Like Deon Wiggett and thousands of others, I too petitioned for Multichoice to remove ANN7 from the DStv platform (Dethroning DStv from our lounges might slay ANN7, July 21). I will not waste your readers’ time with the arguments in favour of why Multichoice should have distanced itself from sheer propaganda. The matter speaks for itself, at least to anyone with half a brain and a fledgling conscience.
It would seem, however, that Naspers, Multichoice SA’s holding company, is possessed of neither. On July 25 Multichoice SA’s Nolo Letele responded to Wiggett’s letter and to the petition that ANN7 be removed in the negative, pleading legal constraints. That is simply another way of saying "we’ve crunched the numbers, and it appears that we will lose more money paying contractual damages to ANN7 for early termination than we would lose in subscriptions if we were to maintain the status quo".
Fair enough. Multichoice is free to make whatever commercial decision it thinks best serves its interests. Happily, however, so am I. So today I am cancelling my various DStv subscriptions, having mulled it over long enough for the latest season of Game of Thrones to have run its course. I will miss SuperSport and CNN — the rest was mostly a waste of time anyway. I look forward to reading more. I also look forward to being ripped off less, in my case more than R2,500 per month to be exact (25 times the cost of Netflix, with its arguably superior offering).
No doubt we will be treated some months from now to the inevitable announcement that Multichoice SA has parted ways with ANN7 in solidarity with the people of SA (when in fact Multichoice SA will simply have come to a different conclusion on the numbers). This particular prodigal viewer will not return.
G MalanParkhurst
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