Canal+ Original Series. Shaka Ilembe Now Airing On Canal+ Première In Other African Countries

New CANAL+Original series, Shaka Ilembe is the greatest epic series ever made around Shaka Zulu, the mythical and powerful Zulu king of the 18th century. From his childhood to his rise to his fall, Shaka Ilembe retraces in 12 52-minute episodes a great African destiny to be discovered from July 1 on CANAL +Première.

War, revenge and...love story 

With the series Shaka Ilembe CANAL+ Original takes on one of the most emblematic figures in African history: King Shaka who succeeded in building an empire by uniting more than 100 chiefdoms into one kingdom Zulu. All the same, you should not expect exclusively a series of clan wars ending in bloodshed. 

On the contrary, from the first episode we are caught up in the budding love story between Princess Nandi, daughter of Mbengi, and Senzanghakona, son of King Jama of the Zulus, Shaka's parents. Thanks to the brilliant interpretation of the actors, the natural settings magnified by the direction of photography and the richness of the costumes, we are catapulted to the 18th century, in South Africa, and we want to stay there.

A meeting with History 

The series required 6 years of work and a large behind-the-scenes team of historians, intellectuals, traditional leaders, guardians of oral history, royal advisors and the very descendants of Shaka's family to that the work is as close aspossible to historical reality. The result is astonishingly true and the reconstructions of the villages, rituals and dances are very successful. The Zulu dialogues are subtitled in the original version.

Shaka Ilembe, exclusively on CANAL+ Première, every Monday from July 1 at 8:30 p.m., two new episodes per evening.

For those wondering why it is regarded as Canal+ instead of M-Net it has nothing to do with the pending acquisition of MultiChoice. But rather Canal+ acquired French rights to the show hence "Canal+ Original Series" again nothing shocking about this.

eMedia Investments sources most of eExtra's Kuiertyd content from Turkey with production house Verklank credited for the dubs. Then there's Netflix licensing agreements with Nickelodeon, DreamWorks and Telemundo hence "Netflix Original/Exclusive".

Could M-Net Become A Dumping Ground For Canal+?

As some readers are aware, Canal+ and MultiChoice are currently finalizing terms of the acquisition as they seek approval from local legislation. With lingering concerns surrounding the fate of MultiChoice's linear offering once Canal+ gains ownership.

M-Net is a pay-tv channel curated exclusively from MultiChoice that offers a mix of content international and locally produced. Founded in 1986, it offers original shows like Reyka and Carte Blanche alongside third party shows like House Of Dragons and Euphoria. 

Despite its continued efforts to supply fresh of the cinema releases, M-Net has been struggling to retain audiences and this is due to increased competition from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+.

Prior to Canal+ attempts at MultiChoice, the French broadcaster had been gobbling up stakes in the company and also co-produced/licensed several shows for M-Net. This included Blood & Psalms, Spinners, Midnight Sun and Ride Upon A Storm. 

Seeing as Canal+ broadcasting license would be required by law in South Africa to be limited at 20%. It means the only hope they have own investing locally would be growing organically meaning launching their own channel(s) for these endeavors. 

M-Net being one of those TV channels with the most Canal it wouldn't seem far fetched if they started there. While the channel relied on third party content for a vast majority of its lineup these endeavors could see it getting further reduced.

As mentioned, M-Net is struggling to retain its audience in the world dominant by Netflix. In America, this had led to TV channels getting closed if not less original or imported content while others like 1Max promote the bulk of content from Showmax.

Unlike Mzansi Magic, M-Net endeavors wouldn't stem from South Africa entirely as Canal+'s StudioCanal had been filming Huntington in Cape Town which ensembles international stars Glen Powell (Hit Man), Jessica Henwick (The Matrix Resurrection) and Ed Harris.

DELAYED. Op Dun Ys Will Now Stream On eVOD In October With Een Wit Leuen Added To The Platform

Op Dun Ys was originally slated to stream on eVOD later in the week but due to unforseen circumstances it was delayed to October. Instead eVOD will be rolling out another family drama titled Een Wit Leuen (known in Turkey as Benim Tatli Yalanim).

Abandoned by his wife, Nejat is lying to his daughter not to be upset. But as Kayra grows, these lies become unbearable and as he is trapped in the corner meets Suna. With Suna's entry into their lives, both Nejat and Kayra's world is completely changed.

Produced by O3 Medya for Star TV, debuted in 2019 and was Turkey’s top-performing drama series in the summer of that year, according to Eccho Rights. Several adaptations had been filmed by Markiza (Mom For Rent, Slovenia) and Open TV (Like A Lie, Greek).

It starred Furkan Palali as Nejat Yilmaz, Asli Bekiroglu as Suna Dogan, Lavinya Ünlüer as Kayra Yilmaz, Gonca Sariyildiz as Hande Eymen, Asli Inandik as Saniye Dogan and Cem Zeynel Kiliç as Hayri Hicdurmaz.

In other developments, Scandal! will also be airing on Saturdays and Sundays at 19:30 extending new episodes to 7 days a week. Making them the first broadcaster in South Africa to do so with Zee World, Star Life and Telemundo hailing from a third world country.

Development Alert (Rumour): Global TV News Channel Coming Soon To DStv

Global TV Abuja is established as a private media organisation in 2023 by Bagauda Private Media Broadcast Limited, and incorporated under the Companies & Allied Matters Act 2020, with company registration No.1988705.

Having also satisfied the conditions laid down by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Bagauda Media Broadcast Limited was granted license to operate direct satellite broadcasting service (DBS) for an initial term of five years, subject to renewal commencing from 02/03/2023-01/03/2028.

Global TV broadcasts nationwide, while “building the nation” is its motto. With this in mind, the station has the mandate to provide impartial television broadcasting services in current affairs, with the aim of providing the general public with access to information, education, sports and entertainment.

Some of the segments currently viewed on the channel include Global Morning, Big Talk, Midday Discourse and News Prime.

Serving 20 million people, Global TV Abuja currently resides within StarTimes channel 276 with several outlets reporting a possible rollout on DStv later in the month. The channel is said to be taking up the 365 frequency for consumers in Nigeria. 

New Series Alert: Harvey Street Kids And Kipo And The Age Of Wonderbeasts Coming Soon To DreamWorks Channel Across Africa

After streaming on Netflix and Showmax years prior, Harvey Street Kids and Kipo And The Age Of Wonderbeasts both of which are produced by DreamWorks Animation are slated to air on the DreamWorks Channel across Africa in the coming months. 

Harvey Girls Forever!, originally titled Harvey Street Kids in its first season, is an animated comedy television series produced by Brendan Hay and Aliki Theofilopoulos for DreamWorks Animation Television, and is based on comic book characters from Harvey Comics.

From long kickball games through the many flavors of ice cream to an impressive climbing tree, most days on Harvey Street feel like a weekend. Energetic Audrey, intelligent Dot and kindhearted Lotta are BFFs and the street's guardians. They try to keep Harvey Street great and start their wacky afternoon adventures.

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts is an animated television series created by Radford Sechrist and developed by Bill Wolkoff, adapted from Rad's 2015 webcomic Kipo. The series is produced by American company DreamWorks Animation Television and animated by South Korean studio Mir.

It follows a teenage girl named Kipo Oak, who is searching for her father Lio after being forced to flee from her burrow by a "mega monkey", a colossal, mutated spider monkey. And must explore the post-apocalyptic surface world ruled by mutated animals to find him.