Entertainment Inside Us (Insidus)

Last month, I did a story about Showmax and how rumours had swirled around that MultiChoice was looking to separate it from DStv with some talks expanding further to a possible sale. Canal+ is looking to acquire the pay-tv company and merge their operations. As some already know, Canal+ is a foreign entity and there's various legal hurdles they'll have to overcome before claiming victory. Since then, they've continued acquiring additional shares and this may a reason and in part it could have to do with its other assets. MultiChoice isn't the first pay-tv company they sought after as there was Orange SA's film and TV division alongside M7 Group in parts of Europe. The main reason this may prove to be a challenge in Africa has to do with MultiChoice's dominance.  SuperSport had become the leading destination for sports in Africa and often this had led to legal disputes with various broadcasters such as eMedia Investments. Canal+ is also a monopoly i

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

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

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  Armand

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 audi

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

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

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 new

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