Multichoice said in a statement that it was "instructed" by the Angolan Telecommunications Institute at 5.08pm Tuesday to suspend these channels from its platform to "conform" to the decision of the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technology and Media (MINTTICS) known on Monday.
The Ministry decided to suspend the broadcasts of Record, Vida TV and ZAP Viva, as well as newspapers, magazines, websites and radio stations that have not been active for the last two years after detecting "legal inconsistencies".
The South African group has thus decided to temporarily suspend from the DSTV platform the channels Vida TV and TV Record Africa, "waiting for clarifications from the regulator, for the resolution of this process.
In an earlier statement, Record said it had filed a "hierarchical appeal" against the decision of the National Directorate of Information and Communication of the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information Technology and Media to suspend the channel's broadcast.
ZAP, the telecommunications operator that broadcasts ZAP Viva, owned by Finstar, owned by Isabel dos Santos, said that it has already submitted the requested documentation, hoping that "the necessary conditions for the normalization of the channel" will be created.
The Union of Journalists of Angola criticized the government's decision, considering that it is an "attempt to silence" two producers of content, Record and Vida TV, limiting the diversity of information in the country.
Record network is owned by Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (IURD), whose leadership has been disputed in Angola by the Brazilian and Angolan leadership, recently legitimized by the Government, has released several reports critical of the government, claiming that religious Brazilians are targets of xenophobia in Angola.
According to MINTTICS the pay-TV providers, TV Cabo, DSTV Angola and FINSTAR (owner of ZAP TV), although duly legalized, distribute the channels ZAP Viva, Vida TV and Rede Record "without the registration to exercise the activity of television in Angola.
