A More Rational And Measured Road To Analogue Switch Off In SA

One of the core findings against the Minister of Communications by the Constitutional Court is that her imposition of an analogue switch-off date was unlawful and irrational.

EMedia Investments welcomed the ruling and had the following to say: “The matter of irrationality was probed and challenged at the Broadcasting Digital Migration Committee meetings, set up by the Department of Communications, and chaired by the Minister of Communications. eMedia Investments pleaded with the Minister of Communications on numerous occasions to listen to the logic and the rationality of the task at hand. We agreed that the switch-off must happen to enable digital migration, but insisted that it must be in a practical, logical, and fair manner – ensuring that there are no negative consequences to any households, or the Free To Air TV industry.”

 

Khalik Sherrif, CEO of eMedia Investments, went on to say: “EMedia Investments acknowledges and accepts that the analogue transmitters which affect SA’s progress, and impacts on the already auctioned spectrum for the telcos, must be vacated as soon as possible. eMedia has provided a well researched proposal on how the migration could be done and how the spectrum affecting the telcos could be vacated almost immediately, subject to minimal approvals from Icasa (who have acknowledged and received eMedia’s application for approvals months ago), and which will allow the telcos to get on with the use of the spectrum. The proposal was not taken seriously and there was no alternative but to approach the court.”

Sherrif said that for the sake of Free To Air television and the millions of people that would have been affected by a ‘hard switch-off’: “We are pleased that the Constitutional Court heard our plea. We were never against the analogue switch-off. We believe that a planned strategy for digital migration will have many benefits for all South Africans. We are looking forward to working with the minister and her department to agree on a meaningful and measured approach to systematically implement the migration without delay, not only to allow the viewing public sufficient time to switch over to a digital solution for TV viewing, but also for the telcos to use the spectrum allocated to them for the benefit of the country, as earmarked by the President in his SONA of 2021”

Next Month, DStv Welcomes New Lifestyle Channel, NHK World-Japan To Its Southern African Consumers

The channel, which will launch on DStv channel 431, will showcase a variety of arts and culture, current affairs, dramas, documentaries, sports and much more.

Viewers on all DStv packages will have all access to a new world of Japanese content and will be able to discover a unique and diverse blend of programming featuring hourly live international news from news bureaus around the globe, along with lifestyle, culture, food, travel, sports, technology, science, and history programs, with an Asian perspective.

 

“We are excited to bring this channel to our DStv subscribers, we are focused on offering the best of local and international content and this channel’s unique content offering aims to do just that,” says Gideon Khobane, Group Executive for General Entertainment at MultiChoice Group.

“NHK WORLD-JAPAN will give our DStv viewers a chance to explore international culture through entertainment.”

 

Jun Takao, President and CEO of Japan International Broadcasting responsible for the worldwide distribution of NHK WORLD-JAPAN, says “We are delighted to offer the content of NHK WORLD JAPAN to the people of South Africa for the first time. It has been our long-awaited desire to distribute our programs in this region.”

Catch great titles such as NHK NEWSLINE along with technology, lifestyle and entertainment programs such as Dining with the Chef, A Cat’s-Eye View of Japan, Journeys in Japan, J-Arena and Medical Frontiers. In addition, the channel offers an assortment of documentaries and specials including Asia Insight and NHKDocumentary.

New Series Alert: Bajillionaires And Amazing Animal Friends Coming Soon To Da Vinci Kids Africa - July 2022 Highlights

PREMIERES AND SPECIALS
Kids Programmes
Baby Animals — NEW SEASON 
7 x 30 mins
From July 10th – Saturdays & Sundays 16:40
Meet the world’s tiniest, cutest baby animals and see how they travel the road from birth to adolescence and adulthood. From building strong family ties to learning how to escape predators, these little creatures explore the world around them all day long.

Bajillionaires — PREMIERE 
20 x 30 mins
From July 11th – Mondays & Tuesdays 16:05
Twelve-year-old Max and his friends run a start-up out of his parents' garage. While brainstorming ideas for new inventions and dreaming about changing the world, the kids face different challenges, learn new things, and explore their friendship!

Amazing Animal Friends — PREMIERE 
6 x 60 mins
From July 16th – Saturdays 17:05
Discover some of the most incredible and unusual animal friendships. From the duck obsessed with a dog in France to the elephant that thinks she is a buffalo in Zimbabwe, we explore what brings these species together and how they form their extraordinary bonds.

 

Ageing Well Suzuki Style — PREMIERE 
1 x 60 mins
Sunday, July 24th – 20:55
David Suzuki, an 83-year-old Canadian, takes us on a journey to learn how to live better and age well. As he travels across Canada, meeting everyday people, Suzuki explores how much ageing depends on genetics and how much it relies on external factors.

Continuing kids programmes include Briko — Fridays 15:45, The Deep — Saturdays 10:30, Baby Animals — Saturdays & Sundays 16:40 and Superhero Sprinter Galore — Every day 08:50 

Monthly Special
International Friendship Day
Saturday, July 30th from 12:00 to 16:35
Everything is more fun with friends! This July we are celebrating International Friendship Day the Da Vinci way. By showcasing some of our best programming featuring dynamic duos and fantastic groups! Go on exciting adventures, overcome obstacles as a team and learn valuable lessons as we find out how we can make the world better, together.
 

12:00 Superhero Sprinter Galore — Accidentally Trapped, New Mayor, Body Swap, Thunder and Lightning and Mega-Triplet 3000
12:25 Addison — The Raucous Racket and The Double Mystery
12:50 Darwin & Newts — Burpee and Keas Balloon Adventure and An Oldie but a Gooey
13:15 Mily Miss Questions — Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, and Respect, The Wall of Equality and Friendship
13:45 Doki — Stuck on Style, Team Doki’s Big Adventure and Fire Team Doki
14:25 Wild Kratts — The Amazing Creature Race and Red Panda Rescue
15:15 Odd Squad — Double Trouble, My Better Half and Assistant’s Creed
15:50 Bajillionaires — Pneumatic Watermelon Squisher and Spray and Go

Early Morning with Da Vinci
Every day from 06:00 to 9:00
06:10 Do You Know?
06:30 Siesta Z
06:45 Mily Miss Questions
06:55 Marvellous Makes
07:00 PinCode
07:20 Darwin & Newts
07:35 Addison
07:50 Doki
08:05 Wild Kratts
08:30 Kosmix
08:40 The Fixies
08:50 Superhero Sprinter Galore

Nickelodeon To Cease Operation In South Korea

Paramount and AMC International have begun reviewing their linear offering and with the ongoing rollout of Paramount+. The CBS channels currently seen across Europe are phasing out CBS brand with CBS Reality said to remain as they're likely working on a name.

Paramount Network has even seen a decline internationally as most Paramount wents to seperate the linear from the streaming which resulted in several closures or replacements for the brand.

During the week, it was also reported that more Asian viewers will lose Nickelodeon by the end of June following its closure in Japan earlier in the year with several shows like Paw Patrol, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Loud House and Danger Force streaming on Paramount+.

 

Nickelodeon had been available to the market for nearly 17 years as part of a joint venture with SBS Medianet and Paramount Networks EMEA. The demise of Nickelodeon means viewers lost out on another major kids brand following Disney Channel's closure last year.

As mentioned, Paramount will be rolling out their streaming service in more regions and although they don't plan to halt all their linear offering just yet. There has been cutbacks part of which include several localised feeds or channels with too much old content.

AMC International Giving Their Channels Weird Names Ahead Of Paramount+ Launch In Africa By 2023

Paramount+ is a streaming service owned by the company of the same name (without +) that is home to brands like Paramount Network, CBS (CBS Drama, CBS Justice and Horror Channel), Showtime, Comedy Central, MTV, BET, The Smithsonian Channel, Nickelodeon and Nick Jr.

As some consumers are aware Paramount will be rolling out their streaming service by 2023 in the Middle East and Africa and question loomed in regard to the linear offering across the world.

Although the company had no intentions of ending their linear operations that doesn't exclude the possible reduction or restructure to their portfolio as seen in the UK with their CBS channels this past week.

 

AMC International formed a joint venture with the company for CBS Reality, CBS Justice, CBS Drama and Horror Channel since 2012 under the brand Chellomedia and even before and after becoming majority stakeholder the channels had a share of repeats.

After nearly a decade, the CBS channels would be laid to rest by the end of June as Paramount is scrapping the CBS branding since they'll be present on Paramount+ kind of like what they did with the Paramount Network and in doing so comes the new names.

Update: CBS Reality will remain the same for now but there's more to the story as there's a channel that goes by the name Reality in the UK. In other developments, CBS Reality will be getting an additional channel Reality Xtra.

 

Other channels like CBS Justice discontinued and merged onto Legend which serves as a replacement to Horror Channel which in turn becomes a part time channel Horror Xtra with the current CBS Reality getting a sister channel Reality Xtra.

If you've watched MTV, Travel Channel and TLC then you'll be able to realise that the brand names don't match with the offering and that's the case with these new channels.

Apparently, the content in question on these channels will remain the same Reality Xtra will air drama series although the name appears to make it a reruns or edgier version of CBS Reality and imagine they're instilling crime on horror.

Judging by the info available at the moment, its clear that these changes could have been last minute or organised in a short duration.

 

Taking that to account, is it possible another restructure is on the cards and perhaps with alternate names I mean Poland has the AMC brand and if not another name perhaps aligning the content with the brand names.

Last resort would include cord cutting as these channels are very much outdated even onto the new brands and the idea of AMC and Paramount operating less channels at this point doesn't seem far fetched.

If there's a brand I'd have to praise for its uniqueness then its CBS Reality I get this feed doesn't supply original content but the way this channel incorporates less repeats is astounding. Even more interesting is how their former brand name Reality (E)Xtra was revived.