DStv Shorts: Warner Bros. Discovery Announces The Launch Of TLC In France, Emmanuel TV Goes Off The Air On YouTube And MultiChoice In Angola And Mozambique Silently Change Channel Numbers

Discovery Science is getting the boot

Warner Bros. Discovery announces the launch of the TLC channel on February 26 in France. The brand that replaces Discovery Science offers “a selection of medical programs, paranormal investigations, dating shows and family programs”, specifies the press release. 

"We are happy to launch TLC in France, a channel that celebrates diversity and inclusion. We are thus completing our portfolio of brands with a new destination for a female audience aged 25-49", comments Clément Schwebig, president of Warner Bros. Discovery Western Europe and Africa. 

The entertainment channel is broadcast on Free, SFR, Parabole Réunion and via the Warner Pass at Prime video. The channel is also deployed in Belgium at Proximus and Telenet, in Switzerland at Swisscom, Net+ and Sunrise and in Monaco at Monaco Telecom.

Emmanuel TV suspended on YouTube

YouTube has taken down Emmanuel TV, the main channel run by TB Joshua’s megachurch empire, amid allegations the late preacher had for decades groomed and raped multiple former leaders of his ministry.

openDemocracy identified and reported more than 50 abusive videos amplifying abuse against Joshua’s accusers on the video platform. This comes after the controversial TV channel opted to exit various pay-tv platforms across Africa and switched to free-to-view. 

It is the second time in three years that openDemocracy’s reporting has led to YouTube suspending content from the late preacher’s Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN). In 2021 the Google-owned tech company took down another channel controlled by the church after deciding that it was violating its user guidelines due to broadcasts of anti-LGBTIQ hate speech. As a result, the ministry lost the ability to broadcast to its then 1.8 million subscribers.

DStv's silent descent

Last month, it was reported that MultiChoice will be adjusting the channel numbering for most of their channels. It is currently unknown on the reason these changed but below is the new numbers for each channel which is applicable to consumers in Angola and Mozambique.

National Channels: 501-TPA 1, 502-TPA 2, 505-Kwenda Magic, 507- TV Zimbo and 508- Girasol TV

Novelas: 510- Telemundo, 512-My Channel África, 513-TLN, 514-TL Novelas and 517-Miramar

News: 530-TPA Noticias, 531-Euro News and 533-TV Record News

Movies: 540-DStv Pipoca, 542- AXN Movies, 544- Cine Mundo, 546-Star Movies, 550-TVCine Top, 551- 

TVCine Edition, 552-TVCine Emotion and 553- mmmmmmTVCine Action

General Entertainment: 555-RTP África, 556-RTP Internacional, 558- AXN HD, 559-Banda TV, 560-TV Mozambique, 562-FOX, 563-Mundo FOX, 564-FOX Crime, 565-FOX Life, 566-FOX Comedy, 569-CBS Reality and 570-E! Entertainment

Documentary And Lifestyle: 575-Nat Geo Wild, 576-National Geographic, 577-Food Network and 579-TV Mundial

Music: 580-Afro Music, 581- TRACE Toca, 582-Gloom Channel, 583-Best Brazil, 584-TRACE Brazil, 585-MTV, 586- MTV Base, 587- HIP TV, 588-TRACE Naija, 589-Afro Music, 590-SoundCity and 592- Qwest TV

Sports: 599-SPORTS Pop-up, 600-SS Máximo 360, 601-SS Máximo 1, 602-SS Máximo 2, 603-SS Máximo 3, 610-WWE Channel, 618-ESPN, 619-ESPN 2 HD, 620- SS Blitz HD, 621-SS Grandstand, 622-SS Football Plus, 623-SS Premier League, 624- SS LaLiga, 625- SS Football, 626-SS Variety 1, 627-SS Variety 2, 628-SS Variety 3, 629-SS Variety 4, 630-SS Action, 634-SS Tennis and 635- SS Motorsport.

Children: 640-Canal Panda, 641-JimJam, 643- Disney Junior, 644-Cartoon Network, 645- Cartoonito, 647- BIGGS, 648- Disney Channel, 650- TXILLO, 651-Nickelodeon, 655-CBeebies, 656- Nick JR, 567- Nicktoons, 659-DreamWorks, 661-Nickelodeon  and 662-Moonbug. 

Could Paramount Global Be Looking To Close Channels Soon As It Hints A Streamlined Portfolio?

During the week, Paramount Global had made headlines after it was reported that they'll be laying off 800 employees. This included Liz Paulson, head of animation and live-action at Nickelodeon and Geoff Stier, SVP, Original Programming at Showtime Networks.

Since then, consumers have been left shocked and in tremendous fear as to what fate awaits their businesses seen globally. In Africa, Paramount not only provides brands like MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon but produce various local content most of which is likely to get scrapped.

They've also appointed various people to manage these channels in Africa individually and as seen with MTV and Nick Jr. These brands are currently using globalised feeds with very little local variation and if anything they'll likely look into merging operations.

As to the closing of channels, Paramount Global doesn't dive into specifics but plans are underway to reduce content spend as they pivot towards streaming. This could lead to the cutback of channels particularly secondary brands like MTV Base and Nicktoons.

Since Disney+ inception, Disney has been closing various channels around the world. As some readers are aware, Amusement Park has been exploring a potential sale of Paramount Global with bids from Warner Bros. Discovery, Skydance Media and Byron Allen Group.

Byron Allen Group had talked about keeping the channels and making them cost effective while selling other properties. What that could imply is Paramount Global halting further distribution of TV channels in other countries and local broadcasters having to acquire the content.

If anything regions that still carry these channels will likely undergo content reconstruction as seen with CW and Disney XD. Both of which no longer offer first run original programming and licence content from third parties.

Development Alert (Rumour): Noggin Streaming Service Reportedly Shutting Down Soon

Noggin is an educational brand that was started in September 1999 before being replaced by Nick Jr. in 2009. Similar to Da Vinci, it started as a TV channel for a preteen audience featuring educational programs and other factual content like The Electric Company, Ghostwriter and 3-2-1 Contact.

it was revived as a streaming service by Paramount Global and Sesame Workshop featuring a line-up of original content outside of Nick Jr alongside archived material. Internationally, it is being distributed by Prime Video in the UK, Germany, France and Austria.

During the week, Paramount Global had made headlines after it was reported that they'll be laying off 800 employees. This included Liz Paulson, head of animation and live-action at Nickelodeon and Geoff Stier, SVP, Original Programming at Showtime Networks.

It had also been suggested by other sources that Noggin team's had also been affected by these layoffs. Similar to the parent company, there was reports going around that Paramount was looking to sell share in the venture.

New leads have pointed toward the company looking to shut down the streaming service. Although not official, Paramount had shuttered apps for Nickelodeon, BET and Comedy Central so it's likely that latter should it be true will probably integrate with Paramount+.

Recap To Last Year: Boomerang Continues To Assert Dominance Despite The Switch To Cartoonito Africa

After Cartoonito launched as a programming block in 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery expanded the offering with a 24 hour channel. It would offer shows like Thomas And Friends and Batwheels infused with several Boomerang favourites such as Zig And Sharko and Mr. Bean.

Despite the attempt at preschool content, Boomerang's family offering continues to dominate the 24 hour line-up by 70% mainly due to runs of Mr. Bean and Masha And The Bear. The remaining 30% is allocated to Cartoonito with shows like Batwheels and CoComelon.

Below is a weekday schedule where the former's remaining offering is highlighted in bold while Cartoonito despite holding 30% is much lower if you exclude shows like Grizzy And The Lemmings and Masha And The Bear.

00:00 Zig & Sharko (X3)

00:25 New Looney Tunes (X8)

01:55 Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! (X2)

02:40 Scooby-Doo And Guess Who? (X2)

03:25 The Tom And Jerry Show (X6)

04:10 Looney Tunes Cartoons (X4)

04:55 The Adventures of Little Penguin (X4)

05:15 Grizzy And The Lemmings (X3)

05:40 Masha And The Bear (X3)

06:00 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X2)

06:25 Lu&TheBallyBunch (X2)

06:40 CoComelonCompilations

M.07:00 Thomas&Friends (X2)

07:25 BugsBunnyBuilders

07:35 Zig & Sharko (X3)

08:00 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X3)

08:35 Lu&TheBallyBunch (X2)

08:50 Masha And The Bear (X3)

09:10 Masha And The Bear: Nursery Rhymes (X2)

09:15 Zig & Sharko (X3)

09:40 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X2)

10:05 Grizzy And The Lemmings (X4)

10:30 Pat TheDog (X2)

10:45 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X3)

11:30 CoComelonKaraoke

11:55 Thomas&Friends

12:10 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X2)

12:35 Zig & Sharko (X3)

12:55 Masha And The Bear (X3)

13:15 Lu&TheBallyBunch (X2)

13:30 BabyLooneyTunes

13:50 Batwheels (X2)

14:15 LegendsOf Spark 

14:30 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X3)

15:05 Grizzy And The Lemmings (X2)

15:20 Zig & Sharko (X4)

15:50 Batwheels

16:00 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X3)

16:35 Masha And The Bear (X3)

17:00 BugsBunnyBuilders (X2)

17:11 BugsBunnyBuilders: HardHat Time

17:25 CoComelonKaraoke

17:45 Lu&TheBallyBunch (X2)

18:00 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X3)

18:35 Zig & Sharko (X3)

19:00 BugsBunnyBuilders (X2)

19:25 Masha And The Bear (X3)

19:45 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X2)

20:05 Thomas&Friends

20:20 TomAnd JerryInNewYork

20:40 Mr. Bean: The Animated Series (X4)

21:25 Grizzy And The Lemmings (X13)

22:55 Zig & Sharko (X10)

Huiik

27 Cartoonito 37 Boomerang 53

Cartoonito

Formerly

Toads And Friends

Interstellar Ella

Lucas The Spider

Dino Ranch

Current

Thomas And Friends

CoComelon

Batwheels

Bugs Bunny Builders

This comes after Cartoonito had scrapped several preschool shows from parts of Europe including Big Bunny Builders and Masha And The Bear. Unlike most feeds, Warner Bros. Discovery had opted to retain the latter while attempting to build its offering as it took over Boomerang.

It is believed that Cartoonito is looking to retain existing IPs from Boomerang. Especially after Warner Bros. Discovery had cut down on its preschool offering with Jessica's Big Little World serving as the last shows to have been produced for the network.

New Channel Alert (Rumour): NBC HD Reportedly In Development On The DStv Platform

Yesterday, MultiChoice had begun work on yet another TV channel for the DStv platform with the initials NBC. Taking to account that there is already Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) residing within Africa this could as well be a potential high definition (HD) feed.

It's also possible that this could be a seperate TV channel and not one based on the Namibian broadcaster. Notice how the channel is currently residing on channel 111 where MultiChoice often rolled out various pop-up channels by M-Net Movies.

Another would be the distribution quality, as seen above this NBC is currently being tested in HD and while the one in Namibia is still in standard definition (SD). If this were the Namibian NBC, MultiChoice would have placed it in test channel section and not a prestigious channel number.

Could it be that NBCUniversal is looking to introduce a new (pop-up) channel to DStv customers?

MultiChoice revamped the Showmax streaming service during the month which is now in partnership with NBCUniversal. This has led to the addition of content from their studios including Universal Pictures, DreamWorks Animation and Telemundo Studios.

It wouldn't seem as far fetched of a coincidence that the NBC test card would launch around the time all this content came up on Showmax. I mean MultiChoice has numerous projects with NBCUniversal including Universal+ on DStv Stream and soon DStv Glass.

Some guesses for this possible new channel is that they'll start airing shows like Parks And Recreation and The Office which served as the highlight of the new Showmax. Unlike the American version, this one will probably be a watered down/repeat filtered version of the channel.

MultiChoice was scheduled to axe both Me and 1Magic from the DStv platform earlier in the month. NBC had been supplying several content to these channels including The Real Housewives, The Voice, Chicago Med, Law And Order and Young Rock.

1Magic had since then become a Showmax repeats channel with shows like Outlaws and Adulting. It had been long speculated that there could some behind the scenes going on within the company about the closures and if anything it could have something to do with channel 111.

Perhaps the idea of keeping 1Magic had to do with the rollout of the new Showmax. Perhaps they're treating more as a pop-up channel and as for Me that was slated to go off air as well and if anything maybe MultiChoice was looking to make NBC their predecessor.

I say this particularly because there's been various rumours going around that Me's viewership is low as opposed to M-Net City. Me was only catering to Compact and Family while as M-Net City was adored by even on premium as M-Net invested in fresher content unlike Me.

NBC despite housing a number of shows to M-Net and Universal TV could help expand the line-up. I believe there's various content people would love to see again aside from The Office and Parks And Recreation there is also Days Of Our Lives and Parenthood.