News Shorts: WaterBear Extends Its To Da Vinci With A Slate Of New Content, Danger Force To End With 3 Seasons On Nickelodeon And OUTtv Greenlights New Reality Series Looking For A Third

Waterbear Network on Da Vinci

WaterBear Network, the eco-streamer. has announced a partnership with Da Vinci, the home of inspiring and educational TV for families and children. Effective immediately, WaterBear Original content will take the spotlight on Da Vinci’s FAST Channel, reaching audiences in the US, UK and Ireland.

This 12-month collaboration revolves around the theme of ‘Positive Solutions for our Changing World’, delving into narratives of sustainability, community action, conservation, and wildlife preservation. The programme lineup features WaterBear’s original documentaries and films, including Extract Destroy Repeat, an animation that delves into the depths of deep-sea mining, The Whale Who Saved Me, a story recounting whale biologist Nan Hauser’s extraordinary encounter, and Wildlife Warriors, an exploration of the lives of female conservationists.

The launch on this flagship channel, home to the popular Becoming Xtraordinary series with Bear Grylls, further cements WaterBear Network’s commitment to offering unlimited access to purpose-driven content to a growing ecosystem of consumers.

Danger Force cancelled on Nickelodeon

During the NFL NickMas Game, it was revealed by one of the commentators that Danger Force would end with after 3 seasons. With the remaining episodes to the current slated for January 2024 in the USA thus bringing the end of Schneiderverse on Nickelodeon.

Although, Danger Force had been scrapped on Nickelodeon the Dangerverse is currently in production of a Henry Danger film for Paramount+ with Jace Norman set to reprise his role. It is being developed under Nickelodeon and Norman's production company, Starlight.

In other developments, Netflix acquired distribution rights to the upcoming film for The Casagrandes. With the animated series ending on a cliffhanger, it had been confirmed that film would serve as the season finale of course Nickelodeon is depriving linear audiences from seeing it.

Tiffany ‘New York’ Pollard to host a new series

The LGBTQ+ network has ordered has the eight-part dating competition series, which is from Daddy TV, the producing team behind Stormy Daniels series For The Love of DILFs. Production will begin next summer and is slated for release in late 2024 on OUTtv.

Set in a modern villa, Looking For a Third will feature one gay couple and one lesbian couple, each searching for a third partner to add to their relationship among a group of singles.

Pollard, a seminal figure in Black reality TV, will host and is an executive producer. She was first seen in Flavor of Love back in 2006 on VH1 before landing her own spin-off, I Love New York. She also made a popular appearance on Big Brother in the UK, where she was at the center of an iconic moment in which she mistakenly told fellow housemates David Gest had died.

News Shorts: People's Weather Extends The Reach Of WildEarth To DStv Easyview And Openview Consumers With Dr. Mark And Siyaya Come Wild With Us Added To The Line-up And More Rebroadcasts Of Court Program Case Closed Surfaces On Telemundo Across Africa

WildEarth makes a landing on Openview

A few months ago, MultiChoice extended the reach of WildEarth to DStv Access after being made exclusive to Family consumers going up when it launched in 2020. It broadcasts live and interactive virtual safaris from some of Africa’s most iconic wildlife destinations.

SafariLIVE serves as one of their flagship shows (or blocks) after being broadcast on National Geographic and SABC 3. It had reported earlier in the month that People's Weather will air a live broadcast from 5AM to 8AM daily thus extending its reach to the Openview platform.

People's Weather adds two kids shows to the line-up

Siyaya - Come Wild With Us follows fast-paced adventures to fascinating places in and around South Africa's national parks with a zany professor who always takes a group of children exploring through each destination. Currently viewed on Mindset Learn and SABC 2, It airs daily at 16:00.

Dr. Mark is Africa's first wildlife show for kids which follows a qualified wildlife vet, spend each episode educating kids about a different animal relevant to the African continent. It airs daily at 16:30 right after the above-mentioned program.

Telemundo hits a new low

During the week, it was learnt that the anthology series Decisions would make a comeback to Telemundo in the new year to viewer's dismay. Now, the channel is set to allocate more airtime to Case Closed which will come in place of 100 Days To Fall In Love.

Basically, Cennet: The Power Of Destiny will be the only primetime show for 15 days into the new year. That is until Game Of Lies debuts in the timeslot of Decisions and Lord Of The Skies and interesting enough Cennet ends in Valentine's Day almost as if this was planned.

Could MultiChoice Be Looking To Add Play Room On DStv And GOtv Platforms In Southern Africa And Likely The Rest Of Sub-Saharan Africa As A Replacement To Akili Kids??? Here's Why

Last month, MultiChoice and Ngwato Nkosi Group unveiled Play Room as a new kiddies channel to DStv. The channel combines fun and learning for children with a mixture of locally produced and international series with titles like Akili And Me and CoComelon dubbed in Zulu.

There are plans to include more languages of course it's not known how many languages Play Room is looking to incorporate to its line-up.

It was also confirmed by the channel themselves that Play Room will for now be available in South Africa. At the moment, it's not viewable in Nigeria, Ghana, Botswana, Namibia, Malawi and other parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.

Play Room served as a replacement to the factual based children's channel Da Vinci. In ROA, Da Vinci was substituted by Nigeria's Teen Africa TV which had since then following the closure of the factual brand expanded to 40 African countries (including MultiChoice's GOtv).

That only leaves Southern Africa without a replacement, as seen with past additions Zee Zonke and NWTV. These brands are all being filtered for Southern Africa despite incorporating local languages while Play Room is being excluded from the the rest of Africa.

MultiChoice had inserted test cards for Play Room in Southern Africa of course questions amount to why these appear in the region if the brand would be tailored only for South Africa like eToonz. If we had to guess, MultiChoice could be looking to launch a localised feed in Southern Africa.

Similar to the likes of Nickelodeon, this feed would come with a varied offering/language with some content sharing between and this includes the bulk of international shows like Paw Patrol, Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures and Total Dramarama.

With Play Room taking centre stage on channel 300, we presume the feed in Southern Africa would take up channel 311 - just a hunch. But that can only happen if eMedia Investments' free-to-view eToonz gets booted seeing as we do use the same frequencies.

As for ROA, there appears to be some conflict pertaining to the content e.g. Akili And Me (Akili Kids, Kenya) and Henry Danger (Nickelodeon). It would make sense to remove some channels like Akili Kids if the plan would be distributing the exact content in local languages.

Akili Kids which is the East African version of Play Room serves as a multilingual children's channel with content like Akili And Me and Wild Kratts in Swahili. It also offers both fun and learning something that Play Room could look into building for these markets.

News Shorts: Telemundo Africa Enters The New Year With More Decisions, Noah's Park To Make A Landing On Play Room And Celebrate Valentine's With Mpho Popps And South Park On Comedy Central

Decisions enters the new year

During the month, Telemundo unveiled the highly anticipated series Game Of Lies after failing to launch it in 2023. As reported already, the series will replace Lord Of The Skies by January 15 although the late night series would come to a close by 31 December 2023.

With that in mind, Decisions would take up the timeslot for Lord Of The Skies and later Law Of The Heart. We assume Game Of Lies will take up one timeslot of Law Of The Heart which had been distributed as a double bill while we wait on the follow up series.

Queen Of The South was initially set to replace Lord Of The Skies and if I had to guess the series will most likely replace Prisoner Of Love once it ends in February 2024 and another series slated to end in that time is Cennet: The Power Of Destiny.

Play Room rolls out it's first new show in the year

Last month, MultiChoice added Play Room as a brand new multilingual children's channel offering fun and learning with a mixture of locally produced and international content. It serves as eMedia's eToonz first ever rival as it too is based from South Africa.

According to media outlets, Play Room will be rolling out Noah's Park this January after failing to rollout in the channel's launch line-up with Akili And Me taking up its position. The show might air in a different timeslot seeing as it's former timeslot is proven favourable by viewers.

Dreamer the rhinoceros, Honk the camel, Stretch the giraffe and five of their animal friends left Noah’s Ark and set off on a great journey to find a new home. The live-action puppet show consists of 14 episodes which have been weirdly been divided between 2 seasons.

February on Comedy Central

MOST RIDICULOUS WITH MPHO POPPS

5 FEBRUARY @ 21:00 WEEKDAYS

South African celebrities join Mpho Popps for a laugh-filled adventure as they share their reactions, stories, and banter about the funniest clips from the internet.

South Park Valentine Stunt

Wednesday 14th February @10pm

Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy

Tweek x Craig

Proper Condom Use

Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society

Raisins

Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset

Follow That Egg

Cartman Finds Love

January 2024 On Cartoon Network And Cartoonito Across Africa (Drafted) | New Series Alert: Hero Inside | Returning Shows Including Pokémon And Bugs Bunny Builders | More

Cartoon Network

• Hero Inside (New Show): animates a childhood fantasy, unlocking

a world where your favorite super hero can appear

before you just by saying their name. The adventure

begins after Scott, a cartoonist and free spirit, mysteriously vanishes after drawing 100 superheroes across 100 comic books, without ever publishing. 

• Pokemon: Sun And Moon: Ultra Adventures: This season takes place in the Alola region and follows the continuing adventures of Ash; his classmates Lillie, Lana, Mallow, Kiawe, and Sophocles; Ash's rival, Gladion; and antagonists James, Jessie and Meowth of Team Rocket. 

Cartoonito

• Lu And The Bally Bunch: A ladybird with a brand-new social life is still learning the social skills to handle it.

• Bugs Bunny Builders: Bugs, Lola, Daffy, Porky and Tweety use their amazing vehicles to take on the looniest construction builds while learning valuable lessons -- they never give up, because The Looney Builders always get the job done.

• Batwheels: Superpowered vehicles Bam, Bibi, Red, Jett and Buff join forces to fight crimes and protect citizens trapped in dangerous situations in Gotham City.

• Beantastic: Cartoonito will have you in stitches as Mr. Bean celebrates Teddy’s birthday by letting him choose what to do – from going crazy in a toy store to having a firework party! The live action episodes feature Mr. Bean sharing a train car with a loud and annoying stranger and accidentally stealing a baby.

• Zig & Sharko: Zig the hyena lives all alone on a desert island and schemes to eat Marina, a mermaid who asks a shark friend to protect her.