Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

DStv launches new channel to combat load shedding disruptions

24/01/2023

DStv launches new channel to combat load shedding disruptionsMultiChoice has announced the launch of a new channel called DStv SWITCH'D ON to help combat the load shedding crisis.

by Garrin Lambley

24-01-2023 09:08

in Entertainment

MultiChoice has announced the launch of a new channel called DStv SWITCH'D ON to help combat the load shedding crisis. Image via Multichoice

South African broadcasters are having to get creative in response to the ongoing load shedding in Mzansi.

--

The latest initiative announced by MultiChoice is the launch of pop-up channels dedicated to repeating popular content that viewers may have missed while sitting in the dark.

PICTURES | GUPTA FAMILY MANSION IN CONSTANTIA UP FOR SALE FOR R20 MILLION

MultiChoice has launched such a channel on DStv called SWITCH'D ON, while Openview has launched Power-UP!.

--

According to BusinessTech, MultiChoice said that the channel is an intervention to lessen the frustration of DStv viewers due to the impact of the ongoing load shedding, which reduces their opportunity to consistently watch prime-time television .

This intervention will give viewers up to five times to watch their favourite primetime shows when the lights come back on, it said.

WARNING | INTEREST RATE HIKE ON ITS WAY THIS WEEK

--

DStv SWITCH'D ON will operate on channels 109 and 110, starting TODAY, Tuesday, 24 January 2023.

The two new pop-up channels will air selected prime-time content from Mzansi Magic, Mzansi Wethu and Kyknet & Kie.

ALSO READ | WHEN IS THE NEXT PUBLIC HOLIDAY IN SOUTH AFRICA?

According to BizCommunity, some of the shows that will be airing include The River, DiepCity, Gqerberha the Empire, Gomora and Arendsvlei, which will repeat multiple times over a 24-hour period.

DStv subscribers can continue to watch MultiChoice added that DStv Premium and DStv Compact Plus subscribers will continue to be able to view their favourite content through Catch-up and on the DStv app as well.

PICTURES | SOUTH AFRICA'S 7 MOST WANTED CRIMINALS

The move from MultiChoice follows a similar anti-load shedding' channel announced by Openview, which launched on Monday this week.

Openview's channel, called Power-UP!, offers 18 hours of catch-up content. It operates on channel 114, showing prime-time shows like Durban Gen, House of Zwide, Scandal! and Imbewu.

Shows repeat from Monday to Friday, running in two-hour loops from 06:00 to 00:00.

MUST READ | SOUTH AFRICA TO GET TWO EXTRA' PUBLIC HOLIDAYS IN 2023

SOAPIE QUIZ: How well do you know Skeem Saam'? WIN R1 000 in cash! ENTER NOW!
LINK: https://www.thesouthafrican.com/culture/entertainment/dstv-launches-ne...
See more stories from thesouthafrican

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/07/2026

Broadcast Management Group Appoints Kathy Samuels as Director of Creative Services

Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has announced the appointment of Kathy Samuels ...

01/07/2026

Shade Launches Custom Objects and Automations

Shade has announced Custom Objects and Automations, a platform expansion releasing June 29, 2026, that adds database and workflow automation capabilities direct...

01/07/2026

FOR-A America Adds Two Regional Sales Leaders

FOR-A America has announced the addition of Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz to its U.S. sales team. Both report to Ernie Leon, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Strate...

01/07/2026

NBC Sports To Present All 15 MLB Games Nationally on July 4 Weekend Star-Spangled Sunday'

NBC Sports will air all 15 MLB games nationally on Sunday, July 5, across NBC, P...

01/07/2026

Clear-Com Upgrades Wireless Communications for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune

Clear-Com has announced a wireless communications upgrade for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, deploying FreeSpeak II and FreeSpeak Icon systems across both prod...

01/07/2026

England Deploys Sony STATSports Live GPS Tracking at FIFA World Cup 2026

England's performance team will use Sony's STATSports APEX GPS tracking system to monitor player physical data in real time during FIFA World Cup 2026 m...

01/07/2026

Adder Technology Appoints Neil Hillier as CEO

Adder Technology has announced the appointment of Neil Hillier as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transiti...

01/07/2026

Bitcentral Splits Into Two Companies: Bitcentral and ViewNexa

Bitcentral, Inc. has announced a strategic transaction creating two separate companies. The Production and Playout business will continue as Bitcentral, now own...

01/07/2026

DAZN48 Creator Initiative Draws Global Participation for FIFA World Cup 2026

DAZN has announced results from DAZN48, its creator initiative for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Launched in April 2026, the program received thousands of applicatio...

01/07/2026

IDEA To Induct Daktronics Sarah Rose Into Hall of Fame

Sarah Rose, VP, global services, Daktronics (NASDAQ: DAKT), will be inducted into the Information Display and Entertainment Association (IDEA) Hall of Fame at t...

01/07/2026

Gravity Media Delivers Distribution and Streaming Services for World Economic Forum in Dalian

Gravity Media and the World Economic Forum's production team provided broadc...

01/07/2026

Insight Productions Launches Insight Storm, a 53-Foot Esports Broadcast Truck

Insight Productions has announced the launch of Insight Storm, a 53-foot mobile broadcast unit built for esports production. The truck is built around a Ross Vi...

01/07/2026

ESPN Announces America 250 Content Initiatives Across Platforms

ESPN has announced several content initiatives marking America's 250th anniversary, as part of The Walt Disney Company's Disney Celebrates America pro...

01/07/2026

At Cosm, FIFA World Cup 2026 Is a Coming-of-Age Moment as Shared Reality Becomes Bucket-List Entertainment

Eleven production kits, REMI workflows, and cloud distribution bring 40 World Cu...

01/07/2026

SVG Regional Sports Production Summit Draws Industry Leaders to Denver for Deep Dive on Evolving RSN Landscape

The conference also discussed the opportunities offered an industry that is endu...

01/07/2026

Mountain West Launches MW+ Streaming Platform Powered by Kiswe

The Mountain West Conference has announced the launch of MW , a direct-to-consumer streaming platform powered by Kiswe. The platform will carry live Mountain We...

01/07/2026

Tracktion unleash Waveform 14 DAW

New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...

01/07/2026

The Crow Hill Company release Brackish Pads

Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...

01/07/2026

Sweetwater & Andertons launch Darkglass Anagram Limited Edition Guitar Essentials

Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals Sweetwater and Andertons M...

01/07/2026

Call for NFVF funding applications to attend Film Festivals and Markets taking place from 01 August 2026 - 31 October 2026

The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...

01/07/2026

FCC Plans to Auction 160 MHZ of Midband Spectrum

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

CBS Miami Launches Hope 4 Venezuela' Relief Effort

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

Riedel, SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration With SimplyLive Integration

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

Gray Media to Buy American Spirit Media's TV Stations

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

Cascade PBS Launches App Solution Provider 'Local Public

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camerabag collection for modern hybrid creators

Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camera bag collection for modern h...

01/07/2026

Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition

Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition Brie Clayton July 1, 2026 0 Comments Volunteers use ATEM Mini Pro, Blackmagic Desig...

01/07/2026

Riedel, SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration WithSimplyLive Integration

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

PlayBox Technology Publishes State of Broadcast Infrastru...

PlayBox Technology has published State of Broadcast Infrastructure 2026, an in-depth industry research report examining the technologies, operational challenges...

01/07/2026

Jigsaw24 Appoints Alan Henry as Head of Sales for Media a...

LONDON, UK, 1 JULY Jigsaw24 has appointed Alan Henry as Head of Sales for Media and Entertainment, reinforcing its continued investment in helping broadcaster...

01/07/2026

Content Vault Partner with XMA to Distribute Universal Fi...

Content Vault, the patent-pending secure content distribution platform protecting high-value media from disclosures, theft and unauthorised access, today announ...

01/07/2026

Bitcentral Announces Strategic Evolution to Create Two F...

Bitcentral, Inc. a leading provider of enterprise software and digital media solutions for news, sports and entertainment broadcasters, as well as streaming pla...

01/07/2026

Adder Technology Names Neil Hillier as CEO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

IBCAP Opens New Anti-Piracy Lab in Denver

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

FCC Plans to Auction 160 MHZ of Mid-Band Spectrum

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

CBS Miami Launches 'Hope 4 Venezuela' Relief Effort

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

01/07/2026

Groundbreaking First Nations Screen Business Accelerator launched through national partnership

Groundbreaking First Nations Screen Business Accelerator launched through nation...

01/07/2026

Chyron Launches the All-New Chyron Academy: A Reimagined, Hands-On Learning Experience for Live Broadcast Production

Chyron Launches the All-New Chyron Academy: A Reimagined, Hands-On Learning Expe...

01/07/2026

Amplium Captures Kawasaki Brave Thunders Game with Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive

Amplium Captures Kawasaki Brave Thunders Game with Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersiv...

01/07/2026

Boris FX Optics Expands Plugin Support to Apple Photos, Capture One, and Affinity Photo

Boris FX Optics Expands Plugin Support to Apple Photos, Capture One, and Affinit...

01/07/2026

UKTV appoints Matt Berry as General Manager to lead brand and marketing strategy

UKTV has today announced the appointment of Matt Berry to the newly created role of General Manager - Marketing, effective 1 July. Matt will take on this senio...

01/07/2026

Fussy asks Britain one simple question: Are you a Tosser?

Sky Zero Footprint Fund-backed TV campaign featuring Deborah Meaden challenges consumers to rethink everyday bathroom wasteWednesday 1 July 2026 Fussy asks Bri...

01/07/2026

New Sky research reveals postcode lottery leaving girls behind in sport

Constituency-level analysis reveals where girls miss out most on sport - and where targeted action could unlock more than £640 million in economic and health be...

01/07/2026

Riedel and SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration With SimplyLive Integration

Wuppertal July 1, 2026 Riedel and SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration With SimplyLive IntegrationRiedel Communications today announced an expanded collaboration wit...

01/07/2026

Apple Creator Studio gets smarter, faster, and more connected - UPDATE - Posted on 30 June 2026

Apple today introduced power-packed updates to Apple Creator Studio, a groundbre...