TelkomOne Vs. SABC+: Transition From International To Local Entertainment

Earlier today, TelkomOne without prior notice announced that they'll be unavailable for the rest of the day and left a cryptic message to their subscribers while as SABC has gearing up for the rollout of their long awaited streaming service, SABC+.

Moments later, it was discovered that TelkomOne would be shutting down and that SABC will fill the gap that Telkom would leave several of their subscribers so here's an overview.

TelkomOne alongside SABC+ are both based in SA and managed by different parties. If anything, their parties formed an agreement where one would leverage from the other in exchange for money so in this case is it really shocking as this was bound to happen.

I mean MTN, Cell C and Vodacom all joined the streaming game and backed out so why not Telkom in this case.

TelkomOne featured a variety of international content particularly premium channels like Real Time, Toonami, Discovery Science and EWTN all of which are likely dead at this point following the acquisition by the public broadcaster.

From what sources stated about SABC+, it would be similar to BBC iPlayer in the UK so basically another DStv App which comes with SABC 1-3, Sport and Education alongside their 19 radio stations and archived material.

If you study the facts carefully, basically all the content TelkomOne picked up without a linear channel will be compensated with archived content while as the linear channels such as Discovery Science will be supplemented with SABC 1-3.

Considering how many linear channels they were at the time my guess would be that they'll add a few more channels to the lineup just not as much as that of TelkomOne.

While as TelkomOne offered Toonami and Boing with SABC+ the likelihood is that consumers will get SABC Education and the rumoured Tuluntulu channel, SABC Children while as The Home Channel and Discovery Science and France24 would be compensated with SABC Encore and SABC Sport.

SABC Children and Encore were rumoured for about a year and I'm not saying these are the channels but you find plenty of global streamers like Paramount+ use several of their existing shows and forming a digital channel within the platform to promote the content.

The idea of SABC doing such doesn't seem far fetched especially after what happened last year as they stated Openview's upcoming channels would be repeat channels which is what SABC+ is all about.

During the years, I assume the public broadcaster took some notes from MultiChoice's Showmax and eMedia Investments' eVOD and will include Fast Forward or simulcast broadcasts to some of their properties.

Over to whether SABC News will be seen on SABC+ that's a definite maybe should it be included it won't be available elsewhere unless it's a product of MultiChoice which gives the brand stability.

All in all, viewers have to tune in tomorrow to see what else SABC has in store.

But from what was implied about it several times it's just a reduction to TelkomOne so I'm assuming some consumers will opt to cancel while those viewing the free version will latch onto the platform for the time being either way I can see it ending in a positive and negative manner.

Why Openview Has Been Excluded From Delayed SABC Channel Expansion?

eMedia Investments and the SABC finalised their deal for 3 additional channels one of which were SABC Sport alongside 19 radio stations in 2021. As consumers wait over a year for the two channels which are set to carry a lot of existing content there's been some speculation one of which was cleared up is SABC Education.

SABC Education is a DTT channel currently seen on TelkomOne and soon on the likes of DStv and StarSat is based on the educational division formed by the SABC which is home to shows like Takalani Sesame, Matric Reloaded, Ispani, Uzalo, Geleza Nathi and 90 Plain Street.

The channel has remained active as of May 2020 and used as a catch-up channel to programs currently viewed on SABC 1-3 with plans to roll out the brand onto more platforms still underway.

As seen through several consumers on the Openview platform is SABC 1-3, SABC Sport alongside the 19 radio stations but SABC Education doesn't form part of the bouquet with SABC News being exclusive to DStv and DTT consumers.

So the question would have to be is eMedia Investments waiting on SABC Education like DStv?

Probably not as MultiChoice is waiting on two other channels to roll out on the DStv platform and SABC Education alongside SABC Sport and the 19 radio stations did form part of TelkomOne's initial offering when it launched in October 2020.

There could be a number of reasons SABC Education won't form part of the offering. The first has to do with costs, second would have to do with their rivalry perhaps they don't want to invest too much and last may have to do with the existing educational offering on Openview being DBE TV and Mindset.