Insidus

Saturday, December 26, 2020

The 8th Day Coming Soon To Timeless Dizi Channel Africa

As expected we'd follow other regions TDC and now the next Turkish drama making its way onto viewers screens is intriguing super series, The 8th Day (8. Gun).

When nothing is what it seems, anything is possible.

Bahar is a clever and cheerful college student. She has grown in wealth and lived a happy life... Until one day when everything turns upside down. Her mother Şehnaz, who was a software engineer at the Lotus company, is killed. Bahar steps aways from her safe life, into a dark world. People who killed her mother are after Bahar now. She tries to survive her enemies while working to solve the mystery behind her mother’s death.
In "The 8th Day", you will watch how Bahar's perfect life changes dramatically with the mysterious disappearance of her mother.

Will Bahar manage to survive and unveil the mystery behind her mother’s dissappearance?

Director: Çağrı Vila Lostuvalı, Ender Mıhlar
Screenwriter: Toprak Karaoğlu, Savaş Korkmaz, Seda Çalışır
Stars: Burcu Biricik, Bugra Gülsoy, Musa Uzunlar, Ceyda Düvenci

Catch the first episode at 21:40 CAT/22:40 EAT/20:40 WAT which takes up Kurt Seyit And Shura from Tuesday, 5 January

TDC is available on DStv and StarTimes

Friday, December 25, 2020

e.tv Acquired Broadcasting Rights To Erkenci Kus

Thought of sharing the news with Turkish fans later in 2021 but since there's a lot of fans here I decided to share the news early.

e.tv bagged another Turkish show which will also be dubbed in Afrikaans called Erkenci Kus. The fact I said e.tv doesn't imply it will air there chances are it will air exclusively on eExtra so when a Turkish show is announced beforehand I'll use e.tv as the liable source kind of like how Nickelodeon use their name when signing show off to Nicktoons.

This telenovela will be available later in 2021 on eExtra as part of their successful block, Kuiertyd. It will be available in the middle of the following year so I might give out a date when it's available and the title so for now here's the plot:

Sanem is a young woman who aspires to become a writer and live in the Galápagos Islands. She helps out at her father's grocery store but is forced by her parents to choose between an arranged marriage with her neighbor Muzaffer and finding a suitable job. Sanem will find a job at Fikri Harika, one of Turkey's leading advertising agencies where Leyla, her older sister, is an executive assistant. Aziz, the owner of the advertising agency has two sons, Emre and Can. Emre wants to take over the business, but his father considers Can better suited for the job and appoints him manager of the agency. Can has what his father wants for the company, but Can prefers taking photos in remote parts of the world. Can eventually agrees to run the company when he learns of his father's health problems. Aziz also tells Can to find the spy in the company that is helping their competitor Aylin. Emre doesn't like the idea of his brother being the manager and believes that he deserves that position and plans to make him fail. At the party for the 40th anniversary of the company at an opera, Sanem enters into the dark backstage and bumps into Can. Can, thinking that she was his girlfriend Polen, kisses her. After leaving, Sanem realizes that she is in love with the stranger that kissed her, giving him the codename Albatros. Soon, Can falls in love with Sanem, and discovers that he kissed her on that day in the opera, and thus began this inevitable story of love.

Just to let you there's more Turkish shows coming and I'll mention them later in 2021.

Magnolia Network Launches In 2021, Does This Mean Anything For Africa?

In November 2018, Chip and Joanna Gaines of the former HGTV series Fixer Upper announced on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, that they were in early talks to form a "lifestyle focused media network" with Discovery via their personal company Magnolia (that's where the name originated from).

They've been trying to get this channel onboard for a 2 years but there have been further delays particularly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On August 4, 2020, it was announced that the network would launch in 2021. Fixer Upper, which had originally permanently ended in 2018, will resume production of new episodes in conjunction with the launch of Magnolia Network.

The channel will feature longform content with shows centered around community, home, garden, food, wellness, entrepreneurialism and design. Magnolia Network currently has 14 original programs in production and an additional 22 original programs in development.

In 2021, Discovery will have a preview of this channel's offering through their streaming service which will rollout internationally.

Before this streaming service became official Discovery EMEA decided to streamline their operations. Due to Discovery+, there's chances that they'll shutter a couple of brands.

In Africa, you basically saw the discontinuation of the underrated channel Fine Living through StarTimes with Discovery Science through Zuku TV as part of an strategic adjustment. Discovery Family in some way was created to replace Discovery Science and World with Real Time likely serving as a replacement for Fine Living through Zuku TV.

Starsat and StarTimes are currently searching for possible replacement for the channel. Maybe this channel will be the placeholder but there's a high chance it won't since StarTimes gave that impression that the replacement might not be another Discovery Channel.

If Magnolia Network were to make its way to Africa perhaps it will launch in favour of Travel Channel and/or Food Network which are currently on DStv. Then there's another chance this brand will be kept as a U.S. exclusive.

Which Of The Following Channels Will Occupy Channels 312-317 On DStv? + Other Kids Developments

As you already know 2020 has been a chaotic year to me it's kind of like a trailer to 2021 as this year was kind of paused for most people and businesses. Things were suppose to happen only for others to be delayed.

This year, we witnessed a lot of channels shutting down in (South) Africa so I'm not expecting that to stop next year. In 2020 alone, we lost TV Mall, Sundance TV, SABC Encore, FOX Life, ITV Choice, BBC First, FOX Life and Disney XD.

Compared to all the other years, the kids area has experienced exponential growth on DStv and for the first time in over a decade MultiChoice actually reviews the offering in that area.

We got to see pop-up channels such as Toonami, ZooMoo, Mindset POP and for a while Da Vinci Kids. Just as you thought they've filled up the gap Disney XD was taken away and CBeebies was added to easen the blow.

A few months back I drew up a list of possible candidates that might occupy Disney XD spot. Now I'll be expanding as far as looking into possible candidates for other empty spots such as channels 300, 304 & 312-317.

The list of candidates goes as follows:

1. K-TV - this is M-Net former children's channel I mean there have been a couple of brands that were revived like PBS Kids, G4, Real Time, TBN, Sony Channel etc. but there's also chances that this will never happen seeing that channels such as KykNet & Kie, Mzansi Wethu and KykNet Lekker have dedicated kids blocks. At the end of the day they could bring it up as a kids channel offering content in English and other (South) African languages like Akilli TV perhaps even under another name. This year M-Net conjured up a ton of repeat channels for lower bouquets expecting more to surface next year I mean the kids one makes sense considering the timeslots and airtime they're given on the 3 M-Net channels.

2. Akilli Kids (Kenya Only) - A free-to-air children's channel aka Kenya's version of eToonz for children under 14 years of age with shows such as Team Umizoomi, Ubongo Kids and Wonder Pets. The channel's content is in English and Swahili. From what I hear the channel is gaining some traction in its respective market. If DStv Kenya considered adding the channel they would join DStv South Africa as another market with a free-to-air children's channel.

3. Baby TV - this channel is catered for toddlers pretty much for an audience that's much younger for Disney Junior. You get to learn rhymes, play games, listen to music and other activities. It was suppose to be on DStv a decade ago don't know what led them not to acquire the channel. Since Disney is the proud owner of this brand you can't help to wonder what the future holds for this brand considering the lack of attention towards it.

4. BabyFirst - is an Asian-American TV channel owned by First Media that produces and distributes content for babies' ages 6–36 months and their parents through television, the internet, and mobile applications. The channel is owned by First Media. The content is intended to develop an infant's skills, such as color recognition, counting and vocabulary. Pretty much a competitor to Baby TV.

5. Fix & Foxi - is an international children's entertainment brand founded by the German company Your Family Entertainment. Themed around Rolf Kauka's Fix and Foxi characters, the name is used to operate television channels in multiple languages around the world. Some of the content can be found on ZooMoo.

6. SABC Education (SA Only) - this is your typical Mindset channel with less grade based programming and filled with archived shows from SABC 1-3 under this banner. The channel is still coming to DStv at an unconfirmed date according to SEVA.

7. African Animation Network - this upcoming channel promises to air African produced animation and by the looks of it hopes to build up its own animation. The team behind it are still working on the channel.

8. Discovery Kids - is a children's television channel that is owned by Discovery Communications. The brand is available in Latin America, India and MENA. The version we could adapt to is the one in MENA that was the case with Discovery Family plus not a lot clashes there.

9. Other - African based channels similar to Nickelodeon, Da Vinci and Mindset. It could be SA Youth TV and Teen Africa TV. Then again it could another channel from an existing supplier.

Now to get to the hard part Disney XD might not be the last kids channel to go off air as these ones are likely to get booted off as well.

1.1. In future it wouldn't be shocking if the Nick brand downsized from 3 to 2 channels considering the duplication of the Junior brand. From that point they would be tying with Disney and WarnerMedia that only provide 2 kids channels on DStv.

1.1. The first scenario would be that Nickelodeon gets all the original programming including the ones from Nick Jr.

1.1.2. Nicktoons and Nick Jr channel get scrapped for Nickelodeon+ channel perhaps they could even keep the Nicktoons brand considering how popular it is but just invest more time in acquisitions for the channel while supplying reruns from Nickelodeon.

1.1.3. It wouldn't be a complete loss for Nick Jr the brand would be active in a block and the Ethiopian version will still supply the channel.

2. eToonz - the channel is filled with a lot of ton of DreamWorks/NBCUniversal originals. There's chances that it could breathe in the same room as the DreamWorks Channel since the channel has a mixture of cartoons that can be found on other kids channels.

2021 holds a lot of mystery and intrigue on cable.

The Walking Dead S10B Coming In March 2021 On FOX Africa

FOX has announced that The Walking Dead’s extended 10th season of six new episodes will premiere on 1 March at 03:00 CAT, simulcast with the U.S., and then again at 20:45 CAT that night (Monday 1 March) on FOX (Dstv 125, Startsat 132).

Leading up to this, this festive season, FOX will be celebrating a decade of the popular show with a marathon of every single episode. From 2 December 2020 at 21:30, every weeknight, viewers can enjoy double bills of the post apocalypse horror series starting from the very beginning of the first season.

New guest stars to be featured in the extended third season episodes include Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Perry Mason, Scorpion) as “Mays,” Hilarie Burton Morgan (One Tree Hill, White Collar, Friday Night In with the Morgans) as “Lucille” along with new co-star Okea Eme-Akwari (Greenland, Cobra Kai) as “Elijah,” among others.

Last on The Walking Dead, we witnessed the fall of Alpha (Samantha Morton) and the end of the Whisperers War. The Kingdom had fallen, Hilltop was virtually destroyed and Alexandria abandoned to prepare for final battle. The survivors were trapped and separated from one another. Yet, when faced with almost certain death, they rallied together to fight, killing Beta (Ryan Hurst) and eliminating the threat of the horde.
In these six new episodes, we’ll see our survivors trying to pick themselves up by their bootstraps following the destruction the Whisperers left in their wake. The years of struggle weigh upon them as past traumas surface, exposing their more vulnerable sides. As they question the state of humanity, the state of their collective community, and the states of their minds, will they find the inner strength to persevere with their lives, friendships, and group intact?

“The Walking Dead has captured the imagination of horror viewers since its inception ten years ago, and continues to deliver nail-biting storylines, grit and action in every single episode, leaving viewers wanting for more. We are thrilled to be celebrating the show with fans across the continent this festive season, as we gear up for brand new content from the franchise in the new year.” said Evert van der Veer, Vice President, Media Networks, The Walt Disney Company Africa.

Based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics, The Walking Dead is produced by AMC Studios and executive produced by Chief Content Officer Scott M. Gimple, Showrunner Angela Kang, Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, Dave Alpert, Greg Nicotero, Joseph Incaprera and Denise Huth.

# # #

New episode synopses and featured cast are below:

EPISODE 1017 – “Home Sweet Home”
Maggie (Lauren Cohan) has returned with a story she is not ready to share, even when her past catches up to her. Negan’s (Jeffrey Dean Morgan,) safety is at stake again. Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Maggie fight an unseen and unknown threat.

Director: David Boyd
Writers: Kevin Deiboldt & Corey Reed

EPISODE 1018 – “Find Me”
An adventure for Daryl and Carol (Melissa McBride) turns sideways when they come across an old cabin. It takes Daryl back to the years when he left the group after Rick disappeared as he relives a time that only the apocalypse could manifest.

Director: David Boyd
Writer: Nicole Mirante-Matthews

EPISODE 1019 – “One More”
Gabriel (Seth Gilliam) and Aaron (Ross Marquand) search for food and supplies to bring back to Alexandria. Small tragedies lead to bigger tragedies as faith is broken and optimism is fragmented when they are put to the ultimate test.

Director: Laura Belsey
Writers: Erik Mountain & Jim Barnes

EPISODE 1020 – “Splinter”
Eugene (Josh McDermitt), Ezekiel (Khary Payton), Yumiko (Eleanor Matsuura), and Princess (Paola Lázaro) are captured and separated. Princess struggles with memories of her traumatic past and tries to escape one way or another with the help of Ezekiel.

Director: Laura Belsey
Writers: Julia Ruchman & Vivian Tse

EPISODE 1021 – “Diverged”
Daryl and Carol come to a fork in the road and head their separate ways. Each going into their own type of survival mode, the easiest of challenges become much harder. Will their individual journeys be the tipping point needed to mend their friendship or is the distance between them permanent?

Director: David Boyd
Writer: Heather Bellson

EPISODE 1022 – “Here’s Negan”
Carol takes Negan on a journey, hoping to minimize the increasing tension. Negan reflects on the events that led him to this point and comes to a conclusion about his future.

Director: Laura Belsey
Writer: David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick
Based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics, The Walking Dead is produced by AMC Studios and executive produced by Chief Content Officer Scott M. Gimple, Showrunner Angela Kang, Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, Dave Alpert, Greg Nicotero, Joseph Incaprera and Denise Huth.

How to tune in:
DSTV: 1265
Starsat: 132 on DTH, 71 on DTT (215 on DTT in Uganda)

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Fine Living Stops Airing Across Africa Through StarTimes (Starsat) And What Does It Imply?

Without notice Fine Living which is owned by Discovery Inc. (the company that handles channels such as Discovery Channel, TLC, HGTV, Food Network, Travel Channel, Real Time, Discovery Family and ID) has been removed from StarTimes across Africa.

This decision wasn't made by StarTimes but by Discovery Inc. themselves due to a "strategic alignment" meaning there could be more channels fading away from their portfolio.

In 2021, they'll be rolling out a new streaming service called Discovery+ carrying exclusive content while airing content from their other brands so this may be the cause for their decision.

My guess would be that Discovery will invest in less channels so if you had to look at their next victim(s) is likely going to be Travel Channel since the U.S. counterpart uses it for paranormal activity for which Discovery Channel/Family can manage or Food Network in an attempt to boost TLC and possibly Discovery Family lineup.

Saturday, December 19, 2020

January 2021 On Zoomoo Africa | OFFF | NAU | P: AAA

OWL’S FABULOUS FEATHERS FRIENDS
Premieres 05 January 2021
Every Tuesday at 11:00am (PH)
In conjuction with Bird Day
Join Owl and Lemur as they explore the bird world and meet some fabulous feather friends!

NUTS ABOUT YOU!
Premieres 21 January 2021
Every Thursday at 12:00pm (PH)
In conjuction with Squirrel Appreciation Day
Did you know that there are over 200 different species of squirrels? The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, flying squirrels and prairie dogs amongst otehr rodents. Find out more about these cute and cuddly tree dwellers on ZooMoo this January!

PIGLET’S AWESOME AUSTRALIAN ADVENTURE
Premieres 26 January 2021
Every Tuesday at 12:00pm (PH)
In conjuction with Australia Day

ZooMoo is available on DStv channel 314 and Zuku TV channel 630

January 2021 On Disney Channel Africa | Upside Down Magic | DCOM

UPSIDE-DOWN MAGIC
Movie premiere
Friday 29th January at 17:00

There is exciting news for Disney Channel viewers in the New Year: we are premiering a brand-new Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM), Upside-Down Magic, on Friday 29th January at 17:00.

When 13-year-old Nory discovers she can flux into animals, and her best friend Reina can manipulate flames, together they enter the Sage Academy for Magical Studies. Reina's expert ability to harness the power of fire lands her at the top of her class of "Flares," but Nory's wonky magic and proclivity for turning into a "Dritten" (a half-kitten, half-dragon)-lands her in a class for those with Upside-Down Magic, otherwise known as UDM. While Headmaster Knightslinger believes the UDM's unconventional powers leave them vulnerable to dangerous and evil "shadow magic," Nory and her fellow UDM classmates set out to prove that Upside-Down Magic beats right side up!

Brand-new DCOM Upside-Down Magic premieres on Friday 29th January at 17:00, as part of our Friday Movie Nights, on Disney Channel. Happy New Year!

DISNEY CHANNEL FRIDAY NIGHT MOVIES
Programming event
Fridays throughout January 2021 at 17:00

Disney Channel’s Friday treat for film fans continues into the New Year, with some great entertainment to celebrate the start of each weekend. There’s a marvellous movie every Friday at 17:00, repeated on Saturday at 10:40.

The fun starts with Cheetah Girls on New Year’s Day, (Friday 1st January), followed by Cheetah Girls 2 (Friday 8th January), Cloud 9 (Friday 15th January), The Swap (Friday 22nd January) and last of all our fabulous new DCOM Upside-Down Magic (Friday 29th January), all at 17:00.

In The Cheetah Girls (Friday 1st January at 17:00) four New York teens face the challenges of growing up as they dance and sing their way towards that elusive record deal. Raven stars alongside Adrienne Bailon, Kiely Williams, and Sabrina Bryan.

Viewers can see these great Disney movies on Fridays throughout January 2021 at 17:00, repeated on the following Saturday at 10:40, on Disney Channel.

Disney Channel is available on DStv channel 303

Disney Junior Africa Starts The New Year With A New Season Of Vampirina

Vampirina, Disney Junior viewers’ favourite young monster, is back to share even more of her monster-self with her human friends, inviting them on spooktacular adventures in her magical haunted house and throughout Transylvania. Season three of her adventures launches on the channel on Monday 11th January 2021 at 07:00, and continues with more premiere episodes on weekdays at the same time until Friday 22nd January.

In the two stories which make up the season launch episode, Weekly Normalness/Vampire's Luck (Monday 11th January at 07:00) when Edgar struggles with his new blog for the world wide cobweb, Vee, Gregoria and Demi help him come up with an idea. Then Nan gives Vee a good luck charm for her ballet performance.

Great news for fans of this “fang-tastic” show is that they have a second chance to see these brand new episodes back-to-back in a marathon block, on Saturday 16th and Sunday 24th January from 11:00 to 14:00.

Season three of Vampirina launches on Disney Junior on Monday 11th January 2021, and continues with premiere episodes on weekdays until Friday 22nd January, at 07:00.

Disney Junior is available on DStv channel 309