Recap To The Decade: Love Nature Was Ripped Away From StarSat, Could MultiChoice Perhaps Get It A Replacement To National Geographic Wild?

Love Nature is a Canadian based channel owned by Rock Media Holdings. It broadcasts documentaries and television series based on wildlife and nature. It features shows such as Amazing Animal Friends, Battle of the Alphas and Operation Maneater.

Love Nature launched on StarSat in December 2019 alongside The Smithsonian Channel as a replacement to National Geographic and National Geographic Wild operated by The Walt Disney Company respectively amidst their carriage dispute with the brand.

Few months later, both channels were reinstated on the platform and as of 2021 the replacements were axed with the latter expected to return on Paramount+ when it launches in South Africa later in the year while Love Nature remains with no outlet.

In 2021, The Walt Disney Company unveiled plans to close 100 channels in the coming future and this included a range of Disney Channel and National Geographic channels with the brands currently seen on both DStv and StarSat anticipated to go dark in 2024.

With both platforms expected to look at suitable replacements for National Geographic Wild. What are the chances that Love Nature won't just be added onto MultiChoice's DStv?

Several channels currently and formerly on StarSat can be viewed on DStv including Discovery Family, Investigation Discovery and Real Time from Warner Bros. Discovery and DreamWorks from NBCUniversal.

It's the only brand I can think of that might as well rollout under National Geographic Wild as Animal Planet comes out as a premium channel and with most of its content already viewed on Discovery Channel and Real Time perhaps this would be something suitable for StarSat.

Roundups #136: CoComelon's Nina To Get A YouTube Spinoff, Ultimate Braai Master Returns For An 8th Season On e.tv And FilmRise & Blue Ant Int’l Producing True Crime Series With CBS Reality

CoComelon to recieve another spinoff

Moonbug Entertainment is showcasing Mexican culture with Nina (working title), a spinoff of its popular CoComelon franchise that features one of main character JJ’s best friends.

Mexican-American toddler Nina has been part of the CoComelon crew since 2019. In her own series for preschoolers, she and her family’s culture, traditions and daily lives will be showcased through three-minute nursery rhymes. Nina is set to launch on its own standalone YouTube channel later this year.

Moonbug was spurred to create a new Nina-centric extension of CoComelon by audience research showing that the CoComelon brand is popular with Black, Hispanic, Asian American and Pacific Islander families, says senior creative director Meghan Sheridan.

Regular Nick:
- Operation Ouch returns for a new season on Da Vinci Kids
- Several Cartoonito domains have been registered
- February on Disney Channel and Junior
- New Bear Grylls series is coming soon to Da Vinci Kids

Get ready to sink your taste buds this February on e.tv

Tapfuma Makina joins the Trace Studios produced series in which several teams of two will once again compete against each other - this season across venues in the Western Cape - to see who South Africa's latest braai champions are, in 13 episodes starting on e.tv on Saturday 5 February at 17:00.

Tapfuma Makina who has presented various TV series and is also known as a TV sports news anchor on e.tv and a radio host, has a B.Sc degree in biochemistry and microbiology, and says he's excited to be a part of Ultimate Braai Master as the new host.

This season plans to "showcase the wealth of produce celebrated in the region, from free-range dairy and grain-fed cattle, to fresh grown organic vegetables from farm to braai to table".

Openview Plus:
- eExtra scrapped the launch of 4 telenovelas
- Verdeelde Liefde to return with a second season on eExtra
- Imbewu has been cancelled on e.tv after 5 seasons
- A look at former NBC soap, Passions

More crime and investigation awaiting CBS Justice

Killers: Caught On Camera, which is being produced by back2back productions and CBS Reality, explores how detectives use footage from home secruity cameras, dashcams and CCTV to catch criminals.

The series was co-developed between Blue Ant’s sales arm and back2back, with FilmRise taking exclusive distribution rights in the North America and the Caribbean, and CBS Reality taking exclusive broadcast rights in the UK and Africa. Details of the rights acquired by Nordic-based streamer Viaplay and Germany’s Seven.One were not immediately available.

Ben Barrett, who joined Blue Ant after it acquired Drive, brokered all pre-sales and investment for the project, with additional financing from CBS Reality, Seven.One Entertainment Group and Viaplay Group.

DStv Flex:
- Trafficked With Mariana Van Zeller returns for a third season on National Geographic
- Brand new seasons of your favourite shows coming to History
- February on The Home Channel
- February on HONEY

More Mysteries: Travel Channel Has A Canadian Twin, Travel Africa Network Is Not Available In Africa And Discovery World Returned To DStv For At Least 6 Seconds

Ever wanted to see Africa from afar well Travel Africa Network got you covered

Africa recieved its first travel channel in 2019 with the introduction of Travel Africa Network (TAN) which covers 135 million homes in Europe with its extensive tourism lineup in the form of culture, luxury and adventure and many more.

Not long ago, a reader spotted the channel online and was curious to know why an African skewed brand isn't available in the same way a channel like HONEY can be seen in the market.

Similar to The Africa Channel (TAC), the content can be viewed elsewhere. In this case, Nigeria's very own Spice TV from Consolidated Media Associates.

Read the next story to see why this deal benefitted TAN in the long run. It will be shocking if TAN was fortunate to become a channel in Africa.

Travel Channel has competition

3 years after Discovery Inc. turned Travel Channel into a horror show from the main market. More countries start adapting to this format as the brand is running low on travel themed content.

Believe it or not, even Canada's Travel+Escape (T+E) from Blue Ant Media underwent the same procedure during the same period as Travel Channel.

COVID had no involvement as the changes occurred 3 years ago and this disease is a year old. It's possible that this type of content is no longer valuable for our eyeballs.

How long do you suppose it will be till TAN becomes something else?

Discovery Channel and Discovery World are now the same thing...DStv Showcase

Since last year, Discovery World owned by Discovery Inc. had been shelved with remaining shows transmitted to other brands. The lineup consisted mainly of documentaries and other entertainment elements.

The channel was available from 2010 to 2016 on MultiChoice's DStv. They hosted a media briefing unveiling a selection of content coming within the next year including two Discovery+ originals Pushing The Line And The Swim.

Through a promo, MultiChoice paid tribute to Discovery World and you had to find out moments after the showcase that these programs were for Discovery Channel.

Africa has been viewed as the hotspot for Europe's scraps but I doubt this brand will be used for anything outside programming as there's not much content to keep it sustainable.

Look at Discovery Channel's logo doesn't it remind you a bit about Discovery World?

Discovery Channel has a globe on the name while Discovery World included it as an additional accessory so the brands aren't that far apart from one another.

You can also find me through the other platforms by pressing this link in brackets (Lnk.Bio).

Read Also:
- Investigation Discovery also did a story of Dee Dee Blanchard's downfall
- Channel roundups for DStv
- Should MultiChoice forge more relationships with these brands?
- Jango Magic possibly getting killed off on DStv
- TLNovelas is a permanent channel on DStv
- Star Life rebranding to Life OK???
- International content coming to DStv in 2022
- Moonbug Kids and Kartoon Channel expand to more markets, could DStv or StarSat perhaps get it?
- Boomerang might get killed off in Africa
- Maningue Magic and Kwenda Magic coming soon to DStv
- tvN expand their offering without DStv
- BVN returns to Africa
- Daystar TV is a covid conspirator
- Could SABC Children be an exact replica of SABC Education?
- A+ possibly coming to DStv
- More Africa Magic channels on DStv???
- Travel Channel going off air on DStv???
- SABC Encore and SABC Children channel might be in development
- African Animation Network rolling out a programming block 
- Warner TV might be replacing TNT
- National Geographic Kids launches next year

Another One Bites The Dust: Love Nature Reportedly The Next Victim To Get Culled By StarSat

A month after The Smithsonian Channel, the Canadian-based Love Nature featuring documentaries related to wildlife and nature goes off air on StarSat across Africa by the end of November.

Love Nature launched 2 years ago alongside The Smithsonian Channel as replacements to National Geographic and National Geographic Wild as StarSat had been going through a contractual dispute with The Walt Disney Company.

The demise of Love Nature leaves a big gap in the viewership as so many channels were culled from the platform including FOX, SA Music, SA Playlist, St Eyethu and a range of Discovery Channels.

Just like Smithsonian, fans of Love Nature will have rely on National Geographic to give viewers the best in factual and educational programming, and hope that doesn't get culled as well.

2021 has proven to be weak year on the basis of new channels. So far the platform launched MUTV, Zimbabwe's Jit TV, the ANC inspired C12 TV, Fashion TV, Roots TV and 3 Zee TV channels.

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Read Also:
- Female wrestling promotion launching in 2022, could StarSat pick it up?
- Star Life rebranding to Life OK???
- Could SABC Encore and Children make their way to StarSat? 
- African Animation Network launching an experimental animation block
- Warner TV might be replacing TNT
- Canal+ acquires majority stake at SPI International
- Timeless Dizi Channel got a streaming service

Update On The 3 Pop-Up Channels On DStv

MultiChoice currently has 3 pop-up channels operating on the platform with the 4th which is on StarTimes being disqualified earlier in the year. These remaining channels could be permanent additions at the same time it could be the end.

ZooMoo is calling it quits on DStv as the channel is scheduled to close by the end of June after its 3 month extension. MultiChoice has sent a channel termination notice onto viewer's screens. If they reconsider its best to place it on a much cheaper package so that it can gain more awareness.

tvN is the now the second pop-up channel to recieve an extension on DStv unlike ZooMoo it's staying for only a month. They've unveiled a bunch of shows coming to the channel the one I'd look out for next month is Memorist, Tomorrow With You, Mr. Queen and The Sixth Sense.

TLNovelas is currently the longest pop-up channel on DStv launching in September of last year with its demise scheduled for August. There's a bunch of titles to look forward to on the channel including Secrets At The Hotel and Single Dad's Club. To be honest I wouldn't be surprised if they kept it. There hasn't been a lot of new channels this year.

Dizi is safely tucked on StarTimes after its dramatic removal from DStv. The feed currently seen on StarTimes somehow got the DStv feed meaning all shows are repeats until the end of August or September giving MultiChoice enough time to pick it up. (Note that I updated the info on the link about Dizi's termination on DStv)

Read Also:

- TNT might get another rebrand

- BBC Kids launches in Australia, will Africa get it?

- Is Discovery Science launching on DStv?

- FOX on Starsat and DStv might be rebranding to Star sooner than expected
- Dizi might return to DStv (updated 18 July)
- Is Boomerang officially dead in Africa?
- Discovery and WarnerMedia set to merge  meaning Cartoon Network and TLC join forces
- BBC and ITV launching a streaming service in South Africa
- Will Paramount+ cancel several linear channels like Comedy Central and MTV?
- Utsav branding takes affect on Star Life and StarPlus

ZooMoo Has Been Extended On DStv + Other Controversies Regarding The Current Pop-Up Channels

Back in August 2020, MultiChoice previewed 4 pop-up channels + 1 full-time channel which were TLNovelas (Mexican telenovelas, September), TDC (Turkish telenovelas, November), tvN (K-dramas, November) and ZooMoo (preschoolers, November) + KIX (Action movie channel, October).

All were suppose to launch within that year but for some reason tvN didn't make the deadline. They only popped up a year later through a Facebook post without any explanation from them or MultiChoice on why they didn't fill the end of their bargain.

Maybe MultiChoice wanted to put more focus towards TDC since they were gonna launch together. They couldn't do December since less people will be glued to their screens, January everyone is up in arms, February was occupied leaving March open.

tvN is the first channel that doesn't offer a ton of dubbed programming for English viewers. Will we ever know why this one is unscathed while others are put out of their misery.

TLNovelas has the longest promotional period amongst all of them. Ever since it's launch there's been technical difficulties (in South Africa) for which DStv is seemingly taking a while to resolve and this will just leave the channel without potential consumers.

ZooMoo which was suppose to end in March 2021 alongside TDC has been extended until June which is the same time tvN promotional run ends. It's obvious MultiChoice doesn't monitor performances entirely through viewership.

Timeless Dizi Channel (TDC) makes a ton of last minute changes which doesn't reflect their schedule. They went from using an outdated schedule to airing marathons without notice. Imagine, recording an episode only to realise this issue exists. This channel is set to close by the end of March.

In the end, ZooMoo is the only channel that hasn't stirred up problems for viewers.

Read Also:
- Why SuperSport has two WWE channels?
- EVA and EVA+ gets the boot on DStv
- Predictions for Telemundo
- New kids programming coming to Cartoon Network
- BayTV acknowledges the name change after a year of silence

What You Might Expect On DStv's New Addition To The School Of Laughter, Zoomoo?

MultiChoice had a virtual showcase on August 19th and at that period they unveiled 5 new channels for their viewers including KIX which was overhyped for a while now then there's Zoomoo which is known as a pop-up kiddies channel.

These new channels were just sneak peeks as MultiChoice hasn't officially announced them through their outlets and these might not be only channels coming to the platform for the rest of the year as Wild Earth is launching tomorrow and that wasn't unveiled in the showcase.

As most people noticed most of the new channels added to DStv have been labelled as pop-up channels before becoming permanent channels for some reason particularly in South Africa and Lesotho like Da Vinci and AfricaNews, WWE Channel, PBS Kids and ESPN (discreetly before being snubbed).

Zoomoo (DStv 314) is a Canadian kids' channel that delivers a unique mix of live-action combined with animation and puppets - it's the world's first fully-interactive pre-school channel dedicated entirely to animals and nature, aimed at kids aged 2-7 years old. The channel is accompanied by a free ZooMoo App, which completes the multi-screen environment, synchronized on a real-time basis with the channel. It launches as a pop-up channel on DStv, which will be available from 1 October 2020 to 31 March 2021 presumably for South Africa and Lesotho.

Zoomoo is owned by Blue Ant Media that also supply StarTimes with Love Nature and The Smithsonian Channel it wouldn't be shocking if StarTimes or OpenView supplied Zoomoo soon. This kids channel launched earlier in the year in some parts of Africa through Zuku TV.

Zoomoo carries original content alongside acquired series which can be found on their YouTube channel and some streaming platforms.

Here's a list of confirmed programs for the channel so far:
- TEDDIES, stars four teddy bear friends- Dom, Meeks, Sparky and Tizzy- who live
in the wonderful world of Teddytown! Like kids, they’re learning what it’s like to grow up; making friends, being kind to others, helping out, making mistakes and respecting and appreciating others. Aimed at the pre-school market, this entertaining and endearing series also assists children in their development of social and emotional skills.
- THE HIVE, is a colourful animated series for kids all ages introducing life to early learners with the Bee Family. This series is about the everyday things that concern small children such as playing, being friendly, spending time with your family, getting along, and finding out all about the world and how it works.
- LEO, THE WILDLIFE RANGER, Join Leo and friends as they go on exciting adventures around the world and explore exotic locations and learn fun facts about animals and nature!
- JELLY JAM, takes places on a colorful planet called Jammbo. The series follows the adventures of seven characters: Bello, Goomo, Rita, Mina, Ongo, King and Queen; who live on a planet named 'Jammbo'. The planet has a music factory where all music in the universe originates from, and this music is produced continuously through bubbles. If this factory stopped, the characters would turn grey and apathetic, lose their memories and then simply stop moving at all.
- KOOKI'S CRAFTY SHOW, is a live-action pre-school series that empowers young children to unleash the wild side of their creativity through the magic of crafting. Hosted by a semi-suited, cheeky and playful red panda named Kooki, the series will feature two different crafts per episode. Projects will include recyclable crafts, painting and origami, with one craft always incorporating an animal theme. Kooki’s actions will be guided by the voice of a child who will ask Kooki to make things, explaining the process along the way.