DStv Update: France24 Expected To Debut On DStv In Place Of Russia Today

During the month, it was reported that Canal+'s MultiChoice was looking to debut the French news channel France24 English to DStv platforms. This comes after the channel was spotted through the test channel section of their platforms.

To no one's surprise, France24 is expected to dethrone the former Russia Today channel whose feed was cutoff globally. As France24 had now been spotted with a channel number 407 alongside an HD feed in development for Southern Africa.

France 24 is a French state-owned international 24-hour news channel which forms part of France’s international public broadcasting group alongside RFI (radio) and Monte Carlo Doualiya. It offers four separate feeds: French, English, Arabic, and Spanish.

France 24’s programming is built around continuous international news with a French perspective, interspersed with short reports, debates, magazines, and cultural features. This would include French Connections, Paris Des Arts and The Debate.

It's like we stated post the takeover, France24 is Canal+'s equivalent to SABC News and eNCA although being further distant from these brands. 

And also that Canal+ was going to use MultiChoice's existing footprint to expand its own endeavours.

This was first made evident when Novelas+ debuted on the platform to replace TLNovelas on DStv channel 133. As Canal+ through its Novelas+ brand served as the exclusive home to TelevisaUnivision dramas in France, Poland and Francophone Africa.

Canal+ Afrique had also removed several English based channels and it's like we theorised a few years ago. The French media giant is currently in the process of unifying or aligning Canal+ Afrique's operations with that of MultiChoice's DStv.

This means scaling back on certain endeavours as seen with MultiChoice that will be closing Mzansi Bioskop, Mzansi Music, KykNET Lekker and M-Net Movies 1. With Canal+ Afrique that has removed English Club TV, W-Sport and Bloomberg Originals.