Recap To Last Year: WildBrain To Roll Out A Dedicated Kids Channel In Canada, Could StarSat Or DStv Perhaps Get It?

WildBrain is a Canadian based company known for owning the largest independent library of children's television programming, which is distributed through its multi-channel network, WildBrain Spark, and a group of Canadian specialty television channels (e.g. WildBrain TV).

Some of the programming to have been distributed by the brand include animations like Johnny Test, Carmen Sandiego, Berry In The Big City and Inspector Gadget alongside live-action shows like Hank Zipzer, Survivalists, Degrassi: Next Class and Bajillionaires.

As of 2022, Canada has been the only known region to distribute a linear service with the trademark WildBrain Spark adopted by the UK and global to manage a number of external brands currently seen on digital platforms which has accumulated $70 million in revenue.

With Disney consolidating most of their content to streaming and shuttering their remaining linear offering. Cable outlets have been up and about trying to fill the void left by the blue brand by either producing original content or licencing third party content from various studios.

Moonbug and DreamWorks had both seen a boost in popularity for their programming and WildBrain could serve as a third contender within that list of children's stations as seen in Canada.

New Series Alert: The Brilliant World Of Tom Gates Renewed Through 2024 On Showmax

UK broadcaster Sky has ordered a third season of mixed-media laugher The Brilliant World of Tom Gates (20 x 11 minutes).

The series is slated to return with the new season in early 2024 in the UK and Ireland. It will launch on the Sky Kids linear channel, as well as on demand and via Sky’s streaming service NOW. TG Entertainment produces Tom Gates, a Sky Original, and WildBrain manages worldwide distribution rights.

With two seasons and two holiday specials completed and delivered, Tom Gates was greenlit by Sky in 2020 and premiered in 2021. It has since been sold internationally to platforms including Da Vinci (the US), RTP (Portugal), E-Vision and ejunior (MENA and Pakistan) and Now TV (Hong Kong).

Featuring a mix of 2D and stop-motion animation and live action, the series follows its namesake lead character through his daily life—from avoiding homework and facing frenemies, to rocking out with his band.

Aimed at kids ages seven to 12, Tom Gates is based on a same-name book series by Liz Pichon under publisher Scholastic. According to a release, the books have sold more than 16 million copies in 47 languages worldwide.

In a more recent round of deals, WildBrain has also sold both seasons of the series to TV3-Televisió de Catalunya’s children’s channel SX3 (Spain) and Showmax (Africa), as well as placing the Halloween special with Knowledge Network in Canada.

Roundups #22: WildBrainTV Launching In Canada Killing Off Family Chrgd, DStv Streaming Will Be Restricted In March And MultiChoice's Involvement In The Termination Of News And Sport On Openview

WildBrain getting a dedicated channel

WildBrainTV is composed of various linear channels under the Family branding in Canada and is also home to a variety of kids programming such as Johnny Test, Rainbow Ruby, Martha Speaks and Strawberry Shortcake: Berry In The Big City a reboot to Strawberry Shortcake.

From 1st, one of their Family branded channels Family Chrgd which was the Canadian version of the defunct Disney XD will soon be known as WildBrainTV with Family Jr. possibly remaining for the time being.

The channel catered for 6-15 year olds perhaps this new brand will follow Cartoon Network overseas and expand to the preschool market as the owners have produced and worked on various preschool content on top of managing Family Jr.

The Walt Disney Company has been closing down several international channels and cable providers have to source out alternative channels. DreamWorks Channel, BBC Kids, Moonbug Kids, ZooMoo and if possible WildBrainTV could fill up that gap.

MultiChoice restricts DStv Streaming

"As part of our ongoing efforts to counteract password sharing and piracy, while continuing to bring you the best viewing experience, we will be introducing measures to limit concurrent streaming. From 22 March 2022 customers will be limited to streaming DStv on one device at a time. They will still be able to watch previously downloaded content on a second device."

The change is being made to all DStv subscriptions across Africa but that "only customers making use of more than one concurrent stream will be directly affected by the change. It will not limit the number of people using a login, however, we are limiting (to one) the number of people who can stream at the same time.

Showmax subscribers are not impacted and the change only applies when streaming DStv.

Also read:
- Warner Bros. Discovery potential channel closures
- March on Disney Channel and Junior welcomes back Miraculous and more
- SABC Encore and SABC Children channel might be in development for Openview
- Dive into the Big Blue with Cartoon Network Africa
- Cartoonito expected to return to EMEA by mid 2022
- Should eReality merge with News And Sport?
- Doodsondes S4 coming soon to eExtra
- The risk of Disney+ quick subscriber growth
- Dokter Ali S2 coming in April on eExtra
- More Hoarders on CBS Reality while Justice welcomes back a fan favorite
- DreamWorks Channel will be added to MultiChoice's DStv
- Tellytrack will stop airing on DStv
- Celebrate St Patrick's Day only on Curiosity
- Morgan Freeman is coming to History for a new series

MultiChoice - The News And Sport Killer

During this week, it was reported that Openview customers will be losing their first channel of 2022 News And Sport by the end of March as eMedia Investments no longer sees it as a viable option with several retrenchment plans underway.

According to staffers and this is speculation, MultiChoice is pressuring them to close the channel as they're creating direct competition to eNCA and before I get anywhere with that issue let's brief everyone about News And Sport.

Even when the channel began as OpenNews, it was criticized and often compared to their pay-tv counterpart eNCA for lacking local news and the only thing that gave them a bit of an edge at the time was sports.

In a way, MultiChoice wasn't the only one that influenced the decision but viewer's preferences. eNCA is up for renewal soon and the question looms on what's to come for that channel.

If anyone has learnt anything from Disney Channel and Disney XD, don't create competition for yourselves. In News And Sport case, especially if it can't be sustained or deemed liable by consumers.

I'm not shocked eMedia Investments chose to rid themselves of the brand. They seemed more focused on series and movies than sports. Impact Wrestling in some way fits that criteria as its also regarded as entertainment mainly for their storylines.

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