Hardware
MultiChoice creates
tech division
As the streaming wars heat up, the DStv owner is betting on technology to position it for growth.
MultiChoice Group, the South African company that owns pay-TV service DStv, has announced the creation of a new technology division, designed to streamline the company’s technology operations and position it for growth.
The move comes in the wake of MultiChoice announcing the relaunch of Showmax on NBCUniversal’s Peacock technology platform, seen as a strategy to scale up its streaming services and make it more competitive in this space.
As decoder-based pay-TV declines among premium customers, future growth will be heavily dependent on a technology-driven strategy.
Variety magazine reported last month: “With Peacock not yet available in Africa, NBCUniversal and MultiChoice are signalling what might be the start of a new wave of consolidation in Africa for streamer survival.”
The new division will be led by a group chief technology officer and will include the broadcast technology division, enterprise business systems, group digital, DStv streaming technology, and the project management office. The aim is to consolidate everything related to technology, engineering, and technical divisions into a single hub, according to MultiChoice Group CEO Calvo Mawela.
Mawela said: “We are repositioning our technology area to lead our next growth phase and to deliver on our vision of becoming the technology platform of choice for African households.”
Nyiko Shiburi, who has been leading MultiChoice South Africa for the past three years, has been appointed as the new Group CTO and will lead all the technology divisions across the MultiChoice Group. Shiburi has extensive experience in the technology space, having grown within the MultiChoice ranks from senior manager for broadcast engineering and group GM for the broadcast technology division.
Marc Jury, current CEO of SuperSport, will take over as CEO for MultiChoice South Africa. Prior to leading SuperSport as CEO, Jury was responsible for the commercial aspects of SuperSport, which included managing sports-related programming across the SuperSport channels and marketing the content of these channels.
