MyBroadband reported on Monday that DStv will now offer the streaming service Disney+ in South Africa on their Explora decoders from 18 May 2022.
“We are delighted to be collaborating to bring South African DStv subscribers access to Disney+’s incredible catalogue of films, series and exclusive content”, stated Walt Disney Company Africa Senior Vice President and General Manager Christine Service.
Marvel and sci-fi fans will surely be very excited by this news, as Disney+ features very popular Marvel series such as Loki and WandaVision, forming part of the timeline of the hugely successful Marvel Cinematic Universe. It also features movies and shows from Lucasfilm, the creators of the Star Wars franchise.
Given the recent controversial decision by DStv to allow streaming on only one device at a time, this partnership could be seen as a very shrewd move by the company in order to win back some subscribers and market share, especially in light of recent reports that streaming competitors Netflix is currently going through a slump and have been losing subscribers at an alarming rate.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the Competition Tribunal heard eMedia’s application for interim relief against MultiChoice’s decision to drop the eMovies, eMovies Extra, eExtra and eToonz channels from its DStv packages. The broadcaster had planned to suspend these channels from its service at the end of March 2022.
eMedia Investments argued that MultiChoice’s decision amounted to a dominant player refusing to supply a scarce service, in contravention of the Competition Act Section 8. The company says it will lose as much as 19% of its advertising revenue should the channels be suspended.