Reminder: ROK GH Will Close On DStv And GOtv Across Africa By 31 August 2023

ROK is a general entertainment channel operated by Nigerian film company ROK Studios that produce a selection of content such as Bloodline and Festac Town. Prior to the channel's inception, the company ROK Studios had been garnering popularity for its productions.

By 2018, ROK Studios allocated two more channels to the DStv platform, ROK 2 and ROK 3 (now ROK GH). ROK 2 was viewed as another Mzansi Wethu rehashing content to more consumers while as ROK GH (formerly ROK 3) was spun off from the first producing content from Ghana.

After 5 years on air, MultiChoice has decided to end carriage of ROK GH with further content likely to be distributed on ROK and ROK 2. This comes after it was reported that Maisha Magic Movies would be departing South Africa both of which are slated to go dark by the end of August.

MultiChoice has yet to issue out a statement regarding the cancellation of ROK GH. But if we had to guess similar to Maisha Magic Movies (in SA) and Novela Magic, the channel was struggling to garner traction and brands like ROK and Africa Magic probably edged them out.

Another could be that ROK Studios (if not MultiChoice) is cutting back on content spend and possible streamlining. Therefore reducing the attention seen on their linear platforms as seen with various broadcasters in the African market underwent.

Reminder: Maisha Magic Movies Will Close On DStv By 31 August 2023, Zee Zonke Will Be Added Soon

In 2021, MultiChoice and M-Net unveiled a new local movie channel, Maisha Magic Movies. The channel was tailor made for East African audiences particularly Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Malawi while as being viewable in areas MultiChoice operates.

Maisha Magic Movies would be used as a platform to promote first run productions from East Africa alongside content already viewed on Maisha Magic East and Pearl Magic. Some content to have been viewed on the channel include like 94 Terror, Damu Moja and Freedom Movie.

After two years, MultiChoice has decided to call it quits for Maisha Magic Movies with the channel to remain on the platform until the end of August. At the time of publishing, neither MultiChoice and M-Net could provide a statement regarding the removal of the brand.

From what we can gather, this change is only applicable to consumers in South Africa as it remains operational in other parts of Africa. We assume similar to Novela Magic, the channel was struggling to garner traction as seen with Mzansi Bioskop and Africa Magic Epic. 

Another contributing factor would have to be Zee Zonke, since last year MultiChoice had been battling with transponder constraints so they'd often need to remove channels in order to launch another channel. Maisha Magic Movies being obsolete would be replaced by Zee Zonke.

As both incorporate a local element into the lineup, Zee Zonke is a Zulu dubbed entertainment channel similar to eMedia Investments eExtra and ePlesier would dub various international shows in local languages as opposed to producing original content like Maisha Magic Movies.

Zee Zonke was slated to launch on the platform earlier in the month but was pushed to September so Maisha Magic Movies' sacrifice won't be in vain. Unlike the movie channel, Zee Zonke might be viewable to more DStv customers like Family and Access.

As crazy as this switcheroo appears to some, they had attempted to phase out something factual and entertaining as Da Vinci for toddler filtered brand like Moonbug and another instance was with MTV Hits when MultiChoice opted to kill pop for some smooth Jazz on Qwest TV.

Maisha Magic Movies In ROA

As mentioned from our findings, it appears the channel will remain operational in other countries. Considering the channel was made available to Access in parts of East Africa and it's socials were redirected to Maisha Magic and Pearl Magic. It wouldn't be shocking if more regions opted to discontinue carriage of the channel if not the whole of Africa.

What To Expect On The Nickelodeon Channels Across Africa In September 2023?

Nickelodeon

MONSTER HIGH

NEW EPISODES

Timeline: 04/09/2023 – 15/09/2023

Episodes: 108 - 113

Slot: Monday - Friday

Time: 17:30

BIG NATE

NEW EPISODES

Timeline: 18/09/2023 – 29/09/2023

Episodes: 118 -126

Slot: Monday - Friday

Time: 16:00

NICKELODEON ALL STARS!

STUNT

Timeline: 11/09/2023 – 29/09/2023

Slot: Monday - Friday

Time: 17:45

Danger Force, That Girl Lay Lay and The Really Loud House

TRANSFORMERS EARTHSPARK

NEW EPISODES

Timeline: 09/09/2023 – 14/10/2023

Episodes: 116 - 126

Slot: Weekends

Time: 12:00

Nicktoons

* Lots of copy/paste in this section and possible inaccuracies.

* This channel has been haywire since last year in terms of programming.

MONSTER HIGH

NEW EPISODES

Premiere: 04/09/2023 – 15/09/2023

Episodes: 108 - 113

Slot: Monday - Friday

Time: 17:00

THE PATRICK STAR SHOW

NEW EPISODES

Premiere: 18/09/2023 – 29/09/2023,/

Episodes: 114b - 120

Slot: Monday - Friday

Time: 16:00

BIG NATE (seen in SA section)

NEW EPISODES

Premiere: N/A

Episodes: 121 – 122, 124 - 126

Slot: N/A

Time: N/A

Transformers: Earthspark (seen in ROA section)

NEW EPISODES

Premiere: 10/09/2023 - 08/10/2023

Episodes: 111 – 115

Slot: Sunday

Time: 14:00 

Nick Jr.

PAW PATROL

NEW EPISODES

Premiere: 04/09/2023 – 15/09/2023

Episodes: 921 - 926

Slot: Monday - Friday

Time: 05:50am, 11:45am/pm, 04:00am/pm, 06:05p/m

RUBBLE & CREW

NEW SHOW

Premiere: 04/09/2023 – 15/09/2023

Episodes: 101 - 110 

Slot: Monday - Friday

Time: 06:25am/pm, 04:30am/pm

BLAZE AND THE MONSTER MACHINES 

NEW EPISODES

Premiere: 18/09/2023 - 24/09/2023

Episodes: #707 -713

Slot: Monday - Sunday

Time: 11:30am/pm, 02:30am/pm

BLUES CLUES & YOU (seen in SA section)

NEW EPISODES

Premiere: N/A

Episodes: 407-409, 410-414

Slot: N/A

Time: N/A

THE ADVENTURES OF PADDINGTON (seen in ROA section)

NEW SEASON

Premiere: 25/09/2023-06/10/2023

Episodes: 301-306

Slot: Monday-Friday

Time: 07:15am/pm, 01:00am/pm, 05:25pm

Recap To The Week: Paramount Is No Longer Selling BET

Paramount notified bidders late Wednesday night about its decision to conclude the BET Media Group sale process, said a person familiar with the decision who was not authorized to speak publicly. The person said the company determined maintaining a heavy stake in BET creates more value for Paramount than any of the proposals after consulting with a couple highly-experienced financial advisors.

Some popular suitors included actor-director Tyler Perry, music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and businessman Byron Allen. At one point, some considered Perry as a leading contender based on the two successful series, “The Oval” and “Sistas,” airing on the network. He also owns a minority stake of the BET+ streaming service.

Along with BET, the deal would have included the cable channel VH1.

BET was originally started by Robert and then-wife Sheila Johnson in 1980. Robert Johnson created BET from the basement of his Washington home after securing a $500,000 loan from longtime cable executive John Malone and eventually built the brand into the leading TV network for Black Americans.

Johnson expanded BET by creating smaller digital networks geared to fans of jazz, gospel and hip-hop along with being a publishing house and event production firm. The network was initially led by popular shows like “Bobby Jones Gospel,” “Rap City,” “ComicView,” “Lift Every Voice” and “Teen Summit.”

In the early 1990s, the network became the first Black-controlled television company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

BET has seen a decline in subscribers and revenue over the past decade. Subscribers fell to an estimated 66.3 million in 2022 from 89.5 million in 2014, a peak year for cable television, according to S&P Global. S&P said the cable network’s annual profits have fallen from an estimated peak of $319 million in 2013 to $188 million in 2022.

Source: Hip-Hop DX

#BoycottingKuiertyd: Was Zee Zonke Meant To Be The Final Nail To The Coffin For eExtra On DStv?

Last month, it was reported by eMedia's team that their 4 Openview channels would be exiting the DStv platform. It's been a year since these channels were reinstated and MultiChoice has remained committed to move forward with the additions of Movie Room and DreamWorks.

As outlined in 2022, eExtra was the only brand that wasn't replaced with another channel instead M-Net attempted to duplicate the offering on kykNET & Kie with Kind Van Die Noodlot and In Die Ysterhand Se Greep both hail in Istanbul were the channel's first competitors.

Earlier in the year, that offering was crammed to a 1 hour timeslot and kykNET assures fans that another Turkish drama would be allocated but considering the recent schedule adjustments I honestly doubt that as consumers flee to e.tv for Annekan Die Swa Kry in the affected show's timeslot.

During the month, Zee Entertainment Enterprises unveiled a new Zulu dubbed Bollywood channel, Zee Zonke. Unlike its counterpart on Openview, Zee Zonke will come with its own programming or better yet import shows from Zee TV's Zee Marathi with 4 shows added to the lineup.

As seen through several ads, Zee Zonke was slated to air this month on channel 169 but I'm told by sources that the brand would only rollout by September which brings out many questions as to the delay of Bollywood brand.

Last year, MultiChoice outlined that they were battling with transponder constraints so they'd often be removing channels to make space for other channels. Particularly brands that were non-performing or lacked originality for which eMedia's 4 channels resided.

Another could be that Zee TV is planning some grand event similar to Disney Star's Star Life when it entered the market. As mentioned, Zee Zonke is not a catch-up channel much less a spinoff to Zee World but rather a Zulu duplicate to the Zee Marathi channel in India.

Recently, eMedia Investments had recieved another extension by the Competition Tribunal. As mentioned, Zee Zonke was meant to rollout this month but around the time this news came up it got delayed out of the blue.