News Shorts: Supa Strikas Now Has A Release Date On Play Room With Ambani Tech Squad, Black Tax To Make Its Freemium Debut On e.tv With A Season 2 And Via Allocates Two New Afrikaans Series In August

Play Room is now a Supa Striker

Last month, it was reported that Play Room had acquired rights to Supa Strikas (currently seen on Moonbug) although not announcing it officially. They gave viewers a teaser on their social platforms and it didn't take long to link the logo with Supa Strikas.

Now the series is slated to air daily at 17:00 from 17 June with a third season. In other developments, the channel will be rolling out an educational segment Ambani Tech Squad (through Ambani Africa) dwelling on technological concepts.

Ambani Africa, an award-winning EdTech powerhouse that uses augmented reality, captivating animation, and exciting gamification to enhance the learning journey for students, parents, educators, and organizations alike.

More DStv repeats on e.tv

BET is a general entertainment channel operated by Paramount Global that celebrates black culture through films and series. It is home to locally produced shows such as Redemption, Queendom, Isono alongside international shows like Basketball Wives.

For several years, eMedia Investments had been distributing various content from the broadcaster on their linear platforms and even co-produced some content with e.tv now slated to rollout Black Tax at 19:30 from 15 June.

Black Tax is a comedic series that follows Thuli as she is brought up in a tightly-knit black community and grows up to be successful. However, as her family starts growing she questions the importance of the black tax.

Upcoming shows on Via

Die ontwerpers

Season 1

1 August – 24 October 2024

Thursdays 17:30

In each episode of this show, an interior designer takes the viewer on a tour of three spaces: One they designed themself, one that inspires them, and – finally – their own home.

Wie was dit?

Season 1

2 – 30 August 2024

Fridays 20:30

A new competition show for lovers of true crime and police dramas. We all know someone who's good at solving the fictional crimes they see on TV. In this show, we'll set out to see if these "couch detectives" are truly as smart as they claim to be. Four "couch detectives" will check into a hotel in a sleepy countryside town and, in each episode, they will be presented with a fictional crime that they need to solve. The contestant who cracks the most cases by the end of the season, is the winner. This season will feature celebrity contestants.

Klankbank

Season 5

2 August – 25 October 2024

Fridays 20:00

In each episode of this game show, three contestants go head-to-head to test their knowledge of popular music. How much money can they collectively bank for the ultimate winner to take home in the end? Hosted by Arno Greeff.

Cartoonito's International Expansion Continues As It Replaces Boomerang In South Korea

Cartoonito is an international channel operated by Warner Bros. Discovery dedicated to preschoolers and families. Since its launch in 2021, the channel had garnered traction globally for shows like Bugs Bunny Builders, Batwheels and Masha And The Bear. 

Since 2022, Cartoonito has replaced various Boomerang feeds in Latin America, Turkey, Europe and Africa. With the United States, Taiwan Oceania and South Korea serving as one of the few markets where content is allocated on Cartoon Network. 

Through a promo, it was revealed Boomerang would rebrand to Cartoonito in South Korea from July 1st with the region serving as a late entry.

It is currently unknown how much content from Boomerang would fold under Cartoonito when the rebrand occurs. However, Jessica's Big Little World will form part of the launch lineup alongside Lamput, Esme & Roy and Bugs Bunny Builders. 

Warner Bros. Discovery's decision for replacing Boomerang with Cartoonito in EMEA which might be contributing factor in South Korea:

"We are aligning with our international strategy as Cartoonito is now a global brand for the company and all Boomerang channels in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region will become Cartoonito." "Everything depends on a country-by-country basis since the pipeline of brands we have is not the same in every country, but overall that's the strategy."

The Possible Fate Awaiting iROKO Former TV Channels On DStv

Canal+ is a French based pay-tv provider operated by Vivendi that distribute various films, series and TV channels. It recently acquired remaining shares in MultiChoice after serving as its largest investor with the company seeking approval from local legislation. 

They intend to merge operations should this deal move forward but alas the two had been rivals years prior and this comes with a similar lineup of entertainment. In this case, Canal+'s ROK Studios and M-Net's Africa Magic channels as mentioned sometime ago. 

Unless some restructuring plan is underway for both these brands it's likely that the ROK channels and Africa Magic would be subjected to a merger. Sort of as a streamlining attempt as seen with Africa Magic Urban as the latter would fold under Showmax and iROKO TV.

Of course, Canal+ did acquire the TV channels and studios and not the iROKO+ streaming service. If anything, Canal+ could reduce their investment on iROKO TV now that they have Africa Magic and opt to license content just to build the offering on IROKO+. 

The ROK channels could start to burn out once consumers notice there's less new content and another if some of this offering were to just reappear on Africa Magic Showcase or Africa Magic Family for instance. 

Why eMedia Investments Hasn't Made Any Of Its Content On eVOD Accessible On Openview In Recent Months?

eVOD is a South African based streaming service operated by eMedia Investments that offers a mixture of locally produced and international content. It also serves as a competitor to existing streamers such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Showmax.

As some readers are aware, eMedia Investments was planning to invest at least 100 million yearly on local productions for eVOD. Not only that, content viewed on the streamer was said to also be accessible to Openview consumers overtime.

This was usually between a period of 6 months to a year but as some viewers had noticed this had gone on for a much longer duration.

eVOD has been introducing productions like Mother Of All, Splintered Pieces and Net 20 Minute (dubbed program). Instead of these shows being allocated on e.tv or any of eMedia's other channels, they have an alternative lineup put in place.

If we had to guess, eMedia Investments is probably trying to lure consumers to eVOD and rushing their releases on Openview reduces that possibility. Openview is a freemium service and some content in question on eVOD form part of the pay tier.

Another reason could be that eMedia Investments is trying to give eVOD some value and don't want consumers to view it as repeats platform for select content on Openview. But an additional broadcaster as seen with MultiChoice's M-Net and Showmax. 

How Canal+ Sport Could Fold Under The SuperSport Trademark?

SuperSport is Africa's biggest sports broadcaster packaged and distributed by MultiChoice and Canal+. It is home to Varsity Cup (rugby), DStv Premiership (football), PGA Championship (golf), Formula One (motorsports) and WWE (wrestling).

Known to be a male dominant field, SuperSport expanded this lineup with Here For Her campaign targeted at females. This would followup to the introduction of youth sports with the rollout of SuperSport Schools after acquiring School Sports Live.

Not long ago, it was revealed that Canal+ had got the greenlight to acquire remaining shares within MultiChoice. There's been various questions clinging around to the fate of some content. 

Acquisitions are known to have their setbacks especially with mass layoffs, content cuts and possible mergers. As Canal+ intends to merge MultiChoice with their operations and these changes consumers anticipate would take sometime to be implemented. 

With the decline in linear consumption, companies have been very cautious with the daily running of a TV channel. Changing some minor aspects like the color of a light bulb to rearranging the order of library books would need careful assessment. 

Canal+ has acquired several assets in an attempt to expand their operations and this had led to channels getting the company name. This had led to some to wonder if the same aspirations could await SuperSport and whether this would impact consumers. 

Content wise that could remain intact but most rebrands are anticipated to often lead to something else. We've got to see that with 1Max (formerly 1Magic), this had led to an increase in local productivity and distribution in third party content. 

Instead of the entire set of SuperSport being identified under Canal+ Sport we presume these changes could have a smaller effect. If anything, the existing offering SuperSport Blitz and Premier League would be referred to as Blitz+ and Premier League+.

Plus (+) is a signature trademark for the French broadcaster from what we've seen in Poland and France. If anything, instead of SuperSport being phased perhaps an merger with + trademark to form SuperSport+.