OpenView HD, the free-to-air satellite television broadcaster and sister company of e.tv, said this week that it will pull the plug on four channels on its platform in the next two months as it rejigs its line-up.
ASTV, Spirit Word, Wild TV Africa and Ekurhuleni TV will go off the air between the end of September and mid-October, the company said in a statement.
It said at the same time that it will launch new channels on the platform in October.
The channel cancellations form part of an “annual content review”. They are being pulled after “careful consideration of their performance and [in light of] the overall OpenView HD strategy”, said the platform’s channel and acquisitions manager Ziyanda Mngomezulu.
But what will be available on the OpenView HD platform once it stops broadcasting ASTV, Spirit World, Wide TV Africa and Ekurhuleni TV? Here’s what’s will be available (excluding planned new channel launches) in October 2016:
Culture and lifestyle
Deen TV — lifestyle with an “Islamic ethos”
Entertainment and music
SABC1 — general entertainment
SABC2 — general entertainment
SABC3 — general entertainment
eHD — general entertainment
eKasi+ — local entertainment
eMovies+ — movies
eNolly+ — Nollywood movies and other African content
Trace Sport Stars — reality sports stars
Glow — Eastern-inspired content
Beatlab.tv — local and international music
Children and education
eToonz+ — cartoons
Mindset — education
Da Vinci Learning — education
Religion
Inspiration TV — general religion
Kruiskyk TV — Afrikaans religion
Shembe Unyazi — local religion
Radio
Gagasi FM
YFM
Kaya FM
OFM
LM Radio
Heart FM
Radio Pulpit
Bok Radio
OpenView HD said it has half a million activated households watching its free digital satellite TV service and said activation numbers have increased “significantly” in recent months. On some days, it is adding more than a thousand households, it claimed. — (c) 2016 NewsCentral Media