New Series Alert: The Villains Of Valley View Coming Soon To Disney Channel Africa

Disney Channel, an international children's channel home to various live-action shows such as Bunk'd, My Magic & Me and Raven's Home alongside animated series like Big City Greens, Vikingskool and The Ghost And Molly McGee is set to debut a new series, The Villains Of Valley View.

The half-hour comedy follows a family of raucous supervillains recently ran afoul of the League of Villains, so now they must somehow beat a path to normalcy in a small Texas town.

Produced by Chris Peterson and Bryan Moore, the duo have worked on several content including Coop & Cami: Ask The World also for Disney Channel, Lab Rats and it's later instalments Bionic Island and Elite Force and lastly The 70's Show for FOX.

The Villains Of Valley View ensemble the talents of Isabella Pappas, Malachi Barton, Reed Horstmann, Kayden Muller-Janssen and Lucy Davis amongst others.

Season 1 premieres from 5 December at 17:50

Could Russia Today's Remains Finally Be On The Chopping Block On DStv?

In March, Russia Today unexpectedly went dark on the DStv platform following some pending issues regarding the Ukraine war and since then MultiChoice allocated a message giving viewers a reason for its sudden dismissal.

Of course for those who still want to get in on the action, Russia Today is available on StarSat as the pay-tv competitor did get clearance from the higher ups. On top of packaging the channel, Russia Today has allocated some offices within the region.

Not sure what that has to do with DStv just thought viewers should know.

Anyways, for several months Russia Today has been offline I mean there hasn't been clarity to why the physical component still resides. Some would think the pay-tv platform still has an agreement but from what I understand it could dissolve once a company fails to deliver.

Then I also remember MultiChoice wasn't planning on terminating RT after a petition was released but the feed seen in Africa was cutoff regardless of that soft copy so it's possible that just like several other consumers even they were hoping the feed would be reinstated.

For those who browsed RT, may have seen a message briefing everyone in with regards to the termination now it's gone with the EPG updated to Russia Today and a black screen to those hoping to see that message again or view it for the first time.

I know there's plenty of people who don't browse that section quite often and cases like these would get anyone off their feet. Which just leads me to wonder is it possible that MultiChoice is finally ready to retire the space or could there be more to the story

The year is almost up and there hasn't been much signs to RT being reinstated and it makes all the more sense if they moved on and rely on existing news channels BBC World News, Sky News, Aljazeera and CNN to keen viewers on their feet.

BBC UKTV Vs. ITV Choice: Another Attempt At Boosting The BBC On DStv

ITV Choice was an international entertainment channel operated by ITV PLC was home to shows such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, The Jonathan Ross Show, Doc Martin, Tipping Point among others.

Two years ago, MultiChoice decided to scrap the channel as it faced an uphill with the Brit channels from BBC Studios and opted to distribute selected content amongst various channels as part of their never ending streamlining attempts which led to a bloodbath of DStv customers.

Sure audiences get to see Tipping Point on BBC Brit and Coronation Street on M-Net. But one out of the two aren't even a full-time option while the other funnels their schedule with the same 2-4 shows on a daily basis.

Now comes BBC UKTV, a channel from the forever dominating BBC Studios which seeks to show the advantage they have over DStv with content from BBC Brit and other Brit channels among them include Casualty, Deadly 60, The Great British Bake Off and Yakka Dee.

Taking to account that if this channel happens to be another Mzansi Wethu or Me channel and is accessible to audiences on the premium package perhaps on channel 123. Viewers would be under the impression that the pay-tv reason for removing ITV had to with BBC.

Several others would have another reason to avoid BBC Brit although UKTV kind of play second fiddle in terms of rebroadcasts. Adding another channel to increase the amount of Top Gears would just put a dent in their money bin.

Could Openview+ Lead To 24 Hour Capability For These Channels?

Openview has been active in the market for almost 10 years and has generated 3 million subscribers on top of that seen success with the likes of e.tv's additional channels eMovies, eReality and eExtra on top of third party channels like SABC Sport.

But as some disgruntled consumers would say the channels are boring, the movies repeat for almost a year and so forth. Not that any of this isn't happening already with MultiChoice's DStv but not everyone is glued to a screen 24/7 which is where you get these channels.

eReality a mashup of Food Network, ID and MTV, eToonz a kids channel balancing between X and Y, ePlesier a channel carved through scraps and lastly eXposed an edgier version of the current eReality but with a twist - drama.

As several consumers are eMedia Investments had given these brands a curfew and I remember what was said about eToonz it's a kids channel but how do you explain how the likes of Cartoon Network even the preschool oriented Disney Junior have 24 hour capability.

From what was established from my perspective, the only reason most brands packaged by eMedia Investments had been put on a curfew is the costs taken to supply the content whether it's #DisComplicated or the usual Leon Schuster in Oh Schuks or Mr. Bones everything comes with a price tag.

Of course with Openview+ especially with the pricing, there's a lot of expectations coming from this DStv competitor one of which include more channels and as seen with MultiChoice ones with 24 hour capability.

Imagine paying close to R200 only to see most of the channels resume at 8am. It gets really irritating as if you're a toddler that could cry all night and be fast sleep during the daytime.

One of my expectations for these upcoming platform would be an adjustment to some of the current channels seen on the freemium version being Openview one of which include 24 hour capability to all eMedia channels particularly eReality.

Cause let's face it compared to the 3 other channels most of the money is going onto eReality and just like e.tv and eExtra there's plenty of local investment going onto the channel so why not make it the first channel to get 24 hour capability.

DStv Compact Cup Scoops Prestigious Competition Sponsorship Of The Year Award

It was a moment worth capturing and etching on the walls of history, when the DStv Compact Cup won the prestigious Event or Competition Sponsorship of the Year award, at the Hollard Sports Industry Awards 2022; a platform recognised as South Africa’s most notable awards ceremony - honouring pioneers and innovators in the sports industry.

The DStv Compact Cup was nominated in two categories namely, Event or Competition Sponsorship of the Year and Fan Engagement.

The awards which were held in Newtown on Thursday evening, 24 November, hosted ground breakers in the sports and business industry.

In the Audio-Visual Content of the Year category, the Longform Content of the Year Award was bagged by Makazole Mapimpi for his self-titled documentary which premiered in March 2022.

“We’re incredibly proud of this win, as this award is a confirmation of how powerful it is to engage and interact with our DStv consumers across various touchpoints. The DStv Compact Cup was an innovative way for DStv Compact customers to fully engage with the brand, by using their voting power to participate in the tournament,” said Tshepiso Sathekge – Senior Manager of Sponsorships at DStv