MultiChoice will be adding the Moonbug Kids TV channel to DStv in October, bringing content from several well-known YouTube shows to subscribers in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa like Blippi, CoComelon, Gecko's Garage, Arpo, Morphle as well as Little Angel and Oddbods.
The Moonbug Kids channel, run by the British company Moonbug Entertainment, already launched elsewhere in the world, for instance on Sky in the United Kingdom in mid-2020 with many of the Moonbug shows available to stream for free on YouTube.
In an interview with TBI sister title DTVE, Moonbug EMEA and APAC managing director Nicolas Eglau said that the company sees a significant opportunity to launch premium advertising-free linear channels with pay-TV operators, particularly given that Hollywood studios such as Disney have shut down channels in the interests of focusing on their own streaming platforms.
“It has opened up the market because pay-TV operators are now hungry for unique content that we can provide,” he said, citing the example of Asia, where the rapid withdrawal of kids channels opened up an opportunity for Moonbug to launch its first two linear channels in the Phlippines and Malaysia.
Eglau believes that the European market will follow close behind APAC, creating space for new channel providers to fill demand from pay-TV providers.
Georginah Machiridza, MultiChoice head of content strategy and third party channels, in a statement says MultiChoice "constantly reviews its channel offering to ensure we continue to bring our customers the best quality local and international content, and we believe that Moonbug Kids is exactly what our customers have been asking for".
Moonbug Kids will broadcast in English in 45 African countries.
Prior to its launch on the DStv platform, Moonbug Entertainment had been supplying their content to MultiChoice's Showmax and several other third parties such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Even various linear channels in Europe such as Cartoonito.
The launch of Moonbug Kids coincides with DreamWorks Channel another kids channel to have rolled out earlier in year. Of course it came at an auspicious occasion which brings us to this question for the newcomer.
Could Moonbug Kids be rolling out prior to when another channel e.g. JimJam or Nicktoons get phased out as both seem out of touch with reality aside from those transponder constraints MultiChoice kept hyping about.
My estimated guess is that Moonbug will occupy channel 314 as that is the only free space left in the kiddies area with eToonz and Akili Kids taking up 311 in South Africa and Kenya with Ghana Learning and Edu TV occupying channel 315 and 316 in Ghana and Kenya.
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