South African fans might be awfully keen on the expected launch of Disney+ in 2022, but before that happens, DStv has sneaked in a little partnership. Its parent company Multichoice has signed a deal with The Walt Disney Company Africa. The new deal gives the satellite service access to four new Disney-backed channels.

The partnership was confirmed yesterday, reports TechCentral, and brings National Geographic, National Geographic Wild, Disney Channel, and Disney Junior to DStv for the next two years.

The best-laid plans of mice and DStv

“National Geographic, National Geographic Wild, Disney Channel, Disney Junior as well as ESPN and ESPN2, which debuted on the DStv platform in 2020, will continue to be carried by DStv for the next two years, taking the total of Disney-run linear channels on DStv to six,” said Multichoice yesterday.

National Geographic Wild and DStv Junior will be available to customers on Multichoice’s Access packages or better. The remainder — National Geographic, Disney Channel, ESPN, and ESPN 2 — are available from the company’s Compact packages and upwards.

These channels represent a very specific subset of Disney’s offerings, namely educational and family content. But they also point to South Africa getting a limited version of Disney+ when it launches in South Africa next year. As seen with Netflix, licensing issues prevent some content from being shown on the streaming platform. It’s likely that this partnership will do the same here.

But we’ll probably see Marvel’s entire catalogue being exclusive to the platform, as well as most of Disney’s movies. Plus The Simpsons, whatever Pixar films aren’t subject to contracts, and all that lovely Star Wars stuff. There will probably still be enough left over to make a subscription very attractive.

Source: TechCentral