by Tech Talk | Feb 21, 2023 | Articles
Last week, MultiChoice announced that French media company Groupe Canal+ SA had increased its stake in the company to 30.27%.
Canal+ is the pay-TV arm of French media giant Vivendi, which has interests in television, film, video games, book publishing, and video hosting.
Over the last thirty months, Canal+ gradually increased its stake in MultiChoice – from 6.5% in October 2020 to its current level of over 30%.
The buying spree by Canal+ sparked speculation that a bigger deal may be on the cards as it makes sense for both companies.
MultiChoice would not comment on a potential deal, only saying it kept an open mind about its relationship with Canal+ and Vivendi.
What grabbed the attention of many experts is that the deal seems to be in contravention of the Electronic Communications Act 36 of 2005 (ECA).
The ECA puts limitations on foreign control of commercial broadcasting services through strict ownership rules.
- A foreigner may not, whether directly or indirectly, exercise control over a commercial broadcasting licensee.
- Not more than twenty (20) percent of the directors of a commercial broadcasting licensee may be foreigners.
ICT legal and regulatory expert Lisa Thornton told Daily Investor that Canal+’s 30% ownership in MultiChoice appears to be a prima facie contravention of section 64(1)(b) of the Act.
“It would seem that Canal+’s 30% ownership of MultiChoice is violating the Act. It seems that it would be in violation of the Act even before the latest transaction,” Thornton said.
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst John Davies said the share buying will likely end soon, as a 35% stake would trigger a mandatory offer.
“South African law restricts foreign ownership to 20% — which MultiChoice enforces via a voting-rights cap,” Davis said.
However, the ECA states, “a foreigner may not have a financial interest or an interest either in voting shares or paid-up capital in a commercial broadcasting licensee, exceeding 20%”.
Other regulatory experts, who spoke to Daily Investor off the record, said the answer might be in how the deal was structured, as the ECA prohibition is pretty clear on foreign ownership.
They added that Canal+ breached the 20% ownership threshold in July 2022. Should it breach the ECA, competitors like eMedia would have been expected to protest.
A MultiChoice spokesperson said their compliance with section 64 of the ECA is ensured through restrictions in their Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI), where voting rights for foreigners collectively are limited to 20%.
Editor@tech-talk.co.za
by Tech Talk | Oct 24, 2022 | Articles
MultiChoice has added a new kids channel for all its DStv and GoTV subscribers in Africa.
The Moonbug Kids Channel is the creation of the YouTube-focused preschool entertainment company Moonbug Entertainment.
The company offers numerous channels on YouTube covering a wide range of genres — including cartoons, learning, and music — in several languages.
These channels have tens of millions of subscribers between them.
MultiChoice said the Moonbug Kids Channel on DStv and GoTV will feature exclusive, linear, preschool content from the Moonbug portfolio of shows.
“The agreement highlights DStv’s shift in mindset about digital-first content,” MultiChoice stated.
MultiChoice group executive head of content strategy and third-party channels, Georginah Machiridza, said the quality and appeal of digital-first content had improved vastly in the past few years.
“Platforms like ours recognise these shows’ benefits in adding value to our customers,” said Machiridza.
MultiChoice said it would feature all Moonbug shows on the channel, including CoComelon, Blippi, Gecko’s Garage, Morphle, Arpo, and recent acquisitions such as Little Angel and Oddbods.
Moonbug EMEA and APAC managing director Nicolas Eglau said the channel would be free of adverts and leverage the company’s in-depth knowledge of kids’ viewing habits.
“MultiChoice are very selective about the kind of channel that gets on the platform, so for us being on MultiChoice is almost like a quality stamp of approval,” Eglau stated.
MultiChoice said the channel would feature engaging entertainment that not only pacifies but supports children’s development.
“The schedule will also support families with their daily routines such as mealtimes, playtime, bath time, bedtime, and more,” the broadcaster stated.
The channel officially launched on 20 October 2022 and is available in South Africa on all DStv packages — from Access to Premium.
Editor@tech-talk.co.za
by Tech Talk | Sep 26, 2022 | Articles
MultiChoice’s efforts to reduce password sharing on its DStv streaming platform have been a major success.
This is according to MultiChoice SA CEO Nyiko Shiburi.
Password sharing has historically been supported to allow people living in the same household to watch different content on the same streaming platform.
However, it has also commonly been used to share the cost of a single account between multiple friends or family members who don’t live together — reducing the revenue that companies like MultiChoice receive.
“This is piracy and hurts the whole industry. When we invest in content, we expect certain returns, and when people share [passwords], we don’t get our money back,” said Shiburi.
To crack down on this practice, from 22 March 2022, DStv restricted the number of devices that can simultaneously stream from a single account to one.
Previously, subscribers could live stream channels to two devices at once.
The change caused several technical problems for DStv customers and resulted in a backlash.
However, Shiburi said that although the change was initially met with an uproar, it has been a great business decision.
“After we limited the number of [concurrent] streams, we have seen an uptick in the take-up of DStv as some of those people who were given passwords [of existing subscribers] came on board,” said Shiburi.
He expects the number of subscribers to continue to grow thanks to MultiChoice’s recent announcement that it has reduced DStv’s online streaming subscription fee.
In recent times, MultiChoice has placed a significant focus on diversifying its business model.
Most recently, it acquired the on-demand emergency response app Namola.
The app dispatches its network of responders to distress signals across South Africa.
DStv subscribers can add the Namola app to their bill from 26 October 2022.
“Namola is part of our strategy to expand our ecosystem beyond entertainment and to offer a suite of consumer services that meet the needs of our customers,” said Shiburi.
MultiChoice also recently announced a partnership with Sky, allowing it to sell the Sky Glass TV range locally from 2023.
These TVs use a QLED panel and offer built-in Wi-Fi connectivity, allowing users to stream video from several services.
“This syndication partnership highlights our drive to put the needs of customers at the core of what we do, through both the bolstering of the customers viewing experience as well as demand for streaming aggregation,” said MultiChoice Group CEO Calvo Mawela.
Last year, MultiChoice also launched DStv Internet — a range of LTE data services on the MTN network bundled with DStv Trusted Home.
DStv Trusted Home promises to protect your home network from online security threats and malicious attacks, and keep children safer online with parental control features.
This year MultiChoice is expanding its broadband offerings to uncapped fibre contracts that come with its new Streama media box and a DStv subscription.
Editor@tech-talk.co.za
by Tech Talk | Sep 12, 2022 | Articles
While Showmax has started streaming HBO’s hit Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon in several African countries, South Africans have nowhere to watch the show legally other than DStv Premium.
The MultiChoice-owned streaming service put the first episode of House of the Dragon on Showmax in Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria on 24 August 2022, two days after it premiered on DStv.
The subsequent episodes have been loaded every Monday, express from the US.
South Africans can still only catch it on DStv Premium via a decoder or online streaming, which costs between R699 and R839 per month.
For comparison, Showmax normally costs R99 per month for a standard subscription or R39 for a mobile package.
The omission of House of the Dragon from the Showmax South Africa library is curious, considering that HBO content — often loaded shortly after airing in the US — is one of the service’s biggest drawing cards.
Several South African Showmax subscribers have complained about its absence from the service.
One Twitter user even claimed that the company had put up a billboard advertising the series would be available on Showmax from 26 August 2022.
In response, Showmax said the show would only be available in South Africa “by the end of the year, with the exact date still to be announced”.
In other feedback, the company explained the series was not available on Showmax in South Africa due to “licencing agreements”.
One explanation is that MultiChoice had paid for broadcasting rights for House of the Dragon in South Africa, but not streaming rights.
However, that would not explain how the show is available on-demand via its DStv online streaming service.
The company told Memeburn the show’s release was being done with a “windowing strategy”, which is different from what it told Twitter users.
That would suggest MultiChoice is deliberately keeping it off Showmax in South Africa despite holding the rights to stream it.
MyBroadband asked MultiChoice why it has not made House of the Dragon available to stream on Showmax like it usually does with its other HBO shows. It did not provide feedback by the time of publication.
Data from the Broadcasting Research Council of South Africa (BRCSA) shared with TV journalist Thinus Ferreira revealed the show performed poorly on its DStv broadcast debut, drawing only a few thousand viewers.
By comparison, linear broadcasts of the premiere in the UK and US drew millions of viewers.
Although more people likely watched the show on DStv Catchup — online and via their decoders — MultiChoice would not respond to MyBroadband’s queries asking for feedback on this.
It’s unlikely that limiting the show to DStv Premium would draw many additional subscribers to the pay-TV service.
Given that the first season will have ten episodes, it will run over more than two months.
That means people would have to pay for three months of DStv to watch the entire season.
Paying between R2,100 and R2,500 for the sole purpose of watching a popular TV show would not make sense for most households.
Some people might piggyback on a friend or relative’s subscription, but that is also difficult after DStv limited the number of concurrent streams on all its packages to one.
Piracy threat
Streaming services have helped encourage people not to pirate TV shows and movies, making them simple and convenient to watch at a reasonable price.
But with no affordable way to watch the sought-after show legally, some South Africans might turn to an “old friend” — BitTorrent.
Game of Thrones was consistently one of the most-pirated TV shows in the world over its eight seasons, released between 2011 and 2019.
According to TorrentFreak, the show holds the record for the largest torrent swarm and episode releases boosted global piracy traffic.
House of the Dragon has already proved popular on torrent sites.
Its first episode was leaked a day before its premiere and downloaded hundreds of thousands of times within a few hours.
Editor@tech-talk.co.za
