For CBeebies, the pubcaster has commissioned Mojo Swoptops (52 x 11 minutes) from Blue Zoo and Tararaboom. The CG-animated preschool series stars an anthropomorphic vehicle who solves the problems in his local community by literally donning new headgear, such as helicopter blades. The series is based on Cindy Black’s book series of the same name.
CBeebies has also greenlit the animated series Rafi the Wishing Wizard from BBC Studios Kids & Family Productions, about a family of modern-day wizards who face the challenges of living in a bustling city.
And for the six-to-12 demo, CBBC has ordered Black Dog Television’s Pickle Storm (10 x 22 minutes), a live-action series about the adventures of a nine-year-old who has to leave his fantasy world and seek refuge in the UK.
In renewal news, CBeebies has reupped Maramedia’s
animated/live-action preschool series Olga da Polga (13 x 11 minutes) for a second season. It’s about an eight-year-old girl, her family and her pet guinea pig, and is based on a book series by Michael Bond (who is better known as the creator of Paddington Bear.)
CBBC has also renewed 9 Story Media Group’s A Kind of Spark for a second season. Based on the same-name book by Elle McNicoll, the series premiered on CBBC in April. Season two will continue the story of Addie, a neurodivergent 11-year-old girl who solves mysteries.
The BBC has been busy adding content to CBeebies and CBBC lately. Just last week, the pubcaster ordered a Hey Duggee preschool spinoff from Studio AKA called Hey Duggee’s Squirrel Club (26 x seven minutes), as well as renewing the original series for a 20 x seven-minute fifth season. And earlier this month, the broadcaster partnered with Toronto-based Sinking Ship Entertainment to produce a UK version of the live-action series Odd Squad (12 x 30 minutes).
BBC Studios Kids & Family and CBeebies have commissioned new preschool series Hey Duggee’s Squirrel Club from Studio AKA.
A spinoff of the London-based prodco’s Hey Duggee, the new 2D-animated series centers around a friendly dog who encourages his animal friends to try new things. A release date hasn’t yet been announced for the 26 x seven-minute show.
BBC Studios Kids & Family and CBeebies have also renewed the original Hey Duggee series for a 20 x seven-minute fifth season, which will premiere sometime in 2025.
Since its debut on CBeebies in December 2014, several broadcasters have picked up Hey Duggee, including Nick Jr. (US), Tencent Video (China) and Cartoonito (Italy). The show remains popular—it was the most streamed CBeebies title on BBC iPlayer in 2022 and the second most-watched series on CBeebies between January and August this year, according to the pubcaster.
Hey Duggee also made the leap from screen to stage this year with Hey Duggee The Live Theatre Show, which ran in the UK from December 2022 to August 2023. BBC Studios handles the IP’s consumer products rights, and to date has signed 28 L&M partners in the UK alone, including master toy partner Golden Bear.
Hasbro has locked in ABC Australia as a new broadcast partner for its CG-animated adventure series Transformers: EarthSpark (26 x 22 minutes).
The first 10 episodes of this family-friendly show from eOne and Paramount will debut in December on linear channel ABC ME and the ABC iview streamer. The remaining 16 episodes will air next year.
The show will join several other eOne series already in ABC’s lineup, including Peppa Pig and PJ Masks .
Hasbro has been paving the way for EarthSpark‘s Australian expansion this month, launching toys related to the show at mass retailers throughout the country.
The series premiered globally on Paramount+ in 2022, and eOne inked deals for the toon earlier this year with several international broadcasters, including Gulli (France), Channel 5 (Singapore), TV Cultura (Brazil) and Super! (Italy). In July, the
BBC picked it up for CBBC and BBC iPlayer, where it’s among the top-10 most-watched shows on the app, according to a release.
Following the inception of Disney+, multiple Disney Channels have been closing down across the world as the company looks to consolidate their content to the streamer. They've also been looking at possibly selling their linear offering of course this is applicable to the United States.
But from what this entails, Disney is working towards a deadline to the remaining linear offering with Asia set to close theirs by the end of the year with a lot of European countries still harvesting most channels and other regions which have yet to receive Disney+.
Last month, Disney closed a number of linear channels across Asia and this included National Geographic and National Geographic Wild. They also managed the brands of the same name whose feeds had since then been managed within EMEA following these closures.
Despite having its operations merged with Africa, National Geographic Wild to date still has varied offering from the rest of Europe which brings to question it's future as a pay-tv channel.
From what we've heard, Disney EMEA now takes charge of National Geographic Wild but unlike Disney Channel it appears Disney Asia still maintains control of the channel. Either National Geographic Wild will integrate probably by 31 December 2023 or close down to its entirety.
Prior to the demise of Disney MENA, the FOX channel remain intact within these regions. Considering that Disney in Asia and EMEA no longer supply the FOX brand as further content has been integrated to Disney+ it's likely that the channel will close down.
Another theory that would come in mind would be having Disney merge the FOX MENA (Arabic) with the ones seen in Portugal and Mozambique (Portuguese). Seeing as most FOX channels such as FX and FOX Movies trace back to these territories its the only liable option.
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.
