Development Alert: New Care Bears Specials To Debut On WBD EMEA & LatAm Platforms

Six new animated specials for Cloudco Entertainment’s Care Bears: Unlock the Magic are set to premiere on Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) Cartoonito and HBO Max/Max across EMEA and on Max in Latin America.

Individual EMEA country launch dates will vary, but both Cartoonito and HBO Max/Max are planning to begin rollouts this summer. In Latin America, Max debuted the first special in mid-March, with plans to release the others in April, July, September, October and November.

The Care Bears: Unlock the Magic specials have already launched on POP in the U.K., Family Channel in Canada, Channel 9 in Australia and TVNZ in New Zealand. They have begun their rollout in the U.S. as well, with future releases continuing into November.

The six new specials are titled “The Quest for the Rainbow Stone,” “Grumpy’s Ginormous Adventure,” “The Star of a Thousand Wishes,” “The Mystery of the Snickering Ghost,” “The Bad Crowd Strikes Back!” and “The No Heart Games.”

“We’re excited to see the ongoing storytelling journey of Care Bears: Unlock the Magic unfold in an exciting new format and are thrilled to go global with these specials via our fantastic partners at Cartoonito, HBO Max/Max in EMEA, and Max in Latin America,” said Ian Lambur, senior VP of content at Cloudco Entertainment. “With the help of these broadcasters, these mini-movies will build upon the success of our season one episodes, enhance the overall Care Bears experience and make for multiple must-watch events.”

What eMedia Investments Might Have Looked Like Under The Ownership Of Warner Bros. Discovery?

As reported sometime ago, Warner Bros. Discovery was looking to acquire eMedia Investments several years back. Following various legal hurdles of foreign ownership sold their remaining shares as eMedia Investments continues to blossom.

They currently offer Openview, SA's most successful free-to-view DTT platform which is accessible to over 3 million households. It offers over 20 TV channels which offer a range of movies, reality shows, drama series, telenovelas, sports and cartoons.

Most of which probably wouldn't have been under Warner Bros. Discovery's radar leaving consumers the latter on DStv and StarSat.

Warner Bros. Discovery (known as Time Warner) at the time consisted of brands such as HBO, TNT, Cartoon Network and Cartoonito (formerly Boomerang). Before the merger in 2019, their lineup consisted of drama series, movies and cartoons.

There's no way eSeries could have entered the equation if M-Net licensed content from HBO and Warner Bros. Studios. Same goes for the kiddies channel eToonz which might have been supplemented by Cartoon Network all of which are pay-tv brands.

e.tv could have remained as a singular channel with the eMedia Investments trademark phased out. It would have been home to locally produced content while as licensing content from other studios and exploring Warner Bros. Studios archives.

There wouldn't be room for much expansions in terms of local programming e.g. Kuiertyd. 

eNCA would have probably been the only other TV channel with connections to the eMedia trademark. It would have served as the SA adaptation of CNN perhaps infusing its lineup if not co-existing or just have that heavy focus on the local economy. 

#BlockTheMerger: Could Sony And Apollo's Possible Acquisition Of Paramount Global Be A Good Thing For MTV And Nickelodeon?

Not long ago, it was reported that Sony and Apollo would be making a joint bid to acquire Paramount Global. This comes after Paramount Global had rejected Apollo's initial offer as talks are still underway with Skydance over a possible restructure.

Similar to Canal+, Sony faces legal hurdles as foreigners are given restrictions pertaining to ownership of a local company. Apollo Global Management is basically their BBBEE or another case they're way of securing the entertainment company. 

Sources had outlined that Sony was looking to distance themselves from the streaming wars years after closing and selling their linear operations. Apollo was looking to possibly merge Paramount+ with another streamer putting its future in a dark corner.

Not that the content would be phased out in the process but if you're living abroad and getting a portion of this content on Paramount+. Them closing and merging it with another broadcaster further lessen the lineup.

Same goes with the Paramount trademark in general as it could as well be folded under Sony.

As for their linear operations, don't expect much improvement there content wise as consumption and revenue for these channels continue to decline. If anything, don't be surprised if they choose to close/sell a few if not all channels globally.

Apollo had hinted at that when making the initial bid for Paramount with film studios. When you look at it, Nickelodeon and MTV would probably be more like CW reliant on third party content and archived material from Paramount while first run content are shipped to other platforms. 

This is an endeavor we envision could await local consumers in the United States while other countries go through a similar fate as Disney's FOX and Disney XD channels.

New Series Alert: Never Late For Love Coming This May To Zee One

Zee One, a freemium based TV channel operated by Zee Entertainment Enterprises that distributes various content from India is set to rollout a new series Never Late For Love. Known as Tu Tevha Tashi in the Marathi language is a romcom for the oldies.

The plot revolves around two people in their forties who have experienced many ups and downs in their lives. Anamika Dixit and Saurabh Patwardhan were college classmates reconnect after a long separation and begin a new chapter in their lives.

It starred Swapnil Joshi as Saurabh Vishnupant Patwardhan, Shilpa Tulaskar as Anamika Dixit, Abhidnya Bhave as Pushpavalli Moropant Eadke, Swanand Ketkar as Neel Nana Jalgaonka and Suhas Joshi as Rama Joshi.

Never Late For Love debuted on Zee Marathi from 20 March 2022 to 26 March 2023 with 334 episodes produced each with a 22 minute duration. Through a poll on Etimes TV, 68% respondents praised the show while 32% disliked it.

The series will air daily at 6PM on Zee One from 3 May replacing Devoted Daughter once it comes to an end days prior. This is one of the few series to have launched in Africa with English audio as the latter such as We Mamezala and Onesipho is in Zulu on Zee Zonke.

Recap To The Week: Arise News Channel Goes Live In South Africa, 9 Other Southern African Countries On DStv

ARISE News Channel, Africa’s premier broadcaster, has announced its expansion into South Africa and nine other Southern African countries.

The channel is now available on MultiChoice's DStv Channel 416 in South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

With this expansion, ARISE News Channel is now live in 54 African countries, including Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Cameroon, Sudan, Ghana, Senegal, and Cote d’Ivoire, among others.

Celebrating its 11th anniversary on January 31, ARISE News Channel continues to showcase Africa’s diversity in business, politics, technology, commerce, science, sports, show business, and fashion, while projecting the best of Africa and its cultures globally.

Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of ARISE News Channel, Nduka Obaigbena, expressed determination to launch the channel in all countries worldwide, stating, “The move to Southern Africa reaffirms ARISE News Channel’s position as the leading broadcaster in Africa with independence and clear thinking. We are determined to celebrate the best of Africa and tell the African story in the global marketplace.”

He added, “We shall continually showcase the emerging African century where Nigeria and other African countries will be some of the leading economies around the world. This is a marathon and not a dash: we will do for Nigeria and Africa what the CNN, the BBCs, and Aljazeeras have done for their nations and regions. In the emerging African AI- driven new information highway, no one will shape your narrative better than you.”