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SIC channels will stop being broadcast by DStv in Angola on October 15, 2020, the platform announced, in a message to customers, information confirmed to Lusa by an official source from the Portuguese station.
“DSTV informs that SIC Internacional Africa and SIC Notícias will leave our platform as of October 15,” reads the message sent to all clients by the satellite television service of the South African company MultiChoice.
Contacted by Lusa, the official source of SIC confirmed the information by email, but without further details. Another source from the Carnaxide station said only that the recall was due to “contractual problems”, excluding editorial reasons.
In the MultiChoice press release, to which Lusa had access, the operator says that the cancellation of SIC Internacional and SIC Notícias, as of October 15, is part of its “continuous efforts to update” the content grid “optimize the set of available channels “.
MultiChoice justifies the decision with a “greater focus on investing and offering local content” and ensures that it “does not give up” to “offer the best content available” to its customers.
“As a company born and created in Africa, we have made significant investments in the development of original African programming to broadcast the best African content on the continent,” highlights the South African company, which operates in sub-Saharan Africa through the DStv platform.
MultiChoice adds that it will create “a platform to share Angolan stories”, although it recognizes that investment in local content faces restrictions such as the “size of the market” and the “ability to finance these initiatives.”
The SIC channels had previously been suspended by DStv, on June 5, 2017, but at that time, the company did not explain the decision, only regretting the “inconvenience caused.”
At that time, DStv joined the decision previously made by the satellite television operator Zap, owned by the Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos, who on March 14, 2017 had stopped broadcasting the channels SIC Internacional and SIC Notícias in Angola. and Mozambique, after the Portuguese channel broadcast critical reports on the regime of former President José Eduardo dos Santos.
At that time, the decision was justified by the costs of acquiring the rights to the two Portuguese channels.
In September 2018, after more than a year without broadcasts in Angola, the Carnaxide station announced its return to DStv.
SIC K, SIC Mulher, SIC Caras and SIC Radical are still available in the Zap network, which were never suspended.
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