The Regular Nick Effect: Breaking News From Across The World From In The Last 7 Days Dated March 11

1. Scooby-Doo And The Mystery Pups no longer moving forward at HBO Max
2. Totally Spies! Season 7 has been delayed to 2024
3. Adam Sandler was honoured with the King Of Comedy Award at the 2023 KCAs
4. Victoria's Secret Fashion Show will return with new season after 4 year hiatus
5. Veteran radio and TV presenter Mark Pilgrim, 53, has died
6. Tom Sizemore, ‘Heat’ and ‘Saving Private Ryan’ Actor, Dead at 61
7. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem features an A-List including Seth Rogen and John Cena
8. Nicki Minaj is launching her own record label
9. Genius Brands double down on Al with new shorts
10. Poltergeist rumoured to getting revived by MGM
11. FutureLife and SuperSport Schools sign three year deal to provide nutrition for children
12. Nick Cannon working on new show Celebrity Prank Wars hosted by Kevin Hart
13. Velma Season 2 is in development
14. Kesha and AEW superstar MJF make a cameo appearance in Impractical Jokers
15. Batman: The Caped Crusader is coming to Amazon Prime Video for 2 seasons
16. ITV Studios shuts down their children's channel CITV
17. Peppa Pig to launch on Disney+ in 19 countries with more territories to follow
18. Disney to start selling their content to broadcasters again
19. Beetlejuice 2 is in development with original cast and Jenny Ortega
20. Miley Cyrus unveils new album, ENDLESS SUMMER VACATION
21. Tame Impala returns in 2023 with first new single, Wings Of Time from the film Dungeons And Dragons: Honors Among Thieves

Newsflash: CCTV-4 To Continue Broadcast On The DStv Platform Through The IS-20 Satellite

During the month, it was reported by various outlets that MultiChoice was removing CCTV-4 by the end of March. A free-to-air channel which features documentaries reality shows, drama series, news, movies and kids shows on the Easyview package.

As seen in a press statement by MultiChoice:

“All channel and programme relationships are contractual and have an intended end-date which is then open for the parties to review,” MultiChoice explained.

“This is part of the ongoing review of our products and services. Often channels are removed from the platform due to low viewership and performance on some packages.”

“In this instance, the parties have agreed to not renew based on commercial viability and viewership of the channels.”

The channel would be terminated on all DStv platforms from 31 March 2023 at 23:59. Right???

After doing some digging around it was revealed by their PR that CCTV-4 would continue on the IS-20 platform as mentioned below:

"Following additional contractual reviews, a decision was made to continue airing CCTV4 on our IS20 satellite, which includes South Africa. – MultiChoice"

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but is it possible that MultiChoice is feeding the press half baked goods. Just the other day, QWEST TV was announced as a channel for all DStv consumers but that wasn't the case as it was allocated on Premium and Compact+.

This is the same MultiChoice which held an unannounced Showcase in 2022. So all I'm saying is could it be possible that MultiChoice was feeding the press such details as if it affected the region cause I wouldn't be shocked if that was the case here.

CCTV-4 is still going dark but in neighbouring countries while South Africa will continue supplying the channel.

But such discrepancies reminds me of when INX Prime was slated to rollout in the beginning of August only to launch closer to the end of that month. The other incident was KIX and PBS Kids brands MultiChoice used as collateral damage for e.tv's 4 channels.

They were promised by the end of March of last year, MultiChoice stood by it even when e.tv's channels got a stay of execution for another 2 months and waited for those channels to go dark before anyone could get any update on the supposed channels.

The History To One Of South Africa's Fallen Brands Owned By The Nismedia Group, Glow TV

Glow TV was South African based community channel owned by Nismedia that celebrated Bollywood culture with a lineup of content ranging from drama series, movies, kids shows and local productions. It serves as one of the initial offerings on Openview in October 2013.

The channel was popular for shows like Little Bheem, Young Love (Ishq Mein Marjawan), Get Real With Denver Naicker, Citizen Khan, This Is Love (Yeh Hai Mohabbatein) and Emperor Ashoka. It established itself as one of the leading channels to resonate with India from a local perspective.

A year after its rollout on the freemium platform, Glow TV expanded through the pay-tv market on MultiChoice"s DStv and On Digital Media and StarTimes' StarSat platform. Things were going great for the channel until May 2016.

Kagiso Media which was the former distributor of the channel unveiled plans to close the channel later that year eyeing the economic climate and the continued rise in costs for the content or inflation better yet lead to the decision to close the channel.

Kagiso Media serves as a subsidiary of Urban Brew Studios stable which supplies several other brands to MultiChoice's portfolio of products including One Gospel and Dumisa both of which are gospel based entertainment channels.

A month after the termination, it was announced that the channel was acquired by the Nismedia Group, based in Centurion. Nazeer Noormohamed, who served as the head of the brand eyeing the positive impact of Glow TV to consumers boosting their interest toward the brand.

Since then, Glow TV continued stacking their offering but were met with further competition from the likes of Zee World and Star Life that it wasn't long till MultiChoice announced the closure of the channel on their platforms by 2018 with the latter eyeing viewer's preferences.

For the 3 past years, it could only be available on StarSat alongside the StarTimes app for paying consumers while those who wanted to get away from paying monthly premiums could as well get an Openview platform or at least that's what most thought at the time.

To make a long story short, Zee One was added to the Openview platform back in 2021 as a supplement to the channel on the Openview platform and the party in question Nismedia had beef with the Zee TV after their exit from the DStv platform.

Unlike MultiChoice, Glow TV was removed unethically on the Openview platform. It was the reason the channel managed to live through February 2023 and with that deal up in flames the channel was no longer available on the platform and for contractual reasons on StarSat.

As of March 2023, Glow TV is no longer viewable anywhere in South Africa. Nismedia is exploring other ways to continue the channel one of which include OTT. They thank fans for their continued support and encourage them to keep following their social platforms.

Glow TV in short was never ousting to be another Zee World or Star Life. It was clearly stated from the get go that they were more entertainment tiered than telenovela but audience reach and viewer's preferences was what doomed the channel apparently.

Although, we have Zee World, Zee One, Star Life it's clear that despite the large fanbase these brands generate none of them can make up for Glow TV. I mean how often do you get local programs, lifestyle or even kids shows as it's just soapies all day everyday.

New Series Alert: The Good Son And Love...Look What You Made Me Do Coming Soon To Zee One

More Zee World entertainment is said to be made available to more consumers across Africa in the coming weeks. After sources reveal that two of their programs being The Good Son and Love...Look What You Made Me Do had been picked up for the Zee One channel.

Debuted back in 2010s era, Love...Look What You Made Me Do is a drama series which presents different love stories presented by the youth of India. It narrates they various challenges these youngsters face and the outcome.

While The Good Son (Rajaa Betaa) is the story of Vedant who is a successful gynaecologist, but life is not easy for him as he has not been accepted yet by his family. As he has never experienced the joy of a blood relationship, his only wish is to become a father one day.

Rrahul Sudhir and Dishank Arora star as Vedant Tripathi, Fenil Umrigar stars as Pankhuri Mishra, Ankit Bhardwaj stars as Rahul, Shambhabana Mohantey and Pranali Ghogare stars as Poorva Tripathi, Anil Mishra and Sagar Saini as Ramesh Tripathi and Geeta Udeshi stars as Dad.

As mentioned, these are set to be next batch of content for the channel with details of launch date said to be available closer to the time both programs manage to surface. It's sister channel, Zee World unveiled Radha Mohan alongside 3 other drama series.

Recap To The Past Year: Is Cartoonito Being Unified Under Cartoon Network?

Cartoonito is a brand name used by Warner Bros. Discovery that offers preschoolers and their families fun, creative and engaging content. It features shows such as Thomas And Friends, Lucas The Spider, Grizzy And The Lemmings and CoComelon.

As seen across Europe by the end of March, Cartoonito is expected to replace several Boomerang feeds after the brand recieved international acclaim following its relaunch in the African market by April 2022.

During the month, Cartoonito recieved some much needed attention after it was discovered that one of their upcoming shows, Scooby-Doo And The Mystery Pups would no longer be moving forward on HBO Max which brought a lot of questions to the channel's future.

For the past months, Warner Bros. Discovery has been making adjustments and to be honest things aren't looking good for the preschool brand. Michael Ouweleen was appointed as President Of Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Adult Swim no mention of Cartoonito.

This was the first time Boomerang was ever mentioned, aside from that Cartoonito has lost out about 19 hours of screentime in the past 6 months following its rollout on Cartoon Network in the United States.

As mentioned sometime ago, I doubt Cartoonito will be going anywhere for the foreseeable future as seen last year Batwheels launched on HBO Max and became the top preschool show aside from the channel in question already receiving popularity in other countries.

Even if they were reports of a shut down in the United States, it's been a proven countless of times that the outcome of a brand in one region doesn't always determine the outcome elsewhere I mean Cartoon Network is slipping in viewers but is the top kids brand in Africa.

If it's any consolation, I can see it shut down in the United States on Cartoon Network I mean on a monthly basis the block gets less and less airtime I don't think it has anything to do with viewer's preferences entirely another has to be the main network, Cartoon Network.

For almost a decade, they've been on autopilot relying on 3 shows and that's what's pulled consumers away from the channel and when Cartoonito rolled out the ship was sinking long back so I can see why they feel the need to reduce Cartoonito.

But as mentioned Batwheels is doing alright plus we have that new Foster's reboot targeted toward preschoolers which has got me thinking. Could it be possible that Cartoonito is being unified with Cartoon Network probably when this reboot pans out?

Interesting enough, this reboot doesn't acknowledge Cartoonito which led me to believe that maybe a merger between both brands could be underway I mean I can see Cartoonito being a thing on HBO Max as for Cartoon Network it will probably clash with other shows.

Cartoon Network hasn't introduced any original programs for a whole year unlike Cartoonito with Batwheels which could serve as a competitor to the current Teen Titans GO! as a merger might help reduce the show's airtime and try to build its variety.

Of course, I do feel a linear component to Cartoonito is long overdue. It doesn't have to offer any fresh content but follow a similar format to the PBS Kids block on PBS as well as the 24 hour repeat padded PBS Kids channel.