JimJam ME(Africa) Is Mostly About Curious George In April 2020

CURIOUS GEORGE S8-9
The tale of Curious George is sweet and basic. George, an African
monkey, is being raised by the Man in the Yellow Hat. The Man in the Yellow Hat tries very hard to care for George, however, complications frequently occur, typically George's naivety and curiosity get him and others into trouble.…
6:44; 10:32 AM CET
2:34; 6:21 PM CET
EVERY DAY from 1 APRIL 2020

CURIOUS GEORGE: BACK TO THE JUNGLE
Curious George goes on an epic adventure to space that crash lands in the jungles of Africa leading to an unforgettable journey
with some new animal friends.
12:09 PM CET Saturday
4. APRIL 2020

CURIOUS GEORGE: SWINGS INTO SPRING
You know it must be springtime if a curious monkey named George is dancing on the balcony at sunrise! The Man with the Yellow Hat is sure that George has Spring Fever. “What’s Spring?” George asks.
Well there is only one way to find out! The Man takes George to the park to experience all the wonders of Spring.
12:09 AM CET Sunday
5. APRIL 2020

CURIOUS GEORGE: FOLLOW THAT MONKEY
The world’s most beloved and inquisitive monkey is back in Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey, the fun-filled sequel to the hit animated movie. Join Curious George and The Man with the Yellow Hat as they set out on a madcap cross-country adventure to reunite Kayla, a homesick elephant, with her family. This unlikely trio faces all types of comic calamities and colorful characters and in the end learn that with family, friends and determination you can achieve anything.
12:09 AM CET Saturday
25. APRIL 2020

MAKE WAY FOR NODDY 3X
FIFI AND THE FLOWERTOTS S1-S2 3X
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY
from 9:00 – 10:00 AM CET

MOVIE BLOCK - EVERY SATURDAY AND SUNDAY 12:09 PM CET

LEARN SOMETHING NEW TODAY! EDUCATION BLOCK
EVERY DAY
8:04-9:00 AM; 4:04-5:00 PM CET
Caillou – 1 episode
Entertaining misadventures of a four year old boy named Caillou, where each day he
discovers something new and interesting with his mommy, daddy, and Rosie. Between Caillou segments are segments featuring Caillou's pet cat Gilbert, Caillou's teddy bear Teddy, and Caillou's toy dinosaur, Rexy, in puppet form. S1 26X22’

Guess How Much I Love You – 2 episodes
This award winning series is set in the timeless watercolour landscape of mossy forests, lazy rivers and sunny meadows that is the idyllic home of Little Nutbrown Hare and his father, Big Nutbrown Hare. Charming and educational stories of friendship, family values and adventures of lovely animals.S1 52X12’

Say It With Noddy – 2 episodes
These series introduces children to a variety of languages by highlighting words or phrases from Make Way For Noddy that are familiar to children and part of their everyday lives. S1 100X2’

Coming Soon To Da Vinci Kids Africa

Matilda and the Ramsay Bunch
Saturday 21 March at 16:00 (premiered)
The show follows the daughter of renowned chef Gordon Ramsay, as the family heads off on their summer holidays in Los Angeles for an unforgettable summer. Matilda cooks her way through the very best of US and British dishes whilst blogging along the way for the CBBC website, adding her own unique twists to the food.

ScienceXplosion
TBA
In this exciting new STEM series, ScienceXplosion magician, scientist, and total funster, Eric, is back - guided by his good friend VOX - to help viewers navigate the science-filled world!
In 45 x 3:30-minute entertaining and funny shorts, Eric introduces new STEM-based concepts, and demos some fantastic, easy DIY experiments for children ages 6-8.

PinCode
TBA
PinCode is an animated STEM series that's a spinoff of the popular Russian Kikoriki (aka GoGoRiki) franchise. The colorful cast of the original show, including Wally the ram, Carlin the crow, Dokko the golden moose, Rosa the pig, Olga the owl, Barry the bear, and Krash the rabbit, are all grown up. Together they join their friend Pin, a German penguin who happens to be a self-taught inventor, on all sorts of adventures to learn about the world around them. While some of the characters occasionally cause mischief, or don't make the wisest decisions, they always come around in the end.

The Treehouse Stories
TBA
centered on a group of children who meet up in their secret treehouse to share their favorite books with each other. Each episode brings viewers into a new story animated with a distinct, illustrative style, inspired by a different popular children’s book from around the world. The series is directed by Célia Rivière.

Toonami Coming Soon To DStv

MultiChoice is adding a brand new kids’ channel, Toonami, to its bouquet. The channel, which is dedicated to superhero cartoons, is a new addition to Turner’s current children’s entertainment offering.

Toonami will launch from 29 or 30 March to DStv Compact customers strengthening the DStv family viewing programming line-up, while simultaneously boosting Turner’s kids’ entertainment bouquet in these markets.

Toonami, the home of superheroes, targets 6 to 12 years old children and super-hero fans of all ages with its 24-hour programming line-up, jam-packed with top-rated adventure and action series. The introduction of Toonami reinforces Turner’s portfolio of successful kids’ channels that includes Cartoon Network and Boomerang across the continent, both also available on DStv.

Available exclusively on MultiChoice's DStv across Sub-Saharan Africa, Toonami is the go-to destination for superheroes enthusiasts of all ages. Family and kids will enjoy uninterrupted hours of high-quality shows, specially packaged for African audiences through MultiChoice's DStv as well as DStv Now platform.

From March 29, subscribers will dive into the fantastic world of DC Comics’ ‘Batman’, ‘Superman’, ‘The Green Lantern’ and ‘The Justice League’. Other popular children’s superheroes loved by young African audiences, such as ‘Ben 10’ and 'Thundercats’ have also been added to the schedule. The branded Toonami Movies block will screen a host of feature films that showcase popular superheroes’ heroic acts and deeds.

Toonami was available exclusively on Econet Media's Kwesé TV until the channel was silently removed along with WarnerMedia other kids channels such as Cartoon Network and Boomerang since the pay-tv platform went through liquidation. Cell's Black also carried the same channels as Kwesé and they to suffered a similar fate to them.

MultiChoice might have added Toonami due to the Coronavirus so there's no telling whether this will be permanent addition or just some placeholder.

STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER OF BASIC EDUCATION, MRS ANGIE MOTSHEKGA, MP, ON THE BASIC EDUCATION SECTOR PLANS TO SUPPORT LEARNERS DURING THE LOCKDOWN DUE TO COVI¥ INCLUDES SABC, ETV AND MULTICHOICE

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending the media briefing during these difficult times. This morning we met as the Council of Education Ministers (CEM) to further consider and evaluate the plans that we have been working on.

Since the schools were closed on Wednesday, 18th, we have had a series of consultations with the provincial departments of education to identify ways in which we can ensure that our children are better informed about Covid-19, they are engaged, and continue their education in their homes. Following the announcement of the lock-down by the President, CEM has agreed to focus on catch up programme our efforts to the Promotion of Learning and Teaching in homes, and to the preparation for catch up when the children come back to schools.

We are grateful that our partners such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT) have come on board to support the Department.

We are also acutely aware of the importance of keeping our children safe from all sorts of dangers including abuse and anxiety caused by Covid-19. In this regard, we encourage families and community services to be extra vigilant in the care and support of learners. Do not leave them unattended, watch for signs of depression and provide ongoing support to address any anxiety at this time. It is important that we continue to speak to the learners about the promotion of health and safety in the home by adhering to basic hygiene practises.

On Learner Support Programmes

Together with provinces DBE has prepared online and broadcast support resources comprising subject content and a focus on Grade 12 learners and the promotion of reading for all the grades. Some of the programmes will be available from April 1.
The Department is working closely with key Partners to coordinate and make available content tailored to support our learners’ educational and health needs during this time. We will make the following resources available:

• Broadcast lessons working with the SABC TV and Radio,
• DSTV channel 180
• E.tv has allocated a dedicated channel for 3 months on the Openview platform.
• Broadcast of lessons on COMMUNTY RADIO stations around the country.
• Electronic readers available via all platforms in partnership with Vodacom, MTN, Telkom and Cell-C
• 2Enable App as a freely downloadable educational platform with more than 2000 electronic readers in the indigenous languages
• Promote the African Storybook series through the 2Enable App
• The National Reading Coalition has identified extensive lists of additional resources and organizations that are willing to make their materials available.
• Free access to Siyavula Maths and Science support in partnership with MTN and
• Free access to the Vodacom Virtual Classroom.

The content has been carefully curated to be available online and for broadcast, and will be made available on various platforms. The DBE website has been updated with current and relevant content inclusive of reading resources and websites. Other content which is available on websites of our partners has also been made available through links on the DBE website on www.education.gov.za. Parents, teachers and learners are encouraged to visit the DBE website.
We urge those who raise learners with special education needs to get in touch with the department should the need arise.

Content on Reading

The Read to Lead campaign and the National Reading Coalition will continue to drive their messages aimed at heightening awareness about the importance of reading for enjoyment. We urge households to support reading improvement initiatives by ensuring that children are given time to read, and that parents and care-givers participate by reading with their children and sharing stories. In terms of availability of books, a number of resources for reading for enjoyment have been uploaded on our online platforms. These include Readers in various languages.

On the school nutrition programme

CEM discussed the provision of school nutrition programme during the lockdown. This is a complex matter to resolve especially when learners are not in school. We will therefore work with the Department of Social Development. Nutrition support will be provided to families in the poverty nodes which are operated by Social Development. The thinking is that one member of the family will be allowed to collect food parcel once a week during the three weeks for the use of the entire family. This is to ensure social distancing. Several partners are willing to support this initiative and they include Tiger Brands, Nestle, Pioneer, Old Mutual, First Rand and Add Hope Foundation.

On the reopening of Schools

We are aware that people continue to spread incorrect information. Fake news causes a lot of damage to the work we are doing especially under the current circumstances. We urge members of the public to desist from spreading false information about when schools will reopen and on any other matter. There is no truth to what has been circulated on social media about schools reopening in September. Please ignore it.

The truth is that the Council of Education Ministers at a teleconference meeting this morning extensively deliberated on preparations for the opening of schools after the lock down is lifted. The exact dates for the opening of schools for the start of the second term will be communicated at a later date. We will in due course confirmed the date guided by the NCC.

The Department of Basic Education is also finalizing a Standard Operating Procedure for the basic education sector to provide guidance to schools and education offices on how to prepare for the opening of schools. The Department is in discussion with the National Treasury and all our provinces on the provision of a minimum health package to schools.

I am very grateful to our Partners who are extending a hand during this challenging time by making available their physical and financial resources.

We welcome commitments of support from partners such as Old Mutual who has pledged R50 million to support the education programming, UNICEF and others that have made inquiries in preparation for making decisions. All education-specific contributions processed by our department, such as materials and platforms will be registered with the Solidarity Fund established by the President.

The schedule for the broadcast of the lessons is available on the DBE website as well as social media platforms. You can tune in to any of the listed radio stations and TV stations to benefit from the programmes that have been prepared for the children and their parents or guardians.

The speedy recovery of schools will be determined by how we conduct ourselves as people because as a sector we are more likely to have long lasting implications. The next three weeks are crucial to the reopening of schools. It depends on all us to flatten the curve of COVID-19 which is rising at a rapid pace daily. Please cooperate during the lockdown, stay in your house and be safe.

Some of our officials will remain available to provide support, contact us via our social media platforms for a speedy response to your questions. Let’s work together to beat Coronavirus.

Coming Up In May 2020 On Lifetime Africa

Brand New & Exclusive
INTERVENTION: THE HEROIN HUB S17
Starts 4th May, Mondays at 20:05 CAT
Over the course of six consecutve episodes, viewers will follow the stories of addicts as they work to overcome their opioid addictons as well as one of the most dramatc recoveries in one of the largest drug hubs on the East Coast. The team of expert interventonists will work with city ofcials, frst responders and the families, ofering a way out before it is too late. This season, Interventon focuses on the journey of those plagued by addicton and their families who are lef to pick up the pieces in what is dubbed Philadelphia’s “Heroin Hub” and the surrounding communites. Interventonists Ken Seeley, Donna Chavous, Heather Hayes, Michael Gonzalez and Jim Reidy face the biggest challenge of their careers as they atempt to help nine victms of addicton, who are in dire need of support, to get clean and gain control over their lives.

Brand New - Crime on Lifetime
A KILLER’S MISTAKE S2
Starts 5th May, Tuesdays - Thursday at 21:55 CAT Everything turns on one piece of evidence…fail to fnd it, and a killer stays free. Ten iconic murder stories from the last three years that were solved because of one fatal error. Intrigue, jeopardy, layered story-telling and a series which is both moving and revelatory of the detectve process. A look at high-profle murders and the key errors that killers made that led to their arrests.

New Season
SEX, LIES & MURDER 2B
Starts 27th May, Tuesdays - Thursdays at 21:55 CAT
Sex, Lies & Murder is a non-fcton series detailing true cases of relatonships in which broken intmacy has led to murder. A husband’s heart wrenching betrayal results in his wife commitng an horrifc act of violence. A wife’s torrid afair with her pastor ends with her husband killing them both. A fery online romance leads to murder afer it’s discovered.

Untold Stories of Real Women
LIFETIME ORIGINAL MOVIES
Brand New and Exclusive

THE CLARK SISTERS: FIRST LADIES OF GOSPEL
Brand New and Exclusive
On 17th May, Sunday at 19:20 CAT
The Clark Sisters: The First Ladies of Gospel recounts the story of the highest-selling female gospel group in history and their trailblazing mother, Mate Moss Clark. Credited with bringing gospel music to the mainstream, the fve Clark sisters overcame humble beginnings in Detroit, enduring abuse, loss, rejecton, betrayal and sibling rivalries to achieve internatonal fame as icons of the gospel music industry.

WHEN LOVE KILLS: THE FALICIA BLAKELY STORY
Brand New & Exclusive
On 23rd May, Saturday at 19:20 CAT When Love Kills: The Falicia Blakely Story, an original flm produced by Tasha Smith, follows the tragic life of a young teenage mom. At 16 and already a mother, Falicia is at odds with her mom and soon begins working at a strip club. She meets Dino, a man who quickly pulls her into a dangerous life of crime that changes everything she knows. Today, Falicia Blakely a 34-year- old woman who is currently serving three life sentences for murdering three men by the age of 19 - a story that will forever be immortalized by a rivetng television movie. But who is the woman behind the tragic tale?

BOBBI KRISTINA MOVIE
Brand New & Exclusive
On 24th May, Sunday at 19:20 CAT
The untold story of Bobbi Kristna Brown is one of adventure, dreams, confict, perseverance, faith, friendship, and the love between mother and daughter. A love ofen interrupted by success, emotonal upheaval and drug addicton but an unshakeable, incomparable, unwavering love nonetheless.

Coming Up In May 2020 On History Africa

Brand New: Part of Rise of Extremism Stunt
AMERICA ON FIRE
On 2nd May, Saturday at 20:15 CAT Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Charlie Leduf goes deep inside the American milita movement to uncover their roots, motvatons, and goals, in an increasingly polarized world.

Brand New & Exclusive
LOST RELICS OF THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR
Starts 6th May, Wednesdays at 20:15 CAT Meet Carl and Hamilton and marvel at their collectons of classic cars, Viking treasure, Celtc gold and Nazi memorabilia, establishing them as obsessive collectors of rare and extremely valuable items. The duo invites historian and best-selling author of ‘The Templars: The Rise and the Spectacular Fall of God’s Holy Warriors’, Dan Jones, into their inner sanctum to reveal the hoard to an outsider for the frst tme. Excited but cautous, Dan challenges Carl and Hamilton to prove each items provenance before they release news of their discovery to the world. This will involve tracing the relics back to their country of origin, unpacking the history of each item and fguring out how they were used. Most important of all, they want to work out whether the existence of the relics sheds new light on our understanding of the mysterious Knights Templar.

Brand New & Exclusive
D-DAY UNTOLD STORIES
On 10th May, Sunday at 20:15
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day, this History special presents the key events of the Allied invasion of Nazi-held Europe and the subsequent batles that captured the control of the Normandy coast. Some of the last surviving veterans recall in gripping detail the terror, the patriotsm and the drama from the frontlines of war. While D-Day has been told many tmes, this special honours the diverse backgrounds of all who served, including the experiences of African- American servicemen who fought and died. Rare archival footage from the actual invasion along with recreatons will enhance the compelling story that changed the world.

Brand New and Exclusive
ALONE: THE BEAST
On 28th May, Thursdays at 21:10 CAT
From the creators of HISTORY’s hit show Alone comes a new survival series where three strangers atempt to endure thirty days in a remote wilderness locaton with no tools or modern amenites, just the clothes on their backs and an untouched fallen animal. Faced with punishing weather, relentless predators, and their difering survival styles, it’ll take all their ingenuity and stamina to work together as a team and survive in Alone: The Beast.

Brand New & Exclusive
FACE THE BEAST
Starts 21st May, Thursdays at 20:15 CAT
Throughout history, there are accounts of predators going on unexplained, killing rampages against humans. Face the Beast probes the most mysterious and macabre mass killings, using new technology that allows investgators to get face to face with dangerous creatures in their own habitat.

Da Vinci Kids Becomes A Permanent Channel On DStv In South Africa

As we stay true to our promise of looking at different aspects, what we believe is a key aspect to a child’s development and link these to different programming, with shows  balancing education and entertainment, we are proud to be bringing you the Da Vinci channel to our valued South African subscribers on DStv channel 318.

Da Vinci will be available to subscribers of DStv Premium, DStv Compact Plus, and DStv Compact & Family packages.

It is inspirational artist, scientist and inventor, Leonardo Da Vinci - the Germany-based channel aspires to illustrate the beauty and wonders of human curiosity and its explorations, be it in science, arts or innovation 24/7. The new edutainment channel will amaze and delight DStv kiddies viewers – at home and on the go via DStv Now – with a range of fun educational programming for kids and the whole family alike filled with humour, imagination and meaningful, educational takeaways that cover Science, Math and Technology, and moreover Play & Make; History & Personalities; Culture; Life & Nature and Sports & Leisure.

“What we’ve done is provide a safe space for children and parents to choose from a range of age-appropriate content that is entertaining and educational for both. As a trusted partner for parents on the journey of raising children we strive to create moments of family, we’re bonding millions of homes daily. The launch of this channel is in  line with our commitment to delivering content that caters and resonates with the whole family, while enriching their lives by delivering programming that educates, informs and entertains,” concluded Thabisa Mkhwanazi, Executive Head of Marketing at DStv.

For more information on the programming and to access the daily TV Guide on the programming, please visit: www.dstv.co.za

MultiChoice Adds More Channels To DStv Now Service

Admist the coronavirus outbreak MultiChoice has added various channels to DStv and non-DStv subscribers. Along with adding some various other channels through the DStv platform.

Now MultiChoice will add Toonami (Channel 300), Keep Fit (Channel 133), Mzansi Live (Channel 113), M-Net Binge (Channel 114) through their DStv Now service.

Toonami the superhero version of Cartoon Network supplied by WarnerMedia will be added on Compact while M-Net Binge supplied by M-Net will go to Compact Plus. There's no details on the rest but I'm presuming it's for Access customers along with WWE channel and Mzansi Magic.

These channels will go live from Friday 25 March while Mzansi Live went live from Wednesday 23 March.

M-Net Binge Returns As A Pop-Up Channel On DStv

M-Net revives the shuttered brand M-Net Binge from Friday, 25 March on channel 114. Probably due to the Coronavirus and lack of entertainment across all platforms.

M-Net Binge launched in May 2017 on channel 900 to DStv Premium customers and was scrapped a year later only to return to 2 years later this time it's available on Compact Plus.

According to the TV Guide, M-Net Binge is home to best HBO series as well as doccies and movies. No end date has been provided for the channel as yet when there is one it will be added here.

M-Net Binge will air repeats of series such as Game Of Thrones, Band Of Brothers and Six Feet Under. Making it the ideal channel for Compact Plus customers.

After 17 Years, Mindset Is Getting A Spin-off Channel

Mindset is an digital satellite television free-to air channel launched in 2003 to help educate and improve health in South Africa, uplift and empower communities with various Educational and Health initiatives and interventions is getting a second TV channel.

Pop Primary, the channel is skewed towards Grade 1-7 and just like Mindset will carry educational content. No details about the channel have been unveiled on the package and launch but judging by the founder it could be on every single platform in South Africa and possibly the rest of Africa.

The organisation that handles Mindset works with Government, International Donors and blue-chip corporates to deliver impactful, sustainable and practical change to the developmental challenges that communities face. It develops, sources, distributes and uses digital content. Its multimedia content is distributed via broadcast television, IP based satellite datacast, the web, distributable media (hard drives, DVDs and CDs) and mobile networks.

This comes admist the time coronavirus has mismanaged most of our lives along with a lot of companies that had to postpone major events and schools that had to close earlier.

Within those holidays MultiChoice supplied viewers with free channels on their DStv Now service and added two further channels along with promotional channels to the DStv platform. While StarSat offered viewers free channels through their app.

Since the school holidays parents have been urging platforms to get more educational channels since they'll be joining their kids on lockdown. So far MultiChoice has PBS Kids, Da Vinci Kids and Mindset followed by StarSat with only the last two from DStv and OpenView being Mindset.

Global Citizens has been urging parents to get SABC and DStv to dedicate a channel for educational content. Now parents can be put at ease with this upcoming channel.

More details about the channel will be available soon.

SuperSport Launches All-New Themed Channels

Amid the uncertainty and concern around the threat of coronavirus, SuperSport is working closely with its broadcast partners to mitigate the absence of live sport.

While almost all major sport has been affected, SuperSport will be broadcasting events which have been postponed - when they are rescheduled.

SuperSport chief executive Gideon Khobane said: “All of our partners have reached out to explain their measures, which we appreciate.

“Live sport is massively impacted; we are combatting this by acquiring the best award-winning sport documentaries from around the globe, among other top programming. We will use our various platforms to communicate this to viewers.”

The impact of this has necessitated major changes to the schedules, which will see SuperSport convert its line-up to thematic channels for the foreseeable future.

This is a time to relive the best of the best and SuperSport will duly open SS1 down to the Compact package.

This channel will form the crux of the SuperSport offering. It will feature the best documentaries, sport movies and a presented block called SuperSport GrandStand between 5pm and 9pm where SuperSport presenters will host a studio show that focuses on themed content from a specific sporting genre.

Between 1pm and 5pm daily, SS1 will feature a Viewers’ Choice block where viewers’ social media suggestions on their favourite sporting moments will determine the content.

Another significant change sees SuperSport 7 becoming a best of football offering now open from Premium to Access.

# Ahead of the weekend, SuperSport is already rolling out best of its archives on its channels, including the award-winning “30 for 30” series of ESPN documentaries.

Please see the full list of channel changes below:

SOUTH AFRICA

SS1: Relive Sport Stories (Grandstand / Viewers’ Choice / Documentaries)
SS2: Relive Rugby / Cricket        
SS3: Relive Premier League       
SS4: Relive PSL 
SS5: Relive Golf
SS6: Relive Tennis         
SS7: Relive Best Football (mix of UCL, EPL, La Liga, Serie A, FIFA, Documentaries)
SS8: Relive Motorsport, F1, MotoGP, Superbikes
SS9: Relive WWE           
SS10: Relive local sports / Athletics / Various    
SS11: Relive Action: Combat, UFC, EFC, Boxing, Extreme
SS12: Relive E Sport       

MultiChoice SA Temporarily Adds AfricaNews And Da Vinci Kids And Here's Why (Nickelodeon And CNN Also Accessible)

Later today, MultiChoice silently opened up Da Vinci Kids, AfricaNews, CNN and Nickelodeon admist the coronavirus outbreak with ICASA wanting StarSat and MultiChoice to make channels free.

AfricaNews and CNN are all accessible to Access customers until April 30 with Nickelodeon being April 14 and Da Vinci Kids being the end of May. So far only Nickelodeon and CNN have been accessible in South Africa while the two just popped up recently on DStv with the rest of Africa adding it back in 2019.

Da Vinci Kids is an educational pay television channel for children aged 6–12 and families, and broadcasting in 19 language versions to more than 35 million homes worldwide. It broadcasts STEM and soft skills-based learning programs aimed at children and families during the daytime, and documentaries and educational series for grown-ups in the evenings. The channel can be found on StarSat in South Africa.

AfricaNews is a multilingual news media service, headquartered in Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo. The news channel is a subsidiary of France-based euronews and began broadcasting online, and via TV and satellite on 20 April 2016.

The strange part about these two new temporary channels is they're both closing at the same time as SuperSport channels so why didn't MultiChoice advertise them with the other existing channels opening for a limited time.

According to sources through a media enquiry, MultiChoice has been trying to launch AfricaNews since last year but ran through some technical and financial problems. It might also apply to Da Vinci Kids since both of these channels popped up in the test section at the same time and officially launched together.

Even PBS Kids is sort of suffering a similar altercation maybe PBS is trying to build the brand in other markets and merging their operations with Africa or maybe MultiChoice is working on some bugs either way these channels are going through some tough times.

Maybe A+E Networks is the cause of AfricaNews and Da Vinci turmoil since MultiChoice intended to dump Lifetime, History and Crime & Investigation only to keep two of them around and add 2 further channels which put more pressure to their pocket.

With this in mind AfricaNews and Da Vinci Kids might be future permanent additions while all the other channels will go off as scheduled. The only thing uncertain about those possible additions is their availability since Family customers carry them in other markets with South Africa being Access customers.

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DStv OPENS UP MORE CHANNELS TO MORE CUSTOMERS – AND NON-DStv CUSTOMERS TOO!

 

Self-distancing might be a little less hard to deal with now that DStv has made five extra channels available to packages all the way down to Access. These include new channel Africanews (channel 417), CNN (channel 401), Da Vinci (channel 318), Nickelodeon (channel 305) and SuperSport 7 (channel 207). 

 

What’s more, some of the channels that feature on online streaming service DStv Now will be accessible to everyone – DStv customer or not. This incredible service is to ensure that the whole country has easy access to accurate information about COVID-19. All they have to do is download the DStv Now App to have free, comprehensive coverage to a wide range of news channels. The great thing is that DStv Now can be accessed from your smartphone, tablet, smart TV or laptop. The channels that can be viewed for free are: BBC World News; CNN; Sky News; eNCA; SABC News; Newzroom Afrika and Euronews. In addition, you will be able to view People’s Weather;  SuperSport Play; PBS Kids; Channel O and TBN, as well as episodes of some of South Africa’s best-loved soapies for free, including Igazi, The River, Isibaya, Binnelanders, Suidooster and Die Ware Naarheid.

 

In terms of the channels that will now be available to DStv customers all the way down to Access, Africanews launches on 20 March, and is the first pan-African, multilingual and unbiased media channel in Africa. It’s the only place where viewers can watch the most up-to-date news about the 54 African countries simultaneously. With 50 local correspondents travelling the continent to cover social, business, political and cultural stories, Africanews is the voice of the continent.

 

American-based CNN (channel 401) is renowned for its breaking news stories, in-depth investigations and celebrity reporters, including Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer and Christiane Amanpour.

 

Da Vinci (channel 318) is an educational children’s channel that is inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci, in that it encourages children to explore, invent and pioneer. It’s an edutainment channel filled with fun educational shows.

 

Nickelodeon (channel 305) is Viacom’s premium kids’ channel, and home to favourites such as Sponge Bob Squarepants, The Loud House, The Casagrandes and PAW Patrol. 

SuperSport 7 is devoted to La Liga and will allow customers to view all the Spanish football action (once it is back on track), including the likes of Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann. It will definitely appeal to football fanatics everywhere.

 

If all this weren’t enough, the DStv BoxOffice service is also upping its offering to customers. There will now be 40 fresh-from-the-cinema movies available to view for the nominal price of just R25 for DStv Premium, Extra and Compact subscribers packages. 

 

While the world remains in a time of crisis and uncertainty, DStv is determined to keep customers informed and entertained, no matter what it takes.