Cell C’s Black goes dark as linear channels off-air

Cell C has stopped broadcasting the linear channels on its Black video-streaming service as the struggling mobile operator continues a major review of costs in its business.

The channels disappeared from the platform at the start of September. It continues to provide on-demand movies, series and other content, however.

A notice on the Black website says simply: “We are experiencing difficulties which are affecting our live TV channels and are working to resolve the issue in a timely manner. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

A Cell C spokeswoman couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

In July, Cell C CEO Douglas Craigie Stevenson said in an interview with TechCentral that one area where spending would be scaled back as part of a comprehensive review of the business was Black, which, he said, had failed to meet the company’s expectations.

“We are not going to pull the plug on Black, but I will tone down the investment into it and then use it as a product value enhancer and churn reduction mechanism as we go into a converged environment,” he said. “As a standalone, it’s not going to work, but it has to be integrated into your product set. Black could have done better.”

In its 2018 financial results, Cell C revealed that it had spent R523.9-million acquiring programming and movie rights. It spent a similarly large amount in the 2017 financial year — R528.3-million.

Econet Media

The latest developments come just weeks after Econet Group pulled the plug on Econet Media, which operated the Kwese satellite TV service and the Kwese Play video-streaming platform.

Econet Media’s insolvency practitioner has since put the business up for sale.

TechCentral reported in July that Econet Media had racked up more than US$130-million in external liabilities and was unable to pay suppliers before it was placed into administration.  — (c) 2019 NewsCentral Media