New Series Alert: Digman! Coming Soon To Comedy Central And Paramount+ Africa

Anticipated to rollout in the market later in the year, Paramount+ is set to join existing streamers such as Netflix, Showmax, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+ featuring a lineup of exclusive original content from MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.

Although a date has yet to be announced, Paramount+ and Comedy Central have begun marketing the animated sitcom, Digman! featuring Andy Samberg of The Lonely Island. Of course, Paramount+ isn't present in the press release released by MultiChoice Africa.

Taking the timeframe to account, Paramount+ is likely to rollout in the coming months as pictured above. On top of that, it's likely going to rollout on a region by region basis as seen with BritBox and Disney+ as mentioned Paramount+ is absent from the press release.

Paramount+ is likely to be made available on MultiChoice's DStv Explora Ultra joining streamers such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Universal+ (through the DStv App) and Disney+.

Press release

Comedy Central announces guest line-up for Andy Samberg-led adult animated series starring Maya Rudolph, Jason Schwartzman, Daniel Radcliffe and more.

The series will premiere in on Saturday, 17 June, at 22:00 CAT.

Digman! is the first series written and produced by Emmy® and Golden Globe® winning actor and producer Andy Samberg (Palm Springs), along with co-creator and showrunner Neil Campbell (Brooklyn Nine-Nine).

“We are thrilled to be adding Digman! to the Comedy Central line-up. Andy Samberg has a unique way of delivering comedy that resonates with all audiences of all types of humour. It’s one we have long had our eyes on, and we know it will not disappoint in the market,” says Dillon Khan, Vice President Comedy Central Africa.

The half-hour animated episodes are set in a world where archaeologists are massive celebrities and the coolest people on the planet, with Samberg providing the voice of the protagonist, Rip Digman. In addition to the previously announced principal cast, the show will feature guest performances from Clancy Brown, Andy Daly, Cole Escola, Harvey Guillén, Kirby, Marc Evan Jackson, Rachel Kaly, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Lauren Lapkus, Jane Lynch, Mike Mitchell, Kyle Mooney, Claudia O’Doherty, Lennon Parham, Daniel Radcliffe, Maya Rudolph, Paul Rust, Jason Schwartzman, Carl Tart, Joe Lo Truglio, and Edgar Wright.

The impressive guest lineup will join Samberg and the principal cast which includes Mitra Jouhari (Three Busy Debras), Tim Robinson (I Think You Should Leave), Dale Soules (Orange Is The New Black), Guz Khan (Our Flag Means Death), Melissa Fumero (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and Tim Meadows (The Goldbergs).

The series is created by Andy Samberg and Neil Campbell and produced by CBS Studios alongside Ali Bell and The Lonely Island’s Party Over Here banner. Titmouse will Executive Produce, with their own Chris Prynoski, Shannon Prynoski, Antonio Canobbio and Ben Kalina.

Digman! joins MTV Entertainment’s growing arsenal of adult animation, including Everybody Still Hates Chris, a reimagined animated version of superstar Chris Rock's popular award-winning family show Everybody Hates Chris; Jodie, a film spin-off of MTV’s iconic Daria franchise with Tracee Ellis Ross in the titular role along with the award-winning South Park franchise, and the critically lauded Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head series and film Beavis & Butt-Head Do the Universe.

Be the first to catch this hilarious show and tune into Comedy Central (DStv channel 122) on Saturday, 17 June, at 22:00 CAT.

Development Alert: More Nicktoons Coming Soon To Nickelodeon Africa With Best & Bester And The Adventures Of Sammy & Raj

During the year, the repeat studded Nicktoons by Paramount Global unveiled two new series, The Adventures Of Sammy & Raj and Best & Bester. This was the first in several months that the brand had recieved any fresh content following its snoozefest in 2022.

Synopsis for The Adventures Of Sammy & Raj:

The series follows the reality-bending adventures of a pair of cousin-brothers, Sammy and Raj, as they pause, rewind, fast-forward, and slow-motion their way into a whole host of rowdy laugh-out-loud exploits with a mysterious time-altering app at their fingertips.

Nickelodeon International teamed up with Nickelodeon India, a part of Viacom18 that is a joint venture between Paramount Global and Network18, to co-produce The Twisted Timeline of Sammy & Raj making it the first collaboration between both parties.

Synopsis for Best & Bester:

Best & Bester is a buddy comedy about two friends who can transform themselves into whatever they want, once per day — but figuring out what’s the best thing to be can be pretty tricky when you can be anything. Catered for 7 to 11 year olds, it takes the idea of choices and comparisons to ridiculous heights.

The series was produced by Giggle Entertainment who previously worked on 101 Dalmatian Street which was basically a revival to the 101 Dalmatian franchise for Disney Channels in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

After several months, both series are slated to air on Nickelodeon later in July. For a while now, this has been a norm for Paramount to take the channel's very few premier shows and have reruns and further episodes made available to Nickelodeon.

We've been saying this for a while now it's better the brand merges with Nickelodeon as there's isn't much left to explore that you wouldn't find on the main channel. It's weird how the channel is regarded premium in various African markets if the only thing original is NickMusic.

AMC International And Paramount Global Are Relaunching CBS Justice In United Kingdom As True Crime By The End Of 2023, Will The Same Be Happening For CBS Justice In Africa At Some Point?

AMC International and Paramount Global will be reviving CBS Justice in the UK later in the year as a streaming service under Amazon Freevee. This comes after the channel was shuttered last year as the parties were reviewing their offering for consumers in the region.

True Crime UK is set to launch on more major platforms later in the year, with a slate of shows currently seen on CBS Reality internationally (and CBS Justice in Africa) including Evidence of Evil, Murder Wall, Donal MacIntyre Unsolved and Medical Detectives.

Despite having resounding resemblance to to the defunct Sony Crime operated by Sony Pictures Television which too was known as True Crime. The channels are operated by different parties with AMC International opting to use "From CBS Reality" as to not avoid confusion.

Tanya Gugenheim, SVP, business development, AMC Networks International – UK said, “We’re thrilled to launch True Crime UK from CBS Reality on Amazon Freevee and Rakuten TV. Expanding our factual entertainment content into the FAST space underscores the demand for our acclaimed true crime programming and will enable us to share it with a huge new audience.”

During the year, CBS Justice expanded their footprint in the African market on StarTimes' StarSat platform alongside CBS Reality. Since spinning off CBS Reality into a second channel back in November 2019, CBS Justice has been garnering popularity to factual lovers.

As mentioned, CBS Justice's days in Africa could be numbered or at least the brand name as True Crime is just a digital duplicate. On top of that, AMC International UK manages brands like CBS Reality, JimJam and the already mentioned CBS Justice in Africa.

Recap To Last Year: The Racing Partnership And The Via Duplicate Channel Likely Scrapped On DStv As Seen With BBC UKTV On Openview

Last year, MultiChoice and BBC Studios unveiled the general entertainment channel, BBC UKTV. It features drama series and game shows from BBC Brit alongside lifestyle and factual content from BBC Lifestyle and BBC Earth and kiddies entertainment from CBeebies.

Before it's rollout on the pay-tv platform, plans were underway for the channel to make its free-to-air debut on eMedia Investments' Openview platform. For unknown reasons, those plans fell through as the red brand and BBC Studios remain silent on the channel.

During that year, MultiChoice had conducted tests on additional channel to Media24's Via which has seen a boost in popularity following its induction back in 2015. The channel similar to the already mentioned BBC UKTV would supply existing content to more DStv customers.

Another channel which was also in development was a possible rival to 4Racing TV's Racing240, The Racing Partnership. It is described as the exclusive betting shop to which all of the owners Arena Racing's content is delivered to bookmakers.

Although no official name was given to this duplicate channel, the channel's 24 hour lineup was available to browse at the time while The Racing Partnership only had this test card pictured above.

TNT Novelas Expands To More Parts Of Latin America, Kills Off TBS

During the year, Turner Network Television, Inc. a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery had trademarked a new brand, TNT Novelas. The channel rolled out in place of TNT Series which had since then inherited a number of soap operas from Turkey and Colombia.

As seen through various pay-tv outlets, the general entertainment channel TBS similar to family brand Boomerang earlier in the year in parts of Europe is being phased out for a more productive brand, TNT Novelas.

Sources site the cutback of original programming on TNT, Cartoon Network and TBS in the United States as one of the contributing factors of TNT Novelas which is expected to takeover the TBS brand name across Latin America (including Brazil) from June 26.

Another being the newly launched Max streaming service in which Warner Bros. Discovery is prioritising the original programming and leaving brands like Cartoon Network to promote the existing batch of content from the streaming service.

In other developments, Warner Bros. Discovery has been phasing out TNT across Europe for Warner TV. Of course, the TNT brand name was revived as a sports channel in the UK on top of that these changes have yet to take affect in the African market.

Everyday Novelas Shorts: Doodsondes Season 5 And Season 6 Confirmed For eExtra, Love To Death To Rollout On Galaxy Television And Land Of Passions To Debut On Telemundo Africa's Passionistas Group In The Coming Months

More Doodsondes coming soon to Openview

During the year, it was announced that the popular FOX series, Doodsondes (Yasak Elma) will be returning for a fifth season later in the year. In a recent interview, it was also revealed that production had begun on season 6 hinting at a back-to-back rollout.

Doodsondes premiered on eExtra in 2019 and after a few seasons it moved to e.tv. The upcoming seasons are currently listed under eExtra but considering the brand is dubbed Turkwood they might as well be referring to e.tv.

Upcoming shows for eExtra include Ramo, Chrysalis and Annekan Die Swa Kry.

Another yet to be seen TLNovelas original is launching on Galaxy TV

Galaxy TV, a private owned television channel situated in Nigeria had acquired rights to Mexican drama Amar A Muerte (Love To Death). It stars Angelique Boyer, Michel Brown, Alejandro Nones, Arturo Barba, Claudia Martín, Macarena Achaga and Henry Zakka.

The heart is deceitful and more often than not we live believing that we have everything around us under control. This is exactly the case of media mogul Leon Carvajal who thinks he has the perfect life but Lady Death proves to him otherwise when he dies and comes back in a different body only to realize everything around him is in rambles.

A classic Telemundo original to debut on the Passionistas Group

Telemundo, a general entertainment channel owned by NBCUniversal that is home to variety of telenovelas in Latin America had rolled out in the African market by 2013. Unlike fellow competitors TLNovelas, the channel has yet to relive the early 2000s.

But due to a poll held sometime ago, this dream is about to become a reality or at least through their Passionistas Group on Facebook as the classic Tierra De Pasiones (Land Of Passions) will begin streaming on the group from July 26th with English subtitles.

It follows the stormy life of the beautiful Valeria San Román who is full of secrets and disappointments, only her indomitable character gives her the strength to face her enemies, and even her own family, and give love a chance with the appearance of Francisco Contreras.

Regular Nick Shorts: Super Team 4 To Rollout On Netflix, Johnny Bravo's Dragonball Segment Has Surfaced The Net And Showmax Acquired Broadcasting To Berry And The Big City

Netflix to rollout new African animated series

Netflix, the world’s leading streaming entertainment service, has announced that it will debut its first African animated series, Supa Team 4, on 20 July 2023. The series was created by Zambian writer Malenga Mulendema and produced by South Africa’s Triggerfish Animation Studios.

Supa Team 4 is a superhero comedy series that follows four teen girls living in the neo-futuristic African city of Lusaka. When they’re recruited by a retired secret agent still committed to saving the world, they have to balance their secret identities and fighting supervillains with homework and the everyday challenges of being teenagers.

The series features a diverse cast of characters and explores themes of friendship, teamwork, and empowerment. It is a groundbreaking series that will appeal to audiences of all ages.

Johnny Bravo and DBZ crossover has surfaced the net

A crossover between the Cartoon Network program Johnny Bravo and the highly influential anime series Dragon Ball Z previously thought to have been lost has resurfaced on YouTube.

The meeting between the programs took place as part of the JBVO: Your All Request Cartoon Show programming block, which aired from 2000 until 2001.

The block was hosted by Bravo, who was voiced by Jeff Bennett, and the fictional character would introduce and play various cartoon segments from Cartoon Network's archive that were requested by viewers.

Strawberry Shortcake is getting more love

Toronto-based WildBrain has closed several broadcast sales for 2D-animated series Berry in the Big City (120 x four minutes), as well as signing new licensing partners for the Strawberry Shortcake consumer products program.

Portuguese/Spanish preschool channel Canal Panda has acquired the first three seasons of the 2D-animated series, along with four 44-minute seasonal specials, with French AVOD platforms TFOU MAX and MYTFI and Polish preschool net MiniMini+ picking up seasons one and two, and Paramount’s AVOD Pluto TV, Africa’s SVOD Showmax and LA-based AVOD Kanopy buying just the first season.

Afrikaans Voice Actors For Roekeloos Dade, Annekan Die Swa Kry And Ramo

Roekeloos Dade (Hayat Sarkisi)
Roberto Kyle as Kerim Cevher
Rene Cloete as Hülya Çamoglu
Melanie Scholtz as Melek
Pierre Nelson as Hüseyin Cevher
Margit Meyer-Rödenbeck as Süheyla Cevher
Anja Taljaard as Filiz
Dee Theart as Nilay
Helena Baard as Bade Cevher
Chante Crainger as Ceylan
Liande Valentyn as Nürgul

Annekan Die Swa Kry (Kardeslerim)
Melissa De Vries as Sengül
Megan Spencer as Nebahat
Richard Van Die Westhuizen as Akif Aktul
Talitta Jameson as Asiye
John Koopman as Ogulcan
Marunzo Thomas as Kadir
Curtley Pitt as Mazlum
Anna Louise Bischoff as Harika
Zaan Du Toit as Suzan
Melissa Myburgh as Melisa
Christian Schoeman as Berk
Hunter Plaatjies as Aybike Eren

Ramo
Hein De Vries as Ramo
Veronique Jephtas as Sibel
Keenan Herman as Alpay
Christian Bennett as Kasak
Anrich Herbst as Yavuz
Craig Adriaanse as Sakik
Jacques Theron as Hale
Grace Pienaar as Neslihan
Abdurgaman Adams as Süleyman
Jill Levenberg as Kerimak
Sanchia Davids as Afet
Hein Poole as Bücür
Rushney Ferguson as Fatos
Basil Appolis as Ismail
Maria Van Die Almeida as Cavidan
Jurgen McEwan as Docak
Nethanel Swartz as Arap
Celeste Matthews as Sebanat
André Samuels as Durdu

Recap To The Month: Showmax Acquired Broadcasting Rights To Berry And The Big City

Toronto-based WildBrain has closed several broadcast sales for 2D-animated series Berry in the Big City (120 x four minutes), as well as signing new licensing partners for the Strawberry Shortcake consumer products program.

Portuguese/Spanish preschool channel Canal Panda has acquired the first three seasons of the 2D-animated series, along with four 44-minute seasonal specials, with French AVOD platforms TFOU MAX and MYTFI and Polish preschool net MiniMini+ picking up seasons one and two, and Paramount’s AVOD Pluto TV, Africa’s SVOD Showmax and LA-based AVOD Kanopy buying just the first season.

Meanwhile, WildBrain CPLG is moving Strawberry Shortcake into the spotlight with a series of strategic licensing deals. In addition to the iconic character being Funko-ized in the collectibles category, A Leading Role has signed up for costumes, SkinnyDip for phone cases and Diamond Art Club for crafts.

Houston-based cosmetics company Hunnideux will also create character-inspired make-up palettes for the US market, with Florida’s Little Bird Bamboo releasing matching “mommy & me” apparel sets, and American clothing retailer Hot Topic launching a new Strawberry Shortcake collection spanning apparel, accessories and footwear.

The Strawberry Shortcake franchise is experiencing a new surge in popularity, according to The Insights Family. During the last quarter, the UK-based research firm ranked Strawberry Shortcake as the sixth most popular character with kids ages six to nine in the US, putting it ahead of the likes of Harry Potter, SpongeBob SquarePants and Barbie.