DStv Easyview Vs. Openview: The Best Alternative To Affordable Entertainment

DStv Easyview priced at a monthly rate of R29 is operated by MultiChoice and serves as the cheaper attire to the current Premium package while as Openview which is operated by eMedia Investments comes with a once off fee then it's free entertainment forever.

Since last year, MultiChoice has been strengthening the Easyview offering following the additions of Magic Showcase and CineMagic alongside BBC UKTV which failed to launch on the freemium competition prior to the addition of these channels.

Other entertainment residing on the platform range from reality, movies, news, religion, provincial, music (or audio) and kiddies.

Now available in 3 million households, Openview is proving to be a worthy competitor for DStv as more consumers are looking to fill their pockets. Some of the channels residing on the platform include the most popular brands eReality and SABC Sport.

Other entertainment residing on the platform range from reality, dramas, movies, kiddies shows, sports and music.

If you're looking to watch a variety of sports and telenovelas then Easyview is not your guy and the same goes to Openview if you're looking to view news from a local and global perspective on top of grooving to a variety of tunes on your music platforms.

Other aspects that are lacking on Openview would be community channels like Tshwane TV and Soweto TV alongside religious channels like TBN and Daystar depending on the type of audience same as kiddies offering.

As for Easyview, they got more channels than Openview but only a selected amount are worth the extra pocket money e.g. SABC News, Real Time and TNT as opposed to Openview where almost all the channels are watchable by viewers.

In conclusion, if you want sports and telenovelas then head over to Openview and if you want more alternatives to SABC 1-3 alongside news and religion head over to DStv Easyview. As for other aspects it's more or less depending on what you choose.

New Development Alert: Da Vinci Kids Shortens Its Name To Just Da Vinci, Planning Co-Viewing Future

In 2022, MultiChoice as part of an attempt in reviewing their offering was planning to remove the educational brand, Da Vinci Kids from both DStv and GOtv platforms across Africa but due to a growing demand for their content amongst parents the channel was reinstated.

Prior to that, the channel was formerly available on the South African based platform Openview currently owned by eMedia Investments as Da Vinci Learning before the switch to Da Vinci Kids offering shows such as History Hunters, When I Grow Up? and Operation Ouch.

During the week, Da Vinci Kids rebranded for the fourth time in a row within 11 years now known simply as Da Vinci. Interesting fact, this switch happened back in 2018 but their owners for some reason were on limbo when it came to an actual brand name.

The Da Vinci Kids brand name was the most used amongst all as Da Vinci was used for the night owl offering which consists mainly of documentaries and short films. Weird thing about this was how Da Vinci Learning was revived and thereafter buried again.

The likely reason for the switch had to do with an alignment strategy and also another way to reflect back on their offering. They wanted something that would look good on your tablet and the previous logo worked better on a newspaper.

As for the revised name Da Vinci, how is anyone sure this will be the last time cause all that makeup doesn't really convince me this is it. Despite the simplicity of the new logo and graphic designs.

Aside from brand name problems, Tinizine Limited has two kids brands, the first is Macademia a platform carrying educational and factual material for preschoolers with Da Vinci supplying selected content from Macademia and catering to older audiences.

Both brands also have an app and Macademia has more variety than the Da Vinci app supplying most if not all the content which leads to this question in fact. Could it be possible that Macamedia and Da Vinci will perhaps unify under one brand perhaps?

Macamedia has the programming as their app serves as a digital library with thousand hours of programming but lacks accessibility. As for Da Vinci, they got the audience in their back pocket I mean Macamedia's programming has grown popular after its arrival on Da Vinci.

Unifying both these brands could equal to another powerhouse in children and family entertainment joining other brands like JimJam and CBeebies which are all based in the UK/Europe.

Recap To Last Year: WWE Channel Wasn't Mentioned In SuperSport's Contract Renewal With WWE

Last year, WWE and MultiChoice announced a major broadcast partnership that will see Showmax – the leading streaming service available in the region – become the new home of WWE Network in Africa.

The partnership incorporates all WWE Premium Live Events, including WrestleMania, as well as WWE Network’s vast library of original and archived programming available to stream on-demand.

Additionally, SuperSport, the sport broadcasting subsidiary of video entertainment platform MultiChoice, will continue to broadcast live weekly episodes of Raw, SmackDown and NXT as well as all of WWE’s Premium Live Events in a multi-year extension.

Of course, WWE Channel wasn't mentioned in this multi-year extension. In a media enquiry, as to whether the channel could be slam dunked from DStv consumers across Africa. MultiChoice responded to say the channel would remain aboard the platform.

But questions amount to why this wasn't mentioned by neither SuperSport or WWE in press statements. Could it be that WWE Channel will be getting chopped possibly when this multi-year extension reaches its expiration date.

I mean the only thing premium or relevant within WWE is Raw, SmackDown, NXT and live PPVs. Everything else is basically a hit miss and mostly rebroadcast and a channel which is managed by SuperSport they're favourable in terms of rebroadcasts.

The idea of SuperSport phasing out the channel doesn't seem far fetched. My guess as to why they're probably keeping it on air could be popularity which journeys back to e.tv and another SuperSport could be looking at ways to supplement WWE.

Now I don't how they plan to supplement something like WWE but from what I've seen you got a selected number of SuperSport channels offering live or rebroadcasts to selected content or as mentioned in their agreement Jambo, Raw, SmackDown, NXT and live PPVs.

Additionally, there's SuperSport Action which is home to extreme sports like UFC and EFC mixed martial arts programming. Basically a fight sports channel kind of fitting the bar set to up by WWE perhaps eliminating the rugby and soccer would make it the ideal candidate.

Effectively Immediately: Russia Today Is No Longer Available On StarSat And StarTimes Across Africa

StarSat:
- FilmBox Action and Kartoon Channel launch
- The Smithsonian Channel closing down in the UK
- Delayed SABC channel launch on StarSat explained
- Russia Today to launch South African hub

RT, the Russian state-owned news channel formerly known as Russia Today, was removed from the DStv platform in 2022. But the decision was out of the pay-television broadcaster's hands as sanctions in Europe prohibited the distribution of the channel.

The channel returned to South Africa by May of last year on rival platform StarSat after the pay-tv operator got permission from ICASA to broadcast the channel with Russia Today at the time made viewable SES S.A.'s SES-5 satellite transponder which is similar to Intelsat.

Within that year, Russia Today was eyeing a potential African expansion after setting 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, was overseeing the set-up of RT's African headquarters in South Africa and will be managing the bureau.

After almost a year of broadcast, StarSat issued out a statement to viewers that the European Union had terminated the feed of Russia Today on channel 260 but on the bright side the channel is still viewable on the StarTimes app for the time being.

Russia Today becomes the first channel to exit the platform in 2023 joining Boomerang and Glow TV as those also exiting their respective platforms DStv and StarSat before the end of the current financial year.

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eExtra Hits A New Low With A Rebroadcast Of Dare To Love

Everyday Novelas:
- TLNovelas unveils a bold new look
- Die Put S3 to stream on eVOD this March
- Zee World to add an additional 3 shows to their lineup
- Second Chance and Hart Van Goud coming soon to Zee One and eExtra respectively

Since December 2022, eMedia Investments has restructured the telenovela slate on their platforms and in a way this new positioning kind of favours Kuiertyd not jumping to conclusions but there's still The Rebel Princess but others are rebroadcasts.

As you browse the channel's lineup for the coming month, they're expected to rollout their 4th repeat Dare To Love (Tashan-e-Ishq) joining existing ones likes Ice Adonis, Blue Venom Girl, Kurt En Shura and in some way Naagin.

It's about a love triangle between a fierce young woman Twinkle, a possessive guy named Yuvraj and of course a wealthy man named Kunj. Twinkle is madly in love with Yuvraj, unfortunately their mothers share a bitter history that gets in the way of their love. The two love birds device a plan to stay together. Conflicts between the two families wears heavy on them.

It stars Jasmin Bhasin as Twinkle, Sidhant Gupta as Kunj Manohar Sarna, Zain Imam as Yuvraj Luthra, Vaishnavi Mahant as Leela Taneja and Sonika Chopra as Pinni Taneja.

Twist Of Fate currently serves as a double bill to the channel and that's about to end when Dare To Love launches on March 6th in the same timeslot 14:50. As for these repeats, could eExtra be pulling the plug on these programs perhaps?

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