Monday, December 4, 2017

CNBC Africa added to Cell C's new streaming service black as ABN extends the business channel's South African audience reach in a new carriage deal.

Africa Business News (ABN) is extending the reach of its business TV channel, CNBC Africa (DStv 410) that is becoming available on Cell C's newly launched streaming service, black.

CNBC Africa that turned 10 years old this year has since launch only been available in South Africa on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service the past decade.

Outside of South Africa where CNBC Africa has also been available throughout Africa on primarily DStv through MultiChoice Africa, the biz channel has slowly extended its reach by signing carriage deals with China's StarTimes, Canal Plus and Kwesé TV the past few years.

CNBC Africa is interestingly not available on MultiChoice's DStv Now streaming service. Bloomberg TV is also absent from DStv Now, although Business Day TV (DStv 412) is carried on DStv Now as the sole business channel from its traditional service that is also streaming.

Now, in a new streaming carriage deal, CNBC Africa is for the first time broadening its availability in South Africa beyond just DStv's satellite direct-to-home (DTH) and will be available on black, Cell C's subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service that was launched last month.

The carriage deal for an initial contract spanning 3 years, was done by Vubiquity, and boosts CNBC Africa's reach by an estimated 109 million viewers through Cell C's black.

CNBC Africa will be available on channel 512 on black where it will be streamsing as a 24-hour offering.

"When CNBC Africa launched in 2007, we were the only business channel to carry 9 hours of live business content across East, West and Southern Africa," says Roberta Naicker, ABN group managing director.

"Today CNBC Africa is still the only business channel to carry 9 hours of live pan-African business content, suffice to say that the depth and breadth of CNBC Africa across Africa is not an easy one to replicate."

Adam Poulter, Vubiquity International managing director, says "we are delighted to be working with CNBC Africa as part of our relationship with Cell C to play a key role in meeting the needs of this exciting demographic."

"Adapting to consumer needs is essential for growth in this market and has helped to further establish our position as a trusted content partner".