MultiChoice not blocking Netflix, video streaming in SA
South Africa’s incumbent pay-TV operator, MultiChoice, does not have any exclusive content deals in place that would prevent services like Netflix from launching in South Africa.
Nor are there exclusive deals between MultiChoice and studios that would restrict the content available to SA’s newly launched subscription video-on-demand (VOD) service Vidi.
That’s the word from Keshnie Moodley, business manager of broadcast and content at Times Media Films, a division of Times Media (which operates Vidi).
Speaking to media at the launch of Vidi on 10 September 2014, Moodley explained that there are no exclusives when it comes to VOD content.
However, thanks to stiff competition in the VOD space, content is “very expensive” and represents the biggest barrier to entry for services such as Vidi.
Broadcast exclusives
In an interview with MyBroadband earlier in the year, MultiChoice group CEO Imtiaz Patel said that regional exclusives are a standard practice in the broadcasting world.
While MultiChoice does pay copyright owners for exclusive rights to broadcast certain content, Patel said that this does not preclude other operators from bidding.
Vidi’s responses to journalist’s questions earlier this week clarified that there is a big difference between broadcast rights and VOD rights when it comes to such exclusives.
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