Sky Deutschland Drops 3 TV Channels As More Consumers Opt To Streaming

German pay-TV broadcaster Sky Deutschland is removing three channels from its TV line-up.

At the end of June 2023, Curiosity Channel (formerly Spiegel TV Wissen) and Spiegel Geschichte will be dropped, a Sky spokesperson confirmed to German industry magazine Digital Fernsehen.

Curiosity Channel is currently viewable on MultiChoice's DStv across Africa initially used as collateral for A+E Networks 3 brands at the time Lifetime, History and Crime + Investigation. The channel was founded by former founder of Discovery Channel, John S. Hendricks.

Another channel set to be axed before the end of 2023 is operated by Sky Deutschland, Sky Comedy. Although a Sky Comedy isn't offered in Africa the channel bares a resemblance to Paramount Global's Comedy Central also seen on DStv alongside StarTimes (not SA).

The reason: Media usage is moving strongly towards video-on-demand, said the spokesperson, adding that: “Sky doesn’t need a linear comedy channel.”

Over the years, MultiChoice has sorted to such measure which the reduction of M-Net Movies alongside the axing of M-Net City, VUZU, BBC First and ITV Choice with The Walt Disney Company anticipated to rip out more channels as seen with FOX and Disney XD years prior.

Even the BBC is planning to become an online only brand within the next decade. Since then a revised BBC News channel launched globally and also content spend was cut on BBC Brit, BBC Lifestyle, CBeebies and BBC Earth with some content streaming exclusively on BritBox.

New Series Alert: If You Were Not There Coming Soon To Zee World

Aggar Tum Na Hote (If You Were Not There) is an Indian television drama series that premiered from 9 November 2021 and went off air 29 April 2022 on Zee TV. Produced by Mahesh Pandey under Mahesh Pandey Productions, it stars Simaran Kaur and Himanshu Soni.

Synopsis for If You Were Not There:

Niyati a nurse resides in Mumbai with her parents and works as a nurse with Dr. Anand her childhood friend. While Abhimanyu a helpful and unstable man stays away from his mother but misses her a lot. Niyati is entrusted to his care but soon learns about this tragic past.

As mentioned it stars Simaran Kaur and Himanshu Soni and joining them include Amreen Malhotra, Riya Soni, Avinash Wadhawan, Anita Kulkarni, Vikrant Singh Rajput, Sangeeta Adhikari, Nikhil Chaddha, Harsh Vashisht and Krishnakant Singh Bundela.

If You Were Not There is another upcoming series that Zee World is set to rollout in the coming months joining the recently announced family led drama, His Mistress's Child. As seen with the latter, there has yet to be confirmation on which part of Africa will see it first.

New Series Alert: Kids News Room Makes A Return On SABC 2

New revamped children’s show Kids News Room (KNR) not to mistaken with Kagiso Media Group's Newzroom Afrika on DStv will be making its return on SABC 2.

The news show for children and is a fusion between education and entertainment, targeted at children between the ages of 7-16 with the aim of reflecting their diversity.

It aims to provide children with a platform to express themselves on how they see the world around them whilst encouraging learning, participation, and an inquiring mind.

It was first broadcast in English on SABC 2 in 2004 under the name Kids News and then migrated to SABC 1 in 2006. The show has now found its way back onto SABC 2 and promises to convey news in an exciting way that will garner the interest of children around South Africa as the show will be delivered in a variety of languages ranging from Sesotho to isiZulu.

The show will be anchored by four presenters who the children will relate to. Bonolo Moahludi (13), Leavante Sheba (16), Ruvarashe Marumo (16), Ayanda Masango (16), Thabelo Makhode (13), Kago Mavunda (15) and Mhlontlo Geleba (22).

Brand and PR Manager, Melba Thompson said: “SABC 2 prides itself on fulfilling its license mandate of informal knowledge building through crafting content that is relevant and relatable to its multigenerational audience. KNR is a prime example of how the channel continuously delivers on providing an immersive family viewing experience.”

The revival of Kids News Room coincides with the public broadcaster plan to rollout a second news channel during the year. The channel would cater to all South African languages including English and would run on SABC's DTT and streaming service, SABC+.

Recap To The Decade: M-Net Movies Gets A Dedicated Children's Channel

In September 2020, M-Net in an attempt to continue to be forefront of entertainment restructured M-Net Movies offering which saw the movie offering be divided amongst 4 channels previously 6 with each using a numbering system as seen at launch decades ago.

M-Net Movies Premiere was divided between M-Net Movies 1 and 2 which supplemented M-Net Movies Smile and Action+ while M-Net Movies Action was divided between M-Net Movies 3 and 4 to supplement M-Net Movies All-Stars and Zone.

Since then the channels were met with mixed to negative feedback following the cutback of Action from the Compact and All-Stars on Family alongside the restructure of content across the brands with Zone's successor M-Net Movies 4 serving as a kids channel.

Tailor made for lower tiered consumers particularly Access and Family consumers, M-Net Movies Zone was added in May 2013 as a BET inspired channel featuring films from the likes of Queen Latifah, Gabrielle Union, Morris Chestnut, and many more.

At the time, the channel wasn't getting much buzz especially with brands like TNT and eMedia's e.tv, eMovies and eMovies Extra reeling in most consumers. With that in mind, the channel was restructured into a thematic and film festival oriented channel.

As seen since September 2020, M-Net Movies 4 doesn't bare much resemblance to the former M-Net Movies Zone as its stellar lineup targets families and kids. If I had to hypothesis what led to the current setting maybe this is was M-Net's way of differentiating channels.

The previous setup didn't cater that much to kids or at least not for those on lower tiered packages so M-Net Movies 4 is probably one way for M-Net and MultiChoice to reach out to more audiences while other consumers could enjoy other content on TNT and Movie Room.

Recap To The Year: OUTtv Relaunches On eMedia Investments' Openview Platform And Also Streaming On Showmax

OUTtv is a gay oriented entertainment channel based in Canada which specialises in made for TV films and series including Finding Prince Charming, RuPaul Drag Race, The Villberg Chronicles, Dr. Jackie: Unlicensed Psychotherapist and Haus Haus.

During the year, it formed part of eMedia Investments' initial offering alongside FUSE to their unbundled pay-tv service Ultraview which is similar to MultiChoice's DStv AddMovies which too comes with a limited number of alternatives at a high price.

As mentioned, OUTtv is a member of the LGBTQ something not supported by some religious groups. On top of that, such acts are prohibited in various African territories. So when you look at it you can kind of see why MultiChoice went against the channel.

Prior to its rollout on Openview, MultiChoice added OUTtv as a pop-up channel back in 2018 and were involved in a nudity scandal but that's not what stopped it from becoming permanent. Perhaps the issue at the time had to deal with preferences.

MultiChoice comes with a range of channels and consumers pay for selected while opting to tolerate the least necessary. OUTtv would have probably been that brand to drive away consumers or had smear campaigns launched against them and DStv as seen in Uganda.

Hence the reason for Showmax and Ultraview, as one comes with less restrictions while the other gives consumers particularly religious households the option of not viewing content from this particular brand.