Discovery Streamlines EMEA Operation

Discovery has announced it is aligning several of its operating markets in EMEA to improve strategic focus and enable further investment in its D2C businesses.

“We are working systematically to rationalise our operation and find synergies and efficiencies across our EMEA business. We have come a long way over the years and with this restructuring we have defined a clear path towards a leaner operating model, where we utilise the best competence across markets. By combining knowhow and leveraging our scale, we will be able to streamline decision making and operate with greater speed and focus towards future business opportunities”, said Kasia Kieli, President and MD of EMEA.

In the new EMEA operation James Gibbons’ portfolio is realigned to encompass the Nordic markets in addition to the UK markets, and Gibbons becomes GM UK & Nordics. The Nordic markets will be unified under the leadership of Nicklas Norrby. Norrby has been in charge of the Swedish business since 2019 and will now report directly to James Gibbons.

Benelux will be unified with Germany under the leadership of GM Germany & Benelux Susanne Aigner, while Spain and France will be unified under the leadership of GM Iberia & France, Antonio Ruiz.

Jamie Cooke will take on a new combined role for Russia, CEEMCA, MEA & pay-TV, and will continue to cover maternity leave for Victoria Davies. Cooke comes from the role as SVP Chief of Staff EMEA.

Leah Hooper will be taking the role of SVP D2C Growth & Strategy International, and Espen Skoland is named SVP Communications for EMEA.

CEO of TVN, Piotr Korycki has announced his departure from Discovery. He will not be replaced as Kasia Kieli, President and MD of EMEA, will take a leadership role of the Polish television network herself.

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(Updated: 04/09/2020)TLNovelas Has A Premiere Date On DStv Alongside Package

A month ago, MultiChoice unveiled 5 new "pop-up channels" at the DStv Showcase. These channels were just sneak peeks which would answer your question on why customer care was clueless about its existence on the platform.

Each channel rollouts within a 3 month period. The first channel set to roll out on viewer's screens will be Televisa.

tlnovelas (currently available on StarTimes/Starsat) offers a huge array of English-dubbed Mexican telenovelas from Latin America's second-largest producer, Televisa.

MultiChoice and StarTimes have the awful and overrated channel FOX Life supplying content from Televisa. To make it worse FOX Life hits the repeat button after the current telenovelas so there's no need to have that useless FOX channel if tlnovelas exists.

Unlike StarTimes, tlnovelas will be available from the 14th of September 2020 until August 2021 on DStv channel 133. This pop-up format might apply to South Africa and a few other African markets as MultiChoice in some markets have a history of advertising permanent channels as popups e.g. Da Vinci, WWE Channel, PBS Kids, ESPN and AfricaNews.

There won't be a Portuguese version of the channel maybe in future they'll have one but for now it's just the English version which will be added.

TLNovelas will be available on DStv Premium, Compact+ and Compact in South Africa. Please note that the availability differs in each market so please consult MultiChoice in your country for further information.

Update: TLNovelas might launch 1st October on DStv channel 133 if not on the specified date mentioned a while back and it will be on Family in the end there's a lot of inaccuracies on their stable.

You can find the lineup here

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- TNT becomes the most watched movie channel in South Africa
- SA Youth still see Cartoon Network and Boomerang as their #1

Three Channels Are Rumored To Be Added On StarTimes Really Soon, Not Sure With Starsat

At the end of August, StarTimes lost Fashion TV, Fashion One, TDC (coming to DStv), FashionBOX, Gametoon and FilmBOX. Reasons for SPI International removal is still a mystery while the owners of Fashion TV and One decided to cut transmission for both Starsat and DStv. Now there's three channels are rumored to be added onto the StarTimes platform which is Comedy Central, TNT and Zoomoo.

Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by ViacomCBS through its domestic network division's Entertainment & Youth Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared for mature audiences and carries comedy programming in the form of both original, licensed, and syndicated series, stand-up comedy specials, and feature films. The channel has made a huge impact in the African market especially through the DStv platform.

TNT, offers the best of contemporary and Hollywood blockbusters, with programming built on an action-driven, pulse-raising slate, mixed with romantic gems and hilarious comedy just as our African fans like it and offers programming that is relevant and interesting to African fans, with channel premieres of films such as Robin Hood, Jurassic Park and Pitch Perfect. TNT is a brand by WarnerMedia (Cartoon Network, CNN and Boomerang). The channel is currently available on DStv in South Africa and the the rest of Africa.

ZooMoo is a Canadian kids' channel that delivers a unique mix of live-action combined with animation and puppets - it's the world's first fully-interactive pre-school channel dedicated entirely to animals and nature, aimed at kids aged 2-7 years old. The channel is accompanied by a free ZooMoo App, which completes the multi-screen environment, synchronized on a real-time basis with the channel. The channel is available in other parts of Africa like Zuku TV for example. The channel is owned by Blue Ant Media (The Smithsonian Channel and Love Nature).

Comedy Central might be available later this month on StarTimes I doubt Starsat will get it since it's a cheaper version of the StarTimes platform (which costs just as much as DStv in those territories). TNT is said to launch on September 9th on StarTimes this is the first channel I can see on StarSat which to me is a replacement for FilmBOX and Zoomoo is still in the rumored category, for now it will launch as a pop-up channel from the 1st of October on DStv.

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eMedia Investments Is Launching An OpenView Inspired Streaming Service

Yep, you read correctly eMedia Investments will be launching a new streaming service called OpenView Plus by October 2020.

This cames after their ongoing partnership with VIU which is also a streaming service that distributes several of their local productions alongside some content from the SABC.

OpenView launched back in October 2013 with e.tv, eMovies and eToonz available since it's arrival. By 2017, they were available in 1 million households only to grow by another million in the next 3 years.

That's not the only thing launching from the brand as they'll begin rolling out OpenView Connect in the upcoming months to households without fibre. They're also looking into launching more channels on the platform.

The platform might be similar to the DStv Now service except you don't need a decoder to watch the content and more likely channels seen on the app. There's also no details on whether this platform will distribute new content or channels that you won't found on your regular OpenView decoder.

OpenView is exclusive to South Africa so are these new products coming from the platform knowing neighbouring countries they'll distribute these products illegally.

MultiChoice will also be launching a dishless version of DStv in the coming months and SABC was plotting to launch their own streaming service back in 2018 but since then there's been no updates about it.

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Elif Is Coming This September To eExtra

Sometime this year, I did share the news about this new Turkish telenovela, Elif. At the time they stated the show would be air on e.tv and eExtra but that has changed as it will only air on eExtra for now.

The pandemic has shifted plans for several companies over the years. There's plenty of content to air on e.tv but since then they've been surfacing on their sister channels and yes including Elif.

Elif, a pretty and kind 6-year-old girl, is in danger of being sold to pay the gambling debts of her stepfather, Veysel Şimşek. Her mother Melek escapes, but finds out that she is very sick. She leaves Elif in the protection of her best friend, Ayşe Doğan, a maid in a wealthy family's household. Ayşe tries to get permission from the Emiroğlu family to raise Elif in the mansion. However, she is holding a well-hidden secret: Elif is the biological child of Kenan, the beloved eldest son of the wealthy family. Kenan is unaware that Elif is his child from a past love his family forced him to leave. He is now married to Arzu Karapınar. They have a daughter, Tuğçe Emiroğlu, who is a very spoiled girl known for her bad temper. Elif is forced to live at the luxurious estate, away from her beloved mother, and unaware of her proximity to her biological father.

As all other upcoming shows this one will also be dubbed in Afrikaans and join shows like Doodsondes, Deur Dik En Dun and Vuurspel Vierspel.

The series starts on Monday 14 September at 18:15 on eExtra

eExtra is available on OpenView channel 105, Starsat channel 489 and DStv channel 195