MULTICHOICE Africa has apologised to local DStv viewers who will no longer access BBC First and BBC Earth channels following recent programming adjustments.
BY ARTS REPORTER
The television services provider said they were looking into their options to come up with a way forward.
“We acknowledge that our Zimbabwean viewers are disappointed at missing certain BBC programmes and we sincerely apologise for this and assure you that we are in the process of looking at all the options available to us to address the complaints we have received,” they said in a statement.
This followed a notification that BBC First and BBC Earth channels would not be available to subscribers with effect from September 1 after MultiChoice Africa was forced to make “the difficult commercial decision” not to acquire BBC First and BBC Earth, which are too expensive, according to the statement.
“Negotiations for these channels have been further exacerbated by the inflationary effects of a devaluating currency in some markets, which made the acquisition of these channels unaffordable,” they said.
In 2008, BBC Prime and BBC Food were rebranded to BBC Entertainment, BBC Lifestyle and BBC Knowledge.
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The packages were this month repackaged to become BBC Brit, BBC Lifestyle, BBC First and BBC Earth.
BBC Entertainment became BBC Brit on channel 120 and was added to DStv Premium, Compact Plus and Compact subscribers.
“BBC Knowledge was terminated as research indicated that the channels BBC Brit as well as BBC Lifestyle have the strongest resonance with African audiences,” Multichoice Africa said.
“However, subscribers will not miss out on any of the action as their favourite shows, namely Top Gear, Undercover Boss and Dragons Den have moved to BBC Brit.”
The BBC children’s channel, CBeebies, was opened up to more subscribers as it was added to the Compact bouquets, while BBC Lifestyle continued on channel 174
