South Africa’s pay-TV broadcaster MultiChoice has slammed WildEarth’s decision to pull its channel from DStv, accusing the company of publicly pressuring MultiChoice to help it with funding.
This comes after WildEarth, which airs live game drives or “safaris” primarily from the Djuma Game Reserve in Mpumalanga, confirmed that it would remove its channel at the end of April due to a lack of support from MultiChoice.
In response, MultiChoice said, “After thorough discussions, MultiChoice entered into a channel distribution agreement, providing both support and guidance to WildEarth. This non-exclusive agreement allowed WildEarth to showcase its content across various platforms beyond DStv, including YouTube and its own website.”
In an open letter from WildEarth chair André Crawford-Brunt, the company expressed its dissatisfaction with the existing arrangements and announced the company’s decision to remove the channel from DStv on 30 April 2024.
“While we respect WildEarth’s decision regarding platform availability, it is disappointing that WildEarth is seeking to publicly pressurise MultiChoice into providing additional commercial support,” said MultiChoice.
In his letter, Crawford-Brunt attributed the decision to pull the channel to a lack of support from MultiChoice.
He said it is only viable for the company to continue airing its content on DStv with compensation.
“We have been begging MultiChoice for over a year to support us. We have made the case that not paying us anything for our content is unsustainable for us — although great for them,” said Crawford-Brunt.
“We told them we have a large and passionate viewership, long viewing times, and that we represent everything positive about South Africa.”
“We reminded them that we are the country’s largest local content producer.”
He added that MultiChoice had committed to helping WildEarth with funding, which it failed to uphold.
Crawford-Brunt also slammed the pay-TV broadcaster over going against its promise to focus on locally-produced content.
