Play Room (Live) Vs. Teen Africa TV: Is Anyone Safe In This Game Of Cat And Mouse?

Play Room launched in November 2023 offering a mixture of live-action and animated content part of which were dubbed in local languages to consumers in South Africa. Prior to this, Africa's first channel for teenagers Teen Africa TV was introduced offering locally produced content ranging from reality shows, educational content and movies.

This was MultiChoice's second and third attempt at tapping into the local kids space following the demise of K-TV. With companies such as Disney pivoting toward streaming, MultiChoice was hoping to use Teen Africa TV and Play Room as channels to fill that gap.

Play Room had proved to be a popular addition to DStv following the launch of Play Room Live alongside diverse slate of local content with Bino And Fino (Nigeria), Jabu's Jungle (South Africa) and Akili And Me (Kenya). Teen Africa TV had a Nigerian adaptation of the musical La Voz Kids (The Voice Kids Nigeria) with Teen Street Live.

Fast forward to the present, you could say there have been some bizarre developments regarding Africa's Nickelodeon and Disney Channel.

Play Room has been rehashing if not piling up on content with Teen Titans GO!, Batwheels, Rainbow Rangers and Superhero Kindergarten. Not that it's a bad thing (entirely), most channels nowadays are zombified but viewers need consistency for which the channel lacks.

To make matters worse, Play Room Live appears to be in the danger zone with the channel dubbing it Play Room Live 2.0 following the holiday slumber. Not only has Play Room Live Reloaded been axed but now the youth show runs for half an hour.

At this point, I wouldn't be shocked if it got the boot I mean most kids don't rely on DStv nowadays to watch Cocomelon as everything can be streamed. I mean you don't often Hectic Nine-9 on SABC 2 and even K-TV had a youth show that too got the axe.

As for Teen Africa TV, I'd say it's in a much worser state than Play Room (Live) because now it's like Magic Showcase and broadcasts in certain parts of the day. From what I read, there was even some drama with the crew members for not getting paid for their work on the channel.

This is a channel that MultiChoice picked up in 40+ countries and viewers were perplexed by some of the content in hand particularly the dramas and movies. Disney Channel and Nickelodeon would often exempt themselves from any adult themes and this didn't extend to Teen Africa TV.

With very little marketing or much of a social presence, I wouldn't be shocked if Teen Africa TV were to end up like Media24's HONEY that was meant to be Africa's BBC Lifestyle. There's already a reduction in content and for whatever is commissioned barely gets press.

I wouldn't say the Teen Africa TV concept was a bad idea but it doesn't appear to be feasible which is where HONEY resided. This is a youth channel which is being distributed on a platform that caters for adults and this is the only kids channel with this much local content.

Play Room is more like Akili Kids with a reduced slate it's probably the most safest structure for any kids channel in this climate but if I'm being honest it appears Teen Africa TV is walking on eggshells.