DStv launches BoxOffice in South Africa.

DStv today announced the launch of BoxOffice, a Video-on-Demand service for South Africa. This service gives subscribers the opportunity to rent the latest Hollywood blockbusters from the comfort of their home.

According to Imtiaz Patel, Group CEO of MultiChoice South Africa, “The BoxOffice service is a result of our continuous drive for innovation. The future of DStv relies on us offering simplicity and convenience to our subscribers in a changing world. Last year we introduced DStv On Demand and BoxOffice is the next step in the DStv product evolution.”

The BoxOffice service will be rolled out in several phases. The first phase is today’s launch of a satellite-based value added offering to DStv Premium subscribers via their PVRs. The next phase of the BoxOffice roll-out will be an online offering, available to all South African broadband users by the end of this year.

Using the service is easy: Press the green button on your PVR remote and follow the steps on your television screen. BoxOffice movies are readily available for viewing, as they are pre-loaded onto your PVR decoder.

Payment is done through monthly debit order, by pre-loading funds into your account or by credit card. Once a movie is rented, it can be viewed multiple times within a 48-hour period. For launch, the first BoxOffice movie will be free.

A maximum of 15 movies will be available at any one time, with new movies added as they are released for the BoxOffice service by Studios. The number of movies is limited due to storage constraints on the current PVRs. Approximately 150 blockbuster movies from most of the major Hollywood studios will be released on the BoxOffice service during the course of a year. Studios generally release VOD movies in a similar timeframe as they become available for home DVD rentals.

John Kotsaftis, CEO of DStv Online; “BoxOffice positions DStv as a front-runner in the VOD market in South Africa. This service aligns South Africa with global developments in on-demand video. Offering a VOD service via satellite initially, allows us to make it widely and instantly available to our subscribers, regardless of constraints in broadband availability in South Africa.”

This service will be launched to DStv Premium subscribers with PVRs from Friday, 22 July 2011, at an introductory price of R25 per title.

For more information on DStv BoxOffice visit www.dstv.com/boxoffice



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Entries open for the prestigious CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards 2011

CNN International and MultiChoice just announced that they will both, once again be sponsoring the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards in 2011, the African continent's most prestigious awards ceremony honouring excellence in journalism across a wide field of story genres as well as mediums.

The CNN African Journalist Awards 2011 will be taking place in June in Johannesburg and journalists across the continent can now enter. The closing date for entries is January 27, 2011. The judging will take place in April, 2011. Full details on exactly how to enter and the categories can be found HERE at www.cnn.com/africanawards. The organizers say there won't be any extensions on the closing dates, so hurry.

''The CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards have been encouraging excellence in journalism across the continent for 16 years and are truly a highlight in CNN's editorial calendar,'' says Tony Maddox, the executive vice president and managing director of CNN International in a statement. ''I'm delighted that they continue to grow in stature and prestige, and it's a humbling experience each year to see and experience such dedication, passion and talent.''

''For the past 16 years, our partnership with CNN has resulted in some incredible stories being told,'' says Imtiaz Patel, the group CEO of MultiChoice SA in the same press release. ''I would like to encourage journalists from across the continent to embrace the opportunity to make your voices heard. We are looking forward to celebrating your excellence in journalism in June 2011.''

Journalists can enter in categories like Arts & Culture, Digital Journalism, Economics & Business,  Environment, Free Press Africa, HIV/AIDS Reporting, Photography, Health & Medical, Print General News, Radio General News, Sport, Television Features, Television News, Tourism, Francophone General News, and Portuguese Language General News.

From these category winners, the judges will choose the overall winner, the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist of 2011. The competition is open to all Africans who are professional journalists including freelancers. Any work for applicable categories that's been produced between January and December 2010 will be eligible.