Play Room Vs. eToonz: MultiChoice's Third Attempt At Phasing Out An e.tv Channel

Since last year, eMedia Investments and MultiChoice have embroiled in a carriage dispute regarding the 4 Openview channels currently viewed on DStv. Since then the pay-tv company had introduced several new channels including Movie Room, DreamWorks, BBC UKTV and Magic Showcase.

At the time, this news had garnered backlash particularly on how MultiChoice opted to supplement each channel which saw several consumers inherit only a single channel out of 4. When really it should have been about catering to the package(s) these brands were allocated on.

As seen in the last months, MultiChoice seems to have found other ways to rectify their mistakes from last year. Zee Zonke was introduced in August and if anything some would say this was the pay-tv company's way of phasing out eExtra as it's the exact opposite of the channel.

Movie Room launched last year and had proven to be a popular addition to DStv consumers. Although, Ngwato Nkosi Group doesn't disclose any figures but we assume it's enough to fill up the gap left by eMovies and eMovies Extra together with the help of TNT and M-Net Movies.

eToonz being the last contender in the game will be facing off against Play Room in the coming months. We're aware that there are other brands on DStv like Cartoon Network and Disney Junior but we've thought of looking for a brand that was more up their alley which is Play Room.

Similar to the previous comparisons, Play Room has a limited amount of original productions as the latter is said to be rehashing shows something we've seen on eToonz for several years. Another thing would the addition of dubbed programming something lacking within the red brand.

Unlike eToonz, Play Room will be doing a lot of language switching with select content viewed in English with others in Zulu and a bit of sign language. Another as mentioned would be the local production which again is very much lacking within the red brand.

If anything, Play Room is believed to not be giving their content much exposure market wise something that has been seen with eToonz. Honestly, it wouldn't be shocking as Movie Room barely market their offering probably because there's nothing newsworthy at this point.

From what I can sum up, Play Room doesn't seem to be animation centric at least to a wider audience which works in eToonz favour as that's substituted with educational material, content which is very much lacking on the red brand and content that's been in demand on Openview.

Could SABC eKhaya Be The Next Channel By The Public Broadcaster To Launch On Openview?

During the year, SABC announced the rollout of a second news channel on their DTT platform, SABC eKhaya. Formerly known as SABC Parliament, the news channel would serve as a spinoff to the current SABC News channel on DStv offering content in local languages.

Similar to SABC Education and SABC Sport, the channel would feature a lot of archived material and telecast content already seen on SABC 1-3. Overtime, the public broadcaster would work on ways to limit the rebroadcasts as the channel garner traction.

Unlike MultiChoice's DStv and SABC's DTT, eMedia Investments doesn't offer a local news channel on the free-to-view Openview platform. The last iteration News And Sport was shut down due to financial constraints and poor feedback from consumers.

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Most other local news stations like the already mentioned SABC News alongside Newzroom Afrika and eNCA are funded by MultiChoice's DStv.

From the looks of things, SABC eKhaya appears to be the only option for eMedia Investments and works under their platform's current budget. As mentioned, there's not much live content on the channel it basically serves as a catch-up service to SABC 1-3.

Similar to SABC Sport, it has longevity and could help fill that void left by News And Sport. The only issue would be funding as consumers would expect a brand like SABC eKhaya to function like SABC News but that is only possible if the SABC were to receive funding.

In other developments, SABC is said to have finalized details for the next TV channel which might be unveiled in the next financial period with rumours suggesting it to be a general entertainment brand similar to the defunct SABC Encore.

Could eMedia Investments Look Into Removing Their Content From DStv Catch-Up As Seen With The SABC?

During the week, MultiChoice was forced to SABC 1's Skeem Saam, Uzalo and Generations: The Legacy alongside SABC 2's Muvhango and 7de Laan also known as The Big Five. It forms part of a decision by the public broadcaster which has left consumers to rely on SABC+.

Not long ago, the public broadcaster announced that the streamer had failed to reach their expectations after only gaining 150000 out of 2 million households. With that came the decision to limit the platforms to view catch-up on these show's respective channels.

It could help lure more consumers to SABC+ but the only reason their streaming endeavours hadn't reached its peak would be lack of marketing. Another having to do with the fact that nothing newsworthy has been brought to consumers attention.

SABC+ comes off as a catch-up service and a platform to view past content by the public broadcaster while as local broadcasters like eMedia Investments and MultiChoice invest in original productions and other exclusive content for their streaming service.

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Something that wouldn't come as a shocker to some and this is something that somewhat been observed is if eMedia Investments were to undergo a similar route at some point. They had scrapped their content from VIU and kept them on DStv Catch-up as they believe in accessibility.

Since last year, eMedia Investments had been embroiled in a carriage dispute with MultiChoice over their 4 Openview channels which had remained onboard DStv for the time being due to court ruling.

They've tried several times to negotiate a new agreement but MultiChoice won't budge. Although SABC's decision to remove these programs wouldn't favour them viewership/money wise, you can clearly see where they're getting at I mean they want to be less dependant.

Similar with Disney+, they want to put more emphasis on their platforms and that's something that has yet to be seen by eMedia Investments and might as well be something they look into as more consumers flee to their platforms.

New Series Alert: Eve Coming Soon To Novela E Plus

Novela E Plus, a dedicated telenovela channel tailored for StarTimes which features various English dubbed shows from Latin America, Turkey and Asia had acquired broadcasting rights to the 2022 Korean melodrama Eve (also known as Eve's Scandal).

Eve tells the story of a chaebol family divorce lawsuit that shocks the entire nation, of which, at the center of the lawsuit is Lee La-el, the daughter of the chaebol family who seeks vengeance against those that killed her parents when she was a child.

It starred Seo Yea-ji as Lee La-el/Kim Sun-bin, Park Byung-eun as Kang Yoon-gyeom, Yoo Sun as Han So ra, Lee Sang-yeob as Seo Eun-pyung and Lee Il-hwa as Jang Moon-hee.

The series debut last year on Korea's #1 entertainment channel tvN and spawned 16 episodes each with a 1 hour duration. It was part of the APAN Star Awards where Yoo Sun was presented with the Excellence Award, Actress in a Miniseries at the time.

Eve would eventually make its African debut on Novela E Plus from September 23 at 22:30. Aside from Eve, other shows from tvN to have been viewed in the market include Flower Of Evil, The K-2, Tails Of The Nine Tailed, Cheese In The Trap, Ghost Doctor and Ice Adonis.

Development Alert: Blind Eye Has Been Silently Added On The eVOD Streaming Service Despite Being Released In 2021

During the year, eMedia Investments was scheduled to air the youth drama Annekan Die Swa Kry on eExtra but was silently added onto eVOD after failing to launch on the channel and now another local production titled Blind Eye had been snubbed by the streamer.

Zandile, a young vibrant auditor with the Auditor General is driven to root out corruption wherever she finds it. She is dispatched to go and verify assets of a notorious municipality before its audit begins. Standing in the way is Gogo Dlamini, a fearless and corrupt businesswoman.

The film starred Noxolo Mathula as Zandile, Thembi Mtshali as Gogo Dlamini and Siyabonga Melongisi Shibe as Nhlanhla. Mengameli Nhlabathi served as director whose previous work include Double Life (BET) and Swartwater (SABC 2).

Blind Eye was screened at the 30th African Diaspora International Film Festival and won the Roma Short Film Festival which took part last year and a few months ago it was also screened at the ADIFF Chicago 2023.

As mentioned, Blind Eye wasn't part of the streamer's initial offering when it rolled out in 2021 and not much marketing was done to promote an 'original production'. It's like eMedia Investments doesn't seem to care about how the film performs with consumers.