DStv Updates: fliekNET To Become A Pop-Up Channel From July 15th, eExtra's Kuiertyd To Be Replaced By KykNET And Rumoured Developments For The New Afrikaans Channel By Media24

fliekNET South Africa's only Afrikaans movie channel is set to be the 10th channel that exits from the DStv platform in 2022 joining other brands like Tellytrack, Lifetime, ITV Networks, Russia Today and e.tv's 5 channels (including eAfrica).

fliekNET began as a pop-up channel in 2014 as part of the holiday and grew popularity for its selection of movies that it joined other popular franchises like Big Brother and Idols to return on a yearly basis.

Amidst the pandemic, MultiChoice launched a permanent version of the channel which some found repetitive as the pay-tv company struggled to incorporate as much variety to the schedule opted to make it a pop-up channel from July 15th.

 

kykNET will be rolling out a Saturday night block kind of like the one seen on eMedia's eExtra channel but instead of licensing a batch of movies it will be similar to M-Net's Sunday Night Movies where you get the latest movies with more original productions coming in 2023.

They could have tried adding some of the content to M-Net Movies but oh well.

kykNET & Kie which serves as a sister and duplicate channel to kykNET will be rolling out two Turkish dramas in July competing with eMedia's existing offering with In Die Ysterhand Se Greep going head to head with Droomvelore on e.tv with Kind Van Die Noodlot with Dokter Ali and Fenix for those with Openview excluding Fridays.

 

All the more reason to believe kykNET is replacing eExtra but not on Easyview with Access having to wait at least a year or so to view these shows on kykNET Lekker likely as 4 days a week series.

Onto new channels, despite MultiChoice using an existing brand as an alternative to eExtra. They will be rolling out another Afrikaans channel on top of returning the pop-up channel Woordfees to more consumers in July.

The new channel is nothing is like eExtra except for the target group as the channel features reality and lifestyle kind of like eReality but local which in turn happens to be Media24's Via duplicate likely for Access customers as seen with kykNET Lekker.

 

MultiChoice had tested the channel later in April onto May with further information about the channel nowhere in site with the lab rat either being delayed or terminated but delayed is more believable.

The 140 section is crowded with Afrikaans channels perhaps part of the reason fliekNET is being phased out is to make space for this channel and 149 would make a suitable channel number as it makes the main Via channel superior.

Considering how most of this happened amidst eMedia's demise on the DStv platform, you could say that the Via duplicate in a way is there to make up for the loss of eExtra.

Roundups #70: Iron Rose Reloads On Telemundo Africa For Second Season, Turkish Drama Full Moon Starring Can Yaman Launches On Novela E Plus And ZNBC 3 Launching Soon On The DStv Platform

Iron Rose is not done just yet

Popular demands has been taking Africa by storm offering already viewed content like My Heart Beats For Lola, Woman Of Steel, A Passion For Revenge and Lord Of The Skies as Telemundo works on sourcing out more content.

Ahead of its anticipated return, StarTimes acquired rights to Iron Rose while Telemundo loaded one of Aracley Arambula's other projects from the channel, The Boss with Iron Rose following immediately after it ended.

 

 

The second season of Iron Rose is set to load on the channel from June 27th at 6pm replacing current season of the series.

Can Yaman is coming to StarTimes

The actor and model is currently seen on e.tv's Droomvelore portraying the role of Can Divit. Just like stars Demet Özdemir, Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ and Dilan Çiçek Deniz viewers will be getting double the action as Novelas E uploads new series, Full Moon.

Nazli Pinar a young culinary student who is hired as Ferit's private chef and must deal with his specific rules for preparing his meals. The two initially clash and form a beautiful friendship. What will happen when the two fall in love?

 

 

The series airs at 8pm from June 26 on Novelas E which comes 3 hours and 30 minutes after Droomvelore on e.tv.

MultiChoice Africa continues sourcing more local entertainment

Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) is a Zambian television and radio station, formerly state owned, now owned by Zambians. It is the oldest, widest and largest radio and television service provider in Zambia.

 

ZNBC also supplies a set of linear and radio stations offering news, public affairs, sports, religion, education and sport similar to the supposed channel set to launch on the DStv platform soon.

MultiChoice has begun testing out a channel titled ZNBC3 which was believed to be a religious channel at the time but turns out to be plus channel to the current ZNBC 1 & 2 which carries the above-mentioned.

eMedia Updates: e.tv And eExtra Currently Streaming On eVOD, Cool Catz Returns To e.tv's Craze Block, Depp Vs. Heard Documentary Makes Its Free-To-Air Debut On eXposed

eVOD launch two new channels

During the week, Eskom began the usual power cuts and from what is seen through several businesses it disrupts the workflow with cable providers seeing a shortage in viewers.

Consumers on the DStv platform relied on the DStv app in case shed happens for several years and it was only a matter of time till more businesses adapt to this concept.

 

Yesterday, it was announced that e.tv and eExtra brands which carry the most local content will be funneled on the streaming service, eVOD between 5pm and 10pm sort of as a trial but viewers will be able to watch their shows in case things don't go as planned.

We are the Cool Catz

Cool Catz is an educational kids show that follows the life of 4 cats as they reside in a treehouse engaging viewers with music, games and creativity and it was one of few original show from eMedia Investments.

In 2019, the show exited Craze's primetime offering alongside the block's remaining local series as e.tv opted for more international series with Cool Catz airing in the early hours of the day (5am).

 

 

After 3 years, Cool Catz will make a comeback in the primetime section of e.tv's Craze from 4 July at 14:30 as Cool Catz New Masters with the rest of the program's catalogue available to stream on eVOD's kids corner.

More courtroom action for Openview

A few years ago, Johnny Depp was involved in a media scandal with his former partner Amber Heard as the Aquaman actress claimed the Pirate star abused her throughout her marriage and "feared for her life".

It lead the former Pirate actor to get kicked off the franchise and also Fantastic Beasts as he was blacklisted from Hollywood.

 

TLC launched a documentary earlier in the month detailing the relationship of the famous actors now eXposed is expected to highlight various details mentioned during their trial which was publicly screened on YouTube and various outlets.

Viewers on the Openview platform can catch this documentary June 26th at 9pm.

Tshwane TV Goes Dark On StarSat, Should DStv Follow Perhaps?

StarSat continues on its losing streak with another channel set to go off by the end of the month but to be honest Tshwane TV has been a waste and is nothing like Soweto TV or Cape Town TV alongside its sister channel GauTV or at least from what I've seen.

As much as I wanted this channel off air for another reason, it's actually being let go due to contractual issues.

Tshwane TV managed by GauTV's parent company Zallywood Inc. was available on the StarSat and DStv platform from the early 2011/2 offering news, reality shows, educational content and other entertainment.

 

 

Over the years, community channels have tried to modernize their lineup by the means of sports and local dramas outside of your usual free-to-air or pay-tv outlets but they're those brands which seem to have lost touch of reality which is where Tshwane TV comes in.

Notice how most of the content revolves on prophets or preachers and worst part to all this with Zallywood offering two channels they took advantage of GauTV to lure more people into this trio. It wouldn't be surprising if the demise on StarSat occured on DStv at some given point.

 

 

Tshwane TV and GauTV appear to be inactive I mean the hardly updates any viewers regarding upcoming attractions and the closest partnership they've ever done is through a church. Again, would it really be shocking if these channels were to be discontinued on DStv as well?

MultiChoice has religious channels for a reason and not that community channels can't offer them but they were put there to represent their respective and promote their respective community. From what is already implied about the channels, Prophets represent the whole of Gauteng.

The 2002 ‘Scooby-Doo’ Movie Originally Had a Velma and Daphne Kiss and Wrote Velma as ‘Explicitly Gay’

Scooby-Doo has survived so many iterations and many story arcs. But the franchise has lived on this long because that dog is so loved by audiences. Add in the other well-known characters Shaggy, Daphne, Fred, and Velma, and Mystery Incorporated is as iconic as cartoons can get.

The 2002 Scooby-Doo live-action film was a change of pace for the franchise since it was the first live-action version of these characters, but it also aimed at teens rather than kids. Because it originally started off as a PG-13 film, there were a lot of jokes and scenes filmed for the movie that ended up having to be cut when the studio wanted to make it more family-friendly. One of those scenes involved a kiss between Daphne and Velma.

 

An on-screen kiss between Daphne and Velma was cut from ‘Scooby-Doo’

James Gunn, the writer of the live-action 2002 film, has shared a lot of behind-the-scenes info on the movie on Twitter and elsewhere. This is how fans know about the rating change. He even wrote in January that the MPAA gave the movie an R-rating at firstOpens a new window , because of a “misinterpreted” joke.

But even back in 2002, Sarah Michelle Gellar (Daphne), one of the stars of the film, revealed a change. She told Sci-Fi WireOpens a new window that a kissing scene between her and Linda Cardellini (Velma) was cut.

 

“It wasn’t just, like, for fun,” she said. “Initially in the soul-swapping , Velma and Daphne couldn’t seem to get their souls back together in the woods. And so the way they found was to kiss and the souls went back into proper alignment.”

There is a deleted scene from the DVDOpens a new window , where Velma’s body was just taken over by one of the aliens, and Daphne finds her in weird behavior. Velma then turns on her in the locker room. While there’s nothing inappropriate about two women kissing, the studio didn’t want to include it back in 2002.

 

And while this kissing scene was cut, don’t expect to see it, or any other deleted scene that wasn’t already on the DVD.

“Also, for the record I doubt any of those old cuts still exist,” Gunn wrote Opens a new window in January.

Other edits were made to the film to make it more ‘family-friendly’

Another edit that was made on the film involved digitally adding more clothing to Daphne and Velma because apparently too much cleavage was showing.

“They CG’d clothes over @lindacardellini & @SarahMGellar’s cleavage,” Gunn wrote. “But that wasn’t the MPAA, that was the studio, who wanted it more family-friendly. Some parents in test audiences had complained (& this doesn’t contradict my last tweet – I didn’t direct this film)”
Basically, as Gunn already said, he and others had originally set out to make a PG-13 movie, and the studio turned it into a PG film. Whether it was marketed to teens or not, Gunn thinks that the family-friendly additions (and cuts) hurt the second film’s success and stopped a third from ever happening.

“I felt like a lot of teens came out for the first film Opens a new window and didn’t get what they wanted (and didn’t come back for the sequel),” he wrote, saying it was a mistake. “But today I don’t know.”

James Gunn also revealed that he wrote Velma as gay, something she’s been all along

And, as news came out recently, Gunn had initially written Velma as a blatantly lesbian character. Again, it’s not inappropriate by today’s standards, but having a lesbian character in 2002 wasn’t really a common aspect in kids’ movies.

“In 2001 Velma was explicitly gay in my initial script,” Gunn shared on Twitter on July 12. “But the studio just kept watering it down & watering it down, becoming ambiguous (the version shot), then nothing (the released version) & finally having a boyfriend (the sequel).”

 

The “Velma is gay” narrative is something many fans had picked up on in other iterations of the character, most recently in the 2010 series Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated . And that was, of course, on purpose because Velma was always gay, according to writer and director Tony Cervone wrote recently.

“Marcie and Velma – Mystery Incorporated,” he wrote in a Pride Month post on June 28, along with a picture of Velma and Marcie from his series. He’s worked on several Scooby-Doo projects over the last decade. “I obviously don’t represent every version of Velma Dinkley, but I am one of the key people that represents this one. We made our intentions as clear as we could ten years ago. Most of our fans got it. To those that didn’t, I suggest you look closer. There’s no new news here.”

He later wrote in a comment that the breadcrumbs had always been there. Just because the series never explicitly used the term “gay” or “lesbian,” Velma was very much a part of the LGBTQ community.