"Enter The Splat Zone": Paramount Rebrands Nicktoons In The UK, Might Rebrand Alongside TeenNick In Parts Of Europe And Africa In The Coming Weeks

In 2023, Nickelodeon revived one of their iconic logos "The Splat" and incorporated it with the current font of the brand. A year after its rollout, there's still various countries that have yet to go Splat as Nicktoons in the UK rebranded earlier in the week.

As reported by NickALive, the rebrand occurred on Worker's Day being May 1st in parts of UK & Ireland. Based on Nickelodeon’s recently launched Splat logo, the rebrand includes new on-air graphics such as bumpers, promos and idents.

Last year, MultiChoice and Paramount had reached a new agreement which would see Nickelodeon in the rest of Southern Africa switch to high definition. This was also accompanied by the revamped Splat logo which was introduced months prior.

At the time, it was also stated that Nicktoons and Nick Jr. would undergo a rebrand before the end of 2023. None of which come to pass as Nick Jr. was only fortunate to go Splat by February of this year (due to globalization) with Nicktoons that has yet to switch.

Insiders report that the designs of Nicktoons and TeenNick's global feeds might be updated by May 20th. Although, that's still awaiting confirmation 

most feeds are aligned or handled within the UK so the timeframe of the rebrand would only seem logical.

This may more likely include the Nicktoons feed in Africa cause as mentioned part of the feed is globalized with some local variations. It was long speculated after the feed had switched from the U.S. graphic designs to the one situated in parts of Europe. 

"Sisonke With Zee Zonke": Now Ranked No. 1 Pay TV Channel In South Africa

Zee Zonke is a Zulu dubbed entertainment channel operated by Zee Entertainment Enterprises that showcases romance, drama, action, suspense and crime. It is home to shows like Onespiho, Imfihlo, We Mamezala and Umakoti Oyintandokazi. 

Since its debut in South Africa, Zee Zonke has been regarded as the no. 1 pay-tv channel. Catered for adults and families, it currently sits around 276,000 in the month of April which is 67% increase from January which was merely 184,000 viewers.

The individual figures for each show has yet to mentioned which is what Zee Zonke is likely using in getting these results. But from observing through Zee World and Star Life, its likely that the 7pm to 9pm timeslot is where these shows are at its peak. 

Zee Zonke in these endeavors had allocated Umakoti Oyintandokazi in April which had proved to be a popular addition with our readers. Later this month, they will be launching their second series, Uthandolwani. 

Zee Entertainment Enterprises has been operating in the African market for several years with their most popular jewel being Zee World. It contributed to further additions within Africa aside from Zee Zonke there's Zee One and Zee Alem.

New Series Alert: The Thread Of Love Coming In July On TLNovelas Across Africa

TLNovelas, a Mexican entertainment channel operated by TelevisaUnivision that is home to various Portuguese dramas will be rolling out a new series in the coming months titled The Thread Of Love, known in Portuguese as Diseñando Tu Amor.

Based on the Portuguese telenovela Meu Amor, it followed Valentina and her sister Nora with a desire to become successful in the fashion world. As they try to reach their dreams, obstacles like family and romance complicate their journeys.

It starred Gala Montes as Valentina Fuentes Barrios, Juan Diego Covarrubias as Claudio Barrios, Sergio Goyri as Guillermo Vargas Mota, Ana Belena as Helena Vargas Reyna and Osvaldo de León as Héctor Casanova Morales.

The Thread Of Love debuted on Las Estrellas 26 April to 7 October 2021 with 120 half hour episodes having been filmed. Before it's rollout on TLNovelas, TelevisaUnivision had licensed the content to various broadcasters in the African market.

The series will air on 22 July replacing The One Who Couldn't Love and prior to this another series My Secret rolls out in June replacing Thinking Of You.

"Weird Observation": Nickelodeon’s Global Operations Possibly Rebranded To Nickelodeon Global Unlimited

During the week, Nickelodeon unveiled a list of upcoming attractions for the channel alongside Nick Jr for June. This included the new film No Time To Spy: A Loud House Movie for Paramount+ which will likely be exempted from countries.

As some readers have noticed, Nicktoons wasn't included in this lineup of announcements that's because while Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. had been globalized. There's still some parts of Nicktoons which are localized and that include the Nick Jr. block and NickMusic.

Anticipating that these highlights are handled by someone within Africa while the others are situated in Europe. Of course, what got my attention here about Nick's June portfolio was the trademark "Nickelodeon Global Unlimited".

For those aren't aware, feeds for the channel in Africa had been unified with Germany, Poland, Denmark and various parts of Europe. At that time, this was simply known as Nickelodeon Africa before forming with other markets to be known as Nickelodeon Global. 

On the first page of this PDF File, Nickelodeon Global Unlimited had been introduced so if anything could it be possible that Nick Global underwent a name change honestly it wouldn't seem far fetched.

Nickelodeon relaunched Splat with a modernized design in 2023. It would only make sense if other parts of the network were being refurbished I mean "Unlimited" meaning endless sort of expands the channel's structure and makes it feel elite.

The Splat had sort of come at the time the channel had been revisiting past shows and reviving them for modern audiences. This year, Nick Jr. launched a reboot of Dora The Explorer (shortened to Dora) with Fairly OddParents: A New Wish on Nickelodeon.

Skydance’s Proposed Deal With Paramount Global Appears To Be Falling Apart

After months of M&A talks, Paramount Global and controlling shareholder Shari Redstone might be going it alone after all — for now.

Insiders tell that the expectation at the company is that neither of the two offers in play — Skydance Media-RedBird Capital Partners and Sony Pictures Entertainment-Apollo Global Management — will come to fruition. And Redstone is said to have reluctantly concluded that a deal with David Ellison’s Skydance, a longtime partner of Paramount Pictures, will not be possible.

As of Friday morning, the special committee established by Paramount Global’s board to evaluate M&A proposals had not notified Skydance one way or the other about its best and final offer, which would involve Skydance acquiring Redstone’s National Amusements Inc. and merging Skydance and Paramount Global, per a source familiar with the talks. The exclusive negotiating window between Skydance and the Paramount Global board’s special committee established to review M&A offers is set to expire at midnight Friday.

Meanwhile, the Paramount board’s special committee will review the joint Sony-Apollo offer, floating a $26 billion all-cash buyout premium, after the May 3 expiration of the Skydance negotiating window. But that may be so the board fulfills its fiduciary duty to consider all credible M&A proposals. Insiders expect the proposal to ultimately be a deal-breaker, given anticipated regulatory hurdles required to complete such a transaction.

Moreover, Redstone — who has final say-so over what deal to accept — is known to be loath to sell her family’s media company to a private-equity-backed buyer. Those familiar with Redstone’s thinking say she remains open to any deal that’s in the best interests of shareholders and that she supports the Paramount special committee’s review of the Sony-Apollo overture. That said, the Sony-Apollo offer appears more attractive to Paramount Global’s Class B (nonvoting) shareholders than the Skydance deal. If the Sony-Apollo offer is deemed unworkable, the most likely outcome is that Paramount Global will not proceed on either front given the threat of investor legal action were the company to move forward with Skydance.

Reps for Paramount Global, Skydance and National Amusements have declined to comment, as has a spokesman for the Paramount board’s special committee reviewing M&A offers. Reps for Apollo and Sony have not responded to requests for comment.

The situation remains fluid, and no definitive decisions have been made about Paramount or Redstone’s next moves.

But if the M&A talks are abandoned, Paramount Global would indeed be run for the foreseeable future by the three-headed “Office of the CEO” — CBS’s George Cheeks, Paramount Pictures’ Brian Robbins and Chris McCarthy, head of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks — after Bob Bakish was shown the door. The trio have told employees they’re prepping a “long-term plan” for Paramount Global. As part of cutting the company’s debt load, insiders speculate that strategic plan might include selling BET Media Group (which media mogul Byron Allen has expressed interest in acquiring) and the famed 62-acre Paramount Pictures Studio lot on Melrose Avenue in L.A. The go-forward strategy might also see the company try to combine the Paramount+ streaming service with NBCUniversal’s Peacock in some way.

At this point, Paramount Global is preparing “to go it alone,” LightShed Partners analysts Rich Greenfield, Brandon Ross and Mark Kelley speculated in a blog post Friday. “While Skydance could come back later in 2024 or next year, we sense National Amusements sees too many legal headaches with proceeding, given the special committee’s view of the proposed transaction.”

Regarding the Sony-Apollo bid, the LightShed analysts noted, “National Amusements does not want to see a breakup of the company and can stop any transaction they do not desire.” They suggested that regulatory approval of such a deal, given restrictions on studio and TV station consolidation and foreign ownership, would take at least 12 months “and potentially far longer if the administration turns over in November.”