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Bruce Ndlovu
AS the battle for the hearts and minds of Zimbabwean viewers continues, broadcasting upstart Kwese looks to have got one over DStv after the announcement that the Econet-owned organisation had been awarded three licences to provide Video On Demand (VOD) services by the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe.
VOD is a programming system which allows users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content such as movies and TV shows whenever they choose, rather than at a scheduled broadcast time.
The company was also granted a licence to provide web casting and content distribution services. Having been issued these licences, Kwese now looks set to launch iFlixZimbabwe, a VOD service similar to Netflix and Showmax.
Earlier this year, Kwese announced its partnership with iFlix, the world’s leading entertainment service for emerging markets. An announcement by Kwese highlighted that Econet Media had acquired a significant stake in iFlix as they planned to use it “the core vehicle to deliver seamless mobile experiences to millions of viewers in Africa.”
With Econet already dominant as a mobile service provider, many will be interested to see how this will impact pay TV giant DStv.
The presence of Kwese’s streaming services looks set to present a new headache for the powers that be at Multichoice, as the broadcast giant has already been feeling the pinch from US service providers like Netflix.
Multichoice CEO for South Africa Calvo Mawela has already conceded that DStv might be headed for an inevitable decline as viewers turned to streaming services like the one provided by Kwese. VOD would, for example, enable viewers to pay only for content that they want to watch and therefore avoid DStv’s much dreaded repetitive programming.
“The shift is already happening and the regulation that Icasa is proposing will just make the business die quicker and the online players would be the ones that benefit,” Mawela told South Africa’s Sunday Times after that country’s broadcast regulator announced plans to curb DStv’s monopoly over broadcast content.
At present, even in Zimbabwe Kwese and other broadcasters cannot offer content such as the much loved English Premier League as Multichoice enjoys exclusive rights.
To facilitate its own shift from satellite to online broadcasting, Mawela said that Multichoice planned to get into partnership with mobile networks, something that would be difficult in Zimbabwe were Econet is Kwese’s parent company.
Kwese has been actively campaigning for the lessening of DStv’s influence in the satellite broadcast world, with the company saying it “supports any regulatory intervention that promotes competition in the interests of consumers.”
DStv’s Subscription numbers have been in decline over the few years in Africa, with the company opting not to increase tariffs in Zimbabwe as it battles to maintain its foothold on the country.
Online Reporter