Fox Life Africa Must Fall Takes Flight

Sick and tired of complaining to FOX Africa and MultiChoice regarding FOX Life good news there's a petition going around to have it removed from the platform. Show your support by clicking the link 'FOX Life Must Fall'

CANIMAF With African Animation Network

We begin our retrospective with our very first special guest from CANIMAF, Nick Wilson. His participation in this 3rd edition allowed the many festival-goers and professionals in attendance to appreciate the immense opportunities that the animation industry offers to the economy, culture and the technology industry. Nick is the head of the AAN which is one of the partners of Tousanime and its festival Canimaf. 

Together with the AAN, he pilots large-scale projects that contribute to the development of animation in Africa. Here are some of his successes.

The African Animation Network (AAN) is a pro-profit, talent-driven, social enterprise with a core mission to empower African animation professionals and build a sustainable animation industry. AAN believes that this can be achieved through 3 key pillars:
1.) Talent Identification & Skills Development
2.) revenue-generating Access to Audience
3.) & (with these in place) we believe direct Investment will follow.

AAN has developed a series of Open Network Platforms to facilitate the 3 pillars. Nick was responsible for building the institutional & industry partner networks as well as developing the content delivery strategy & platforms to drive expansion & revenues across the open network platforms.

Key industry partnerships brokered:
AAN is a brand custodian of Animation du Monde Pan-Africa in partnership with Annnecy Int. Animated Film Fest. & Market/MIFA. By geographic footprint, AAN runs the largest leg of the premiere animation pitching competition in the world.

In partnership with Basic Lead, AAN runs the animation programme (workshops & panels) & hosts the animation pavilion at Africa's premiere content trade shows DISCOP Markets (Abidjan, Joburg, Cairo).

AAN has a co-publishing partnership with Animation Magazine, the most prestigious animation-centric publication globally. Top African news items are published on Animation Magazines digital & social platforms & reach over 180,000 people globally.

AAN has partnered with the top kids animation broadcaster Cartoon Network Africa. In 2018 AAN ran the Rest of Africa PR for Creative Lab with a 26,000% ROI.
AAN has partnered with SSTREAMM to create an AAN mobile SVOD channel on MTN Shortz.

AAN has partnered with Baboon Animation (27 Emmy's) & Toonz Media Group (produce +10,000min/year) to create DISCOMICS IQEMBU. IQEMBU means "group" or "cluster" in isiZulu.

AAN, in partnership with Imira and Basic Lead, will launch the first African-owned linear 24hr kids' animation & pop culture thematic channel.

Thank you again for your excellent participation in this 3rd edition of CANIMAF

NBCUniversal Launches A New News Channel Called Sky World News Globally, Question Arise On Whether This Channel Will Replace Sky News On DStv?

A new NBC Sky World News channel will go live this summer across global TV networks, as well as on the Peacock streaming service which will not be available in South Africa.

The channel will mark Comcast’s first effort to unite its brands since its $30 billion acquisition of Sky in 2018.

Andy Lack, chairman of NBC News, told the FT that the service will target English-speaking audiences, and will draw on a 3,500-strong combined workforce and hire 100-200 dedicated staff. Ten new bureaus will open worldwide, extending the NBC-Sky reporting footprint by some 50 per cent.

The operation will be led by British TV executive Deborah Turness, who ran NBC News between 2013 and 2017 before being given responsibility for developing its international arm.

On launch, the television channel will reach an estimated 130 million households, and will seek to take on the likes of CNN and BBC in the global world news market. Since then MultiChoice and Sky News have been silent on the matter.

“We’ve longed for an international channel,” Lack said to the FT . “Going back to the Gulf war when CNN essentially came on to the scene, we knew then at NBC that if you weren’t in the 24-hour news business globally, you weren’t really in the news business. So when I first went to NBC in 1993 it was like, goddamn, how do we get one of those?” That opportunity seemingly finally arose following the acquistion of Sky.

The Classic Flintstone Characters Pebbles And Bamm-Bamm Return In The Brand New Series Yabba Dabba Dinosaur In February 2020 On Boomerang Africa Along With New Episodes From Your Favourite Shows

YABBA-DABBA DINOSAUAR
New Show
Pebbles Flintstone and Bamm-Bamm Rubble are best friends growing up in prehistoric times when dinosaurs still walked the earth. They live in the town of Bedrock, a modern stone-age civilization, but whenever they get the chance, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm head to the open wilderness outside of town known as: The Crags, where the environments are as wild and amazing as the countless different dinosaurs that live there. In the Crags, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm are free to do whatever they want, and no one can tell them how to do it.
PREMIERE DATE
Monday 17/02/2020
TUNE-IN
Monday to Friday @ 18:05 CAT
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MR Bean, the animated series
New Episodes
Bean is Back! Mr Bean is back for a third series of his animated adventures.  This series follows Mr Bean, his best friend Teddy and his long-suffering landlady Mrs Wicket as we witness more of the mishaps that surround Mr Bean’s daily life.
PREMIERE DATE
Monday 03/02/2020
TUNE-IN
Monday to Friday @ 16:15 CAT
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Masha and the Bear Song Fest
Masha is a free-spirited and fun girl who loves to cause mayhem but also sing while hanging out with her friend Michka the bear.
This feel good stunt will figure a combination of the best singing episodes of Masha and the Bear.
PREMIERE DATE
Sunday 01/03/2020 @ 07:35 CAT

DStv Expands It's Offering - More Channels For More Customers

DStv customers are in for a massive treat this January. Not only will Compact Plus customers now get to enjoy Nick Jr. (channel 307), Family customers will also have National Geographic (channel 181) and TRACE Urban (channel 326) added to their package for their viewing pleasure. And, Access customers will get to watch Moja Love (channel 157) from 7 February to 6 March…that’s even more entertainment for everyone to enjoy!

Then, there are two exciting pop-up channels to explore, M-Net Movies Blackout: The Leading Men Edition (channel 109) available on Premium from 24 January to 16 February, showcasing some of Hollywood’s greatest black actors in their biggest films. There will be over 100 movies to watch, and viewers can look out for the likes of Morgan Freeman, Samuel L. Jackson, Martin Lawrence, Eddie Murphy and more.

The Ultimate Love pop-up channel (channel 198), will bring a new twist to reality television as we know it.  The channel will run from 9 February until 5 April, is a first-of-its-kind Nigerian reality show which centres on 16 participants (eight males & eight females) living together in an isolated location with the hope of finding love. Participants will be paired based on their mutual attraction to one another and will compete to emerge as the ultimate couple of the competition.

“We are continuously looking at ways that will ensure that customers across all our packages are able to access some of the great content that is available on our platform. Having these channels available for our customers is part of our ongoing commitment to bringing a wide variety of the best in local and international content that touches the lives of our viewers,” said Mark Rayner, Chief Executive Officer at MultiChoice South Africa.

The addition of Nick Jr. to the Compact Plus package is certainly a delight to parents. Nick Jr. (channel 307) forms part of DStv’s School of Laughter, which is all about a world of kid-friendly humour, to get your little one chuckling. Research has shown this helps tremendously in honing a number of social skills, from developing empathy to making friends easily and boosting creativity. Nick Jr. is the perfect channel to help younger kids (from two to six years old) explore the world around them. In February Nick Jr will also feature new episodes of popular shows such as Paw Patrol, Rusty Rivets and Blaze and the Monster Machines and they will be available on Catch Up.

National Geographic is certain to be a hit with shows such as Brain Games, which invites celebrities to realise their special brain power through fun games, Running Wild With Bear Grylls, where the renowned adventurer guides some Hollywood stars through the most extreme environments in the world, it’s all about taking a fresh look at the planet we live on and lots more.

TRACE Urban is a youth channel that focuses purely on urban and afro-urban celebrity news, music, entertainment and culture. It’s where the happening teens and young adults get their daily source of hot and happening action.

The content on Moja Love has proven to be popular with our audiences on channel 157 since the channel launched. The channel flights mostly local content that focuses on reality TV, actuality, entertainment and talk shows. The open period for the channel means that customers on the DStv Access package will be able to enjoy this content as well.

As always, DStv is bringing its customers a whole lot to be delighted about in 2020 – and this is just the beginning.

-ENDS –