“Rise” To Premiere On ESPN Africa This August

ESPN Africa today announced that the Disney+ original film Rise, will have its linear premiere across the continent on ESPN (DStv 218, Starsat 248) on Monday 1 August at 20:00. Directed by Akin Omotoso, Rise is based on the triumphant true-life story of the remarkable family that produced the first trio of brothers to become NBA champions in the history of the league - Giannis and Thanasis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks and former Los Angeles Laker Kostas Antetokounmpo.

In this powerful, uplifting film, viewers will witness how one family’s vision, determination and faith lifted them out of obscurity to launch the career of two-time MVP Giannis and his brothers, Thanasis and Kostas. Last season, Giannis and Thanasis helped bring the Bucks their first NBA championship ring in 50 years, while Kostas played for the previous season champs, the Lakers.

 

After immigrating to Greece from Nigeria, Vera and Charles Antetokounmpo struggled to survive and provide for their five children, while living under the daily threat of deportation. With their oldest son still in Nigeria with relatives, the couple were desperate to obtain Greek citizenship but found themselves undermined by a system that blocked them at every turn. When they weren’t selling items to tourists on the streets of Athens with the rest of the family, the brothers would play basketball with a local youth team. Latecomers to the sport, they discovered their great abilities on the basketball court and worked hard to become world-class athletes. With the help of an agent, Giannis entered the NBA Draft in 2013 in a long-shot prospect that would change not only his life but the lives of his entire family.

Newcomers Uche Agada and Ral Agada - also real-life brothers - portray young Giannis and Thanasis, with Jaden Osimuwa and Elijah Sholanke as their younger two brothers, Kostas and Alexandros (“Alex”), respectively. Dayo Okeniyi (“Emperor,” “Shades of Blue”) and Yetide Badaki (“American Gods,” “This Is Us”) play their parents, Charles and Veronica (“Vera”), with Manish Dayal as Giannis’ tenacious agent, Kevin Stefanides, and Taylor Nichols as John Hammond, general manager of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Rise is directed by Akin Omotoso (“Vaya”) and written by Arash Amel (“A Private War”), with Bernie Goldmann (“300”) producing and Giannis Antetokounmpo and Douglas S. Jones as executive producers. Co-producers are Andreas Dimitriou and Michael Foutras.

Broadcast slots
Premiere:
Monday 1 August at 20:00
Repeat broadcasts:
Tuesday 2 August at 10:45 and 18:00
Monday 8 August at 20:00
Tuesday 9 August 10:45 and 18:00

How to tune in:

ESPN: DStv 218, Starsat 248 
 
All times are stated in CAT / SAST.
Schedule subject to change

Russia's RT Channel To Launch South African Hub

Russia's RT channel has embarked on expansion plans in Africa, starting to set up headquarters on the continent in South Africa where the Kremlin-funded TV channel is carried and supported by China.

Paula Slier, the South African TV reporter who previously worked for SABC News and who was posted in Jerusalem, Israel, as RT's correspondent for that region, is now overseeing the set-up of RT's African headquarters in South Africa and will be managing the bureau.

On Monday an RT spokesperson told News24 ; "We are indeed currently focused on developing our English-language Africa hub in South Africa, headed up by Paula Slier – a South Africa native, RT's longtime correspondent and formerly head of RT's Jerusalem bureau".

"We will be releasing more updates about the particulars of this operation at the appropriate time," RT said.

 

According to an insider, the RT South African newsroom is currently being set up although it's still unclear how many South African staff, camera operators and reporters RT plans to hire as it takes a page from the playbook of what other global TV news channels like CNN International, Al Jazeera, BBC World News and China's pro-Beijing CGTN have done in Africa.

The African expansion of Russia's state-backed TV channel comes amid Russia's unprovoked invasion and ongoing war in Ukraine and widespread global condemnation of the pro-Russia and anti-Ukraine misinformation and propaganda on the channel over the past few months.

RT banned by EU
Earlier this year RT was banned by the European Union (EU), as well as in Canada and in the United Kingdom by Britain's broadcasting regulator Ofcom.

Imposed EU sanctions also meant that RT abruptly went dark in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa on 2 March. This was the date when Luxembourg-based companies like Intelsat and SES SA flipped the kill-switch on the satellite uplinking of RT's channel feed to their satellite transponders like Intelsat's IS-20 on which a pay-TV operator like the Randburg-based MultiChoice leases bandwidth to bring the channel to DStv subscribers.

 

Google and other companies also blocked the propaganda channel's YouTube streaming.
Two-and-a-half months later, RT surprisingly flickered back on South African TV screens on 11 May – this time thanks to Chinese support.

The MultiChoice pay-TV rival, StarTimes Media – running the StarSat pay-TV service in South Africa and StarTimes elsewhere in Africa – added RT to its TV channels line-up in mid-May, using SES S.A.'s SES-5 satellite transponder on which StarTimes/StarSat is leasing space.

SES S.A. is a satellite and terrestrial telecommunications network provider also based in Luxembourg in Europe. SES S.A. told News24 that it "engaged with European regulatory bodies to suspend the distribution of specific Russia Today channels and Sputnik across Europe" and had turned off the designated signals on 2 March.

"While the channel in question – Russia Today Global – is being delivered via SES-5 (a satellite that SES owns) over sub-Saharan Africa, it is our customer who has leased our bandwidth and is distributing the channel over the leased capacity."
"SES also notes that this channel is not one that has been banned by the European Union."

 

"We have been engaging with our customers and regulatory authorities to assess both what we can do and must do under the various legal regimes to which we are subject. SES is prepared to take immediate action and implement any instructions we receive from regulatory authorities,” the company said.

StarTimes told the press in May that as a pay-TV service it "takes pride in sourcing relevant and current content to enhance our packages, thus we regard RT Global as a 24-hour English-language news channel that focuses on all major economic, political and social issues of our time".

Move from Kenya to SA
While RT's original plan was to get a localised foothold on the African continent by establishing its African bureau in Nairobi, Kenya where the African headquarters of China's CGTN has also been set up and based for the past few years, RT has now switched from the East African country to South Africa where it won't be directly competing with CGTN for newsroom resources.

It's unclear if RT's move away from Kenya to South Africa to set up its first localised African hub is possibly a tit-for-tat move to get out of CGTN's way, after StarTimes' decision to sign a channel carriage agreement to showcase RT on channel 260 of the Chinese pay-TV platform.

In February RT still posted adverts for journalist positions who would have had to work and be based in Nairobi.

The RT spokesperson didn't comment on the African location change, how many South African staff RT plans to hire, or why RT is interested in creating a regional headquarter in Africa.

Guess What? Elena's Ghost Is Back By Popular Demand On Telemundo Africa

Telemundo, the international channel owned by NBCUniversal which is home to various romance, action, mystery, adventure and real-life stories which has been localised with English dubs will be welcoming back the classic supernatural horror, Elena's Ghost.

Based on the 1983 Venezuelan telenovela Julia, Elena's Ghost folllows Elena Lafé ia young, beautiful, and talented horse rider. She and her widowed father, Tomás, manage a small but excellent hotel on the Key West ocean shore. Raised in her father’s shadow and kept away from the maternal side of her family, Elena has never known true love. That is until she finds Eduardo Girón, a widower, unconscious in the middle of the forest. She takes him to her father's hotel and falls hopelessly in love with Eduardo as she nurses him back to health.

 

The rich, young businessman reciprocates her love and they marry in an impromptu ceremony on the beach. Elena Lafé and her best friend Laura move into Eduardo’s mansion, where he lives with several family members and household staff. The new bride is not given the warmest of welcomes by Eduardo's relatives. Her unease turns to terror when she keeps hearing screams and moans from the mansion’s tower.

Elena Lafé sees a photograph of Eduardo’s deceased wife, also named Elena. Elena Lafé learns from Corina about the relationship Eduardo had with Elena Calcaño, who committed suicide. Elena Calcaño had a twin sister, Daniela, who went mad after Elena Calcaño's death. Elena Lafé also discovers that her husband and his brothers belong to a mythical race that hides many secrets and conspiracies.

 

Elena Lafé will have to confront a vengeful ghost, a spellcasting witch, Eduardo’s strange half brother, a deranged twin sister bent on killing her, and hundreds of secrets that will change her life forever. The twists and turns of the oceanfront locale mirror a storyline intertwined with secret loves, unusual characters, and a mysterious aura. A web of mystery and chance is spun until we discover the secret behind Elena’s Ghost.

Elizabeth Gutiérrez and Segundo Cernadas respectively star as the protagonists Elena Lafé and Eduardo Girón while Ana Layevska as the main antagonist in a double role (Elena and Daniela).

Elena Ghost replaces Iron Rose on Saturday 6 August at 6pm CAT.

Major Programming Changes Coming Soon To Zee World

During this past week, Zee TV made headlines after The Vow abruptly scrapped for the malnourished This Is Fate (Kundali Bhagya) which serves as the second instalment to Twist Of Fate (Kumkum Bhagya) and the troubles don't stop there as more consumers on Zee World will now have to brace for the following:

1. A rebroadcast to the second season of Twist Of Fate will air at 3pm immediately after the first season comes to an end.

2. Just like The Vow on Zee One, Age Is Just A Number will suffer the same fate as it's cancelled after 26 episodes for another rebroadcast, Gangaa.

 

3. My Heart Knows and I Do go on production break. Unlike the first two, My Heart Knows will be supplemented by new series, Every Girl's Dream while Luck In My Fate now titled Unfortunate Love replaces I Do.

4. What Women Want goes international as Zee World acquired rights to the former Glow TV series with Revati Priya. It airs every Saturday at 12pm on Zee World and every Friday at 5.30pm on Zee One.

 

5. Meet In Love will remain on the same timeslot but five days a week as a new variety show Dance Naija Dance which serves as a spin-off to Dance Africa launches from 6 August every weekend at 7pm CAT.

6. The Baker's Table and Grand Trunk Rasoi which were previously seen on Zee One will also be added to Zee World.

New Series Alert: Every Girl's Dream Coming Soon To Zee World

Zee World, the world's first English dubbed Indian entertainment channel curated for Africa home to various Bollywood movies, series, reality and variety shows will soon be rolling out a new drama titled Every Girl's Dream.

Every Girl's Dream (Tere Bina Jiya Jaye Na) which was launched in November 2021 on Zee TV revolves around Krisha a hospitality graduate, trying best to prove herself and help her family financially by working at her father's friends' royal hotel in Udaipur. It was there where she meets her Prince Charming, Devraj.

 

Anjali Tatrari and Avinesh Rekhi played the lead with other stars like Leenesh Mattoo, Romil Chaudhary, Simran Sharma, Rakshanda Khan, Farah Lakhani, Utkarsha Naik, Leena Balodi, Karuna Verma, Aashish Bhardwaj serve as supporting characters.

The show was produced by Dome Of Entertainment's very own Mohomed Morani, Mazhar Nadiadwala and Anil Jha who've worked on several past shows and movies respectively such as Arjun and Kumkum.

Every Girl's Dream is said to rollout in the coming months as a replacement to the oversaturated My Heart Knows which goes on production break.