More Broadcasters Are Reportedly Set To Lose WWE Following Shift To Netflix

Earlier in the year, it was reported that WWE had signed an exclusive deal with Netflix worth $10 billion to bring the trademark exclusively to their services. This would bring WWE's run on linear TV to an end after 31 years as it broadcasts on Netflix in 2025.

Netflix would become the exclusive home to weekly shows Raw, Smackdown and NXT alongside premium live events like WrestleMania and Crown Jewel. This would affect consumers in U.S., U.K., Canada and Latin America with international expansion underway. 

Existing broadcasters such as FOX (U.S.), SportsNet (Canada), TNT Sports (UK) and ESPN (Latin America) will need to find a replacement. Sports journalist Dave Meltzer sites AEW as one of the potential leads for international broadcasting deals. 

But there's a catch as mentioned by Dave:

"Essentially they’re all losing their wrestling, and if the stations want to keep wrestling the best option is AEW. And if AEW is able to get deals with these stations at even half of what WWE gets, or less than half of what WWE gets, that alone would make it profitable even if the WBD deal isn’t a big increase.”

If anything, could SuperSport look into snatching AEW from TNT I mean compared to when WWE was with its previous broadcaster. All events are Express From The U.S. and unlike WWE's endeavors none of the weekly live events were shortened.

Perhaps even Ring Of Honor, it is currently owned by Tony Khan who also manage All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Then lastly New-Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), they have done several events with AEW with some familiar faces like Jon Moxley, Matt Riddle and Mercedes Moné.

If anything, don't expect this content to get a standalone channel on DStv for now at least. Considering that these promotions don't have familiarity with audiences it's future is dependent on them and that would determine its growth on SuperSport.

Skydance Media Plans To Merge Their Operations With Paramount Global, Could This Have An Everlasting Affect On Nickelodeon And MTV?

As some readers are aware, Shari Redstone is looking to sell her shares in Paramount Global home to MTV and Nickelodeon. Currently, Skydance Media and Sony Pictures Television in a joint bid with Apollo Global Management are battling it out.

The Sony-Apollo deal has garnered a lot of media scrutiny as insiders report a possible dismemberment of their linear portfolio. With Paramount Studios being merged onto Sony Pictures Television current offering and studio lots auctioned off.

Skydance Media proposal is said to be favorable because unlike Sony-Apollo they wouldn't go through any regulatory hurdles for foreign ownership. Their plan would be to merge their operations with Paramount Global of course the finer details haven't been outlined. 

From what several sources uncovered, Skydance Media is planning to merge/bundle Paramount+ with another streaming service. It is no secret that Netflix and Disney+ have been edging out the competition so it's likely they're looking after Paramount’s interests. 

Skydance Media has worked with Paramount Global on several projects such as Mission: Impossible, Transformers, Top Gun, Jack Reacher and Star Trek.

If anything, we presume a possible merger between Skydance Media and Paramount Global could lead to a reduction of content or at least for its linear portfolio. As mentioned, Skydance wants to merge Paramount+ with another streaming service. 

On top of that they've got several projects in development and with Paramount Pictures they'll expand on that. Prior to acquisition talks, Netflix had licensed various content from Nickelodeon like Saving Bikini Bottoms: The Sandy Cheeks Movie and Fairly OddParents: A New Wish.

Although Sony-Apollo would lead to the purging of TV channels outside of regulatory confinement. These channels could lose credibility under Skydance Media and serve as second fiddle to the endeavors licensed to Netflix or even Apple TV+.

News Shorts: The Caring Friend Circle Coming Soon To Play Room, A Rebroadcast Of The Impostor Launches On Telemundo Across Africa And WildEarth Extends Its Reach To Freeview In The UK

More Sesame Street on Play Room

Not long ago, Play Room had scooped up rights to more educational content from Sesame Workshop with Math Adventures. Now the channel will continue its investment toward the franchise with the rollout of The Caring Friends Circle.

Elmo learns something super important about himself. The Caring Friends Circle plays a game where they say something they like about themselves while passing a ball. But when it is Elmo's turn, he is not sure what to say. 

It will air daily at 06:15 from 14 June.

Telemundo hits the snooze button

Based on the Chilean telenovela Cerro Alegre, The Impostor follows a young waitress with a great ability for imitation and acting, has to pose as a millionaire investor to infiltrate a very powerful New York family in order to uncover a hidden truth.

It starred Christian Bach as Raquel Altamira, Sebastián Zurita as Eduardo Leon Altamira, Lisette Morelos as Blanca Guerrero, Manuel Landeta as Adriano Ferrer and Armando Silvestre as Don Leónidas Altamira.

The series will replace Betty In New York daily at 19:00 from 14th June.

WildEarth goes abroad 

WildEarth's live and interactive shows aim to recreate the thrilling experience of being on a safari vehicle in remote African locations. The focus is on capturing serendipitous moments of unscripted magic, rather than relying on dramatic animal behaviour, to create an emotional connection between viewers and the natural world.

Online, the platform attracts seven million global monthly unique viewers and now those daily live broadcasts are available on TV in the UK.

Emily Wallington, Co-Founder of WildEarth, expressed her excitement about the partnership with Freeview, saying: "'WildEarth' is all about connecting people to nature in a real and unscripted way – in effect we are the largest safari vehicle in the word. This helps viewers to understand nature for what it really is and to see why we need to conserve our beautiful habitats. This partnership with Freeview in the UK is a major step in achieving this as we reach British viewers who love nature and care about the planet.”

Recap To Last Month: Don't Expect Any Daytime Repeats For The Controversial "Evil Affairs" On Star Life As Titli Moves To Late Nights

Star Life is a general entertainment channel operated by Disney Star, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company in India. It is home to various English dubbed productions from India including Game Of Love, Anupamaa, Imlie and Divya-Drishti.

Last month, Star Life made the dastardly deed of halting daytime repeats of Evil Affairs and Beyond Love. This had caused an uproar of angry viewers demanding for them to be reinstated with the channel only opting to move further repeats to late nights. 

As some readers are aware, Beyond Love will be replaced by Titli as reported earlier as You Have My Heart debuts at 21:30 from 8 June. Unlike the fallen Beyond Love, Titli will also have a daytime slot at 13:30 meaning Evil Affairs will be isolated from the offering.

Fans have been hindered with curiosity over the channel's sudden decision not to incorporate Evil Affairs as it brought on dramas like Divya-Drishti and The Evil Eye all of which were made available for daytime audiences. 

Unlike the latter, Evil Affairs can be compared to the likes of the FOX original Lucifer formerly seen on M-Net. Due to religious preferences, viewers aren't accustomed to the level of Satanism depicted this is what led M-Net to move Lucifer from 19:00 to 23:00.

Beyond Love was victimized in the Evil Affairs saga with daytime broadcasts still possible as the channel needed to organize their current but this came when it was already too late.

New Series Alert: Math Adventures And Barbie: Dreamtopia Coming Soon To Play Room

Play Room, a South African based children's channel operated by Ngwato Nkosi Group that offers fun and learning with a mixture of locally produced content part alongside international shows is set to debut two new series, Math Adventures and Barbie: Dreamtopia. 

Produced by Sesame Workshop, Math Adventure is an educational TV show that seeks to help children improve on numbering skills. It featured Zoe, Elmo, Cookie Monster and Big Bird.

Barbie: Dreamtopia follows Chelsea Roberts as she finds herself touring her own make-believe land known as Dreamtopia with her big sister, Barbie. There, they discover a whole new munch-able world and swim through rainbow rivers with small mermaids.

Math Adventures airs daily at 06:40 and this would be followed by Barbie: Dreamtopia at 20:10 from 11 June.

Sesame Workshop is home to shows like Abby's High Flying Fairy School, Abby's Amazing Adventures and The Big Feeling Explorer. Other shows like Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures and Barbie: Magic Touch are all owned by Mattel Television. 

Warner Bros. Discovery Looking To Bundle Max With Other Streaming Services In Parts Of Europe And Africa

Following the first phase of the recent WBD’s European roll out of Max, Leah Hooper Rosa, EVP of EMEA Streaming, the company’s goal is to operate across all major markets, including the UK.

She said she expects to see more conversations in the future about launching Max in the UK. WBD previously announced it plans to launch service Max in the country by 2026. The media and entertainment powerhouse currently has a long-running licensing partnership with UK pay TV operator Sky, for its HBO content which runs until the end of 2025.

Hooper Rosa, said, “We’re in the game now of we want to be a top three global streaming service. That’s our ambition.”

“We’re on a multi-year journey in terms of our Max roll out across Europe. We’re actively in conversations. Our CEO and Gerhard Zeiler (president of WBD International)  have also shared with partners and working out what that would look like,” she added.

Referring to the company’s recently partnership with Disney to offer a bundle including Disney+, Hulu and Max in the US, Hooper Rosa said – “it’s natural that we see those types of things move into Europe”.

The streamer has launched across Europe in partnership with telcos and pay TV provider in select regions.

“We haven’t seen too many types of those relationships yet in Europe with other streamers doing streaming bundling. But I think there is an opportunity for that in the future and we’ll see how consumers react to that,” she added.

Max debuted in Iberia, the Nordic markets and parts of central and eastern Europe earlier this month, as part of a staggered roll-out for simplicity, said the WBD exec. Further launches are planned for France, Poland, the Netherland and Belgium June.

Currently the streamer is available in 20 countries, including Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Bosnia & Herzegovnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

At present, WBD will only introduce tis Max’s ad-supported subscription plan in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Romania, Poland, France and Belgium.

For their strategy in Europe she explained, “its really a combination of the maturity of the ad market in those regions and the of maturity of our business because we need to be able to sell ads or to be able to have the capability to work with a partner.”

Max also offers a sports add-on, providing coverage of major international and European sports including Australian Open, Roland-Garros, The Championships, Wimbledon, US Open, Giro d’Italia, La Vuelta a España, Tour de France, and every major winter sports World Championship and World Cup events.

As part of the move, Hooper Rosa said it will be scaling back its content across its other streaming services including discovery+ where Max is present, which was the streaming home for WBD’s sports content across the company’s European markets.

“Max is our flagship streaming service,” she said. “So what we’re doing now is a  wind down across Europe of our other streaming services. It’s really on a market by market basis of how we’re managing that transition.”

Development Alert: Annekan Die Swa Kry (Kardeşlerim) Currently Seen On e.tv And ATV Cancelled After 4 Seasons

Annekan Die Swa Kry (Kardeşlerim) is a Turkish television series in the genre of drama, youth and romance was broadcast on February 20, 2021. Directed and written by Serkan Birinci and Gül Abus Semerci, it starred are Celil Nalçakan, Cüneyt Mete, Simge Selçuk and Yiğit Koçak. 

The story revolves around Kadir, Ömer, Asiye and Emel, four siblings who lose their parents due to unfortunate circumstances and try to build their lives going forward with each other's support. Despite their ups and downs, they are always there for each other.

The series which consists of 4 seasons will end with its 133rd episode which will be broadcast on June 15, 2024 in Turkey. It is currently on its third season on e.tv with the latter often allocated on eVOD months prior so it's likely viewers will get the final installment by the fall.

This news was revealed across social platforms as Turkish broadcaster ATV has another program slated in place of Annekan Die Swa Kry. Prior to the news, sources outlined that writers had expressed interest in doing a potential fifth and sixth season. 

ATV is a Turkish free-to-air television network owned by Turkuvaz Media Group and is also one of the most popular channels within the market. Aside from Annekan Die Swa Kry, it is known for shows like Karadayi, Kara Para Ask (Black Money Love) and Hercai.

"Minimax": Could MultiChoice Look To Replace Me With Another TV Channel On DStv?

During the year, MultiChoice had axed both 1Magic and Me from the DStv platform. Unlike the other 9 TV channels to have closed, further content from these brands had consolidated under Showmax which inherited its own TV channel, 1Max.

Of course, MultiChoice further reduced its availability to the consumers of 1Magic, Compact Plus. Despite most consumers already having a Showmax subscription it would make sense to offer it to consumers of Compact and Family.

This has led consumers of Me to wonder if M-Net would find other means in getting Summertide and White Lies SA to lower bouquets. Seeing as 1Max is Compact+ and a minority of consumers can't access Showmax.

Rumours had been swirling around that another TV channel was in development for lower bouquets possibly in place of Me. Of course, various details about the content or a name has not yet been disclosed at the time of publishing. 

Something that we had theorized earlier in the year was the possible demise of Me was the production of another TV channel. With the inclusion of 1Max, we presume a lightweight version of the channel perhaps titled Minimax is in development. 

With 1Max basically being 1Magic with additional content from Me alongside a demographic expansion to include the rest of Africa. Minimax would only focus on the local aspects of 1Max and perhaps infuse M-Net's existing local offering in the lineup. 

Me would initially evade themselves from airing a majority of local shows from 1Magic. Minimax on the other would further minimize the amount of content from M-Net seeing as the latter is on 1Max with M-Net being minimal on repeats on their channels. 

As seen with BBC UKTV, Minimax could as well be exempted from Premium and Compact Plus while being viewed on Family and Compact perhaps even Access seeing as the latter (e.g. Reyka) is not on Mzansi Wethu. 

1Magic was viewed as M-Net's BET channel with 1Max expanding that to include content from ROA. The content is meant to resonate with every aspect of consumer's lives but with Minimax it would be less traditional with shows like My Kitchen Rules SA and Trackers. 

The History Channel Bring You War Story Sundays This June

This year marks 80 years since the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944. The seaborn invasion and airborne operations were the beginning of the liberation of France and western Europe during WWII.

In commemoration of this anniversary the HISTORY Channel Africa brings viewers D-Day: 100 Days To Beat The Third Reich. Other war stories that will be brought to life, each Sunday evening in June, includes Hitler’s Handmaidens, The Lost U-Boats Of WWII and WWII Air Crash Detectives

Catch these gripping WWII doccies this June and July!

Hitler's Handmaidens

Sundays at 20h15

Starts 2 June

The role of women in the rise and implementation of Nazi Germany is rarely featured in the history of World War II.

Hitler’s Handmaidens examines the women who played an influential role in German

society under the Nazi regime, from those who supported Hitler’s rise, to the individuals who played an active role in the Holocaust and other atrocities.

D-Day:100 Days to Beat the Third Reich

Sundays at 21h05

Starts 2 June

For the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landing, this documentary will bring back to life the 100 days it took for the Allies to liberate Normandy, to break through the German line and to pave the way towards victory. It tells of 100 critical days, both heroic and tragic, that made history.

The Lost U-Boats of WWII

Sundays at 21h05

Starts 16 June

During WWII the Nazis stole billions of dollars in gold, jewels and art. To hold onto as much of their treasure as possible despite losing the war, the Nazis dispersed the valued goods all over the globe using U-boats. For almost 80 years the treasure laden U-Boats have remained in their watery graves, until now. Famed treasure hunter Darrell Miklos sets out to complete his lifelong mission of finding the missing U-boats and their multi-billion-dollar cargo. Each one-hour episode follows Darrell and his team of experts as they attempt to locate and lift the missing Nazi U-boats from the bottom of the Caribbean Sea.

WWII Air Crash Detectives

Sundays at 20h15

Starts 30 June

Uncovering the truth behind the deaths of thousands of airmen in World War II is investigator Garth Barnard. He reveals the historical events that caused vast destruction and devastation.

Not only are stories told of collisions with attacking aircrafts, but the series presents the facts behind dangerous training missions and accidents that occurred.

Join the HISTORY Channel Africa, as we uncover details surrounding the largest and deadliest conflict in human history, only on DStv 186 this June and July.