News Shorts: Shocker (NOT REALLY) Mindset Network Ends It's Run As A Linear Channel After 18 Years For Liberty Learn, Telemundo Africa To Hit A New Low With Another Rebroadcast Of Decisions And TCM Closes Down In The UK By The End Of The Month

Mindset bites the dust

During the year, Mindset Network had been going through a lot of changes/reconstruction with most of their pages and websites either being abandoned or deleted. This was the first place to theorize the demise of the curriculum based channel.

Mindset Network had been doing a lot of downsizing in the last months so much so that the channel didn't offer interactive but prerecorded learning. Then there was the outdated programme guide which labelled everything under channel name and description.

This partnership with Liberty Learn was likely one way to save themselves from scrutiny with them being an NGO. Liberty would aid them financially while Mindset would distribute the resources to consumers.

Liberty Learn is available on DStv, StarSat and Openview.

Teleyawnder is back for more Decisions

During the week, production was paused on new content for the channel following Cameroon and Uganda anti-gay laws which prohibit the distribution of homosexual content resulting consumers to miss out on the rest of fourth season to medical drama, Nurses.

Since then the channel had featured reruns to numerous shows including For Love And Justice, On The Other Side Of The Wall, Queen Of The South and Almost Yours with Lord Of The Skies serving as the longer formats.

Diving further to reruns, Telemundo has offering the anthology series Decisions numerous timeslots over the years and with the series slated to end next month for Operation Pacific. We finally recieved word about the future of the series.

Initially, the series was slated to replace Lord Of The Skies but that was when Nurses was on but now nothing is known in regards to the replacement.

TCM is getting dismantled

It’s the end of an era for the British television landscape: Turner Classic Movies (TCM) UK, widely known as TCM Movies and a cornerstone for film enthusiasts, is preparing for its final act.

This dedicated channel, which has showcased the rich filmographies of Turner Entertainment and Warner Bros., is set to close its curtains on July 6, 2023, marking a poignant farewell for UK’s classic movie lovers.

This sombre news comes amidst a backdrop of global uncertainty for TCM. Across the Atlantic, the future of the American TCM channel hangs in the balance following recent layoffs announced by Warner Bros. Discovery.

As the UK prepares to say goodbye to its beloved classic film channel, the struggle to preserve its American counterpart underscores the ongoing challenges and importance of maintaining the legacy of classic cinema worldwide.

Recap To Last Year: eXposed Becomes The Premier Destination For The Best International Series

eXposed is a general entertainment channel operated by eMedia Investments that broadcasts a mixture of reality shows, drama series and documentaries. Some of the content available on the channel include The Walking Dead, Flower Of Evil and Empire.

The channel was added as a replacement to eReality and over the past year a supplement to the former international content viewed on e.tv. I mean the channel kind of resembles the main channel in a lot of aspects they offer the best of eReality and eExtra.

Prior to those two channels rollout on Openview, most of their content was seen on e.tv at the time and as these channels became a household name that only left an empty void on the main channel with a portion of their channel bombarded with their repeats.

In the later parts of 2010, e.tv was the Bop TV of our generation featuring shows like Family Feud, Fear Factor, NCIS: Los Angeles and The Resident. Fast forward to 2023, the latter can only be viewed through Openview with selected content distributed by M-Net on DStv.

Most of which isn't on a platform like DStv Access and Easyview. SABC 3 (stylised as S3) is another hub to relive those days with shows like The Good Doctor, Killing Eve and El Capo. Sure these are different programs but it does make a good successor.

If I had to sum up the issue with international on e.tv, MultiChoice and SABC have been in the local game since inception and eMedia Investments is trying to build on that so instead of erasing e.tv's entire existence we have channels like eXposed keeping the magic alive.

Liberty In Partnership With Mindset Network Relaunch The Educational Channel As Liberty Learn

Building upon the extraordinary legacy of the Liberty Learning Channel presented then by the renowned William Smith and its subsequent transformation into Mindset Network in 2003 – this platform represents the next evolution in distance education.  It takes the successful model of TenFold, an educational app, to a broader platform, delivering engaging television content, complemented by a robust, interactive mobile application.

“This innovative platform leverages smart technology to provide high-quality, curriculum-aligned educational content to South African learners. We are taking lessons from the homes of South Africans, allowing seamless access to educational resources anytime, anywhere,” said Dylan Green, CEO of Mindset Africa.

“We’re looking to redefine the way learners perceive and engage with their studies. By integrating technology that students are familiar with, we’re making the learning process more interactive, dynamic, and effective. As learners’ needs change and grow, so will we. Our mission is to make sure we’re always offering the best, most relevant, and most engaging educational content possible. All with the goal of empowering our nation’s students and shaping them for a bright future,” said Green.

The new platform  will offer an expanded curriculum, covering all school grades, and will include content aligned with the Cambridge International Curriculum. It will also unearth a treasure trove of archival educational content, making it accessible to the public for the first time. It aims to modernise learning by enabling students to interact live with the platform, asking questions via WhatsApp that will be aired and addressed during broadcasts. This new dimension of interactivity revolutionises the learning process, making it more engaging and personalised.

The platform will focus on fostering an interactive learning environment that encourages students to actively participate and engage. In contrast to traditional classroom settings, Liberty Learn blends the power of technology with pedagogical strategies, capitalising on the effectiveness of multimedia tools. This groundbreaking blend of education and technology presents a quantum leap in teaching and learning methodologies.

“Education is the cornerstone of economic development and a key driver in empowering communities. Our investment in Liberty Learn reaffirms our ongoing commitment to bolstering education, particularly in the crucial subjects of Mathematics, Science, and English,” said Marees Bostander, Head: Brand Strategy and Sponsorships at Liberty Group.

“For us, this platform  is not the culmination, but the continuation of a journey to revolutionise the educational landscape in South Africa. As technologies evolve and educational needs change, we are poised to adapt and innovate, ensuring that the platform remains a cutting-edge, relevant, and beneficial resource for all learners,” concluded Bostander.

Liberty Learn platform will be available on DSTV (Channel 319), OpenView (Channel, 134), and StarSat (Channel 187). The platform also includes a digital app for both Android and Apple users.

Recap To The Month: The Future Of Nurses And Telemundo Africa Have Been Revealed

During the month, Telemundo halted further distribution of Nurses with further episodes made available on Universal+ through the DStv app. After Cameroon and Uganda passed laws prohibiting the promotion of homosexual content in the regions.

As advised, consumers in South Africa are viewing the same content as these regions therefore halting primetime on the channel much earlier than expected with Nurses that was initially slated to end in July was cut halfway through the fourth season.

Basically, Telemundo became a reruns channel as primetime is currently funneled with Almost Yours, Decisions, Queen Of The South and Lord Of The Skies joining existing repeats like For Love And Justice and On The Other Side Of The Wall.

According to sources who are following up on the matter, the channel was meant to launch a new series in place of Nurses and welcome Mexico's biggest trafficker in the third installment to Queen Of The South. Following these passing laws these have been delayed indefinitely.

Unlike Nurses, Queen Of The South may return on a restricted basis should it be LGBTQ inclusive or our theory especially with Nurses is that these shows as well as further new programming would be made exclusive to Southern Africa if not viewable in other regions.

Nickelodeon alongside several kids channels on DStv were embroiled in a similar scandal and they opted to just exclude affected shows from select regions. Over the years, even more brands such as BBC Lifestyle, TLC and E! took a similar route so why not Telemundo.

The only challenge particularly in these regions is that some of this content similar to Nurses and 100 Days To Fall In Love have these characters forming part of the main storyline and in such instance content would have to be exempted as opposed to filtered.

Another matter which several consumers had brought up was the inclusion of LGBTQ on shows, Telemundo being American based has joined several channels to include this in most if not all their content. If a closure is not on the cards then they'll be division.

As mentioned several channels operate 2 African feeds and most reside within DStv. It's led to consumers in the affected region to lose out on popular shows such as Cartoon Network's Steven Universe, Nickelodeon's The Loud House or even TLC's I Am Jazz.

New Series Alert: Verbode Liefde Coming Soon To kykNET & Kie

During the year, kykNET & Kie reduced primetime for their Turkish offering with In Die Ysterhand Se Greep awaiting a replacement left Jy Is My Seun as the only source of international series on the brand. After a few months, the short lived family drama draws to a close.

kykNET had acquired rights to the Turkish series Zümrüdüanka which will be known on the channel as Verbode Liefde. Unlike Jy Is My Seun and Kind Van Die Noodlot, Verbode Liefde falls in the romance category infused with a bit of family drama.

Synopsis for Verbode Liefde:

The story of the series is of an epic and a magical
tale of two lovers Zümrüt Kuloğlu (Ceren Yılmaz) and Serhat Demirkan (Alp Navruz). After Serhat is announced dead, Zümrüt was forced to marry his uncle. This crucial decision will turn her life upside down.

It stars Alp Navruz as Serhat Demirkan, Ceren Yılmaz as Zümrüt, Ülfet as Hatice Aslan, Umut Karadağ as Adil, Selim Bayraktar as Abbas Demirkan and Ayten Uncuoğlu as Azimet Demirkan.

Verbode Liefde was produced by the FOX company which also supply shows to kykNET's rival eMedia Investments including Om Elke Draai (Her Yerde Sen), Doodsondes (Yasak Elma), Daai Crazy Somer (Son Yaz), Dokter Ali (Mucize Doctor).

The first episode of Verbode Liefde airs on Wednesday 5 June at 20:00 on kykNET & Kie.