2023 has been a very hectic year for South African households following the ongoing blackouts which had jeopardized various businesses in the market. Despite this cable providers had progressed with in terms of content and linear channels and made these past months productive for journalists, bloggers and various other media outlets.
Since we've reached the final stage of the year I thought of drawing up some first impression guesses for the coming year based on stories I've been following for a while and others based on assumption.
Presenting some predictions for the coming year
Local
> KykNET NOU! ends its run on the DStv platform with further content folded under KykNET.
> Universal TV rebrands to Sky Witness while Studio Universal is replaced by Sky Cinema. Not much changes is added to the content following the switch.
> WildEarth ends its run on the DStv platform with further content on People's Weather, Curiosity Channel and BBC Earth.
> Discovery+ launches as a freemium service on DStv Stream alongside Paramount+. It features content from Discovery Channel, MTV, Nickelodeon, HGTV, TLC and Food Network.
> eMedia Investments and OUTtv form a joint venture with the streaming service, eVOD.
> Power Up goes dark on the platform and gets replaced by eLocal featuring programs produced by eMedia Investments with Kuiertyd repeats folded under ePlesier. It also airs content produced exclusively for the eVOD streaming service.
> SABC Variety and SABC Lehae (also known as SABC eKhaya and formerly SABC Parliament) are added onto the Openview platform. They are also made available on StarSat and DStv alongside SABC Education.
> France24 exits the Openview platform and this is due to the popularity of SABC Lehae.
> Play Room expands to regions across Southern Africa on channel 311 and ROA as a replacement to Aliki Kids.
> SuperSport launches a locally dubbed sports channel in Southern Africa. It offers football, wrestling, tennis, swimming, netball and rugby.
> Days Of Our Lives makes a comeback on Showmax and is also made available on DStv.
> Ignition TV extends its reach to the Openview platform through eReality.
> E! Entertainment adds drama series to the lineup with Till Jail Do Us Part and Diary Of Gigolo. The channel rebrands to Bravo and also includes content from Oxygen under the new name.
> eToonz expands its lineup with the launch of a second children's channel, eJunior. It broadcasts from 08:00 to 22:00 with shows like Peppa Pig, Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures, Fireman Sam and CoComelon.
> Muvhango is cancelled after 27 seasons with last episode slated within the year.
> SuperSportBET gets a dedicated TV channel, Ginx TV goes dark.
> Zee TV debuts another locally skewed entertainment channel but for West Africa titled Zee Naija. Promises to have reality shows, educational content, movies and drama series all of which will be dubbed in local languages.
> eMedia Investments reduce the prices of their Ultraview packages and rolls out a third bouquet home to various Asian dramas and films from tvN and KBS.
International
> E! Entertainment, Studio Universal and Universal TV ends its run as a linear channel in parts of the world with further content added to Peacock and Sky.
> Sky acquires majority stake in Disney's remaining linear offering in part of Europe. Therefore extending the reach of Sky Kids in parts of Europe under Disney Channel with Disney Junior becoming Sky Junior with National Geographic Wild folded under National Geographic.
> Hulu replaces the Star brand internationally.
> FX replaces the Star channels seen in parts of Latin America and Europe therefore making the Star brand exclusive to India.
> True Crime, a joint venture between AMC Networks International and Paramount Global expands to parts of Europe as a replacement to CBS Reality.
> Ginx TV ends its run as a linear channel to become an online only brand.
> Showtime Group's linear offering is being put up for sale alongside NBCUniversal. As mentioned prior, NBCUniversal's International operations particularly in Europe are managed by Sky which is also owned by Comcast.
> Paramount Network is discontinued this is due to the launch of Paramount+ With Showtime.
> Universal Kids ends its run in the United States.
> Cartoon Network cancels We Baby Bears after 2 seasons, Disney Channel cancels The Ghost And Molly McGee and Pretty Freakin Scary and lastly Nickelodeon cancels Monster High and Rock, Paper, Scissors.
