Could Warner TV Be Heading To DStv As TNT Exits StarTimes And StarSat Platforms Across Africa?

During the day, StarSat quietly removed from the channel list as consumers seek answers for the future of WWE competitor All Elite Wrestling as the channel is nowhere to be seen on any of their platforms in the early hours of the day.

Through an enquiry by the pay-tv company, it had been confirmed that the channel has indeed been removed from their platforms. Due to a change in broadcasting rights, MultiChoice in which the pay-tv company refers to as competitor holds all the rights to TNT.

Although the channel is closed on StarSat, the pay-tv company is looking to source out a replacement channel for TNT. Unfortunately, All Elite Wrestling is exclusive to TNT meaning you need a DStv bouquet to watch the action unfold.

We are awaiting on a response from Warner Bros. Discovery about the matter as the pay-tv company has been known to tell lies in previous years blaming the supplier or other local factors. But if it does turn out to be true, what future could await the TNT channel on DStv.

During the year, Warner Bros. Discovery had celebrated 100 years of Warner Bros. Studios and each country celebrated with a line-up of content and as seen in most parts of Europe various Turner based general entertainment channels had been phased out for Warner TV.

The most notable region situating in France had rolled out Warner TV [Next] in a similar fashion to Cartoonito when it launched on Boomerang in March. It wouldn't seem far fetched if the same fate awaited Africa at some point.

Warner Bros. Discovery has been aligning their brands in recent months. I mean Boomerang wasn't removed because Warner felt it was out of touch but due to developments in other countries. If anything, the Boomerang DNA still resides on Cartoonito and same could await TNT and Warner TV.

If StarSat were to be lying, they'd be known as the biggest jokesters in the market. There is a reason media outlets refrain from the platform and that was due to the constant runaround and exchanging of content and linear channels. 

DreamWorks and TLNovelas were added in 2020 both of which last less than two years. Another instance Real Time and Investigation Discovery, siting Warner Bros. Discovery as the reason these channels went dark as part of a complete shutdown when it was contractual issues.

What Has Glow TV Been Up To Following Their Departure From Linear Television?

Glow TV was a general entertainment channel operated by the Nismedia Group. It promoted Hindi culture with a variety of made for TV content like This Is Love and Little Bheem from India alongside content based in South Africa like The Get Real Talk Show With Denver Naicker.

Earlier in the year, Glow TV ended transmission on the Openview platform after a heated dispute with eMedia Investments for the distribution of the brand. It was also removed from StarSat after negotiation between the two didn't pan out - therefore ending it's run on TV.

As for an OTT platform, Nismedia was looking to continue Glow TV in some capacity and one of those could have been a digital service. Although they didn't want to dive further into specifics, their main concern overall was on their future with linear television.

Openview partly contributed to Glow TV's success that it was sort of hard on Nismedia to imagine a future without their viewers and sort of hard to build something like eVOD and Showmax from scratch.

Netflix continues to remain dominant in the African market alongside YouTube leading MultiChoice to sell part of their stake in Showmax to NBCUniversal. eMedia Investments on the other had to sought through partnerships to build the streamer's local portfolio.

Both platforms are confined to a paywall that select shows would be freely accessible as a means to lure potential consumers particularly those tailored to platforms like e.tv and SABC as a source of entertainment.

As for what Glow TV has been up in the last months, it's hard to tell as there's been a lot of inactivity or at least with the Glow brand indefinitely as Nismedia had been using the channel's social accounts to promote their other properties, Laudium Sun. 

The Laudium Sun is a community newspaper serving it's readers in Laudium & surrounds since 1984. The newspaper is delivered door-to-door in residential areas, whereby mainly people of Indian origin live. The paper is a household name amongst the community.

If one had to guess, it's possible Glow TV had been folded under Laudium Sun and this is probably their only means of survival. Although, it doesn't come with a linear platform or TV series. They do engage directly with consumers through live events and other activities.

Analysis: Could eMedia Investments Or StarTimes Revive ITV Choice And tvN?

ITV Choice was a British based entertainment channel operated by ITV Studios that offered a mixture of reality, lifestyle and drama series. Some of the content included on the channel were Coronation Street, Emmerdale, The Jonathan Ross Show and Doc Martin.

The channel was phased out from the DStv platform by June 2020 and with no outlet to continue watching the channel consumers had to rely on BritBox for further content or view the little remains of ITV (Tipping Point and The Chase) on BBC and M-Net.

tvN was added to the pay-tv platform as a pop-up channel featuring various content from South Korea such as The K-2, Tails Of The Nine Tailed, Another Miss Oh, Cheese In The Trap and Tunnel. Despite being a popular addition, MultiChoice went against the idea of a full-time channel.

Since then, the Korean entertainment channel had been looking to continue on another platform and surveyed several fans even got a petition in the hopes to return on DStv but since then there had been no updates with consumers fleeing to Netflix and YouTube to view the offering.

Although, tvN is not viewable on DStv some of its programming such as Ice Adonis and Doom At Your Service had been scooped up by eMedia Investments to build the primetime offering for both their linear and digital platforms. It kind of led some to wonder if the red brand could eventually source out tvN.

With tvN not regarded as a cheapo addition, the channel would likely fall under eMedia Investments' pay tier, Ultraview. Thanks to the existing Asian offering seen on Openview, consumers would be able to familiarise themselves with the channel's programming.

I mean the idea of eMedia Investments pursing tvN or something similar for Openview consumers wouldn't seem far fetched .Prior to Zee One even Star Life's induction, eMedia Investments had broadcast several Bollywood dramas through eExtra with some help from Glow TV.

Unlike tvN, ITV Choice would likely have to come in a form taken over by Zee One or The Home Channel+ - free-to-view. eMedia Investments hasn't added any incentives to this offering and the only option BBC UKTV was ripped away from them by MultiChoice's DStv.

This ITV managed brand would make up for the loss of BBC UKTV and also be it's first official competitor seeing as they both cater to low income households unlike BBC Brit which is mid tier. This channel would have to reintroduce shows some of which aren't on DStv to new consumers.

Could National Geographic And The Disney Channel Also Be Shutting Down Across Africa By The End Of 2023?

Last month, it was reported that The Walt Disney Company plans to shutter the remaining linear offering in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and Korea by the fourth quarter of the year with several content being integrated to Disney+ as the streaming service becomes their top priority.

During the week, it was learnt by Bob Iger, the current CEO of The Walt Disney Company that a possible restructure could be underway for their linear offering which could see some brands under their care being sold to foreign companies if not closed down as seen internationally.

MultiChoice extended their agreement with them for their remaining linear offering through 2024 and this included factual brands National Geographic and National Geographic Wild, sports brands ESPN 1 & ESPN 2 and children's channels Disney Channel and Disney Junior.

It's likely that these channels might be going dark by the end of the year if not later in 2024. Taking to account, the previous terminations: Disney XD closed September 2020 which coincides with the UK's Disney Channels followed by the FOX feeds in Africa, Germany and Asia in 2021.

Another thing, although MultiChoice states these channels will be carried through 2024 it's clearly stated in their 2021 press release that these channels stick around for "another two years" possibly hinting at a December 2023 closure which coincides with Asia.

Although not much has been confirmed on an end date, the blue brands favourite months for such escapades are January, February, June, September and December - kind of seasonal when you look at it.

In the past months, Disney Channel has been promoting a bulk of Disney+ content as well aired rebroadcasts of Walk The Prank and Lab Rats. Disney Junior schedules on the other hand is overcrowded by Bluey with some repeat variety in between.

Marketing for these brands had been downsized with further feeds seen internationally being merged as seen with Disney XD before it's demise.

Could Boing Be Added To StarTimes Perhaps As A Replacement To Toonami?

Boing, a children's channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery which is home to Clarence, Adventure Time and Dexter's Laboratory basically older shows from Cartoon Network and Cartoonito. It has a boost in popularity despite not residing on MultiChoice's DStv.

Last month, it was confirmed by Warner Bros. Discovery that youth centred action skewed channel Toonami will fold under Warner TV which brought questions to the channel's potential future in the African market.

Toonami was added on Econets defunct Kwése TV alongside Cell C's defunct Black streaming service in 2017. In 2020, it was shortly revived as a pop-up channel on MultiChoice's DStv and was later picked up by StarSat in South Africa alongside StarTimes in the rest of Africa.

During that time, Toonami was one of the leading kids brands at the time for anime like Beyblade, DC heroes like Batman or and Cartoon Network IPs like Ben 10. Over the years, the quality had further diminished with DC building up most of their lineup and anime on limbo.

Despite transitioning to a much wider spectrum in 2021, not much content was added to the channel except for Firestarter and Dragonball Super. The reason I believe this channel could be on the chopping block for consumers in Africa is simple.

Firstly, Warner Bros. Discovery had been eliminating redundancy across their platforms. Before Toonami, there was TCM and the ever successful Boomerang who similar to the channel went through a dry spell with TCM not getting much hype on its performance as seen with Boomerang.

Unlike the latter, it wouldn't seem far fetched if Warner Bros. Discovery opted for existing brand e.g. Boing as opposed to a complete restructure of the channel.

Toonami is regarded as an adult channel but most of the content fit the demographic of Cartoon Network being 7-12 years and also StarTimes still regards Toonami as a kids brand despite the rebrand in 2021 and the only new offering on the channel at the time, Firestarter.

Boing would make a suitable replacement as both leverage on archived material and also Cartoon Network and Cartoonito aren't even seen on the platform. This would be one way to get the content to newer audiences and familiarise them with both brands.

Toonami To Be Replaced By Warner TV Next In France, Channel Might Go Dark In Africa Alongside TNT

Warner Bros. Discovery announces the September 4 launch of Warner TV Next, Toonami's new brand identity. Intended primarily for a target audience of 25/49 year olds, Warner TV Next relies on the successful formula of Toonami, the first of the “new generation” channels.

Warner TV Next builds on the legacy of iconic studio Warner Bros., a studio celebrating its centenary throughout 2023. The Warner brand, synonymous with quality, boldness and innovation comes as a landmark for viewers since it is known by 4 out of 5 French people.

Visually, Warner TV Next affirms its affiliation with a Warner TV, the group's series and cinema channel through a new logo developed in-house.

The brand also deploys modern communication codes with very pop culture packaging and graphic codes, based on the emblematic Warner Bros. logo. Warner TV Next, like Warner TV, is marketed by FranceTV Publicité.

Warner TV Next is strong in programming that brings together all DC Comics fans thanks to the best animated series and films from the DC universe (Batman, Superman, Harley Quinn, Young Justice), Japanese animation (DragonBall Super, My Hero Academia) as well as wrestling with, exclusively, the AEW league. 

Warner TV Next also offers Adult Swim programs, the mark of all audacity, with animated series and fiction for millennials such as Rick and Morty, Robot Chicken, Royal Crackers, The Eric André Show or Primal. 

In other developments, Boomerang in the Middle East and North Africa will rebrand to Cartoonito on the same day Warner TV Next is launched. Similar to Cartoonito Africa, both brands will be offering the same content and only recieve a new coat of paint.

Interesting to note, Warner Bros. Discovery pulled the same scenario with TNT when it replaced TCM in 2018 in Africa. Now the channel airs a lot of modern age films some of which haven't been viewed on low tiered film channels and is home to wrestling promotion, AEW.

It currently ranks as the most watched movie channel in the South African market pulling at least 10 million households. As for Toonami, Warner Bros. Discovery has been very discreet in regards to performance and new content which puts it in precarious position.

Unlike France, Toonami was a 24 DC animation channel rehashing anime like Dragonball Super from Cartoon Network alongside other content like Justice League, Green Lantern, Teen Titans and Batman I mean not even Harley Quinn despite its rebrand in 2021.

It wouldn't seem far fetched if some changes awaited the channel and part of this had to with Warner TV. Our theory is that Toonami is dissolved with further content being divided between Cartoon Network, Boing and TNT.

The French team of Toonami also handled the channel in Africa so it's demise is inevitable.

Another brand whose future comes into question is TNT, Warner TV has been phasing out the brand across European territories in the general entertainment aspect. Warner TV could be something Warner Bros. Discovery explores for the market at some point.

News Shorts: Shocker (NOT REALLY) Mindset Network Ends It's Run As A Linear Channel After 18 Years For Liberty Learn, Telemundo Africa To Hit A New Low With Another Rebroadcast Of Decisions And TCM Closes Down In The UK By The End Of The Month

Mindset bites the dust

During the year, Mindset Network had been going through a lot of changes/reconstruction with most of their pages and websites either being abandoned or deleted. This was the first place to theorize the demise of the curriculum based channel.

Mindset Network had been doing a lot of downsizing in the last months so much so that the channel didn't offer interactive but prerecorded learning. Then there was the outdated programme guide which labelled everything under channel name and description.

This partnership with Liberty Learn was likely one way to save themselves from scrutiny with them being an NGO. Liberty would aid them financially while Mindset would distribute the resources to consumers.

Liberty Learn is available on DStv, StarSat and Openview.

Teleyawnder is back for more Decisions

During the week, production was paused on new content for the channel following Cameroon and Uganda anti-gay laws which prohibit the distribution of homosexual content resulting consumers to miss out on the rest of fourth season to medical drama, Nurses.

Since then the channel had featured reruns to numerous shows including For Love And Justice, On The Other Side Of The Wall, Queen Of The South and Almost Yours with Lord Of The Skies serving as the longer formats.

Diving further to reruns, Telemundo has offering the anthology series Decisions numerous timeslots over the years and with the series slated to end next month for Operation Pacific. We finally recieved word about the future of the series.

Initially, the series was slated to replace Lord Of The Skies but that was when Nurses was on but now nothing is known in regards to the replacement.

TCM is getting dismantled

It’s the end of an era for the British television landscape: Turner Classic Movies (TCM) UK, widely known as TCM Movies and a cornerstone for film enthusiasts, is preparing for its final act.

This dedicated channel, which has showcased the rich filmographies of Turner Entertainment and Warner Bros., is set to close its curtains on July 6, 2023, marking a poignant farewell for UK’s classic movie lovers.

This sombre news comes amidst a backdrop of global uncertainty for TCM. Across the Atlantic, the future of the American TCM channel hangs in the balance following recent layoffs announced by Warner Bros. Discovery.

As the UK prepares to say goodbye to its beloved classic film channel, the struggle to preserve its American counterpart underscores the ongoing challenges and importance of maintaining the legacy of classic cinema worldwide.

The Walt Disney Company To Close 11 Channels In Taiwan, Could Africa Follow Perhaps?

In 2021, The Walt Disney Company unveiled plans to close 100 international channels so there was a lot of fear for the Disney Channels in Africa following the closure of Disney XD and FOX but MultiChoice managed to secure rights for these brands through 2024.

Fast forward to 2023, The Walt Disney Company had confirmed the closure of more channels with consumers in Taiwan set to lose out on a number of brands including National Geographic, National Geographic Wild, Baby TV, Star Entertainment and Star World.

Disney+ launched in 2019 and has since then become a top priority for the blue brand. Not much investment is going onto Disney Channel or National Geographic as the brands being used to promote the bulk of content seen on the streaming service.

Following the demise of these channels in Taiwan, there's now a lot of fear for these channels in Africa and I know MultiChoice had managed to carry Disney Channel, Disney Junior, National Geographic and National Geographic Wild through 2024.

But for all we know these channels could go dark by the 31st December 2023 at 23:59 which rounds up to 2024 as seen in Taiwan. It had been speculated that most of The Walt Disney Company"s linear offering won't leave past 2025 in European territories.

Disney XD was terminated in Africa alongside the United Kingdom's Disney Channels in 2020 followed by FOX which saw the brand exit Germany, Asia and Africa by 2021. Now there's rumours swirling that the brand would be closing channels across Africa by early 2024.

What Happened To Trace Sport Stars?

Trace Sports Stars is a lifestyle channel that celebrated the life of sports through factual entertainment, reality shows and gossip similar to E! operated by NBCUniversal. The channel supplies various originals such as Up Close, Bad Boys In Sports and Football Stars.

The channel was added in 2011/2 on Sky UK and MultiChoice's DStv across Africa as Trace Sports. Two years later, it went dark in the UK which coincides with the rebrand to Trace Sports Stars as they didn't offer live sports and the name didn't coincide with the offering.

When looking at a brand name like Trace Sports, one would assume they'd play actual sports like English Premier League, La Liga and WWE and although the content is focused solely on that topic. It just didn't really stick with some consumers.

In general, Trace Sports Stars was a wreck not because the channel couldn't get fresh content as it did possess potential but likely due to the fact that this type of content promoted by the channel isn't watched by vast majority as seen with the actual sporting events.

That in mind is what led to it's demise on MultiChoice's DStv with Trace Africa coming in place and at that time it was made available on rivals On Digital Media and StarTimes' StarSat and eMedia Investments' Openview platform.

This was Openview's first attempt at anything sports with StarSat offering a platform to reject channels or affordable entertainment. But of course, both brands ended scrapping the channel before 2018 for similar reasons as MultiChoice - viewership.

As of 2023, Trace Sports Stars is not viewable anywhere in Africa but that doesn't mean the channel is completely lost as it can be obtained on Binge Networks (USA), Sky (Mexico), Viaccess-Orca (France) and NTV Plus (Russia).

To be frank, Trace Sports Stars remains sustainable if anything it's not performing as well as it's musical family Trace Urban, Trace Gospel, Trace Toca, Trace Mziki and Trace Naija all of which are viewable on MultiChoice's DStv in selected territories.

StarSat To Implement Another Price Increase Effective 15 June

During the year, MultiChoice increased prices for several of their products (excluding DStv Easyview) with AddMovies taking a pay cut. At the time, StarSat announced a 0% increase to their services meaning consumers can enjoy more content at the same price.

Some of the channels to have rolled out on the platform during the year include Kartoon Channel (replacement for DreamWorks), FilmBox Action (replacement for FOX), CBS Reality and Justice (replacement for Discovery Family, Real Time and Investigation Discovery).

StarSat taking to account the invasion of the Ukraine and SA's allegations of weapon supply to Russia have implemented another price increase despite earlier promises for a 0% increase with Max (R360p/m), Super (R250p/m) and Special (R130p/m) from 15 June.

In a recent survey, it was revealed that 18% of consumers who participated are cutting back on necessities like DStv due to load shedding, unemployment and inflation, and with the news consumers are likely to abandon the platform if they hadn't done it sooner.

As to whether MultiChoice will implement another price increase will likely reflect these factors in the next fiscal year which will conclude in March 2025. They could be more channel changes awaiting consumers in the meantime on top of the rollout of new channels.

In which StarSat alongside free-to-view rival eMedia Investments is looking to rollout before March 2024.

AMC International And Paramount Global Are Relaunching CBS Justice In United Kingdom As True Crime By The End Of 2023, Will The Same Be Happening For CBS Justice In Africa At Some Point?

AMC International and Paramount Global will be reviving CBS Justice in the UK later in the year as a streaming service under Amazon Freevee. This comes after the channel was shuttered last year as the parties were reviewing their offering for consumers in the region.

True Crime UK is set to launch on more major platforms later in the year, with a slate of shows currently seen on CBS Reality internationally (and CBS Justice in Africa) including Evidence of Evil, Murder Wall, Donal MacIntyre Unsolved and Medical Detectives.

Despite having resounding resemblance to to the defunct Sony Crime operated by Sony Pictures Television which too was known as True Crime. The channels are operated by different parties with AMC International opting to use "From CBS Reality" as to not avoid confusion.

Tanya Gugenheim, SVP, business development, AMC Networks International – UK said, “We’re thrilled to launch True Crime UK from CBS Reality on Amazon Freevee and Rakuten TV. Expanding our factual entertainment content into the FAST space underscores the demand for our acclaimed true crime programming and will enable us to share it with a huge new audience.”

During the year, CBS Justice expanded their footprint in the African market on StarTimes' StarSat platform alongside CBS Reality. Since spinning off CBS Reality into a second channel back in November 2019, CBS Justice has been garnering popularity to factual lovers.

As mentioned, CBS Justice's days in Africa could be numbered or at least the brand name as True Crime is just a digital duplicate. On top of that, AMC International UK manages brands like CBS Reality, JimJam and the already mentioned CBS Justice in Africa.

Could Toonami Be On The Chopping Block Perhaps For Adult Swim?

Adult Swim is a general entertainment brand owned by Warner Bros. Discovery that is home to various adult animation including Rick And Morty, Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Robot Chicken. It is currently operating as a programming block on Cartoon Network in the U.S.

During the year, Cartoon Network's president Michael Ouweleen unveiled two series My Adventures With Superman and Unicorn Warriors Eternal shows initially meant to be released by Cartoon Network was folded under Adult Swim.

Later in the week, it was heard from sources that Ouweleen would be investing more airtime in Adult Swim therefore reducing the airtime seen on Cartoon Network in the affected region. Although, these changes don't seem to have an affect on the channel in other countries.

It does however bring out a lot of curiosity for the brands that do such as Toonami cause the last brand to have gotten this much attention was Cartoonito and by the end of March 2023 a lot of Boomerang feeds were phased out for this offering.

Similar to Boomerang, Toonami has a come off as repetitive and less productive or at least the feed situated in Africa as France was able to do a proper rebrand which saw the channel supply wrestling promotion AEW, anime and content from Adult Swim.

Kind of like how most of Cartoonito's existence was based off Boomerang, the same could be said about Adult Swim with Toonami. Content from the brand could help boost the offering in Africa and get more viewers invested on the channel currently it's a DC wasteland.

Another problem probably establishing a dedicated Adult Swim channel off the ground would be contractual issues as MultiChoice a platform that doesn't offer Toonami have rights to a portion of their content or in this case Adult Swim.

Considering Warner Bros. Discovery plans to rollout the Max streaming service in new destinations by 2024 that might as well change.

Recap To The Month: ESPN To Exit DStv, StarSat And The Rest Of Africa As The Walt Disney Company Facilitates Streaming

In 2021, The Walt Disney Company unveiled plans to close 100 international channels in the coming future which included a range of  FOX, National Geographic and Disney Channels. This past week it was reported that the brand is opting to make ESPN a streaming exclusive.

This news doesn't come as a surprise as mentioned they already closed a couple of channels across the world and also this was discussed back in 2022 but more of a what if scenario as they're still looking at ways of getting this off the ground.

The idea similar to Disney+ is to rollout ESPN as a standalone streaming service. There is regions already bundling sports under Disney+ so it's likely that this streaming service will rollout under the streamer if not a standalone or add-on.

Despite their cancellation on DStv and StarSat, The Walt Disney Company revealed they're still willing to distribute selected content on cable meaning these outlets alongside various in the region will likely use existing sports channels if not replacements for the content.

Similar to National Geographic and Disney Channel where content such as The World According To Jeff Goldblum and Monster Inc: The Series were made exclusive to Disney+ now the content can be viewed on the mentioned brands alongside local broadcasters.

Seeing as there's no timeframe as to when the indefinite will occur my guess would be between 2025-2027 as the company is currently looking to review the NBA deal in the hopes to stream them on ESPN+ (or Disney+) and the other BBC is looking to become an online platform.

Recap To Last Year: OnseTV And MyTV Are No Longer Available On StarSat, Should eMedia Investments Perhaps Get It For The Openview Platform?

Last year, it was announced that OnseTV and My TV would be scrapped from the StarSat platform. As of 2023, Glow TV join the brands as another list of channels that can't be viewed anywhere in the market.

OnseTV was a general entertainment channel which is meant to serve as a rival to the kykNET channels on the DStv platform offering a lineup of drama series, movies, reality shows and documentaries. It includes shows like Suidooster and Snoek & Patat.

MyTV was a lifestyle channel and by the looks of it a rival to Media24's VIA also seen on the DStv platform. It offers a mixture of lifestyle and factual content ranging from home, decor, food, fashion and several others. It includes shows like Vaskap and Eksieperfeksie.

As seen in 2022, StarSat has been focused on reshaping the South African landscape through content adaption, dubbing, sub-titling supported by innovative low-cost commissioning of unique programme formats that appeal to the "vast majority" of consumers.

Unfortunately, OnseTV and MyTV didn't resonate with those plans for consumers which led to the untimely demise on the StarSat platform after 13 years.

MyTV (formerly ASTV) was added onto eMedia Investments' Openview platform back in 2013 but died out over the years as consumers weren't that invested at the time as seen with eExtra's Kuiertyd which has luckily pulled close to half a million viewers.

Over the years, eMedia Investments had begun investing in more content for the brand including Saturday Night Movies on eExtra and the Afrikaans game show, Die Kontrak.

I mean the idea of getting a brand similar to OnseTV or MyTV perhaps for Openview Ultra wouldn't be the most far fetched thing to happen. eExtra is telenovela skewed particularly with Kuiertyd but with their fanbase they could as well get this content to new heights.

Initially, Openview was more like StarSat with this offering and following Kuiertyd. You got to see more of this brand as well as the community it caters for. At the moment, it kinds of repetitive and maybe content from both these parties will help change that.

Recap To Last Year: Glow TV Resurfaces On MultiChoice's DStv And Not Long Ago On Digital Media And StarTimes' StarSat

Last month, Nismedia filed a legal appeal against eMedia Investments regarding the termination of Glow TV on Openview platform similar to MultiChoice regarding eMedia's 4 channels which remain onboard DStv following pending investigation.

Amidst the demise, eMedia Investments unveiled the next phase of their pay-tv venture Openview Ultra, Spice TV. It consists of the highly anticipated, Zee Family and Star Select which celebrate Bollywood culture with made for TV films and series.

As seen by the end of February, Glow TV was terminated not only on Openview but StarSat as well meaning that just like OnseTV and MyTV the channel isn't viewable anywhere in South Africa or at least that's we all thought matter of a fact but it turns out the brand is still active.

Just like Gallop TV revived Tellytrack, Soweto TV distributes Glow TV in a 1 hour segment, Glow TV Plus. The block is currently reserved for former Glow TV soaps such as Complicated Love (Silsila Badalte Rishton Ka) and Love Or Poison (Vish Ya Amrit: Sitara).

To think, MultiChoice opted to discontinue carriage of Glow TV in 2018 and few months ago StarSat did something similar with their consumers and now fate led this channel to be reintroduced on both platforms despite the relationship between the brands.

Glow TV Plus represents the remains of Glow TV which comes with various limitations first it's part of a 1 hour segment meaning not much Glow TV to browse and another accessibility as Soweto TV can only be viewable in the surrounding area alongside DStv and StarSat.

Soweto TV is not available on Openview and consumers wishing to watch Glow TV would need to pay monthly through DStv (R29p/m, Easyview) or StarSat (R120, Special) and only a selected number can afford the monthly rate - the Ultraview effect.

Not much is known on whether Glow TV Plus will continue to be made available on Soweto TV following the termination of Glow TV. As much as the details regarding Glow TV's distribution agreement with Soweto TV for Complicated Love and Love Or Poison.

Complicated Love airs weekdays at 8:30 and 21:00 followed by omnibus every Saturday at 4:00 while as Love Or Poison airs weekdays at 8:00 and 21:30 followed by an omnibus every Saturday at 09:00 on Soweto TV (DStv 251/StarSat 488).

New Channel Alert: Trace Africa And Trace Mziki To (Re)launch On StarSat In South Africa And StarTimes In The Rest Of Africa

During the month, StarSat allocated four additional channels on their platform, FilmBox Action (general entertainment), CBS Reality (factual), CBS Justice (crime) and Kartoon Channel (kids) and these came as replacements to some of the deleted channels.

Shortly after the additions, the pay-tv company announced plans to introduce more channels in the second quarter of the year and as seen across their platforms Trace Africa and Mziki will be the next addition to the platform from the 1st of May.

Trace Africa is a channel dedicated to playing and showcasing music of Africa’s top artists and genres including Afro-pop, coupé-décalé, Kwaito house, Afro-trap, makossa, and ndombolo through radio and live concert events.

Trace Mziki is true to that motto and offers the hottest videos from the best East-african artists. Afro-pop, Afro-beat, Hip-hop, R&B, Ragga, Dancehall, Bongo Flava, Afro-fusion, Afro-trap…are some of the music genres broadcast on this channel.

The channels are owned by TRP who supply Trace Urban, Trace Gospel, Trace Naija and Trace Toca to various African broadcasters with MultiChoice's DStv harvesting most channels in a seperate agreement.

Trace Africa was added on the platform back in 2017 and canned the following year alongside music brands, KISS and Magic. If one had to guess these two could be their way of making up for the latter alongside SA based brands, Soul Music and on Openview, SA Music.

As advised, Trace Africa and Trace Mziki will rollout from 1st May we assume that one of the channels,Trace Africa will be one to be viewed in most African regions as Trace Mziki is based in East Africa.

Recap To The Month: Starsat Welcomes Replacement To FOX, DreamWorks, Investigation Discovery, Real Time And More

For several years, StarSat has lost out on a variety of channels including FOX, Discovery Family, Soul Music, TLNovelas, Tshwane TV and OnseTV. Not long ago, the pay-tv platform unveiled 4 channels: FilmBox Action, CBS Reality, CBS Justice and Kartoon Channel.

In 2021, The Walt Disney Company ceased distribution of the general entertainment brand, FOX. Home to shows now seen on Disney+ Star such as How I Met Your Mother, The Walking Dead which recently made its freemium debut on eXposed and The Simpsons.

FilmBox Action (channel 140) is a channel dedicated to the action genre basically catering to the same target audience and group as FOX with classic Hollywood films, spectacular series from the US, Europe, and Asia, and modern heart-pounding blockbusters.

Following FOX's demise is Warner Bros. Discovery's factual and lifestyle offering including Discovery Family, Fine Living, Discovery Science, Real Time and Investigation Discovery part of which still remain on DStv while others are viewed on other African platforms.

CBS Reality (channel 170) offers captivating television guaranteed to shock and entertain. It features one of the most beloved TV personalities, the queen of the courtroom herself: Judge Judy. Other great shows include the ever-popular Cheaters.

CBS Justice (channel 222) is for true-crime lovers. Nothing is scarier than a true story, and this channel has some of the best: from glamourous offences by the rich and famous to passion killings by the guy next door. Both CBS channels make up for these 5 brands.

Lastly, DreamWorks owned by NBCUniversal was scrapped from the platform after two years and at the time pay-tv platform was on a cutting spree. Of course, there's was no reason for the sudden dismal all that is known is it's existence through the DStv platform.

Kartoon Channel (channel 304) entertains kids aged two to ten. Wonderfully entertaining children’s shows are played daily, with family-friendly movies over the weekends. From Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten and Angry Birds to Peppa Pig.

Compared to the likes of DStv, StarSat implemented a price freeze meaning consumers will recieve more entertainment at the exact same price on top of a reward incentive for loyal Special Package subscribers wishing to upgrade to Super.

To help bolster the value of StarSat’s mid-tier offering, StarSat will be graduating four channels to the Super Package: Manchester United TV (channel 252), Real Madrid TV (channel 254), MSNBC (channel 263), and Fashion TV Africa (channel 282).

Despite the efforts, StarSat wasn't prepared to have their feed of Russia Today cut off joining another channel which went dark on the platform in 2023, Glow TV. The pay-tv platform hopes to welcome more channels in the current financial year.

Conspiracy Theory: Openview Consumers Might Miss Out On Yet Another New Channel By The Public Broadcaster

The public broadcaster is gearing up for the rollout of their second news division, SABC eKhaya (formerly SABC Parliament). A multilingual news platform offering news in your language and also a spinoff to the current SABC News channel seen on the DStv platform.

Prior to that, the public broadcaster was working on another TV channel under the placeholder SABC 1 for the Openview platform. It is believed to be SABC Encore as consumers had spotted it on the programme guide of SABC back in 2022.

Following the expansion of SABC Sport and SABC's 19 radio stations, the public broadcaster was looking to the idea of launching a second sports channel on top of a potential revival to the defunct and controversial SABC Encore once viewed on DStv.

As mentioned prior to the testing of SABC Parliament, SABC was working on another TV channel under the placeholder SABC 1. Compared to most experiments this is the only channel to mention it's platform as others like SABC eKhaya were currently being tested for DTT.

With that in mind, it's possible SABC eKhaya alongside SABC Education might not be one of the two channels expected for Openview customers. If anything, the multilingual news channel might be something the public broadcaster is looking to get on pay-tv platforms.

If anything, the public broadcaster might as well be working on launching more TV channels in the coming future aside from the above-mentioned. Some channels the public broadcaster were looking to start up include a health and history channel.

Recap To The Decade: SABC Education Remains As One Of The Long Awaited DTT Channels For DStv And StarSat

SABC Education is educational channel operated by the public broadcaster that is commonly used for content seen on SABC 1-3 alongside archived material. Some of the content includes Hectic Nine-9, Skeem Saam, Geleza Nathi and The Adventures Of Luna Belle.

The channel was made available on SABC's DTT platform in May 2020 and at the time negotiations were underway to get the channel on platforms such as DStv and StarSat. Similar to eMedia Investments, even these platforms are awaiting on new channels.

As of 2021, StarSat removed any mention of SABC Education on their website while MultiChoice removed any info from their programme guide. When asked whether SABC Education would be still be launching on the above-mentioned platforms.

Sources replied that plans are still underway to get the channel onto these platforms. Of course, three years is a long wait for just 1 channel you'd assume that they'd have some update the following year if not 2020 but things were still the same since then.

MultiChoice and SABC were beefing with one another in regards to the carriage agreement for SABC 1-3. So maybe that's what's causing the delay of these additional services nothing is certain for now as both parties look to address the matter in court soon.

What To Expect On The New BBC News Channel In Africa And Global?

At the beginning of this week we’ll start making the first changes to our news channels as we begin the single news channel operation. UK viewers of the BBC News Channel and overseas viewers of BBC World News will, from Monday 3 April, be tuning into BBC News.

Our aim is to create the best live and breaking news on both TV and on digital platforms, where more and more audiences are getting their news. We need to modernise the way we deliver the news – while addressing the financial challenges we face.

The channel will be a single operation with two different feeds, just as now, so viewers in the UK and internationally will sometimes see the same content, sometimes different. We will always respond to breaking and developing news in the UK on the UK TV feed.

So what changes will viewers see?

First, people should not expect any kind of ‘big bang’ at the beginning of April – we’re bringing in the changes gradually, in a phased roll-out, so things will continue to alter over the coming months. We want to keep the best of what we do at the moment, while introducing better ways of reporting what matters.

Viewers will notice some differences from the beginning of next week.

We have already announced our five chief presenters in the UK – Matthew Amroliwala, Christian Fraser, Yalda Hakim, Lucy Hockings, and Maryam Moshiri who will be joined by Sumi Somaskanda in the US – and they will be on screens in their new timeslots from the beginning of April, although not all of their new programmes will be starting then.

One of our key ambitions is to demonstrate to audiences why they can trust BBC News, by showing more transparently how and why we forensically check and verify facts, double and triple source information, and track down first-hand eye witnesses.

And to this end, there will be more updates and live reporting from journalists across the UK and around the world, using modern mobile equipment to give audiences the latest information about what’s happening, where it’s happening – as well as information from reporters in the BBC newsroom.

We will be putting the spotlight on our journalism, from our chief presenters to the newest reporters.

Viewers in North America (and anyone in the UK who’s watching overnight) will see a new look from Washington DC, and we will be also broadcasting live from Singapore outside core UK hours.

We’re going to make sure we tell audiences the most important thing that’s happening in the world at any time.

In the coming weeks, UK viewers will be able to watch Radio 5’s Nicky Campbell Show as a TV programme. They will also continue to see BBC Breakfast and the main UK news bulletins at One, Six, and Ten o’clock – and, from next week they will also see Newsnight.

Alongside these changes to the TV channel, the boost to our live and breaking news team will mean we can introduce more changes over the coming months, including single story live streams which audiences will be able to watch on the BBC News website and on iPlayer.