Recap To The Week: Vivendi’s Canal+ Group Makes Move To Acquire African Entertainment Giant MultiChoice

Vivendi’s Canal+ Group has made an offer to take full control of African entertainment company The MultiChoice Group, in which it already holds a 31.7% stake.

“The Canal+ Group confirms that it has submitted to the board of directors of MultiChoice a letter containing a non-binding indicative offer with a view to acquiring all of the issued ordinary shares of MultiChoice that it does not yet hold, subject to obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals,” the Paris-based pay-TV giant said in statement on Thursday.

Canal+ said it has offered R105 per ordinary share, which was a 40% premium on their closing price of R75 on January 31.

The group emphasized that neither “the evolution” or “the conditions of a possible transaction” were “certain”, adding that any operation would comply with all laws and regulations related to the South African media sector and companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

It remains to be seen whether the offer will gather steam given that South Africa currently has rules in place limiting foreign ownership of commercial South African broadcasters to 20%, although moves are underway to increase this to 49%.

The move to acquire MultiChoice outright comes a month after parent group Vivendi announced it was studying a project to split its activities into several entities.

“Canal+ is actively preparing its stock market listing following the announcement of the proposed split from its parent company Vivendi,” read Thursday’s Canal+ Group statement.

“This project would allow investors to benefit from the merger of Canal+ and MultiChoice, the ultimate objective of the Canal+ Group being to also obtain a listing in South Africa.”

The Canal+ Group, which started building a position in MultiChoice in 2020, said its aim was to create “a large-scale African media company capable of thriving in an increasingly competitive international market.”

“Canal+ is a long-term investor in MultiChoice and South Africa, and is proud to have been actively involved in the African media sector for 30 years. To accelerate MultiChoice’s development in Africa and beyond, it will need to adopt a strategy that will enable it to increase its size and strengthen its local and global footprint,” said Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada. 

“Our potential offer, if successful, will be an important step in enabling MultiChoice to realize its full potential. Combined with Canal+, MultiChoice would have the resources to gain scale and invest in local African talent and stories, and would have the necessary proprietary technology resources,” he continued.

“We are convinced that a merger of our two groups would enable the new entity to address the structural challenges facing the media sector, to develop authentic and ambitious African content, to support more local production companies, and to expand access to sport for its subscribers while investing in local sport.”

Created in the early 1980s, with backing from South African technology giant Naspers, MultiChoice currently has some 20 million subscribers across Africa.

TLC’s Brand-New Relationship Series ‘Love & Translation’ Premieres In Africa On Valentine’s Day

In TLC’s brand-new relationship series, LOVE & TRANSLATION, three American bachelors travel to paradise, where they will be joined by twelve women from nine different countries who don’t speak any English. Without a shared language or the use of a translator, this series explores how singles looking for love come together in an attempt to find a connection. In spending time together and focusing on getting to know one another, LOVE & TRANSLATION will showcase raw, genuine moments in a unique dating environment. LOVE & TRANSLATION premieres across Africa on Wednesday, 14 February @ 20:00 CAT on TLC Africa.

 

“As a leader in love and relationship series, we wanted to break outside the mould of our day-to-day and experiment in a new type of setting,” said Howard Lee, President of Discovery Networks & TLC. “LOVE & TRANSLATION will bring that rollercoaster of emotions our audience loves when genuine connections in unconventional relationships spark.”

 

With challenges that include utilising the five senses such as uninterrupted eye gazing and pheromone attraction tests, as well as adrenaline-pumping group date activities, these singles will try to learn about each other without the gift of language. And if the singles aren’t feeling that loving feeling with anyone, they can pack up their bags and look for love elsewhere. LOVE & TRANSLATION aims to discover what it takes to make a love connection when language is too foreign. Below are the singles who will be taking part in the new series:

American Singles from left to right: Kahlil (24) from Texas, Dylan (21) from Florida, Tripp (30) from California

International Singles top row from left to right: Sara (20) from Italy, Assia (21) from France, Jhenyfer (24) from Brazil, and Jin (32) from South Korea

International Singles middle row from left to right: Airi (20) from Japan, Tulay (25) from Germany, Jhuliana (23) from Bolivia, and Leidi (28) from Colombia

International Singles bottom row from left to right: Yam (29) from Mexico, Imane (21) from Morocco, Gisele (29) from Brazil, and Joceline (28) from France

 

LOVE & TRANSLATION is produced by Sharp Entertainment, a part of Sony Pictures Television – Nonfiction, for TLC.

News Shorts: Secrets Of Sulphur Springs Cancelled After Three Seasons On Disney Channel, A Rebroadcast Of The Chosen Granddaughter Launches On Telemundo Africa And Beavis And Butthead Returns With A New Season On Comedy Central Africa

Disney axes another show

There will be no fourth season for Disney Channel‘s Secrets of Sulpher Springs. The network has canceled the time-travel mystery-adventure series after three seasons, it had been confirmed.

Created, written and executive produced by Tracey Thomson (The Young and the Restless), Secrets of Sulpher Springs followed 12-year-old Griffin Campbell (Preston Oliver), whose world had been upended by his father, Ben (Josh Braaten), after he moved the family from Chicago to take ownership of an abandoned hotel property, The Tremont. The family—which also includes Griffin’s mother, Sarah (Kelly Frye), and his younger twin siblings, Wyatt (Landon Gordon) and Zoey (Madeleine McGraw)—lived in The Tremont in hopes of restoring it to the lively vacation destination it once was. On his first day at his new school, Griffin heard rumors that the hotel was haunted by the ghost of Savannah (Elle Graham), a girl who disappeared decades ago. He soon meets and befriends Harper (Kyliegh Curran), a thrill-seeking classmate, and they discover a secret portal that allows them to travel back in time and uncover clues about the town mystery.

This is the second Disney Channel series to be canceled in less than a month. As we previously reported. Jessie spinoff Bunk’d is ending with the conclusion of its seventh season.

Telemundo hits the snooze button with The Chosen Granddaughter

The Chosen Granddaughter's storyline is about a young woman whose life is controlled by her father. He intends to use her to take revenge on a rival family. However, his plans come to an unexpected halt when her supposed grandmother becomes overly protective and caring towards her. She also meets a young man charmed by her beauty, and they immediately spark a romantic relationship.

The series replaces Cennet: The Power Of Destiny from February 15 making Game Of Lies the only primetime show. Season 3 of Queen Of The South is slated to air sometime in the year after it was delayed for the second time first due to changing legislation and second Game Of Lies.

Beavis And Butthead is coming to Comedy Central

 The triumphant return of Beavis and Butthead (both voiced by creator Mike Judge), two teenage boys who like things that are cool and don't like things that suck. The new season of Beavis And Butthead airs Fridays at 22:35 CAT. Joining the lineup is a Woman's Day stunt for South Park titled The Power Of Her: Celebrating Women In South Park from 4 to 8 March at 22:00 CAT.

Rumour: Paramount Global Could Soon Integrate MTV Latin America Within Europe, Middle East, Africa And Asia (EMEAA)

Following Paramount Global's strategy to centralize its cable signals, the next channel that could be affected is MTV for all of Latin America, according to the company's plans. It is expected that the administration of the signal will be carried out from Europe, following an approach similar to that adopted by Nickelodeon Latin America months ago.

In the case of MTV Brazil, the programming grids of the new European signal have already been loaded into the Paramount EMEAA (Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia) system, with a start date of Tuesday, February 20. 

Among the most notable differences for the new signal is the return of Ridiculousness to the programming, and the elimination of the MTV Hits block. Changes are also observed in the time distribution, such as the expansion of the Naninha MTV block, which will now be broadcast from 3:20 a.m. m. instead of 4 a.m. m., and the transfer of the Tudão MTV night block to the mornings, from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. m. to 9 a.m. m. 

At the same time, the absence of programs such as RuPaul's Drag Race, Drag Race Brasil and Tinder Apresenta - MTV Beija Sapo on the new European signal is striking. However, there is a possibility that these programs will eventually be reinstated, since programming grids are always subject to change.

Despite these slight modifications, the new signal largely retains MTV's current programmatic structure, maintaining a combination of music and reality blocks. The most obvious changes seem to focus more on technical aspects, since Paramount is migrating the operation of its channels to the Netherlands as part of its centralization strategy.

Thanks to the Paramount EMEAA system, we also know that the company plans the same fate for Comedy Central Spain in the near future. It should be noted that MTV in Brazil has already adopted the European schedule structure for some time, without round schedules, possibly preparing for the transition to the new signal without it being abrupt for viewers. 

It is important to clarify that, although there are already programming grids for this new signal in Brazil, the case of Nickelodeon's recent European signals must be considered, whose grids were loaded into the system several days before being officially placed on the air. 

For example, Nick Panregional began broadcasting in October, but its grids were first published in August. The same happened with Nick México, whose grids were loaded in October before its start of transmission in November. In this context, there is still no definitive date for the change in MTV Brazil. In addition, there is also information about a new European signal from MTV Latin America, for which grids have not yet been loaded. 

MTV carried out a reduction of feeds last year, when it began to have a single signal for all of Latin America, in addition to the Brazilian signal. In that process, Feed Sur, which previously offered 18 hours of music daily, was eliminated. Now, there is only the so-called Feed Norte, with a few hours of music in the morning, while the rest of the programming is mainly made up of series and reality shows such as Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, The Challenge and Acapulco Shore, among others.

Sources: TVLaint

Byron Allen Makes $30 Billion Offer For All of Paramount Global

Byron Allen, who made headlines last year with his unsolicited bid to buy key assets from Walt Disney, is at it again with a $30 billion offer to acquire Paramount Global, Allen Media Group confirmed to sources.

Allen, whose Allen Media Group owns The Weather Channel, LocalNow, and more than two dozen local affiliate channels, is offering $28.58 for each voting share of Paramount, more than a 50% of its Tuesday closing price of $13.68, according to Bloomberg, which first reported on the news. The deal also includes an offer of $21.53 for non-voting shares. The offer to buy the outstanding shares equates to $14.3 billion, it said.

Despite its size and breadth of assets, Allen Media Group had largely operated quietly, ironic given Allen’s roots in comedy and show business. But the spotlight shone on the company after Allen made a $10 billion unsolicited bid for the ABC network, affiliates and cable channels like FX last summer, an offer Disney ultimately turned down.

Allen also pursued BET when Paramount shopped the cable network around last year, although that deal also fell short, despite some chatter in December. Now, Allen Media Group is back to buy the entire company.

“Mr. Byron Allen did submit a bid on behalf of Allen Media Group and its strategic partners to purchase all of Paramount Global’s outstanding shares,” a spokesman for Allen Media Group told sources. “We believe this $30 billion offer, which includes debt and equity, is the best solution for all of the Paramount Global shareholders, and the bid should be taken seriously and pursued.”

A spokesman for Paramount declined to comment.

The offer comes amid increased chatter of Paramount looking to make a deal, with Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Paramount CEO Bob Bakish in talks about a potential merger. While that the prospects of a transaction there has fizzled, Skydance Media CEO David Ellison, whose studio was behind Paramount films like Top Gun: Maverick and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, has also made a preliminary bid to buy National Amusements, the company run by Shari Redstone that owns a controlling stake in the media company.

Allen doesn’t want to keep the entire company. He intends to sell the Paramount film studio, one of the most storied in the entertainment business, the real estate and its intellectual property. He will keep the TV channels like Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, as well as its Paramount+ streaming service, according to Bloomberg.

The report also said he sent his offer via text message to senior management and the board members.

This isn’t the first time Allen has made an offer for a major media asset. Beyond his bids for BET and the Disney assets, he also tried to buy TV station owner Tegna and even an NFL football team.