Acorn TV video streaming service shutting down in South Africa

3 years ago 1

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British-focused video streaming service Acorn TV will shut down its service in South Africa by the end of the year.

The Acorn TV home page in South Africa currently has a prominent “Important announcement” stating the service will no longer be available in South Africa.

It directs visitors to a page with more information on the development.

“We regret to inform you Acorn TV will shut down in South Africa by the end of 2022,” the page states.

It also asks current customers to cancel their subscriptions.

“If you signed up online, please cancel your subscription by going to My Acorn TV and then Manage Account,” the instructions read.

“If you subscribed through the Android or iOS apps, visit your account dashboard within the app store.”

The streaming service did not provide more details as to why it was shutting down in South Africa.

Acorn TV is owned by US entertainment company AMC Networks and was launched in South Africa in December 2018.

That formed part of a broader global rollout which included 29 new countries following its availability in the US and Canada.

The service initially cost $4.99 per month (R71.51 at the time), but it later revised its price to a rand-denominated fee of R79 per month.

It offered a small catalogue of 39 primarily lesser-known series, many from the UK.

That selection ailed in comparison to the thousands of TV shows available from the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

While its selection changed over time, JustWatch’s latest data showed it still only had 52 TV shows and six movies at the time of publication, four years after launching locally.

Strong competition from BBC and ITV

The local arrival of BBC and ITV’s on-demand streaming service BritBox may have radically eroded Acorn’s value proposition to South Africans.

Britbox offered 141 titles at launch in 2021, substantially more than Acorn TV, at a monthly price of R99.99. That library has since grown to 217 titles, while the monthly price has remained the same.

Although several of the same titles were available on both services, BritBox had more recognisable classic British shows, such as Black Adder, Mr Bean, Fawlty Towers, and Midsomer Murders.

With backing from the BBC and ITV, it has also fed a consistent flow of new original BritBox titles to its catalogue — including The Cleaner, Hope Street, Hollywood Bulldogs, and Why Didn’t They Ask Evans.

While BritBox does not share its actual subscriber numbers, the streamer’s global CEO, Reemah Sakaan, recently told MyBroadband the service had been delighted by its reception in South Africa.

“South Africa has been amongst the most ‘rabid’ in terms of overall volume, hours, and minutes [streamed] of any market in the world,” Sakaan said. “Every time we introduce one of our BritBox Originals, it rockets to the top.”

“We keep breaking our own records in terms of the number of hours streamed every month and with every new show launch.”

MyBroadband asked Acorn TV and AMC Networks for further comment on the shutdown but did not immediately receive feedback to our query.