one castaway do is something that has never been seen on the show before. 

TVwithThinus watched the media screener of tonight's episode and had to press pause several times to just process and take everything in - especially during the jaw-dropping tribal council. Did that really happen? 

Viewers are advised to either record the episode while they watch live, or to keep the remote control nearby to pause and rewind - you're very likely going to want to go back and want to watch a very specific scene again. 

Discovery Inc. pulls all of its TV channels from StarTimes in Africa and StarSat in South Africa in unresolved contract conflict.

by Thinus Ferreira

Pay-TV customers of StarTimes across Africa, including StarSat subscribers in South Africa, abruptly lost all of the Discovery TV channels on Monday without warning because of an unexplained and unresolved contract conflict.

StarTimes and StarSat subscribers woke up on Monday to discover that their Discovery channels - StarTimes Real Time, Investigation Discovery, Investigation Discovery French, Discovery Science and Discovery Science French - were all gone. 

The end of the channels come after Discovery Inc. cut its Discovery Family channel in late-January from channel 222 on StarTimes and StarSat after just two years on the Chinese pay-TV platform even before it was supposed to go dark on 31 January.

Discovery Family went dark after the Fine Living Network (FLN), that is also from the Discovery Inc. stable, abruptly disappeared in December 2020 after more than a decade on the air on StarSat, with the move that also angering subscribers.

StarTimes and StarSat subscribers are fuming over the fact that they were only told in August, and after it happened that the channels are gone, saying they would have cancelled their subscriptions had they known in July or with a month's notice.

Discovery Inc. in response to a media enquiry, told TVwithThinus on Wednesday that "StarTimes Real Time, Investigation Discovery, and Discovery Science will no longer be available through the provider as of 2 August. However, lovers of real-life entertainment can still enjoy a plethora of world-class content from Discovery on DStv."

Discovery didn't answer why customers and viewers of its channels were not told or warned beforehand about the loss of the TV channels.

Luyanda Cele, StarSat spokesperson, told TVwithThinus in response to a media enquiry on Thursday morning that "Please note that the channels are removed due to contractual issues and communication was sent immediately to our customer via bmail, SMS and on our social medial pages".

On Facebook StarSat only posted a notification on Wednesday morning, long after 2 August, while subscribers say even the StarSat call centre knew nothing about the axed Discovery channels.

On Facebook when StarSat subscriber Daphne Brown asked why StarSat keeps discontinuing channels and if it's because StarTimes is not paying the distributors, StarSat said "it is due to contractual reasons and nothing to do with payment".

Nadia Crowie said "Surely someone should have known earlier, not a few days after debit orders went off and payment made. Even if we were notified, it should have been before debit orders went off or payments were made".

Nduduzo Gape said "I joined StarSat because of those channels. I am giving you one month to resolve this issue else I'm disconnecting".

Subscriber Zanele Ngcongo said "Wow, you guys are not good to your customers. You only tell today but I've noticed on Monday that Real Time was off. You need to change the way you do things".

ALSO READ: Discovery Inc. cuts its Discovery Family channel from StarTimes and StarSat after just 2 years on the air without any explanation and just a month after axing FLN.

ALSO READ: After over a decade on-air in South Africa Discovery Inc. abruptly dumps Fine Living on StarTimes and StarSat without warning or explanation.

Comic Con Cape Town revived as a one-day pop-up event set for 2 October 2021.

by Thinus Ferreira

The organisers of Comic Con Cape Town, a planned parallel spin-off of Comic-Con Africa in Johannesburg with both events that went physically dormant because of the global Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, has revived the Cape Town get-together as a one-day pop-up event that will be held on 2 October 2021.

In June Reed Exhibitions Africa announced that it has set 22 September 2022 as the return date for Comic-Con Africa 2022 that will take place at a new venue, the Johannesburg Expo Centre.

The inaugural Comic Con Cape Town was again delayed in 2021 due to the continuing Covid-19 pandemic. 

"While a traditional Con is not possible in 2021, Comic Con Cape Town, in partnership with the City of Cape Town are excited to announce that they will be bringing a taste of Comic Con to the city this October," the organisers said in a statement released on Wednesday.

Comic Con Cape Town will be hosting a series of pop culture pop-up activities at different locations around the city for one day only on 2 October 2021.

According to the organisers fans can look forward to exploring pop-up activities like cosplay competitions for professionals, casuals and kids; the Comic Art Drink & Draw & Sketch-off competitions, pop culture quiz sessions, fandom meet-ups across the city, gaming and tabletop competitions and film watch parties.

"There will be a strong focus on connecting the geek and pop culture communities of Cape Town, with these pop-up activations at various locations with Covid-19 regulated capacities," the organisers say.

The Comic Con Cape Town pop-up around Cape Town will run alongside the renowned Cape Town International Animation Festival and the FAME Africa Week.

"We have been navigating the landscape of the pandemic with caution and creativity, and the pop-up activities during this one-day-only fan day gives us the opportunity to connect with the Cape Town Comic Con fans, while we wait for a full force festival," says Carla Massmann, show director.

"It allows for us to stay true to Comic Con's spirit, which is to bring people of all fandoms and interests together and facilitate friendship and connection, all whilst celebrating the love of all things pop culture."

Alderman JP Smith, mayoral committee member for safety and security, says "Cape Town is Africa's premier film and media destination, and the city is fast becoming recognised as the continent's game development hub with more than half of South Africa's game development studios based in the Mother City".

"Combine that up with an enthusiastic geek scene, Cape Town is the perfect city to bring the comic book culture alive."

"For the City, we believe providing support to film and media events such as Comic Con enables the creative sector to grow and the industries can work towards recovery post the pandemic."

ALSO READ: Reed Exhibitions Africa sets September 2022 as the return date for Comic Con Africa 2022 that will return for a 4-day event to the new venue of the Johannesburg Expo Centre.

TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. 'Let them eat designer cake': A tone-deaf SABC at 85: How a masks-off, cash-strapped public broadcaster ate, drank and partied up a storm in Covid like it's 1999.

 by Thinus Ferreira

While the board members and top executives of the South African public broadcaster constantly pleads poverty in front of the country's parliament that didn't stop the cash-strapped SABC from throwing a highly distasteful and morally wrong in-person party during a Covid-19 pandemic on Monday evening.

Lovingly broadcast to the nation, complete with an expensive, three-tier designer-ordered cake, the SABC decided to show South Africa how its top execs, presenters, politicians, actors and even some hanger-on socialites just there for selfies, ate, drank and celebrated as if Covid-19 is a distant memory and not the dangerous current-day pandemic that is engulfing the country.

Like Animal Farm, the South African public broadcaster wants viewers and its audience not to do as it does but as it says.

While the SABC showed millions of viewers on Monday night how it partied up a no-socially distanced storm in a studio, the SABC wants you to do as it says in its Covid-19 public service announcements and to stay home, not attend gatherings and to wear a mask.

Keeping your distance, wearing a mask and not having unnecessary public gatherings of any kind are however not rules that apparently apply to the South African public broadcaster. Those are just for you, dear reader sitting at home watching. 

Pity that the SABC can't even seem to try and follow its own PSAs.

The SABC will feed, drink and be merry maskless as its staffers recklessly entertain the masses with money that the broadcaster doesn't have and shouldn't be spending. 

You eat bread. Let them - and watch them - eat (designer) cake.

Earlier this year the SABC fired and got rid of 621 staffers from its bloated payroll by the end of March because the broadcaster said it can't afford to pay them all anymore.

The SABC owes millions of rand in unpaid royalties to recording artists and collection agencies that it's simply not paying. 

Production companies have been suffering with the SABC that has told parliament it's been unable and has problems paying all of its suppliers.

This is how the South African public broadcaster's properties across South Africa looks from the outside:

But let's order three-tier designer cake and make merry, hugging and literally rubbing shoulders with each other during Covid-19 and then broadcast that to our viewers who we are struggling to persuade to pay their SABC TV Licences.

As a thankful nation, viewers should be grateful to the SABC for the party content they're getting and being shown. 

At least viewers can see that some people are not restricted by Covid-19 safety regulations like the rest of us and will get together and party up a callously dangerous "superspreader" Delta-storm for the delight of all of those stuck at home.

Who at the SABC okay'ed this utter disgraceful mess of an in-person arbitrary party and a non-essential event to celebrate the SABC's random 85th anniversary? 

Why was it held in-person instead of organising a small studio-based, professional broadcast with minimum headcount?

Why is the SABC once again wasting SABC TV Licence fee payers' money on drinks and food and a shocking Marie Antoinette-like designer cake when staffers in provincial bureaus are told that the SABC doesn't have money to fix roofs or chairs or to buy basic broadcast equipment? 

How much did this shameful, irresponsible, in-person money-waste event, done during Covid, cost? How tone-deaf, irresponsible, disgusting and shockingly distasteful.

However that expensive SABC 85th anniversary cake tasted, be sure of one thing: The SABC's latest distasteful mess made a very bad impression and leaves a very bad taste behind.

Somizi Mhlongo out at SABC's Metro FM after serious allegations of violent physical abuse, Idols role on M-Net's Mzansi Magic in jeopardy.

by Thinus Ferreira

The socialite Somizi Mhlongo who is once again swirling in controversy following allegations of violent physical abuse is out of his gig as a presenter on the SABC's Metro FM radio station, with his seat as a judge on Idols on Mzansi Magic that is also in serious jeopardy.

The scandal-riddled star is once again in the tabloid headlines for all the wrong reasons, following leaked BarLeaderTV production recordings from his now-estranged lover, Mohale Motaung.

Mohale Motaung claims that Somizi Mhlongo broke his ribs and almost knocked out teeth in a violent physical abuse incident in 2020; allegedly threatened Mohale with a kitchen knife, saying he would kill them both; and allegedly even tried to drive him off the road after an Idols afterparty.

Mohale Motaung and Somizi Mhlongo's tempestuous relationship has been marred by persistent rumours of infidelity and breakup ever since their over-the-top and tacky reality TV wedding series, Somizi & Mohale: The Union that was filmed for MultiChoice's Showmax video streamer in 2020.

Somizi Mhlongo and MultiChoice are also mired in drama over allegations that he allegedly stole and plagiarised the idea for the Dinner at Somizi's TV series from another creative, Hastings Moeng.

Neither Mohale Motaung nor Somizi Mhlongo responded with any public statement by the time of publishing over the violent physical abuse claims.

On Wednesday morning the SABC in a statement confirmed that Somizi Mhlongo is gone from the Metro FM airwaves for now.

"The SABC can confirm that Metro FM management met with Somizi Mhlongo and he has requested to take some time off from work. Management has granted Somizi Mhlongo permission to do so. The corporation has also noted comments on social media about Somizi Mhlongo and we would like to point out that the public broadcaster does not condone any acts of abuse and violence."

Meanwhile Somizi Mhlongo's continued participation as an Idols judge on M-Net's Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) channel is also becoming increasingly untenable given the serious nature of the allegations that have surfaced.

If Somizi Mhlongo is removed or leaves, viewers will however see him for a few weeks longer on-air, since several episodes of the current 17th season have been filmed by the [SIC] Entertainment production company already.

MultiChoice on Tuesday told TVwithThinus in a statement in response to a media enquiry that "We are aware of the allegations made against Somizi Mhlongo. As a strong proponent of a violence-free South Africa, we view these allegations seriously and are giving them the attention they deserve".

In January the South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) slammed Somizi Mhlongo in a strongly-worded statement over his insults levelled against journalists.

Somizi attacked journalists after reports about his alleged infidelity and crumbling relationship and a legal battle over the canned Dinner at Somizi's TV show, after he was approached for comment but declined to comment.

SANEF said that Somizi's "actions have aggravated what is already a hostile working environment, especially for women journalists. This is a direct attack on media freedom in the country. Worldwide similar attacks are being meted out on journalists with the intent to silence their voices, especially that of women and the stories they tell."

"SANEF calls on Somizi Mhlongo to unreservedly apologise to these journalists and the public on all his social platforms for his unbecoming behaviour. He must call on his followers to stop harassing and intimidating them. Further, we call on the journalists to lay charges of intimidation and for MultiChoice to officially distance themselves from Mhlongo's comments."

ALSO READ: In shocking leaked production recordings reality star Mohale Motaung accuses Idols judge Somizi Mhlongo of alleged violent physical abuse: 'Threatened to kill me with a kitchen knife'.

The SABC finally responds (without answering questions) about SABC1's latest wrong Generations content and the channel's ongoing problem to get its primetime playout right: 'Thanks for tuning in?'

by Thinus Ferreira

After more ongoing problems and mistakes with the playout of Generations on SABC1 last week, the South African public broadcaster took days to respond and belatedly just saying "the situation has been rectified".

SABC1 has ongoing problems and errors with broadcast episodes correctly, and in the correct order during primetime of its Skeem Saam and Generations soaps and last week once again messed up Generations for viewers, so much so that viewers - who didn't get any answers - couldn't make sense of what was going on.

SABC1's latest Generations mess where Phumzile Zonke is SABC1 channel head, is indicative of an ongoing issue that SABC1 and Phumzile Zonke either won't or can't fix. 

Just before the latest mistakes of Generations last week, SABC1 bungled the playout of Skeem Saam earlier in July.

TVwithThinus asked the SABC in an urgent media enquiry last week on Friday morning for an explanation as to why wrong Generations content was shown last week.

SABC1 was also asked for why it keeps happening, in light of what happened with the errors with Skeem Saam earlier this month again, and before that with both Skeem Saam and Generations again.

The SABC didn't respond with any answer.

The SABC was also asked why SABC1 is unable to fix the recurring problem and why the public broadcaster's TV channel isn't able to introduce effective measures to prevent the same problem or issue from recurring. 

Again the SABC didn't bother with any answer.

The SABC was also asked how the playout of Generations will work going forward from Friday in terms of episodes. The SABC also didn't bother to answer this question.

On Tuesday, TVwithThinus asked SABC1 again about the Generations mess.

Dichaba Phalatse, SABC video entertainment marketing manager in an emailed statement addressing none of the questions posed, said: "There was an error on our side resulting in the wrong episode being played , however the situation has been rectified and the correct episodes are now playing. Thank you for tuning in?"

ALSO READ: SABC1 viewers angry after the channel once again shows the wrong Skeem Saam episode on Monday in ongoing broadcast problem.

ALSO READ: Skeem Saam viewers confused after SABC1 once again broadcast a repeat episode during prime time without any explanation.

MultiChoice's Showmax once again make an unsubstantiated viewership record claim, this time for Devilsdorp - here's what Showmax and some other streamers don't want to tell and don't want you to know.

by Thinus Ferreira

On Tuesday, MultiChoice's video streaming service Showmax once again made an unsubstantiated claim about viewership figures in a press release without providing any actual viewership numbers or viewer data, this time about its well-received documentary series Devilsdorp - but the devil's in the details and in this case, a streamer conspiracy that Showmax is part of.

MultiChoice's Showmax made a similar unproven viewership claim in February this year with The Real Housewives of Durban, providing no actual first-day viewing numbers.

Showmax also fake-release ratings about top titles' performance at the end of a year with vague and nebulous claims like "30% increase" and "21% up compared to normal activity" in press statements, without supporting it with any actual numbers.

Some media republish these press releases without any substance or numbers as is, with no critical approach as to what the meaning - and value - of nothing to South Africa's film and TV industry is when hollow press releases don't actually contain any empirical viewership statistics.

This time, in a hyped press release, Showmax is touting how Devilsdorp, commissioned under Showmax head of content Candice Fangueiro and produced by IdeaCandy, has "set a Showmax record for most hours watched in its first four days of launch".

It's more of the same vague viewership nonsense hyped up to sound like a monumental achievement.

Showmax claims that Devilsdorp is "setting a new record for the most hours watched in its first four days of launch of any film or series ever on Showmax, outperforming the likes of Game of Thrones, The Real Housewives of Durban and The River".

The press release contains absolutely no numbers to substantiate anything - nothing about the viewership or views that represent this claimed record, and nothing about the numbers of hours to substantiate the claim of "most hours".

TVwithThinus asked Showmax in response to, and prompted by, the press release, the simple question: What is the record, and the hours watched?"

A Showmax spokesperson replied and said: "Unfortunately we're not able to share stats at this stage".

Yolisa Phahle is the boss of Showmax as the MultiChoice Group CEO for general entertainment and connected video, which is where the decision had been made not to release any actual real viewership statistics about any Showmax content or titles to the press or the media industry.

The reality is that MultiChoice and Showmax are cultivating a cult of video streaming views secrecy.

Make no mistake: It's very deliberately not being transparent about how many customers are watching Showmax because it doesn't want to be.

But why this "devilish conspiracy"?

Last week The Observer published a must-read article explaining why some companies and streaming services, like your MultiChoice and Showmax, don't want to release any actual, real viewership information publicly.

The article quotes Dietrich von Behren, chief business officer at Reelgood that tracks TV shows and films available online, who says that some streamers don't want the public and industry to know its viewership numbers because "It allows the service to control the narrative, and outsiders don't really know the actual wins versus losses around programming".

"With the proliferation of more services in an increasingly competitive space, streamers may believe that's the way to stay ahead."

Media exec Andrew Rosen says "For every streaming service not named Netflix, streaming is neither the only line item nor a significant line item contributing to operating income or EBITDA."

The Observer article notes that "the benefits of accurate viewership statistics would be to inform the industry and drive more informed decision making overall".

"In establishing credibility, audiences and consumers are more likely to trust the brand and any subsequent reveals the company makes public. This is particularly true as the SVOD industry moves out of its infancy and into maturity."

Dietrich von Behren says "Viewership itself is not a secret formula or silver bullet, it's just a measure of success".

"Strong viewership is simply an indicator of popular content and the opposite holds true, so let the market learn from it and not hide from it. Streaming services will benefit and so will consumers."