Entertainment Inside Us (Insidus)

Last week, merger talks for Paramount Global heated up, with reports that the media company that produces and controls the Star Trek franchise had entered into exclusive talks with Skydance Media. One of the big questions has been how such a deal would impact Paramount+, home to original Star Trek programming. Now a picture of a possible future for the streaming service is starting to emerge. Skydance wants to keep Paramount+ When the first reports about Paramount Global potentially being sold or merged started in December, industry analysts suggested Paramount+ might not survive the corporate shake-up. While Paramount has seen consistent growth with its streaming service, it has yet to turn a profit. However, now that Skydance Media is in exclusive talks to take over Paramount, they are apparently planning on keeping Paramount+, but will make some changes. The New York Times reports “The plan calls for Skydance to supercharge Paramount’s streaming capabilities, improving p

The service, which will operate as OUTflix from 11 April, has also launched across the Nordics via a deal with a Allente that covers Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. OUTflix is also a commissioner of original UK content, recently greenlighting queer comedy series Stand Up Specials London (5 x 45-minute), featuring sets from emerging comedians including James Barr, Heleana Blackwell, David Ian, Kat Nip and Vix Leyton. Other UK original content on the service includes Live At The Queer Comedy Club, and a series of short films from The Iris Prize festival selected titles. In addition, two projects developed through the documentary film financing fund for emerging British LGBTQ+ filmmakers that OUTtv funds alongside The Iris Prize and Aberystwth University are hosted on OUTflix: Somina Fombo’s Some Girls Hate Dresses, which follows the lives of Black British tomboys from the 1990s, and the forthcoming Bender Defenders from director Ira Putilova, highlighting five queer,

During the year, TLNovelas had hit a repetitive slot as seen with rival broadcaster Telemundo as not much new content had been reported except for Thinking Of You . Now the channel is gearing up rollout its next show by June titled My Secret (Mí Secreto). Synopsis for My Secret: Valeria is forced to take the identity of her best friend Natalia, whom she believes to be dead, in order to avoid going to jail for a crime she did not commit. As she assumes her new reality, Valeria suffers constantly from the fear of being discovered. It starred  Diego Klein as Mateo Miranda, Macarena García as Valeria Bernal, Karyme Lozano as Daniela Estrada, Arturo Peniche as Ernesto Lascuráin and Isidora Vives as Natalia Ugarte Moncada.  Based on the 1974 telenovela Ha llegado Una Intrusa, My Secret debuted on Mexican broadcaster Las Estrellas from 12 September 2022 to 24 February 2023. 120 episodes had been filmed each with a duration of 45 minutes.  My Secret will start 10 June on TLNovelas replaci

Unlike MultiChoice, 2023 was anything but productive for eMedia Investments free-to-air households. Several developments had occurred during the financial period but it's safe to say that part of these wasn't the most noteworthy with consumers.  Last year, eMedia Investments had launched its rival offering to MultiChoice's DStv, Ultraview. Similar to the AddMovies format, it would consist of two bouquets one Spice TV is home to Bollywood favourites while the other EDGE serves a younger demographic.  eMedia Investments has yet to share how many of their current Openview consumers had added Ultraview to their current subscription. Through an open window, it's evident that Spice TV is getting the most attention which consists of Zee Family and Star Select. Outside of these endeavors, there was barely much to report for their non-paying consumers. eMedia Investments had rebranded one of their current TV channels eXposed to eSeries and also  added two radio s

Canal+ has substantially increased its offer for the MultiChoice Group to about R37.7 billion from R31.7bn after the local broadcaster said in February that the initial offer was too low. MultiChoice’s share price increased 4.16% to R117 yesterday morning after the improved offer was announced. The share later closed the day 4.99% higher at R117.93. Meanwhile, should Canal+’s own planned European listing proceed, there would be an opportunity for South African investors to become shareholders of the combined entity, as part of a secondary inward listing on the JSE, the companies announced yesterday. Vivendi, the parent of Canal+, is currently doing a feasibility study to split the company into several separately listed entities. Canal + has 26.4 million subscribers, 17 million of which are outside France. MultiChoice claims 23.5 million subscribers. The two groups said they had reached an agreement on proceeding and cooperating with the Canal+ takeover bid, that was formall

Last month,  StarTimes added ST Toons as a brand new children's channel to their platforms . Serving as a spinoff to the current ST Kids channel, ST Toons incorporates the Nicktoons format airing older shows from ST Kids with dubs in the mix. Oddly enough, StarTimes looks to launch a third children's channel by April 15th, ST Kids Plus. From what we can gather most of the content already seen on both ST Kids and ST Toons will be added to the lineup with selection of content in local languages. The languages include English, Swahili, Portuguese and French with the channel set to rollout in 30 African countries. It is looking to position itself as a multilingual children's channel offering high quality children's content for viewers aged 6-12. ST Kids Plus will launch on April 15th on channel 352 on DTT and 311 on DTH to all Basic and Super customers.  As some readers are aware, StarSat hasn't launched ST Toons for consumers in South Africa and from the

French media giant Canal+ announced on Monday it has now made a mandatory offer for a takeover of MultiChoice, offering R125 per share. The new offer price is almost 67% higher than the MultiChoice share price just before its first offer in February.  MultiChoice, Africa's biggest pay TV operator, meanwhile has roped in Standard Bank as an independent expert to give an opinion on the offer, also agreeing to cooperate in ensuring its implementation. An earlier non-binding offer of R105 per share in February was rebuffed by the board of Africa's biggest pay-TV operator as too low, and Canal+ subsequently upped its proposal in March to its current amount. MultiChoice had closed at R112.33 on Friday. Canal+, whose parent is Vivendi, operates in 50 countries across Europe, Africa and Asia, directly serving 8 million customers in Africa. It had about 25 million total subscribers as of its 2023 year, while MultiChoice had 23.5 million. Both have serious ambitions for Afric

Nickelodeon   SpongeBob SquarePants  Premier : 29/04/24 – 09/05/2024 Slot : Monday - Thursday Time: 14:00 New episodes: 294, 295, 298, 299 The misadventures of a talking sea sponge who works at a fast-food restaurant, attends a boating school, and lives in an underwater pineapple. Zokie Of Planet Ruby New show • Episodes: 101-109, 111-114, 116-126 • Premier: 06/05 –06/06 • Slot : Monday-Friday • Time: 14:15 The series follows creative vlogger Ruby and her alien best friend Zokieas they film their daily mishaps and adventures around their city. Monster High 2 Movie Premier : 19/05 Slot: Sunday Time: 11:00 As they enter sophomore year at Monster High, Clawdeen Wolf,  Draculaura and Frankie Stein face new students, new powers, and an  even bigger threat that could not only tear their friendship apart, but  could change the world forever. Nicktoons   AfterToons Stunt  Premiere: 13/05/2024 – 21/06/2024 Slot: Monday – Friday Time: 16:00 *including new episodes of Patrick Star

After making its debut on Zee World in 2022 , eMedia Investments has picked up rights to Bollywood periodical drama series, Razia Sultan. The &TV drama is set to debut on eExtra from weekdays at 15:25 on 19 April replacing Naagin. Based on the real life figure of the same name, Razia Sultan is a historical drama that charts the rise of a remarkable real-life figure, the first woman to ever rule the Delhi Sultanate. It has the typical court intrigue you can expect from "Game of Thrones" type series. It starred Pankhuri Awasthy Rode as Razia Sultan,  Rohit Purohit as Ikhtiyar ud-din Malik Altunia,  Saurabh Pandey as Jamal-ud-Din Yaqut ,  Khalida Turi as Qutub Begum and  Mohit Abrol as Nasiruddin Mahmud. During its run on &TV, the series was met with positive reception for its storyline with Awasthy Rode gaining the most praise for her craftsmanship in the role. The broadcaster &TV is known for shows like Begusarai, Gangaa and Jodha & Akbar. In oth