Screenshot of The Loud House
Viacom Africa is “reassuring” DStv subscribers in South Africa and the rest of Africa that it will be censoring the gay parents out of its animated Nickelodeon series, “The Loud House,” on its DStv channel.
According to Viacom, showing gay people on Nickelodeon is not appropriate for its Africa audience.
Viacom’s Nickelodeon censorship is the latest in a growing trend the past few months where various channels on MultiChoice’s DStv satellite pay-TV platform is censoring and pulling content for DStv subscribers across Africa, that is deemed inappropriate for subscription television viewers to be exposed to.
In October 2015, Discovery Networks International, which runs the TLC Entertainment channel on MultiChoice’s DStv, was forced to pull the innocuous new docu-drama, “I Am Jazz,” about a transgendered teen’s struggle and life journey, from the channel across the entire Africa just before it was to begin broadcast.
In May, NBCUniversal International Networks was suddenly forced to pull the second season of “I Am Cait,” a reality show about transgender Caitlyn Jenner from its E! Entertainment channel on MultiChoice’s DStv, making it unavailable for the entire Africa.
The increasing censorship of DStv content comes as South Africa’s crisis-riddled public broadcaster, the SABC, has been mired in a public battle over the decision of its foolhardy chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng, to censor SABC TV News visuals of public protests.
Now, Viacom Africa is the latest content and channel provider to MultiChoice to censor what it makes for the rest of the world but that it deems is bad for Africa’s DStv viewers — in this case the introduction of a biracial, married gay couple who show up in a short scene during which they’re seen dropping off their son at a party.
Source: channel24
