Harare — Zimbabwean DStv subscribers will lose ZTN Prime from their bouquets at the end of the month, after MultiChoice confirmed that the Zimpapers-owned channel is being removed from satellite television.

A notice circulated to account holders states that the station, carried on DStv Channel 294, will stop broadcasting at 23:59 Central Africa Time on 30 September 2026. The message gives no replacement channel and offers subscribers no explanation beyond the cut-off date.

A Four-Year Run on Channel 294

ZTN Prime went live on DStv on 24 May 2022, launched with heavy promotion as the first serious rival to ZBC TV in more than four decades. Its arrival ended 42 years of single-station dominance in Zimbabwe’s television market and came alongside a batch of new licences that included 3Ktv, operated by Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo-based KeYona TV and NRTV, run by the Zimbabwe National Army.

For much of its life the channel combined news bulletins, current affairs programming and entertainment content aimed at urban audiences, and it became a familiar fixture for households paying monthly subscription fees.

Digital Pivot Puts 154 Jobs at Risk

The exit from DStv has been on the cards. Zimpapers board chairperson Doreen Sibanda had already signalled that the group intended to move ZTN away from a traditional linear broadcast model and onto an internet-delivered, over-the-top platform.

That shift sits inside a wider overhaul of the Zimpapers group, which has placed 154 positions in jeopardy. According to Sibanda, some roles have become redundant under the new operating model and the company has begun a retrenchment exercise in line with labour regulations and its internal human resources processes.

The restructuring also covers the group’s newspaper titles, which are being reoriented around a digital and mobile-first structure as print circulation and advertising continue to decline.

What Subscribers Should Know

• Date of removal: 30 September 2026, at 23:59 CAT.
• Channel affected: ZTN Prime, DStv Channel 294.
• Reason given: None in the subscriber notice; the group has separately described a move to online distribution.
• Refunds or replacements: Not mentioned in the notice sent to account holders.

The notice does not say whether ZTN content will resurface on another pay-TV platform, on free-to-air television or purely through streaming. The group’s stated direction points to internet-based delivery, which would require viewers to have reliable broadband and a smart device or connected television.

Why It Matters Beyond One Channel

ZTN Prime’s departure narrows the choice available to Zimbabwean television audiences at a time when the broadcasting sector was supposed to be opening up. The licensing round that brought the channel to air was presented as a break from a monopoly era, yet consolidation and cost pressures have since reshaped the field.

For Zimpapers, the calculation is financial as much as technological. Carrying a linear channel on a pay-TV platform involves carriage arrangements, production costs and staffing that are hard to sustain when advertising revenues are under strain and audiences are drifting to online video.

For the roughly 154 employees whose positions are under review, the timing is uncomfortable. The retrenchment process is running alongside the channel’s final weeks on satellite, meaning the operational wind-down and the human resources exercise are unfolding at the same time.

Whether the digital-first strategy delivers the reach the group is betting on remains an open question. Streaming removes the need for a satellite slot, but it also removes the automatic discovery that comes with a numbered channel on a national pay-TV platform.

Subscribers have until the end of the month to adjust. After 23:59 on 30 September, Channel 294 will be blank.