CAPE TOWN – As new competitors enter the market, MultiChoice may be forced to cut jobs according to a report in the Sunday Times.
The report said that employees at MultiChoice were asked to reapply for their positions with as many as 200 jobs are set to be potentially affected.
“We are creating a leaner and more agile organisation in order to remain globally competitive,” a MultiChoice spokesperson was quoted sa saying by the Sunday Times.
Adding fuel to the fire, DStv continues to lose subscribers. At its year-end in March, MultiChoice said it lost 41 000 Premium subscribers in the period.
Lower-tier DStv packages, however, have seen user growth, but unfortunately does not generate enough revenue.
In other news, MultiChoice and Public broadcast SABC announced on the August 15 that they had signed a new commercial channel supply agreement allowing the SABC News and SABC Encore channels to continue to be broadcast on the DStv platform.
The agreement follows extensive discussions between the parties as the previous contract is set to expire.
MultiChoice later in the month announced a new kid on the block "Newzroom Afrika" as the winning bidder for its vacant 24-hour news channel on its pay-TV bouquet DStv.
The announcement came after MultiChoice last week pulled the plug on Afro Worldview – the television channel formerly owned by the controversial Gupta brothers under the name ANN7 – which until August 20 had been aired on DStv channel 405.