New Series Alert: Umakoti Oyintandokazi Coming This Month To Zee Zonke

Zee Zonke is a Zulu dubbed entertainment channel operated by Zee Entertainment Enterprises which is home to various Bollywood series from Zee Studios. Launching on DStv in August 2023, it serves as the popular addition to consumers. 

Not long ago, it was reported that Zee World a sister channel to Zee Zonke alongside Zee One would be debuting new content in the month. Now, Zee Zonke will be welcoming its first ever new series from Zee Telegu titled Umakoti Oyintandokazi (No.1 Kodalu).

The story revolves between two women, Vagdhevi and Saraswathi. Vagdhevi is a business entrepreneur, who is looking for an educated girl for her son Rahul. Saraswathi is an illiterate woman with a kind and good heart. After a series of consequences, Rahul marries Sarasu.

It starred Madhumitha H as Saraswath, Jai Dhanush as Rahul, Sudha Chandran as Vagdhevi, Anshu Reddy as Preethi, Suresh as Arun Babu and Kranthi as Teja.

Umakoti Oyintandokazi debuted on Zee Telegu from 9 December 2019 to 9 July 2022 with 735 episodes filmed each with a 22 minute duration. A remake known as Vidhya No. 1 was filmed for the Zee Tamil station from 27 December 2021 to 25 February 2024.

The series will daily at 21:00 on Zee Zonke from 23 April replacing Imfihlo.

Recap To Last Year: A Swahili And Hausa Dubbed Version To Zee Zonke Was Said To Be In Development, No Word On Amharic

During the year, MultiChoice and Zee Entertainment Enterprises unveiled South Africa's first Zulu dubbed Bollywood channel, Zee Zonke. Based on Zee Marathi, the channel would complement and also rival with the existing offering seen on Zee World and Star Life. 

Zee Zonke is applicable to consumers in South Africa and across Southern Africa particularly Botswana, Namibia and Malawi meaning the Western and Eastern parts of Africa such as Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda don't have the channel.

Prior to its debut, Zee Entertainment Enterprises had been dubbing numerous shows from Zee World in local languages such as Jodha And Akbar and Twist Of Fate. On top of that, the company was rumoured to rolling out a general entertainment channel in the Swahili and Hausa language.

Considering that Zee Alem caters for Ethiopia with Zee Zonke catering for Southern Africa. It wouldn't seem far fetched if MultiChoice Africa and Zee Entertainment Enterprises were looking to get more local localised versions of Zee Zonke to these regions.

Zee Alem already operates in Ethiopia dubbing various content from Zee World in Amharic so content from Zee Zonke could as well just migrate the channel if not form a separate channel as seen in Southern Africa.

Will Zee Zonke Be Available Outside Of South Africa?

During the week, it was reported that Zee Entertainment Enterprises would be rolling out a localised version of Zee Marathi titled Zee Zonke. Targeted toward Southern Africa, it would supply various Bollywood dramas in Zulu audio and English subtitles. 

The channel would start out with four dramas, Umakwapheni (Majhya Navaryachi Bayko), Imfihlo (Tula Pahate Re), We Mamezala (Aggabai Sunbai) and Onesipho (Nayan - Jo Vekhe Unvekha) with more content currently in the pipeline.

Since news of the potential new channel came out, Zee Zonke has garnered a lot of mixed signals mostly for the choice in audio with some even skeptical to explore the offering. But news of such channel doesn't come as a surprise seeing as they dubbed various shows on Zee World.

And also, Zee TV was rumoured to be developing such channel back in 2022 alongside various other channels one in Hausa and another Swahili.

Taking account the language illustrated on the channel, Zee Zonke might not be viewable in certain if not most parts of Africa including Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya. Unlike Zee One, none of the content can be viewed on Zee World with select shows on Zee TV.

If I had to guess why this channel can't be seen in these regions, it may be as mentioned the language and another could be that the channel is rolling out in phases maybe Zee TV is experimenting in South Africa and the outcome there will determine its fate elsewhere.

I mean the idea doesn't seem far fetched considering Zee World had dubbed various shows across Africa in local languages. It's only a matter of time, perhaps on top of reception they're looking to first but build the slate on one brand before doing anything elsewhere.

Press Release: Sisonke With Zee Zonke! DStv Brings The Indian Community To DStv Access

Zee Entertainment Launches new isiZulu channel, Zee Zonke on DStv

 

23 August 2023: The home of entertainment, DStv, will be bringing a new channel to viewers screens. Zee Zonke is a 24-hour general entertainment television channel dubbed entirely in isiZulu with English subtitles, coming from Zee Entertainment.

 

Zee Zonke is set to premier on DStv channel 169 from Monday, 28 August 2023 on all DStv Premium, Compact+, Compact, Family and Access.

 

Zee Zonke is a testament to Zee Entertainment’s commitment to innovation and diversity, as it proudly brings captivating content to viewers through the power of language – isiZulu. The channel will debut with an array of riveting series across the week and weekends showcasing romance, drama, action, suspense, and crime.

 

With the many years Zee has been in South Africa, it’s localisation efforts and job creation, the brand has become a household name, one of South Africa’s very own.

 

“Our vision at Zee Entertainment has always been to push the boundaries of innovation and deliver exceptional entertainment experiences. The launch of Zee Zonke marks an exciting milestone for us as we aim to bridge linguistic barriers and provide a unique viewing experience that resonates with diverse audiences, and we feel we have done that with this channel offering in isiZulu" says Somnath Malakar, CEO: ZEE Africa.

 

“We continue to strengthen our partnerships, which in turn strengthens our content offering, therefore, we are extremely excited to introduce Zee Zonke to our viewers. What is extremely special about this channel launch is that we get to bring great  entertainment in isiZulu. As Africa’s most loved storyteller, we are always looking to offer diverse entertainment to our DStv customers and the Zee Zulu offering aims to do just that,” says Georginah Machiridza, Executive Head of General Entertainment Channels at MultiChoice Group.

 

Zee Zonke will give DStv customers never seen before series, seven days a week. Here are some of the thrilling titles to look forward to:

 

 

Zee Zonke will be available on DStv channel 169 from 28 August 2023.

Reminder: Maisha Magic Movies Will Close On DStv By 31 August 2023, Zee Zonke Will Be Added Soon

In 2021, MultiChoice and M-Net unveiled a new local movie channel, Maisha Magic Movies. The channel was tailor made for East African audiences particularly Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Malawi while as being viewable in areas MultiChoice operates.

Maisha Magic Movies would be used as a platform to promote first run productions from East Africa alongside content already viewed on Maisha Magic East and Pearl Magic. Some content to have been viewed on the channel include like 94 Terror, Damu Moja and Freedom Movie.

After two years, MultiChoice has decided to call it quits for Maisha Magic Movies with the channel to remain on the platform until the end of August. At the time of publishing, neither MultiChoice and M-Net could provide a statement regarding the removal of the brand.

From what we can gather, this change is only applicable to consumers in South Africa as it remains operational in other parts of Africa. We assume similar to Novela Magic, the channel was struggling to garner traction as seen with Mzansi Bioskop and Africa Magic Epic. 

Another contributing factor would have to be Zee Zonke, since last year MultiChoice had been battling with transponder constraints so they'd often need to remove channels in order to launch another channel. Maisha Magic Movies being obsolete would be replaced by Zee Zonke.

As both incorporate a local element into the lineup, Zee Zonke is a Zulu dubbed entertainment channel similar to eMedia Investments eExtra and ePlesier would dub various international shows in local languages as opposed to producing original content like Maisha Magic Movies.

Zee Zonke was slated to launch on the platform earlier in the month but was pushed to September so Maisha Magic Movies' sacrifice won't be in vain. Unlike the movie channel, Zee Zonke might be viewable to more DStv customers like Family and Access.

As crazy as this switcheroo appears to some, they had attempted to phase out something factual and entertaining as Da Vinci for toddler filtered brand like Moonbug and another instance was with MTV Hits when MultiChoice opted to kill pop for some smooth Jazz on Qwest TV.

Maisha Magic Movies In ROA

As mentioned from our findings, it appears the channel will remain operational in other countries. Considering the channel was made available to Access in parts of East Africa and it's socials were redirected to Maisha Magic and Pearl Magic. It wouldn't be shocking if more regions opted to discontinue carriage of the channel if not the whole of Africa.

#BoycottingKuiertyd: Was Zee Zonke Meant To Be The Final Nail To The Coffin For eExtra On DStv?

Last month, it was reported by eMedia's team that their 4 Openview channels would be exiting the DStv platform. It's been a year since these channels were reinstated and MultiChoice has remained committed to move forward with the additions of Movie Room and DreamWorks.

As outlined in 2022, eExtra was the only brand that wasn't replaced with another channel instead M-Net attempted to duplicate the offering on kykNET & Kie with Kind Van Die Noodlot and In Die Ysterhand Se Greep both hail in Istanbul were the channel's first competitors.

Earlier in the year, that offering was crammed to a 1 hour timeslot and kykNET assures fans that another Turkish drama would be allocated but considering the recent schedule adjustments I honestly doubt that as consumers flee to e.tv for Annekan Die Swa Kry in the affected show's timeslot.

During the month, Zee Entertainment Enterprises unveiled a new Zulu dubbed Bollywood channel, Zee Zonke. Unlike its counterpart on Openview, Zee Zonke will come with its own programming or better yet import shows from Zee TV's Zee Marathi with 4 shows added to the lineup.

As seen through several ads, Zee Zonke was slated to air this month on channel 169 but I'm told by sources that the brand would only rollout by September which brings out many questions as to the delay of Bollywood brand.

Last year, MultiChoice outlined that they were battling with transponder constraints so they'd often be removing channels to make space for other channels. Particularly brands that were non-performing or lacked originality for which eMedia's 4 channels resided.

Another could be that Zee TV is planning some grand event similar to Disney Star's Star Life when it entered the market. As mentioned, Zee Zonke is not a catch-up channel much less a spinoff to Zee World but rather a Zulu duplicate to the Zee Marathi channel in India.

Recently, eMedia Investments had recieved another extension by the Competition Tribunal. As mentioned, Zee Zonke was meant to rollout this month but around the time this news came up it got delayed out of the blue.

New Channel Alert: Zee Zonke Coming This September To DStv

During the week, it was reported that MultiChoice had begun tests on another channel which was believed to be another duplicate to Moja Love. But in recent developments, we got to discover that the channel belongs to the makers of Zee TV, Zee World and Zee One.

Zee Zonke operated by Zee Entertainment Enterprises is a South African adaptation to the current Zee TV importing content seen on Zee TV (mostly Zee Marathi) and dubbing them in local languages as seen with rival brand eExtra's Kuiertyd operated by eMedia Investments.

This will be the second region based channel operated by Zee Entertainment Enterprises with Zee Alem currently situated in Ethiopia dubbing various content from Zee World.

As for the channel number, it will likely be allocated in the 160 section (likely 169) which is where Zee World resides and also it's the same area currently harvested by other Southern Africa brands including Mzansi Magic, Mzansi Wethu and Mzansi Bioskop

When it comes to the package, impressed guess would be Access and probably Easyview seeing as consumers on these packages don't have Zee World like the rest of Africa. It would also be added to consumers on Compact, Compact+ and Premium.

Zee Zonke might be applicable to only South Africa.

Considering that all of this will be locally dubbed, the channel will most likely take up the format used on TLNovelas when distributing content. It's currently unknown whether movies will reside on the soon to be launched channel but it wouldn't be shocking if it were only dramas.

The idea of Zee Zonke might have come out after Zee World debuted Jodha And Akbar with a Zulu soundtrack. It garnered popularity with consumers that it wasn't long till they got other programming got into the local mix in South Africa and the rest of Africa.

But it's kind of surprising how Jodha And Akbar isn't part of Zee Zonke's lineup as the only confirmed series at the time include Umakwapheni, Imfihlo, We Mamezala, and Onesipho.

CONFIRMED SERIES:

• Umakwapheni (Majhya Navaryachi Bayko): The drama revolves around Gurunath who is happily married to Radhika until he falls in love with Shanaya, a colleague. What would happen when Radhika learns about this affair and what will be her move to save the marriage?

• Imfihlo (Tula Pahate Re): Vikram Saranjame is a rich and lonely businessman. He gets attracted towards Esha one of his employee whose half his age. Esha two falls in love with him after he shows kindness towards her family as they are not doing financially well. Vikrant and Esha finally get married. But Vikrant has a secret to hide behind a closed door in his mansion.

• We Mamezala (Aggabai Sunbai): A strong bond develops as Asavari, a level-headed businesswoman, tries to help her daughter-in-law, Shubhra, navigate the harsh realities of motherhood and family life.

• Onesipho (Nayan - Jo Vekhe Unvekha): Nayan, a simple small town girl, experiences the boon and bane of her power of premonition. She goes on to marry Devansh under unusual circumstances and turns out to be his saviour.