South African paralympian Oscar Pistorius. Image provided by MultiChoice.
MultiChoice has pulled down the pop-up channel dedicated to the coverage of paralympian Oscar Pistorius’ murder trial following a delay in court proceedings.
HumanIPO reported in January MultiChoice launched a pop-up carte blanche style channel dedicated to providing live trial coverage, analysis, profiles and exclusive interviews throughout the duration of the murder trial.
The broadcaster said the channel would cease during the one-week delay to proceedings, occasioned by the illness of one of the judge’s assessors (assistants).
The channel will resume broadcasting on April 7, when the trial is set to resume.
“As is standard practice with a pop-up or temporary channel dedicated to specific content, the channel will pop down or cease broadcast when the trial is postponed or court is in recess,” MultiChoice said.
Coverage surrounding the trial has been expanded from the bespoke channel, with MultiChoice calling on its audience to follow the trial via live stream at oscartrial.com, or dedicated Facebook, Twitter, and WeChat accounts.
Two weeks into the murder trial, MultiChoice told HumanIPO the channel had seen its audience peak at 191,000 viewers in a day, shooting straight into the most viewed channels available on DStv.
Rival OpenView HD also followed suit, launching its own bespoke channel covering the trial.
