Reminder: Cartoonito USA, Latin America And Africa To Broadcast Cartoon Salon's Silly Sundays By Late 2023 To Early 2024

WarnerMedia Kids & Family has greenlit Silly Sundays from Cartoon Saloon for its new Cartoonito preschool block on HBO Max and Cartooon Network. Created by Oscar®-nominated producer Nuria González Blanco (Late Afternoon), the endearing animated series follows cousins Sonia, Hugo and Mel on fun, unexpected adventures at their family get-togethers. Silly Sundays will debut in 2023 before making its international debut in LATAM and EMEA.

The world of Silly Sundays brings us back to our family days together, when school and work are out for the week and there is nothing scheduled except spending time with family and friends. A feel-good comedy series, full of heart and deeply rooted in familial themes, everything centers around Sonia, Hugo, Mel, Mom, Dad and Granny as they create unforgettable memories together during their weekend gatherings. The stories focus on their ups, their downs and mostly their fun times as they embrace every little moment together.

From Paul Young, Cartoon Saloon co-founder and producer: “I would like to thank WarnerMedia Kids & Family for choosing to partner with us on Silly Sundays! We are so delighted to be reunited with their talented team again for this new show that is going to be very funny and sunny, just like it’s creator Nuria Blanco. I’d like to send our very special thanks to Amy Friedman, Adina Pitt and Zia Bales for all their support and for being such believers in our work.”

Adina Pitt, Vice President, Partnerships, Acquisitions and Co-Productions for the Americas, WarnerMedia Kids and Family added: “Cartoon Saloon is an esteemed studio that masterfully approaches storytelling with love and humanity, and Silly Sundays is another great example of how the beloved studio perfectly captures the essence of family bonding.”

Nuria will direct alongside Fabian Erlinghäuser (Dorg Van Dango, Wolfwalkers, The Breadwinner). The show is developed and produced with assistance from Fís Éirean/Screen Ireland and Creative Europe.

Cartoon Saloon Brand Development will handle ancillary and merchandising and once again Cartoon Saloon will partner with Superights (Puffin Rock) for sales outside the WarnerMedia regions.

The series is currently in production at Cartoon Saloon’ studio in Kilkenny, Ireland. In addition to airing on Cartoonito across U.S., LATAM and EMEA, RTE will also broadcast Silly Sundays in Ireland.

NBA Finals To Broadcast Live On ESPN Across Africa

ESPN Africa today announced that it will be broadcasting all of the 2023 NBA Final games, live across the African continent. Showcasing the highest level of professional basketball in the world, this year’s finals will see the Denver Nuggets go up against the Miami Heat, with the action being broadcast live on ESPN from Friday 2 June 2023 at 02:00 (CAT).  

The Miami Heat closed out a nail-biting Eastern Conference finals series against the Boston Celtics with a Game 7 win on Monday night and will face the Denver Nuggets in their quest to hold up the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy for the fourth time in the league’s history, with three previous wins under their belt. The eighth-seeded Heat are just the second No. 8 seed team in NBA history to appear in the Finals.

The Denver Nuggets, who are appearing in the NBA Finals for the very first time, completed a sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in their lead up to this point. Making good on their billing at the top seed in the Western Conference, featuring superstars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, Denver have yet to lose a game at home this postseason.

The NBA Finals follows a "best of 7" format, where the first team to win four games out of the seven played is crowned as the champion. Should a winner not have been reached in the first four games, play will extend for an additional one or three games.

While the live broadcast of the NBA Final games will enable basketball enthusiasts to enjoy the games live at 02:00 or 02:30 (CAT), depending on the game, an additional broadcast will take place at 8:00 AM, with additional repeats at 11:00, 15:00 and 20:00 to provide viewers in regular viewing times more options to enjoy the sport. Now with extended reach through recently being made available on the DStv Compact packages, ESPN Africa will ensure that even more basketball enthusiasts across Africa have access to comprehensive coverage, including pre-game analysis, in-depth interviews, and captivating behind-the-scenes content, allowing fans to immerse themselves in the excitement and exhilaration of the games.

“ESPN Africa's commitment to delivering high-quality sports content extends to the NBA Finals games, providing viewers across the continent with an unrivalled viewing experience and the opportunity to witness basketball greatness unfold in real-time,” said Kyle De Klerk, Director: Sports of Africa at the Walt Disney Company Africa. “ESPN Africa continues to showcase its dedication to bringing the best sporting events to audiences across Africa, and we are looking forward to an exhilarating NBA Finals 2023” he added.

Basketball fans across Africa can stay updated regarding the NBA Conference Final games and other sports news by following @ESPNAfrica on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or visiting https://www.espn.com/. 

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NOTES TO EDITORS

How to tune in to ESPN:

ESPN: DStv 218, Starsat 248 
ESPN2: DStv 219, Starsat 249

NBA 2023 Finals schedule:

Game
Date
Live Broadcast
Repeat Broadcast

NBA Finals Game 1
02-06-2023
02:30:00
02-06-2023 at 8:00, 11:00, 15:00 and 20:00

NBA Finals Game 2
05-06-2023
02:00:00
05-06-2023 at 8:00
11:00, 15:00 and 20:00

NBA Finals Game 3
08-06-2023
02:30:00
08-06-2023 at 8:00
11:00, 15:00 and 20:00

NBA Finals Game 4
10-06-2023
02:30:00
10-06-2023 at 8:00
11:00, 15:00 and 20:00

NBA Finals Game 5 *if necessary
13-06-2023
02:30:00
13-06-2023 at 8:00
11:00, 15:00 and 20:00

NBA Finals Game 6 *if necessary
16-06-2023
02:30:00
16-06-2023 at 8:00
11:00, 15:00 and 20:00

NBA Finals Game 7 (if necessary)
19-06-2023
02:00:00
19-06-2023 at 8:00
11:00, 15:00 and 20:00

All times are stated in CAT / SAST.
Schedule subject to change

StarSat To Implement Another Price Increase Effective 15 June

During the year, MultiChoice increased prices for several of their products (excluding DStv Easyview) with AddMovies taking a pay cut. At the time, StarSat announced a 0% increase to their services meaning consumers can enjoy more content at the same price.

Some of the channels to have rolled out on the platform during the year include Kartoon Channel (replacement for DreamWorks), FilmBox Action (replacement for FOX), CBS Reality and Justice (replacement for Discovery Family, Real Time and Investigation Discovery).

StarSat taking to account the invasion of the Ukraine and SA's allegations of weapon supply to Russia have implemented another price increase despite earlier promises for a 0% increase with Max (R360p/m), Super (R250p/m) and Special (R130p/m) from 15 June.

In a recent survey, it was revealed that 18% of consumers who participated are cutting back on necessities like DStv due to load shedding, unemployment and inflation, and with the news consumers are likely to abandon the platform if they hadn't done it sooner.

As to whether MultiChoice will implement another price increase will likely reflect these factors in the next fiscal year which will conclude in March 2025. They could be more channel changes awaiting consumers in the meantime on top of the rollout of new channels.

In which StarSat alongside free-to-view rival eMedia Investments is looking to rollout before March 2024.

More Repeats Coming Soon To The Openview Platform??? As Beef! And Dare Lie To Me Were Scheduled To Air On e.tv

Not to be mistaken with eKasi: Our Stories much less eKasi+, eKasi is a programming block on eReality that eMedia Investments use for original productions like Beef! or Pay Back The Money alongside other content like Date My Family or Our Perfect Wedding.

Since 2022, eMedia Investments has been working on building their original slate which led to the decline of international content on e.tv as they want to reshape the channel to better compete with brands like SABC 1 and Mzansi Magic which seen success for such content.

e.tv is shaping up to become another SABC 1 which too has seen a lot of rebroadcasts (such as The Estate) build their lineup or in e.tv's case Kuiertyd and eNCA.

During the month, eMedia Investments reshuffled primetime having shows like Devi and Checkpoint air on Sunday with repeats throughout the week to compliment The Last Word With Shahan Ramkissoon and these changes caught viewers by surprise.

From the looks of the channel's EPG, these changes kind of seemed rushed as they have the ABC comedy, The Goldbergs listed under the channel. For those not viewing on Openview, the international lineup on e.tv was supplemented by eXposed.

Anyways as I'm looking, I noticed e.tv has Beef! and Dare To Lie Me scheduled for 11 June. The only problem is Devi is airing where Beef! would be seen with CrimeWatch in Dare To Lie Me's timeslot. All of this kind of proves my point these changes were rushed.

It's not surprising to see these shows on the channel considering how much airtime is latched onto eExtra's Kuiertyd as well as the local series and films produced by eVOD. It was only a matter of time as this content costs them a lot of money and e.tv gives them exposure.

Considering that the week these series were slated to air has The Goldbergs it's likely to be phased out alongside the sitcom. But if I had to guess, it will probably air in the timeslot used by My Wife Rules which is 1 hour and the individual series 30 minutes.

Development Alert: LM Radio And TransAfrica Radio Stop Airing On The Openview Platform

LM Radio, a Mozambican based radio station catering to the oldies with hits from the 50s and 80s alongside the youth centric TransAfrica celebrating pop culture and featuring content for the trendsetters become the next channels to get culled from the Openview platform.

LM Radio was added on the Openview platform in February 2015 serving as one of the few radio stations on the platform while as TransAfrica Radio was introduced alongside eMovies Extra in October 2016.

Openview doesn't mention why these channels have been switched off but recommend consumers to their 25+ regional stations (19 of which are operated by the public broadcaster). Although, these brands are no longer on the platform it remains on DStv.

In eMedia Investments' annual report, they announced plans to rollout a few more channels in the current fiscal year alongside new decoders which would come with more memory and WI-FI capabilities. They recently launched 4 channels under the pay tier, Ultraview.

Openview added 513 840 activations, taking the total activations to just shy of 3.2 million and this doesn't include Ultraview. eMedia did not say how many of those who have activated set-top boxes remain current viewers of the platform same goes.

News Shorts: The New Series SuperKitties Makes Its Highly Anticipated Debut On Disney Junior Africa Alongside Hamster And Gretel On Disney Channel Africa, My Desire Shortened To 30 Minutes This June In Favour Of Timeless Love And History Channel To Cease Transmission In Russia

More kiddies entertainment for DStv customers

SUPERKITTIES
FROM 1 JUNE AT 08:00
DISNEY JUNIOR
Ginny, Sparks, Buddy and Bitsy are not only cute and cuddly kittens, but are also brave, smart, strong and kind, and turn into SuperKitties when trouble arises.

HAMSTER & GRETEL
FROM 16 JUNE AT 15:15
DISNEY CHANNEL
Gifted with amazing superpowers, Gretel and her pet hamster decide to join hands with her teenage brother to protect their city from evil supervillains.

My Desire to lose a half hour

As mentioned earlier in the year, Star Life has halved most of their primetime series with Lost In Love and Anupama currently on air for 30 minutes (21 minutes if you're avoiding the ads). Reason being they want to these soaps to collide with the current offering in India.

During the month, Star Life unveiled the Star Bharat original, Timeless Love (Na Umra Ki Seema Ho) a story about a couple with an age gap who have to fight tooth and nail in order to be together.

As seen through an updated programme guide, Timeless Love will air for an hour (42 minutes if you're avoiding ads) from June 1st to June 4th at 19:30 to 20:30 meaning My Desire will be getting the short end of the stick in a 30 minute timeslot.

History is the next international channel to depart Russia

Following Russia's invasion to the Ukraine, several international outlets such as The Walt Disney Company, Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery had opted to retract their services within the region with Russia Today being phased out from international outlets.

A+E Networks, being one of the few international outlets to offer their services within the regions with History and H2 had announced their termination across Bulgaria with H2 that went dark during the week with History expected to follow by the end of June.

History is still available in Italy, Portugal, Germany, Spain, UK and Ireland, Asia, India and South Africa.

Review: The Dominance Of Bollywood, Turkwood And More On The Openview Platform

Openview is a free-to-view platform owned by eMedia Investments that is currently available in over 3 million households offering a range of reality shows, drama series, movies, telenovelas, cartoons and so much more.

Since the rollout of the pay-tv tier to the platform, Ultraview offering content from India with Zee Family and Star Select as well as LGBTQ and youth oriented content from OUTtv and FUSE. eMedia Investments ranks as one of the most diverse brands out there.

For those using Openview, it's no secret that the red brand has caught the love bug for two markets Istanbul (Turkwood) following the success of Kuiertyd which has contributed a lot for eExtra's primetime and further bolstered the offering on e.tv and ePlesier.

The second is their love for Bolly with 2 dedicated channels and a programming block on eExtra with another 2 channels on Ultraview. eMedia Investments is currently sitting with 4 channels and a part timer with Turkwood sharing content amongst 3 brands.

In hindsight, Openview's Bollywood offering helps cutback on rebroadcasts unlike eExtra's Kuiertyd which has seen doppelgangers on e.tv and ePlesier. The same could be said about the public broadcaster SABC 1-3 and Sport channels which has done content sharing.

But unlike Zee One and Star Life, eMedia's channels offers more timeslots for other content from movies, reality shows, cartoons and more versus Bollywood dramas and 2-4 hour weekly movie slot again it's the variety that counts in this scenario.

For those who've skipping out on Anupama or Imlie due to unforeseeable circumstances, take into account such content has been limited across the Openview platform leaving space for more variety or in this case eExtra's Dayan, Destructive Beauty and Naagin.

If you feel that Openview has more Indian channels take to account the locals SABC 1, SABC 2, SABC 3, e.tv, SA Music, People's Weather and SABC Sport which contributes to our point there's more local than Bolly on the Openview platform.

The only challenge is that consumers are being feed more of the same thing as mentioned Dayan Destructive Beauty and Naagin or Doodsondes and Soete Wraak on eExtra which isn't entirely bad but one could learn from e.tv's incorporation of variety.

New Series Alert: His Mistress's Child Coming Soon To Zee World

Zee World, a general entertainment channel operated by Zee Entertainment Enterprises home to various English dubbed Bollywood movies and series will be rolling out a new family drama from its Hindi counterpart &TV, His Mistress's Child (Doosari Maa).

Synopsis for His Mistress's Child:

His Mistress's Child is the story of a woman living in Uttar Pradesh with her husband, two daughters and in-laws. Her happy, peaceful family life comes to a screeching halt when she and her husband unknowingly adopt his illegitimate child. The show captures the lead protagonist Yashoda's journey of coming to terms with her husband’s past and her conflicted, rocky relationship with her stepson.

Neha Joshi and Aayudh Bhanushali are the main cast in the serial. Nidhi Uttam, Mohit Dagga, Anita Pradhan, and Sunil Dutt play the supporting roles.

Since it's launch on &TV in September 2022, His Mistress's Child has managed to produce over 100 episodes with more currently in production. It's unknown how many episodes would be made available on Zee World as seen with Radha Mohan and Aparajita.

His Mistress's Child will be rolling out on Zee World in the coming months. No word on which feed of the channel will be airing it first but the show joins the list of other ongoing shows in the market including Anupama, My Desire, Unfortunate Love and Twist Of Fate.

Envision Racing And Cartoon Network EMEA Join Forces To Help Kids Become Climate Champions!

Envision Racing, the leading Formula E race team and Cartoon Network EMEA, Warner Bros. Discovery’s number one animated series network, have announced a new partnership to engage children and young people in the Race Against Climate Change™.

Cartoon Network EMEA will work alongside Envision Racing to create awareness of the global issue of electric waste through joint marketing campaigns, promotions, and gamification. This comes as annual electronic waste production is on track to reach a staggering 75 million tonnes by 2030 and includes items such as mobile phones, laptops, MP3 players, plugs and batteries.

Opportunities for participation include the Recover-E-Waste to Race competition, where kids can learn how to design and build a mini–Formula E race car using e-waste, with prize winners being showcased at the London Formula E-Prix on 29 July.

Cartoon Network’s Climate Champions initiative empowers and inspires children to act and help the environment. Kids aged 6-12 can become Climate Champions by taking up daily challenges and making a world of difference together.

With the help of beloved characters from hit shows that include The Amazing World of Gumball and Craig of the Creek, children can complete tasks and create real, tangible change in their lives while contributing to a community driving sustainability globally.

Since its launch in June 2021, more than 1.5 million challenges have been accepted worldwide and this number continues to grow daily.

Sylvain Filippi, Managing Director and CTO at Envision Racing said: “Envision Racing exists to engage fans and the public on the urgency of the climate crisis with the Race Against Climate Change™ at the centre of our activity. As well as testing new battery technology for cars, we are on a mission to tackle e-waste and to help build a circular economy for electric vehicles. This partnership is an incredible opportunity to engage children and young people in the creation of a sustainable future. We’re excited to be working with Cartoon Network to inspire action across the world and can’t wait to get started.”

Monika Oomen, VP Brand, Communications and Digital Content Strategy, Kids EMEA at Warner Bros. Discovery: “E-waste is an incredibly important issue, but we don’t pay enough attention to it. Through our strategic collaboration with Envision Racing, we want to raise awareness amongst kids and help educate them about how they can play a part in reducing it. We’re delighted to partner with Envision Racing because this will help open up to kids a whole new sporting environment and a world where they are even more empowered to impact the planet positively. Together, we can make a world of difference. We look forward to extending our Cartoon Network Climate Champions campaign to equipping kids with the tools to tackle electronic waste in their lives."

FIA Formula E World Championship is the only sport to be certified net zero carbon since inception and has been independently ranked and recognised as the most sustainable sport in the world by the Global Sustainability Benchmark in Sports.

In addition to being the all-time leading points scorers in Formula E, Envision Racing also has a leadership position for sustainability. Its Race Against Climate Change™ program is inspiring and empowering fans and the wider public to take climate action, using Formula E’s platform, Envision Racing aims to make electric mobility and renewable energy a global reality.