Kwese Play Shutdown

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Syphonx

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https://www.techzim.co.zw/2019/07/k...sage-says-econet-no-longer-offers-kwese-play/
Kwese Play users in Zimbabwe, South Africa and Ugandan woke up today finding the streaming service down. Kwesé Play, which was launched last year, is Econet’s Roku powered streaming platform that uses the internet to deliver entertainment.

Econet hasn’t yet issued a statement on whether they are experiencing technical issues or the service is gone for good.

With Kwese TV having shut down 7 months ago, you’d forgive Kwese Play users that are feeling unsettled with service disruption.
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Saw some emails from Kwese at work which state that Econet shut it down. All apps were wiped from devices and cannot be re-installed. Essentially its a brick now
 
Got a call from my kid at home that the box is not working.
Eish.
Have it for less than a year now.
Do we have any sort of claim from them?
 
Zyk1 said:
Got a call from my kid at home that the box is not working.
Eish.
Have it for less than a year now.
Do we have any sort of claim from them?
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Looks like they might try to revert them to normal Roku firmware but nothing confirmed yet
 
Am I missing something? Takealot is still selling the device(s). Maybe they haven't heard.
 
I almost bought one a while ago, but I was put off with their app support. Back then they either didn't let you install Netflix or Plex, I'm not sure which one. Got a cheaper but better (in terms of app support) Roku from Amazon.

Bullet dodged.
 
Think Checkers Hyper was/is selling it for R499. Was at Makro today - it is on the shelves.
 
Bugger.
Any further news this morning?
Also, any specials on any of the following?:
Xioami Mi Box
Telkom LitBox
Nvidea Shield
 
Wait didn't this company announce that they are going to broadcast Free-To-Air channels in South Africa soon?
 
Received this email:

"Econet Media, has noted that today customers received a notification on their devices that they have been deactivated.

Kwesé Play service was launched in partnership with Roku, a US-based OTT streaming platform. We have been in discussions with Roku regarding the viability of the Kwesé Play service.

The closure of the service and the message relayed on the device this morning was unexpected and comes at a time when we are engaged in discussions with Roku about their future plans on Africa.

We apologise for the inconvenience and are working on resolving this. Detailed communication will be provided to all customers in due course.

Sincerely,

Kwesé Play"
 
Is it possible to just reflash it into a base Roku? I bought one for my folks who pretty much only use it for Netflix. I would pretty much prefer to just have a vanilla Roku player anyway.
 
Carnajo said:
Is it possible to just reflash it into a base Roku? I bought one for my folks who pretty much only use it for Netflix. I would pretty much prefer to just have a vanilla Roku player anyway.
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Might be, but doesn't look like anyone has done it before so you would have to figure it out from scratch
 
Carnajo said:
Is it possible to just reflash it into a base Roku? I bought one for my folks who pretty much only use it for Netflix. I would pretty much prefer to just have a vanilla Roku player anyway.
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Short answer is no, have been researching it since I received mine a few months back and it uses custom encrypted firmware paired with the CPU. The USB ports arent even connected to the CPU or bootloader in any way so that's not an option either.
They have all become shiny paperweights unless Kwese play suddenly receive some business rescue...
 
Once the price dropped to R499 I saw the red flags . R499 is way below the cost price of the Roku .
 
Can't wait for a solution to fix this.
Bought the Telkom LIT box today.
I know there were stock issues. The Telkom store at Fourways Crossing have a few more left.
 
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