Play Room: Schedule, Bumpers And Other Launch Details

Play Room (stylised as Playroom) is a children's channel operated by Ngwato Nkosi Group which offers fun and learning with popular animated shows dubbed in Zulu alongside live-action shows. The channel is set to go live on all packages from November 6 on channel 300.

From what we've been able to uncover, MultiChoice lent Play Room the frequencies formerly used by one of their other TV channels, VUZU. An HD/SD feed is currently being test run on their platforms with various Movie Room holding slides.

Bumpers/Idents/Promos/Banners

Similar to Movie Room, MultiChoice and Ngwato Nkosi Group tease the launch of Play Room through various banners none of which relate to the programming.

Schedule/Programming

As mentioned, Movie Room holding slides are occupying the 24 hour lineup. Below is a drafted weekday schedule with weekends being occupied by the holding slides so we assume the channel will have a varied offering during those times alongside the weekday offering.

12 October

23:59 Noah's Park

00:29 Jabu's Jungle

00:59 Oddbods

01:19 Cocoland

01:29 Noah's Park

01:59 Jabu's Jungle

02:29 Oddbods

02:49 Cocoland

02:59 Noah's Park

03:29 Jabu's Jungle

03:59 Oddbods

04:19 Cocoland

04:29 Noah's Park

04:59 Jabu's Jungle

05:29 Oddbods

05:49 Cocoland

05:59 Noah's Park

06:00 Oddbods

06:20 Cocoland

06:30 Noah's Park

07:00 Jabu's Jungle

07:25 Animal Time

07:40 Oddbods

08:00 Cocoland

08:15 Noah's Park

08:40 Cocoland

08:50 Noah's Park

09:20 Jabu's Jungle

09:45 Animal Time

10:00 Oddbods

10:20 Cocoland

10:30 Noah's Park

11:00 Jabu's Jungle

11:30 Oddbods

11:50 Cocoland

12:00 Animal Time

12:15 Oddbods

12:40 Noah's Park

13:10 Jabu's Jungle

13:35 Animal Time

13:50 Oddbods

14:10 Cocoland

14:20 Noah's Park

14:50 Animal Time

15:05 Jabu's Jungle

15:30 Noah's Park

16:00 Oddbods

16:20 Cocoland

16:30 Noah's Park

17:00 Jabu's Jungle

17:25 Animal Time

17:40 Oddbods

18:00 Cocoland

18:10 Noah's Park

18:40 Animal Time

19:00 Jabu's Jungle

19:30 Oddbods

19:50 Cocoland

20:00 Noah's Park

20:30 Jabu's Jungle

21:00 Oddbods

21:20 Cocoland

21:30 Noah's Park

22:00 Oddbods

22:20 Cocoland

22:30 Jabu's Jungle

23:00 Oddbods

23:20 Cocoland

23:30 Noah's Park

15 October

00:00 Thomas & Friends

00:15 Holding Slide

06:00 Oddbods

06:25 Enchantimals Tales From Everwilde

06:45 Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures

07:10 Holding Slide

15:00 Playroom Live

16:05 Game Shakers

16:30 Henry Danger

17:00 Sanjay And Craig

17:30 Oddbods

17:55 Enchantimals Tales From Everwilde

18:10 Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures

18:40 Paw Patrol

19:05 CoComelon

19:30 Henry Danger

20:00 Playroom Live

21:00 Game Shakers

21:30 Enchantimals Tales From Everwilde

21:50 Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures

22:15 Holding Slide

16 October

23:35 Noah's Park

00:10 Noah's Park

00:35 Animal Time

00:50 Animal Time

01:20 Jabu's Jungle

01:45 Jabu's Jungle

02:10 Oddbods

02:30 Oddbods

02:50 Cocoland

03:00 Animal Time

03:20 Jabu's Jungle

03:45 Jabu's Jungle

04:10 Noah's Park

04:40 Noah's Park

05:10 Noah's Park

05:42 Animal Time

06:01 Oddbods

06:30 Cocoland

06:40 Thomas & Friends

06:55 Paw Patrol

07:25 Jabu's Jungle

08:00 Holding Slide

08:16 Oddbods

08:40 Cocoland

08:50 Bino And Fino

09:05 Animal Time

09:20 Enchantimals Tales From Everwilde

09:35 Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures

10:00 Barbie: MagicTouch

10:30 Oddbods

10:59 Thomas & Friends

11:15 Animal Time

11:30 Jabu's Jungle

12:00 Holding Slide

12:16 Oddbods

12:45 Bino And Fino

13:00 Game Shakers

13:30 Game Shakers

14:00 Henry Danger

14:30 Sanjay And Craig

15:00 Henry Danger

15:30 Sanjay And Craig

16:00 Game Shakers

16:30 Game Shakers

17:00 Henry Danger

17:30 Sanjay And Craig

18:00 Oddbods

18:30 Cocoland

18:40 Thomas & Friends

18:55 Paw Patrol

19:25 Holding Slide

19:41 Oddbods

20:10 Jabu'sJungle

20:35 Bino And Fino

20:50 Cocoland

21:00 Henry Danger

21:30 Sanjay And Craig

22:00 Game Shakers

22:30 Game Shakers

23:00 Henry Danger

23:30 Sanjay And Craig

17 October

00:00 Oddbods

00:30 Holding Slide

00:46 Barbie: Magic Touch

01:15 Bino And Fino

01:30 Animal Time

01:45 Enchantimals Tales From Everwilde

02:00 Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures

02:30 Barbie: Magic Touch

03:00 Henry Danger

03:30 Sanjay And Craig

04:00 Game Shakers

04:30 Game Shakers

05:00 HenryDanger

05:30 Sanjay And Craig

06:00 Oddbods

06:30 Cocoland

06:40 Thomas & Friends

06:55 Paw Patrol

07:25 Jabu's Jungle

08:00 Jabu's Jungle

08:30 Bino And Fino

09:00 Animal Time

09:15 Enchantimals Tales From Everwilde

09:30 Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures

10:00 Barbie: Magic Touch

10:30 Oddbods

11:00 Thomas & Friends

11:15 Animal Time

11:30 Jabu's Jungle

12:00 Jabu's Jungle

12:30 Bino And Fino

13:00 Game Shakers

13:30 Game Shakers

14:00 Henry Danger

14:30 Sanjay And Craig

15:00 Playroom Live

16:00 Game Shakers

16:30 Game Shakers

17:00 Henry Danger

17:30 Sanjay And Craig

18:00 Oddbods

18:30 Cocoland

18:40 Thomas & Friends

18:55 Paw Patrol

19:25 Bino And Fino

19:40 Jabu's Jungle

20:10 Jabu's Jungle

20:35 Bino And Fino

20:50 Cocoland

21:00 Playroom Live

22:00 Game Shakers

22:30 Game Shakers

23:00 Henry Danger

23:30 Sanjay And Craig

Notes

• Akili And Me is also slated to rollout on Play Room but since tests were underway the show hasn't been seen in the lineup while CoComelon has been removed as further tests were underway.

• The tween offering hasn't seen much new additions aside from Barbie: Magic Touch. From what the offering entails the latter will most likely form part of the launch lineup unlike the preschool offering which has seen a lot of reshuffling.

• Various local content has been added like Jabu's Jungle, Bino And Fino and the long-awaited Akili And Me so it's very likely that the channel is looking to get more homegrown shows like uBongo Kids or perhaps even Showmax originals Twende and Jay Jay The Chosen One.

• Playroom Live is the only offering that remains intact during these test runs so as mentioned through press statement it would serve as a 1 hour youth offering and also the program has maintained its stance on the channel compared to other programs.

WBD Unveils European Launch Details For Max Streamer Including In France As International Boss Gerhard Zeiler Talks Up Synergies: “We Are On The Way To $5B And Who Knows Where We Will End Up?” – Mipcom Cannes

The Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Max streamer will launch in 22 European countries in spring 2024 and France and Belgium later next year, the media outfit revealed today.

Opening Mipcom Cannes with a keynote, interntional boss Gerhard Zeiler and EMEA Head of Streaming Leah Hooper Rosa brought highly-anticipated news of the rollout of the new streamer in the continent, which is rebranding from HBO Max with a bigger offering.

The Nordics, the Netherlands, Iberia and CEE, which already have HBO Max, will gain access to the rebranded streamer in the spring.

There will then be a “second wave” of launches later next year including in France and Belgium, which currently don’t have HBO Max, although WBD has an output deal with Amazon locally in France.

The service launched earlier this year in the U.S. and other territories. It will launch later in the UK due to the pre-existing content deal between Sky and WBD.

“The content breadth is so huge and we are enabling customers to find this content,” added Hooper Rosa. “And then they are increasing their time watching this breadth of genre, so streaming provides another avenue that compliments our distribution.”

“We promised the market $3B synergies, now we are on the way to $5B and who knows where we will end up?,” Zeiler went on to say.

He talked up the success that WBD has had with its goal to “execute as efficiently as possible” its “defining mission and vision.”

Following the Warner Bros merger with Discovery, new boss David Zaslav said he was targeting $3B synergies, which has seen the merger of teams and thousands of layoffs, but that synergy figure has crept up and up, confirmed by Zeiler today to be approaching $5B by next year.

He reiterated a “culture eats strategy for breakfast” mantra and said “we are one company not six or seven diluted units.”

Zeiler has seen something off an exodus in his international team of late but this wasn’t addressed at Mipcom. He set a new team earlier this month following a spate of exits including the likes Priya Dogra, Pierre Branco and Hannes Heyelmann alongside Robert Blair, who had worked in Warner Bros sales for 25 years.

WBD May Favor Local Partnerships Over Worldwide Max Rollout, Says JB Perette: ‘We Have The IP To Be A Survivor’

Warner Bros Discovery’s JB Perrette warns that the global streaming market faces pain and consolidation over the next three to five years, but he says that the merged group has what it takes to be among the big five groups that pull through.

And, to win the war of attrition and consolidation, WBD may choose not to fight every battle.

Perrette, WBD’s CEO and president of global streaming and games, said that the company’s Max streaming product is to be rolled out in a largely pre-determined sequence, one that arrives in Latin America and Europe before arriving in parts of Asia. But, speaking on Wednesday at the APOS conference in Indonesia, Perrette said that in some markets Max may never happen, and that WBD may favor local partnerships instead.

“If we think we’re going to have success and profitability, if our market differentiation is viable enough to make a go of it and have a profitable business over a three-to-five year timeline [then we will launch Max.] If the answer is ‘no’ because the market has ARPUs that are just too low or it is way over-served by a ton of other players, who are spending on a ton of content and losing a ton of money, we may say this is not the right time,” said Perrette.

“If we think we can be successful based on the three metrics that we have [profitability, market share and scale] then, yes, great, we’ll go and figure out how best to tackle it. But if the answer is no, we don’t see a path, then we’ll find partnerships and other ways to go to market.”

Perrette dropped a heavy hint that India, already the battleground for a seething cluster of local and international streaming players, may be prime example of a market where Max would be a player too many.

Perrette’s tactical approach flows from a macro assessment that the streaming market has gone too far too fast and that WBD, in particular, needs to return to rationality and profitability.

“We went through a decade of great oversupply and great under-pricing and we are in a period of rationalization and embracing the aggregation [process] There’s structural aggregation and there’s rebundling,” said Perrette. “I think you’re working towards a world where, over the next five to 10 years, you’re going to end up with three to five feasible players, in addition local champions in individual markets.”

Despite the chastening outlook, Perrette declared himself “very optimistic” that WBD has the strategy and content to be among the players that make it through the current tightening phase. “We lost $2 billion last year. We are now profitable in the first half of this year,” he said.

“I have high confidence. The IP we that have – between HBO, the Warner studio, all the factual content from Discovery side, to the DC Universe, “Harry Potter” — that, at the end of the day, great stories and great IP is what wins the day. Our portfolio gives us an absolute entitlement to be in that last group.”

Local product partnerships may be on the horizon too. “One of the areas we’re very focused on is we have great IP, things like DC franchises, which historically has been very English-language dominant, but where we can open and bring characters from that universe and originate local IP with a partner in that market. We think it’s not just investment entirely ourselves, but there may be creative ways to partner with existing local players,” said Perrette.

‘Martin Mystery’ Gets First-Ever 3D Series with Powerkids & Bonneli

Powerkids Entertainment Ltd. (Singapore) and Boneli Entertainment (Italy), the production arm of publisher Sergio Bonneli Editore S.p.A., have joined forces to crack the first-ever 3D CG-animated series based on the popular children’s character Martin Mystère, a.k.a. Martin Mystery. The comics introduced by SBE in 1982 follows the titular hero, an adventurous Renaissance man who applies his broad knowledge of history and antiquities to unravel enigmatic events around the world.

Created by Italian comic-book legend Alfredo Castelli, Martin’s adventures have sold millions of copies across Europe as well as a 2D animated series that premiered 20 years ago. Martin Mystère: The New Animated Series will feature state-of-the-art animation techniques and storytelling crafted to appeal to all ages, according to the producers.

“We’re thrilled to be working with Bonneli Entertainment, the production arm of the comic-book publisher Sergio Bonneli Editore, on this exciting new project,” said Manoj Mishra, CEO of Powerkids Entertainment. “Our goal is to bring Martin Mystère, a.k.a. Martin Mystery, to life in a way that will engage and inspire viewers around the world, and we believe that this new 3D animated series will do just that.”

Series executive producer Vincenzo Sarno, Head of Property Business Development for Sergio Bonneli Editore and Bonneli Entertainment, commented, “Togetherness, for me, means teamwork. We are very proud of our vast slate of comic books that have entertained generations and are distributed across the globe. Now, we want to bring our legends to life through animation to entertain both existing and a new generation of viewers. We want to broadly share the wonderful universe of SBE.

“We are very excited to partner with Powerkids Entertainment, to develop and bring these characters, comic books and stories to life. We are confident that our partnership will be an incredible success given the experience and long track record of Powerkids Entertainment’s management team.”

Powerkids Entertainment will produce and distribute the 3D animated series globally. Production is due to begin at the end of this year, with a release date set for the later part of 2025. Additional details will be announced in due time.

Dragon Ball To Return With New Anime Series Dragon Ball: DAIMA To Commemorate 40th Anniversary

The first trailer for the upcoming Dragon Ball DAIMA anime premiere was shown at the franchise’s panel at the 2023 New York Comic Con on Thursday, October 12, 2023. Previously leaked with the subtitle Magic rather than DAIMA, the new anime series is set to premiere in Fall 2024 according to this latest and first teaser trailer.

One of the key differences between Dragon Ball DAIMA anime and the leaked Magic details seems to be exactly who is turned into a child via a wish with the Dragon Balls. Whereas the Magic leaks claimed that just Goku and Shin would be turned into children, it seems that the entire mainline cast of the series has suffered the same fate.

While information on the series is somewhat minimal at this time, Dragon Ball DAIMA seems to be a new canonical mainline anime set around the same time as when Super takes place. Fans also get a look at the apparent upcoming antagonists for the anime, who’ve seemingly been watching the Z Fighters and all their past struggles this entire time.

The Dragon Ball DAIMA teaser trailer first starts with a brief overview of the history of the series, stretching from its debut as a manga in 1984 and beyond. Scenes from the non-canonical GT are even included here, which is certainly an intriguing choice. In any case, this continues until the year 2023 appears on the screen, with nothing playing behind it.

The year then changes to 2024 as the teaser trailer truly begins. Fans are taken to a demonic-looking castle, where two unknown apparent antagonists are standing within. They are surrounded by events from the history of the series, which seem to only cover the events of the Z anime.

After some brief seemingly unimportant shots, Shenron is seen appearing and asking someone for their wish. This is followed by a scene that sees both Goku and Vegeta turned into children, a plight that is revealed to have affected Bulma, Chi Chi, and essentially everyone else in the main cast. 

The group is seen heading to the lookout and other various locations in the series, before once again showing the demonic castle and antagonists within.The trailer ends with a beam struggle between Goku and Vegeta as adults, before showing a young Goku preparing to fight someone and revealing the series logo. 

Given the Fall 2024 release window, the series’ premiere will most likely coincide with the 40th anniversary of the original series, set to take place in November 2024. However, this is wholly speculative, with no further information on the series beyond what’s described above.