FilmBox Vs. M-Net Movies: Who Is Likely To Survive Canal+ Acquisition Of MultiChoice?

During the year, Canal+ expressed interest in acquiring pay-tv giant MultiChoice after gaining small stakes in the company and working closely on several shows. They're currently in talks with Patrice MotsepeIs in an attempt to increase their bid in MultiChoice. 

If Canal+ had succeeded in their first attempt at acquiring MultiChoice they'd have to grow through legal procedures who could have prevented this from moving forward. Now that talks of an SA player enters the equation they're likely to succeed. 

Canal seeks to merge their assets with MultiChoice making their portfolio accessible to over 50 million subscribers in Africa. Since talks of a possible takeover has taken place there's been various questions as to how this may affect the current offering. 

Canal+ owns various properties in Europe and one of which SPI International has garnered an international presence. This consists of various FilmBox entertainment channels alongside Gametoon, FashionBox, FightBox and DocuBox. 

As some readers are aware, these channels particularly FilmBox are already viewable in Africa and were basically a rival offering to M-Net Movies. Should the acquisition move forward these brands are likely to get merged if not restructured.

It's not only the content that bares various similarities but also the formatting of these brands. M-Net Movies 2 is basically FilmBox Action while M-Net Movies 3 and 4 have FilmBox Africa, FilmBox Family and FilmBox Stars.

Ideally, M-Net Movies could fold under the FilmBox trademark considering its presence in Europe but there's also chances that they may have a future. M-Net Movies 3 & 4 alongside various DStv channels are seen on Canal+ platforms in Africa.

If M-Net Movies wasn't that much of a priority they could have opted for FilmBox. It's likely that FilmBox could be phased out in favor of M-Net Movies but questions amount to whether Starsat and various other platforms would/are willing to include them.

MultiChoice is StarTimes biggest rival as it offers a diverse lineup of local content and premium sports. Of course, the mere thought of M-Net Movies possibly being added to these consumers would lure exiting DStv consumers to StarTimes for its affordable rates.

In Nederlands, Film1's offering compensate for FilmBox films movie channels with the main channel being what's left of the trademark.

Development Alert: FilmBox Family Added Onto The StarTimes App, Might Launch Elsewhere

During the week, TNT went dark on StarSat and StarTimes platforms across Africa due to a change in broadcasting rights or at least that's what's been stated by them as Warner Bros. Discovery had launched an investigation with an update expected in the coming week.

Prior to the cancellation, StarSat promised consumers that they would look into replacing TNT with another movie channel. Although not much details is known about the possible new channel FilmBox Family had been slotted on the StarTimes app.

FilmBox Family is a general entertainment channel catered for children and family featuring films ranging from fantasy, adventure, animation, drama and comedy. It is operated by SPI International that also package FilmBox, FilmBox Action and Timeless Dizi Channel on the platform.

Although not much had been stated by either StarTimes or SPI International about the addition of FilmBox Family, would it seem far fetched if the channel were to be made available elsewhere at some point perhaps as a replacement to TNT.

The downside aside from the exclusion of All Elite Wrestling or sports in general, it caters to another level of consumers (as mentioned children and family) and if you take that to account this would be a downgrade in quality for consumers of TNT and particularly StarSat.

New Channel Alert: FilmBox Action And Kartoon Channel Coming Soon To StarSat With Qwest TV On DStv

For several years, StarTimes has been losing a bouquet of premium international channels ranging from The Smithsonian Channel, Love Nature, DreamWorks, Real Time and Investigation Discovery with the much needed alternatives almost nowhere in site.

Now the pay-tv platform seems to be picking up the cracks as they unveiled two new channels for their consumers: FilmBox Action and Kartoon Channel.

FilmBox Action is a general entertainment channel basically SPI International's version of M-Net Movies 2 and KIX with a limited amount of series. Some of the stars include Steven Seagal, Jason Statham, Bruce Willis, Al Pacino and many others from U.S. and global.

StarSat:
- The Smithsonian Channel closing down in the UK
- Delayed SABC channel launch on StarSat explained
- Russia Today to launch South African hub
- StarSat trying to be DStv friendly

Kartoon Channel is an kids entertainment channel and not to be mistaken for Cartoon Network. It is owned by Genius Brands International with its core audience being 2-12 years with content like Angry Birds, Stan Lee's Superhero Kindergarten and Rainbow Light Brigade.

FilmBox Action is allocated on channel 140 on the Smart bouquet while Kartoon Channel on 307 and on the Basic package on channel 358. There's no confirmation on whether this includes the South African feed but it might as well launch.

As outlined, StarSat across Africa lost a bouquet of channels and FilmBox Action in a way helps the lossen the pain left by FOX which was scrapped by The Walt Disney Company internationally while Kartoon Channel might as well be a replacement for DreamWorks.

DStv:
- MultiChoice might lose yet another two channels
- Could Russia Today be removed from the DStv platform?
- Qwest TV coming soon to Showmax
- eMedia's 4 channels to go dark on the DStv platform

In other developments, MultiChoice will be allocating their first channel later in the month titled Qwest TV which has been in development for several months owned by multi award winning artist Quincy Jones is Jazz infused channel.

It was unveiled alongside Moonbug Kids at the DStv Showcase, according to sources it was meant to launch last year but for some reason that never happened so it's gearing up for an early 2023 to replace MTV Hits in South Africa and serve as an additional channel everywhere else. Qwest TV is said to be accompanied alongside another channel sources won't share.

Disclosure: Kartoon Channel was also rumoured to launch on another platform alongside DStv.

New Channel Alert (Rumour): FilmBox Africa, FilmBox Family And FilmBox Action Coming Soon To StarSat + New Prices For Each Package

StarSat has lost over 20 channels during the past years ranging from from FOX, Discovery Family, Investigation Discovery, The Smithsonian Channel, Fine Living, SA Music, Soul Music, DreamWorks and St Eyethu. Since then, several channels have made way to the platform.

You have channels like Russia Today, Zee Bollymovies, C12 TV and Fashion TV while some may come off as useless to most consumers none of these brands can fill up the void of the above mentioned channels.

 

MultiChoice, a rival to the pay-tv platform had undergone the same procedure with customers expressing their dissatisfaction for almost a month I mean they've got new channels in place with 6 more coming in the near future but just like StarSat they too have got negative feedback.

While MultiChoice let the cat out of the bag with some upcoming channels with StarTimes you could hardly get them to crack as they're usually discreet about these things but thanks to the StarTimes app we got to view potential new channels.

FilmBox Africa, FilmBox Action and FilmBox Family hail from SPI International the company in charge of the top entertainment channel Timeless Dizi Channel. These channels are said to be on a trial phase.

 

FilmBox Africa - A premium entertainment channel carrying series as well as adrenaline-pumping movies from Bruce Willis, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Jet Li, Jackie Chan and many others. Suitable candidate to FOX.

FilmBox Action - targets action lovers with the likes of Cinema legends Steven Seagal, Al Pacino, Bruce Willis, Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Jason Statham and many others. Another suitable candidate to FOX.

FilmBox Family - Popular movies for the entire family appealing to both children and adults: great adventures, comedies, fantasy movies, popular series and entertainment programs. An added bonus.

 

On top of the possible new channels here are the prices consumers will pay from July:

- StarSat Special Package will now be R120 previously R109.
- StarSat Super Package will now be R230 previously R209.
- StarSat Max Package will now be R330 previously R299.

The Challenges Of Getting Bold And The Beautiful And Days Of Our Lives On DStv

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In 2016, the SABC scrapped Days Of Our Lives from SABC 3 and a few years along the line Bold And The Beautiful. Amidst that time, e.tv became the official broadcaster for Days Of Our Lives while EVA (DStv 141) got Bold And The Beautiful.

AMC International, the parent company for EVA opted to discontinue distribution of the channel and in that was Bold And The Beautiful which has since then been viewable on Vodacom's Video Play while Days Of Our Lives will be out on the streets as e.tv opts for more local content.

 

 

MultiChoice is pretty much the only hope consumers have in saving these programs. Even though, it would mean paying to view them anything seen on their platform especially in this field can be viewed as a goldmine.

Also read:
- DStv viewership for February
- Star Life rumoured to undergo some lineup changes
- April on Comedy Central, MTV and MTV Base
- April on The Home Channel
- April on Curiosity
- The Scent Of Passion coming soon to Telemundo
- April on Honey
- Blue Venom Girl and Surrender In Love coming soon to Zee World
- April on Moja Love
- 7 Year Stitch coming soon to E!
- April on History
- M-Net cancels The Queen and Lingashoni for more soapies and short-form series
- Second batch of rumoured series coming to M-Net, 1Magic, Me and Showmax

There's several from free-to-air stations which have since then been seen on a channel like M-Net such as Survivor, The Amazing Race and NCIS from SABC 3 and America's Got Talent, Chicago PD and Blackish from e.tv.

Even the of rejects such as Dr. Phil, The Real and The Talk from the SABC and UEFA and WWE from e.tv can be transmitted on DStv.

Here's my suggestions for Bold and Days

From what was stated a few years ago, scheduling led to the abandonment of Bold but couldn't M-Net perhaps move it to another station like Me or its local counterpart Mzansi Wethu to reduce the repeat pendant tendency.

Another option could be curating a channel to insert shows like Bold and Days alongside Emmerdale and Coronation Street but chances are the channel would wind up like FOX Life as viewers would expect a stack of content for which such channel might not meet.

The troubles with DStv
 

 

As mentioned, M-Net has shown interest if I had to expand a bit further onto their scheduling issue we're basically dealing with a soap opera that has characters that progress daily with their lives and viewers don't want to miss a single detail.

It's not like Judge Judy, where you can skip a couple of hurdles and still make it to the finish line.

MultiChoice have their reasons for stalling I believe these two would fit better on M-Net as they're going through somewhat of an identity crisis with the increased number of streamers bundling content available on the channel.

Of course, M-Net is vouching for limited content services so curating it into an existing or standalone channel on DStv wouldn't be such a bad idea honestly.

Also read:
- How e.tv weekend schedule might look next month?
- e.tv working on something titled e.tv exclusive
- Could these channels replace eMovies and eMovies Extra on DStv?
- SABC will launch more channels alongside streaming service
- Disney rumoured to be closing down Disney XD and Disney Junior
- Paramount reportedly closing MTV Base and MTV Classic in the UK
- Could Zee World replace eExtra on DStv Access perhaps?
- Could Timeless Dizi Channel and possibly tvN replace eExtra on DStv?
- New movie channel launching later in the year on DStv
- KIX will be made available to DStv Family and Access customers

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Potential Candidates For The eMovies Channels: From SPI International's FilmBox To Shorts TV, Could These Channels Replace eMovies On DStv?

MultiChoice is planning to introduce a second movie channel later in the year to replace eMovies and eMovies Extra in South Africa and serve as an additional accessory alongside DreamWorks Channel in the rest of Africa. Of course, details of the supposed channel remains unknown.

Last year, it was reported that MultiChoice was looking into adding movie channel at first it was speculated to be for the rest of Africa as South Africa had a large bulk of movie channels until recently as indicated above.

We did a list of potential candidates for Disney XD and surprise surprise one of the channels on the list ended up the space so let's do one for the movie channels.

Also read: 
- PBS Kids will be made available to DStv Easyview customers
- EU turns off transmission for RT across Africa
- SABC Encore being used for sports
- Could G4 launch on DStv perhaps to replace a channel like Ginx Esports TV?
- Why VH1 Classic was terminated on DStv?
- SABC will launch more channels alongside streaming service
- Could Moonbug Kids replace Disney Junior on DStv and Baby TV on StarSat?
- tvN pushing to become a permanent linear channel in Africa
- Could Nicktoons be discontinued in Africa and likely the rest of the world?
- Multichoice won't be adding anymore community channels

Since the restructuring of M-Net Movies it was evident at this point that MultiChoice is trying to diversify the lineup e.g. Maisha Magic Movies and KIX. If they can't kill the existing repeats on the current movie channels they can limit the toxins from spreading.

Here's a list of potential candidates that MIGHT fill up the spot of the eMovies channels:

1. FilmBox
Owned by the makers of the most popular entertainment channel in their division, Timeless Dizi Channel. FilmBox is modernized AMC featuring a selection of international movies and series ranging from comedy, romance, action and drama basically a mashup of the two eMovies channels.

2. Positiv
Owned by Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), the channel features a variety of Christian themed family oriented films from small to big Hollywood studios.

3. ShortsTV
Managed by Shorts International in partnership with AMC International, ShortsTV is a dedicated network for short films whether you want Oscar nominated films or low budget ShortsTV is the place for you. It was pop-up channel on the DStv app.

Other candidates would be an Indian movie channel and another Chinese or African movie channel.

These are just one of the few channels the pay-tv platform will close or lose as more channels are expected to suffer the same fate as the 4 e.tv channels and Tellytrack such as The Walt Disney Company's set of channels as they're moving away from cable or at least not with ESPN.

Also read:
- eExtra, eMovies, eMovies Extra and eToonz will stop airing on DStv
- What to expect on the upcoming DreamWorks Channel?
- KIX will be made available to DStv Family and Access customers
- Press release of DreamWorks Channel on DStv
- Could Timeless Dizi Channel and possibly tvN replace eExtra on DStv?
- YouTube bans Russia Today from generating revenue
- Could ESPN close alongside National Geographic and Disney Channel?
- New movie channel launching later in the year on DStv
- Lifetime could be on the chopping block on DStv
- SABC Encore and SABC Children channel might be in development

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StarTimes/Starsat Is Reportedly Scrapping All The Channels From SPI International

At this point in time I can also consider it a rumour but who wouldn't believe such a story like StarTimes lost the Disney Channels due to commercial issues while by blamed it on signal interruptions.

Now the next batch of channels which are said to go dark on the platform are channels from SPI International.

SPI International supplied channels like Filmbox (Channel 188), TDC (Channel 141), TDC (Channel 141), Gametoon (Channel 151) and FashionBox (Channel 282) now all of that is set to get chopped on Starsat (SA only) and StarTimes (ROA) by the end of August.

To make it more humiliating Starsat or StarTimes and SPI International are even running a competition for one of these channels like really.

Neither one of the informed the public beforehand over the status of these channels only through messaging subscribers. When a viewer wanted clarity over these channels about they all they said was "we'll make an announcement soon".

There's a reason behind this removal, it's one thing to lose channels but it's another if it all comes from one place.

Maybe the pandemic has something to do with it. SPI International may be reviewing their portfolio in this market which I doubt or StarTimes got into a fight with them which led to the removal pretty much it's kind of a mystery at this point. Either way these channels are going dark later this month.

The day they make the announcement don't be surprised if they don't have an actual reason for the chop. They now join DStv and OpenView in channel losses as time goes by you have to wonder how long these platforms will keep calm as there's less new content available in the world.

StarSat Will More Likely Launch A Total Of 10 Channels, Part Of Them Are Currently Active On The Platform

StarTimes Media has upgraded their bouquet offering that will see the introduction of 10 new premium channels across news, kids, movies, fashion, novelas, gaming and esports giving subscribers an enriched content experience at the same affordable monthly subscription for their bouquets of choice. Some of them may take longer to appear on the platform or become a no show.

Consumers will have access to channels Sky News, CBeebies, Gametoon, Timeless Drama Channel (TDC), Tlnovelas, FashionBox HD, SABC Education, FilmBox, Limpopo TV and Toonami will enrich the already existing content genres available to the broadcaster’s terrestrial and satellite television.

Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via a radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. The channel is also available on MultiChoice's DStv.

CBeebies is a British free-to-air television network owned by the BBC through BBC Studios. It is aimed at young children aged 3 and upwards. It manages an international network supported by subscription services. The channel is also carried on MultiChoice's DStv.

Gametoon features interactive gaming/second screen gaming, game reviews, tournaments esports and viral content fueled with best of the Web and much more. The channel gives its viewers a unique opportunity to play dedicated games on their mobile devices and share scores along with social profile pictures on air. The channel is owned by SPI International.

Timeless Drama Channel is a Turkish entertainment channel featuring Turkish drama and Turkish telenovelas with series such as The Uncle in Black, Kurt Seyit and Sura, 20 Minutes, The End and many more. The channel also airs movies and run by SPI International.

Tlnovelas is a Spanish-language pay television network that broadcasts Mexican telenovelas produced by Televisa, the owner of the channel.

FashionBox HD features inspirational, educational and always highly entertaining content on shopping, lifestyle and new fashion trends. The channel is owned by SPI International.

SABC Education is an interactive education channel for the youth that carries programming from the department of education, archived shows from the SABC library, as well as educational programmes seen and available on SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3.

FilmBox is a movie channel that broadcasts a range of Hollywood blockbusters, world movies and local productions.

Limpopo TV is a multi-advertorial channel offering a variety of programs that include magazine style shows, reality shows, local dramas, animation, current affairs, movies, sitcoms and sports, local news, infomercials and local stories.

Toonami is a 24-hour kids channel with the best of DC animation carrying a bit of action, adventure and team work which was available on DStv as a pop-up channel but runs full-time on StarSat. The channel is owned by WarnerMedia.

So far StarSat and StarTimes have launched several of these channels or are still trying to launch them. You need visit their customer care for more details about the channel.