{"id":623574,"date":"2025-12-21T11:59:43","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T09:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=623574"},"modified":"2025-12-21T12:13:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T10:13:08","slug":"time-running-out-for-12-dstv-channels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/623574-time-running-out-for-12-dstv-channels.html","title":{"rendered":"Time running out for 12 DStv channels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MultiChoice and Warner Bros. Discovery have yet to renew an agreement that will allow the South African broadcaster to distribute the US media giant’s channels, movies, and series beyond 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MultiChoice first warned customers that it might be cutting 12 Warner Bros. Discovery channels from its bouquets at the end of the year in a statement on 1 December 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company explained that negotiations over terms and pricing for the content, which have been ongoing for several months, had deadlocked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In more recent feedback to the Sunday Times<\/a>, MultiChoice again confirmed that no new agreement had been reached, with less than two weeks left before the current deal expires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company reaffirmed that should this remain the case, the channels will no longer be part of its DStv bouquets from 1 January 2026, the day after the current licensing deal expires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As always, any updates that may affect our customers will be communicated directly and transparently,” MultiChoice told the Sunday Times. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The channels in jeopardy are Cartoon Network, Cartoonito, CNN, Discovery, Discovery Family, Food Network, HGTV, Investigation Discovery, Real Time, TLC, TNT Africa, and Travel Channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Netwerk24 previously reported<\/a> that the scope of the deals under discussion also covered the licensing of movies and series for distribution on MultiChoice’s M-Net channels, DStv Stream, and Showmax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That includes hundreds of highly popular titles from the premium television network and service HBO, which have been a major selling point for MultiChoice’s services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier in December, Showmax’s Best of HBO page had over 190 titles, including hit series like The Last of Us<\/em>, IT: Welcome to Derry<\/em>, Dune: Prophecy<\/em>, The Chair Company<\/em>, and House of the Dragon<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When MyBroadband visited the service’s Best of HBO content page<\/a> on 21 December 2025, we were greeted with a 404 error. However, HBO’s titles were still available to stream on the service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MyBroadband asked MultiChoice whether this particular issue was related to the Warner Bros. Discovery negotiations, but it did not immediately respond to our request for feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other well-known franchises in the Warner Bros. Discovery stable include Harry Potter<\/em>, The Lord of the Rings<\/em>, The Hobbit<\/em>, and superhero movies and series in the DC Comics Universe<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warner Bros. Discovery in a tug of war between two giants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
The Showmax “Best of HBO” page on 21 December 2025.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Complicating MultiChoice’s predicament is that Warner Bros. Discovery is currently caught in a tug of war between Netflix and Paramount Skydance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world’s biggest streaming service and the Ellison family-owned broadcasting giant both want to buy the company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 5 December, Netflix announced<\/a> it had reached a definitive agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery to acquire the company’s studios, streaming, and HBO businesses for $82.7 billion (R1.4 trillion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three days later, Paramount launched a hostile takeover bid for all of Warner Bros, including its global TV network business, for $108 billion (R1.8 trillion).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After negotiations with Warner Bros. Discovery’s leadership failed, Paramount is approaching shareholders directly, offering $30 per share compared to Netflix’s $27.75.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, under Netflix’s deal, the TV network business would be spun off into Discovery Global, with Warner Bros. shareholders receiving shares in the new firm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The value of this newly formed entity has been the subject of much speculation, especially in light of the overall decline in the linear TV industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paramount has argued that the value of the shares would only be worth around $1, but analysts have estimated they could be closer to $4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paramount has also maintained that its offer is more likely to pass regulatory approvals as the merging of Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery would create a much more valuable entity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Warner Bros. Discovery’s board has unanimously recommended that shareholders reject Paramount’s bid and accept Netflix’s offer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its chairman said that Paramount’s offer was “inadequate, with significant risks and costs” for shareholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the outcome of the bidding war, the transaction is expected to clear all regulatory hurdles and be completed by late 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That would likely make it difficult for Warner Bros. Discovery to commit to a multi-year agreement with MultiChoice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Netflix acquires the company, it plans to offer its movies and series on its own streaming service, which is Showmax’s biggest rival. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With less than two weeks to go before their current content deal lapses, MultiChoice and Warner Bros. Discovery have not yet signed a new agreement on the distribution of a dozen of the US media giant’s channels on DStv.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":619050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[11115,8453,102696,5634,15844,85,76186,102702,263,102699,5016,475,2054,102700,32140,4542,5592,102698,102701,102697,85519],"class_list":["post-623574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting","tag-broadcasting-2","tag-cartoon-network","tag-cartoonito","tag-cnn","tag-discovery","tag-dstv","tag-dstv-channels","tag-food-network","tag-hbo","tag-investigation-discovery","tag-m-net","tag-multichoice","tag-netflix","tag-real-time","tag-showmax","tag-sunday-times","tag-tlc","tag-tnt-africa","tag-travel-channel","tag-warner-bros-2","tag-warner-bros-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623574"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623574"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":623594,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623574\/revisions\/623594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/619050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}