Roundups #83: Taffy Has Been Removed From Various Boomerang Feeds, WAGS Inspired Series The Queens Of Mzansi Launches On SABC 1, County 49 Currently Streaming On Showmax

Taffy may go back to being a raccoon

Earlier in the year, Cyber Group Studios the company in charge of supplying Taffy to Boomerang announced a further third season and as seen this past week Warner Bros. Discovery will be cutting back on content for their linear operations to invest it onto their streaming service.

Taffy which follows a grey raccoon, Scraggs, who gets adopted by Mrs. Muchmore after thinking he is a cat named Taffy. Her main pet, a blue dobermann named Bentley, is determined to reveal Taffy's secret to Mrs. Muchmore has been part of the Boomerang family since 2018.

Viewers across several markets had spotted that various content like The Fungies and Infinity Train had been removed from not only Cartoon Network but the streamer HBO Max and these two were canned by the network with Taffy likely joining despite the renewal.

S3 Jozi Divas has been revived on another network

SABC1 has a brand-new reality show, The Queens of Mzansi, which will premiere on Monday, 15 August at 21:00.

"Like most South African women, The Queens of Mzansi face hardships from gender-based violence, divorce, financial difficulties, and being widowed. That is what makes them Queens…they all had a rebirth and have found their voices and crowns again," reads a press release from the channel.

According to the statement, viewers will get a front-row seat into their lives and what it 'means to be a modern-day South African woman' while balancing friendship, romantic relationships, being single moms and managing their businesses.

County 49 now on Showmax

This Kenyan political thriller follows the political intrigues of the fictional Bwatele County, Kenya’s 49th county and the nation’s breadbasket. Despite the county’s wealth, its citizens are suffering from the high cost of living and scarce resources.

Now against the backdrop of great civilian discontent, a disgraced security officer is compelled to save the governor and her chief of staff – his estranged wife – from a local terrorist group, which has kidnapped them for money and revenge.

County 49 stars Wakio Mzenge (Selina), Nyokabi Macharia (Chaguo), Ainea Ojiambo (Igiza), Maqbul Mohammed (Crime and Justice), Martin Githinji (Sue na Jonnie), Peter Kawa (Uradi), Benson Ojuwa (Njoro wa Uba), Nick Kwach (Chaguo) and more.

eVOD Has Been Credited In Latest Annual Results From MultiChoice Group

MultiChoice and eMedia Investments have been in an on/off relationship following the dispute in regard to the 4 e.tv channels. As seen in May, the channels went dark on DStv without notice only for the Competition Tribunal to look back on their final notion following pending investigation.

During that time, MultiChoice had managed to find the necessary alternatives with kykNET's Turkish offering on kykNET & Kie, DreamWorks, KIX and Movie Room all of which have managed to perform at their best capacity but not enough to fill the void left by the e.tv channels.

For those who've been following eMedia's stations for a while may have heard of eVOD I mean who wouldn't have heard of it as it is the only known outlet to stream the bulk of content some of which haven't aired any of eMedia's channels.

It was speculated the only reason eVOD wasn't added onto the Explora Ultra had to do with the ongoing feud between eMedia Investments and MultiChoice in regard to DTT and the carriage fees for their channels as other brands like the SABC are said to be earning more with just SABC News.

But as MultiChoice outlined in their recent annual results, they plan to add more streaming services even crediting various entities that haven't been seen on the Explora Ultra like Acorn TV and eVOD.

Taking that to account, could you say that eVOD will likely be bundled under the Explora Ultra perhaps as a replacement to e.tv's 4 channels as the channels only returned as part of a technicality and aren't must carry channels like SABC 1-3.

Blown Away And Alone: Polar Bear Island Renewed For Season 2 + Premiere Date On History Africa - September 2022 Highlights

Brand New
BLOWN AWAY S2
5 September Mondays at 20h15
In the ultimate make or ‘break’ elimination competition, world-renowned glassblowers face-off in North America’s largest-ever hot shop across 10 fast-paced episodes. Showcasing the intriguing world of glassblowing, these amazing artists are pushed to creative extremes to showcase their skills and ability to deal with the pressure. On the line for last blower standing is a life-changing career opportunity and a cash prize. Will they blow the judges away – or leave with shattered dreams?

Brand New
RUST VALLEY RESTORERS S2
5 September
Tuesdays 19h25
Nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains is one of the most unique car communit es in the world: “Rust Valley”. You can’t miss it: acres upon acres of old and abandoned cars; a junkyard as far as the eye can see. And at its heart is a remarkable restoration shop run by a team of colourful and charismatic characters who use their impressive skills and experience to restore, trade and sell classic cars – transforming piles of rust into collectible car treasures.

Brand New and Exclusive
ALONE: POLAR BEAR ISLAND
15 September
Thursdays at 20h15
Season 9 of the HISTORY channel’s hit survival series, Alone delivers a fresh set of dangers and challenges for ten new part cipants. Equipped with just ten items of their choosing, the survivalists are dropped into a remote wilderness valley in Labrador, Canada. While document ng their experiences, each part cipant must survive in total isolat on, with hopes of outlast ng everyone else to claim the $500,000 prize. Not only must they endure hunger, loneliness, and the elements, but this season, they’ll become the hunted as they discover their location is situated deep in polar bear territory. No camera crews. No gimmicks. It is the ultimate test of human will.

Brand New and Exclusive
ANCIENT ALIENS S14
24 September
Saturdays at 19h25
Ancient Aliens examines 75 million years of the most credible alien evidence here on Earth, from the age of the dinosaurs to ancient Egypt, to the skies over the Western Desert in the present day US. Ancient cave drawings of strange creatures, an asphalt-like substance in an Egypt an pyramid made from the remains of unidentified creatures, continued mass sightings in the USA – these are just a few of the strange stories that will be invest gated.

Roundups #82: More eToonz Coming Soon To Da Vinci Kids, More Wrestling Action Coming Soon To TNT Africa And Keanu Reeves to Lead ‘Devil in the White City’ Hulu Series From Martin Scorsese And Leonardo DiCaprio

More repeats for pay-tv consumers

As reported weeks days ago, eToonz alongside the 3 other e.tv channels returned to the DStv platform following pending investigations which could take up to 6 months. Since then, MultiChoice has been doing quiet a job filling up for eToonz.

Aside from DreamWorks Channel which is basically eToonz Extra and PBS Kids, Da Vinci Kids has been stacking their lineup with several content which seen been viewed on the red brand like Doki, The Deep and Bajillionaires and now another series fills that list, Yoko.

Yoko follows three children who unexpectedly meet the spirit of the game, Yoko. Together they revive the game and opens incredible world of childhood. Yoko adds magic to children's games and turns fantasy into reality.

The third instalment to Battle Of The Belts arrives on TNT Africa

This weekend’s Battle of the Belts III card, which took place in Van Andel Arena, West Michigan, on 6 August, features Claudio Castagnoli defending the ROH (Ring of Honor) world title against Konosuke Takeshita. That’s one of three belt battles coming your way. Saturday’s special will also see Jamie Hayter get her shot at Thunder Rosa and the AEW women’s championship, while the mighty Wardlow puts the TNT title on the line against Jay Lethal.

Fans can tune in to this AEW special, Battle of the Belts III, on Saturday, 13 August at 10:50 CAT on TNT Africa!

Other AEW fast-paced, high-impact competitions coming to TNT Africa this weekend include:

AEW Rampage, Saturday, 13 August @10:00 CAT:

· AEW Interim World Title Eliminator Jon Moxley vs Mance Warner

· Friday Night Street Fight Keith Lee & Swerve Strickland vs TonyNese & Josh Woods

· The Debut of Madison Rayne

AEW Dynamite, Sunday, 14 August @10:00 CAT:

· AEW Interim World Championship Jon Moxley vs Chris Jericho

· Coffin Match Brody King vs Darby Allin

· Jade Cargill Open Challenge for the TBS Championship

· Tornado Tag, Lucha Brothers vs Andrade El Idolo & Rush

Keanu Reeves starring in a Hulu series

It’s official: Hulu is moving forward with a TV adaptation of Erik Larson’s best-seller Devil in the White City with Keanu Reeves set to star in what will be his largest TV role to date.

The drama, which has been developed as a film and TV series since Leonardo DiCaprio optioned the property in 2010, has scored a formal series order at the Disney-backed streamer. The news was announced Thursday as part of Hulu’s virtual time before press at the Television Critics Association’s summer tour.

Based on Larson’s novel, Devil revolves around Daniel H. Burnham (Reeves), a demanding but visionary architect who races to make his mark on history with the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, and Dr. H. H. Holmes, America’s first modern serial killer and the man behind the notorious “Murder Castle” built in the fair’s shadow. (DiCaprio is not expected to have an on-screen role as of press time.)

That Time A Former DStv Channel Was Made Available On The Openview Platform

SABC Encore is a defunct entertainment channel that was supplied exclusively to MultiChoice's DStv as part of a 5 year agreement made between them and the public broadcaster which was worth half a billion and included SABC News that continues to operate on the platform.

When SABC Encore left DStv, the SABC had stated on several occasions that they were working on continuing the channel on another platform. Aside from DStv, the channel was viewable on DTT but due to a lack of funding the space reserved for the channel remains inactive.

Of course there has been a lot of site seeing for SABC Encore. Take for instance, any major league broadcast on SABC 1 and SABC Sport often SABC Encore is used as somewhat of a pop-up for this content the same happened with some live memorial service for a local figure.

Interesting about this as that the SABC seems to acknowledge all this as the press release credits SABC Encore without diving further in the sudden inclusion of the channel especially with no input coming from MultiChoice.

SABC and eMedia Investments had signed an agreement for which two channels are still awaiting launch on the Openview platform and as speculated from several witnesses SABC Encore could be one of the two channels but that's where it gets more intriguing.

Several months ago, a consumer noticed that SABC 1 was 'mislabeled' as SABC Encore and that was the only thing different about the channel as everything else functioned normally and just recently another user noticed the SABC Encore banner.

Other brand names that were also used aside from SABC Encore through various other outlets include SABC Africa, SABC Entertainment and with SABC Children which at this point is sharing a space with the controversial channel.

The brand's presence just builds further speculation that this was indeed one of the two channels eMedia Investments and the SABC failed to launch last year and as stated by both parties these channels are nonexclusive which could explain its presence on TelkomOne.