Media releases

Wednesday, 8 November 2017

South Africans have been waiting for an innovative entertainment platform that is flexible, affordable and brings everything together in one place: sports, kids entertainment, video-on-demand and live TV. black is that platform.

Launching on 14 November, black will bring to consumers a full 360-entertainment experience from video-on-demand through to live TV streaming, catering for both the local market, and those that enjoy international content. It will include live streaming of five top European football club channels, and services like sports betting and hotel bookings. black is an interactive ecosystem that will give customers an array of choice in a single environment; they won’t need to go anywhere else for content.

black is being brought to consumers as a new separate division within Cell C which is focused on delivering entertainment and content. However, it is network agnostic; meaning it will be available to any consumer with an internet connection from as little as R5 a day.

“Cell C is a business that constantly pushes the bar by bringing to customers the services they want at an incredibly affordable price. Content services around the world are growing as fast as mobile did in its early days and true to Cell C’s form we are embracing content by bringing black to South Africans,” says Cell C CEO Jose Dos Santos.

Around the world, on-demand content is growing at incredible rates with international research from Nielson showing that almost two-thirds of the global population watching some form of on-demand content. “In comparison, the same content is only being served to one-fifth of African viewers.  We know that the pricing and flexibility of black will change that,” says Dos Santos.

What does black offer to consumers?

At launch, customers subscribing to black will be able to access a video-on-demand offering that will include up to 5000 movies, series, music and documentaries, which will include both international and local content.

Customers will be able to access 60 live TV channels, which include music, news, travel and lifestyle, movies and children’s content. And as an added bonus, black has secured the rights to five European football TV channels, namely MANU TV, BARCA TV, LIVERPOOL TV, CHELSEA TV and REAL MADRID TV where football fans can access behind the scenes footage, interviews with players, games and much more content specific to each football club.

In addition, black will be offering customers the opportunity to purchase or rent the latest movies before any other service in South Africa at an incredible price point. These movies will also be available for download for offline viewing.

Subscribers will get to binge-watch brand new seasons from some of the trending TV shows such as Mary Kills People, Catastrophe, Power, High Rollers, Generations, Skeem Saam, Uzalo, and Survivor’s Remorse - as well as catch up on previous seasons. 

“We are also in discussions with local production companies to bring South African fans top local content and provide a platform for local talent to showcase their work. We have already started work in that arena with the launch of two Cell C originals in last year’s award-winning Break the Net on our Reality App and this year’s Hangman, which is currently flighting on eTV,” says Dos Santos.

black will offer many features, including parental control so kids can watch in a secure and controlled environment, scheduled downloads to save on data costs, recommendations based on total family viewing, up to 48 hours look-back on BTV channels so that customer can catch-up on what they have missed, rent or buy a movie without subscribing to a contract giving easy access, flexible packages and access to up to 5 devices, two of which can be watched simultaneously.

At launch, black will be packed with incredible content and more will be added daily.  This platform has been developed to make entertainment available to more South Africans.

What sets black apart from everything else?

The platform that brings black to consumers is being deployed as an ecosystem where customers will have not only access to incredible content, but a host of additional services.

It will offer gaming, travel and hotel booking services, sports betting through Cell C’s partnership with ClickaBet, and a host of other services.

The platform has been designed to allow for flexible watching. Customers will be able to choose which live TV channels they want to watch and when; they will have a choice of daily, weekly, weekend or monthly subscriptions. “This really opens the market to more South Africans looking for content, providing affordable and relevant content to those that have not had access to it before,” says Dos Santos.

Services can be purchased using vouchers as well as debit and credit cards.  And as a first in South Africa, Cell C subscribers will be able to pay for any of these services using Prepaid airtime.

How can consumers get black?

South African consumers will have the opportunity to choose what they want to watch, when they want to watch it, where they want to watch it, through multiple devices.

At launch, consumers can watch and engage with black by downloading the black Android & iOS apps using a tablet or phone. It will also available on a web interface at www.black.co.za.

What will this all cost?

BUYblack will allow customers to purchase the latest blockbuster movies, fresh from the big screen, earlier than ever before and from as little as R59. These are then owned by the customer to watch as many times as they like.

RENTblack will enable customer to rent the greatest movies and similar to BUYblack the latest releases from R29. Customers will have access to the movie for 48 hours from rental. 

FLEXIblack will have hundreds of hours of local and international movies, series, music, documentaries and so much more. FLEXI Access will cost from R10 per day up to R39 per month. FLEXI Premium, which will offer a wider selection, can be purchased at R39 per day up to R99 per month at launch.

BTV with more than 60 included channels will offer BTV Premium for a very competitive R189 per month and BTV Access, which includes 18 channels will cost only R69 per month.

As a separate subscription option, customers will be able to access five exclusive European football TV channels available individually from only R5 a day to R25 per month.

PLAYblack will offer unlimited games from only R5 per day.

Visit www.black.co.za to see all the options available.

Cell C looking to the future…

“This is just the start of what we will bring to the South African market, you’ll have to wait and see what we do next, but I can tell you this much, we will constantly strive to disrupt the market,” says Dos Santos.