DStv channel shut down
Disney will be pulling its Fox channel from broadcasters in Africa at the end of next month, including DStv, StarTimes, and StarSat.
A Walt Disney Africa spokesperson confirmed to MyBroadband that the channel would shut down on these platforms a minute before midnight on 30 September.
“As the television landscape and viewer consumption evolves, we continue to develop and review our products and services to ensure we are offering the best possible experience for consumers,” the spokesperson said.
The Fox channel is currently available on DStv Premium, DStv Compact Plus, and DStv Compact on channel 125.
This is the third channel owned by Disney to be axed from DStv in the last year.
In September 2020, it pulled the Fox Life channel and Disney XD from the service.
MyBroadband asked the company whether it planned to close any of its other channels in the near future.
In addition to Fox, Disney channels on satellite TV in Africa include National Geographic, National Geographic Wild, ESPN, ESPN 2, Disney Channel, and Disney Junior.
The spokesperson said there was nothing else to announce at this time and that Disney “looked forward to continue bringing consumers across Africa a vast array of factual, sports, and kids programming” from its other channels.
The closure of the Fox channel means that DStv subscribers will not be able to watch the final season of the hit zombie show The Walking Dead.
While the spokesperson said that “all current premiere series will air their full seasons before the channel closes”, this does not appear to include the last season of this series, as these episodes are missing from the Fox channel schedule in September.
The dropping of these channels is likely due to the imminent launch of the Disney+ streaming service.
The Walt Disney spokesperson told MyBroadband while the Fox channel is closing, many titles that aired on it will be available in its Star catalogue on Disney+.
Star is Disney’s adult-focused library that holds much of the same content as Hulu, Disney’s other streaming service that is not available outside the US.
The company purposefully separates its titles to maintain the family-friendly image of its main offering.
Disney previously said that Disney+ would be launching in South Africa during the winter period of 2022.
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