Weekly Roundups #3: Harry Potter Actress Maggie Smith And Days Of Our Lives Actor Drake Hogestyn Dies + My Desire Currently Seen On Star Life Has Come To An End In India + RoboCop TV Series In Development At Amazon + More

• Lionsgate looking to reduce workforce by incorporating AI into their animated content

• My Journey To You launches on 21 October on Zee World outside of Southern Africa 

• New episodes of Unfortunate Love returns on 10 October for Zee World consumers outside of South Africa

• My Desire currently seen on Star Life comes to an end in India and will conclude in Africa by 2025

• Drake Hogestyn, Days Of Our Lives actor has died at the age of 70

• Maggie Smith, Harry Potter actress has died at the age of 89

• Via (DStv 147) to debut new series Roei Vir Liefde premieres 12 October at 21:00 which consists of 6 episodes.

In this dating show, a single female celebrity head off on a glamping adventure to a popular river-rafting destination. Here, they will date a pool of men out in nature by embarking on a range of outdoor activities like river-rafting and hiking. Will stepping away from the dating apps and the chaos of everyday life really help them find true love?

Returning shows include Hier sit die manne Season 6 which premieres 5 October 2024 at 17:00, Wie was dit? Season 6 premieres 5 October 2024 at 18:00 and My plek of joune? Season 12 premieres 31 October 2024 at 17:30.

• Pretty Little Liars reboot currently seen on M-Net has been cancelled by Max

• Disney Channel to unveil a new on air look by the end of September 

• TikTok Music will be shutting down by the end of November 

• SABC is proposing a new household levy this time wants MultiChoice and SARS to also help recover debt 

• Lady Gaga releases new album in preparation of Joker: Folie à Deux 

• Play Room Live airs an hour later from 1 October with new episodes on at 16:00 and also Total Dramarama returns with a second season at 18:00 on Play Room from 7 October.

• RoboCop TV series in development for Amazon Prime Video

• Chucky TV series cancelled after 3 seasons 

How DStv Will Be Impacted By Canal+?

Canal+ is currently finalizing a new structure after obtaining a 45% stake of MultiChoice making them one of company's largest shareholders. After their initial bid of R29 billion was turned down earlier in the year the French broadcaster had up it's bid to R32 billion with an interim board deeming it "fair and reasonable".

Something that various readers had asked me in the past months is how this impacts DStv and whether they could be any content changes once the takeover concludes by April 2025. Although, there's not much details about their plans with that platform even GOtv there is some differences between MultiChoice and Canal+.

Firstly, MultiChoice is content oriented this was seen when eNCA made less money than the former Gupta owned news channel ANN7 despite having more viewers. Then there's BBC Lifestyle, Food Network and HGTV all of which come with their own set of content for viewers.

Then you turn to Canal+ which operates in bulk or in large quantities as seen with Canal+ Sport and Foot alongside international brands Eurosport and DAZN. If you turn to their services within Africa similar to France and Europe, a large portion of their international offering isn't American so neither MultiChoice or viewers are familiar with the content there. 

There's FilmBox which is based in Netherlands alongside DocuBox followed by India's TravelXP, Asia's A+ Kids and Belgium's W-Sport.

Imagine once this takeover concludes what could as well transpire is some of these efforts Canal+ has built within Europe and France ends up being splashed onto DStv. Before any of that could enter fruition, Canal+ will look into making MultiChoice close a couple of channels as a means to increase profitability and reduce redundancy.

Take for instance the movie offering which has the most repeats amongst channels what MultiChoice could do here is focus more on IPs and that would be TNT, Studio Universal and Movie Room. With M-Net streamlining, they could as well scrap their remaining movie offering from M-Net Movies particularly M-Net Movies 3 and 4.

Then there's CineMagic and Magic Showcase with them being constrained to Easyview consumers in South Africa and Access and GOtv Lite consumers in other countries there's probably not much viewers meaning little to no income is being generated so what could transpire is a possible merger of this offering to enhance viewer's experience.

How MultiChoice Benefits From The Hostile Takeover By Canal+?

Canal+ has managed to have upped its stake in MultiChoice to 45% home to brands like SuperSport, M-Net, DStv and GOtv which is awaiting regulatory approval. With both parties that will be spending the rest of 2024 looking to assess a possible structure as Canal+ being a foreigner has to navigate the restrictions to foreign ownership.

The likely scenario here is that MultiChoice Africa will be managed by Canal+ with existing shareholders voting rights being reduced as they will be in charge of the services within South Africa. Residing within Kenya, Malawi and Nigeria, MultiChoice Africa offers brands such as Africa Magic, Zambezi Magic and Maisha Magic.

With Canal+ obtaining a 20% stake in MultiChoice South Africa which is the maximum amount a foreigner can get of a local company. It's possible that shareholders may look to increase Canal+ influence over MultiChoice Africa by 80% or at least on the content side.

Canal+ had outlined that they don't believe in the diversity of MultiChoice which consists of brands like Namola, Irdeto and BetKing. So with them handling the content portion of MultiChoice could free up some potential income for other shareholders to manage those other fields MultiChoice is hoping to cash on e.g. Showmax.

MultiChoice had been pumping funds onto SuperSport and with Canal+ still viewing linear TV as an asset we could see them manage part of the expenses giving them as much ownership of the brand. This was likely the most stressful of subsidiaries by MultiChoice and Canal+ would save them money. 

If anything, the burning question is how many of these subsidiaries MultiChoice will continue to operate under their wing cause with them complying with BEE those partners may not want to support some of these ventures leading some to potentially close if not getting sold off.

Zee Zonke To Debut First Ever Zulu Dubbed Bollywood Film "Darlings" In October

Following the channel's rollout in 2023, Zee Zonke had proved to be a popular addition with DStv consumers after accumulating over 200,000 viewers. The parent company Zee Entertainment Enterprises distributes various other channels within the African market including Zee World and Zee Alem on DStv with Zee Family and Zee One on Openview.

Now the channel is gearing up to boost its primetime offering with the addition of Bollywood movies with Darlings opening up the block on Sunday 27 October at 18:00.

In the film we are introduced to Badru and Hamza as a cutesy couple, probably in their early 20s, thinking of marrying each other. Three years later, we see the couple is still in love until Hamza finds two small pebbles in his food. Here, the act of domestic violence is hinted at for the first time. Hamza is an unhinged character who physically abuses his wife after getting drunk. 

Badru is more or less done with Hamza, but because of the ideology of marriage and Hamza’s coercion is forced to stay with him. There are some external plot lines alongside this established structure: the character Zulfi, who is perceived as the lover of Badru, the insights of marriage and men from Shamshu. 

Through a lot of shenanigans and dark comedy, the goal is achieved with Hamza being accidentally killed by an oncoming train and Badru returning to the same theatre she waited for Hamza in the starting. The difference is that this time she watches the movie alone, unbothered by the fact that she is alone and happier in the fact that she is an individual.

Alia Bhatt is cast in the film as Badrunissa "Badru" Ansari–Sheikh alongside Shefali Shah as Shamshunissa "Shamshu" Ansari, Vijay Varma as Hamza Sheikh, Roshan Mathew as Zulfi and Vikram Pratap as Abdul.

MultiChoice, NBCUniversal Invest R2.8 Billion Into Showmax

MultiChoice video streaming platform Showmax has received equity funding of $164 million (R2.8 billion), as it looks to take on international video-on-demand platforms such as Netflix and Disney+.

This, after in March last year, MultiChoice entered into an agreement with Comcast subsidiary NBCUniversal and Sky, to form a partnership for purposes of driving Showmax to become the “leading streaming service in Africa”.

Comcast, through its subsidiary NBCUniversal, acquired a 30% equity stake in Showmax, and provides ongoing support through the licensing of its Peacock platform and content from NBCUniversal, Universal Pictures, Peacock and Sky.

MultiChoice, through its wholly-owned subsidiary MultiChoice Group Holdings, and Comcast, through NBCUniversal, are providing funding to Showmax (only as and when Showmax’s board determines) during its investment phase.

According to MultiChoice, this is contributed in proportion to the companies’ respective shareholdings and they will share profits on the same basis in future.

It adds that equity funding is provided as required (either monthly or at other intervals) depending on Showmax’s working capital requirements and near-term budget (as determined by Showmax’s board) subject to a maximum capped amount.

As at 31 March 2024, MultiChoice Group and NBCUniversal provided, in the aggregate, $120 million (R2 billion) in equity funding to Showmax, each in proportion of their respective shareholdings.

“Since 1 April 2024 until the date of this announcement, MultiChoice Group and NBCUniversal provided, in the aggregate, $164 million (R2.8 billion) in equity funding to Showmax, each in proportion of their respective shareholdings,” says the JSE-listed video entertainment company.

Faced with declining subscriber numbers in the traditional pay-TV space, MultiChoice is pinning its hopes on streaming platforms Showmax and DStv Stream.

The company’s latest financial results show overall active subscribers declined by 9%.

According to the company, this was mainly due to a 13% decline in the “rest of Africa” business, with Nigeria, Angola and Zambia most affected, while the South African business was more resilient, declining by only 5%.

The results come as French-based media giant Canal+ is looking to take over the South African firm in a R30 billion deal.

Over the years, MultiChoice’s subscriber numbers have reduced amid pressure from global streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime.

To boost its streaming offerings, MultiChoice relaunched Showmax, stating its intention of becoming the leading platform in Africa.

However, research projections show the new Showmax will become Africa’s second-biggest video streaming service in five years.

According to a report by Digital TV Research, Sub-Saharan Africa will have 16 million paying subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) subscriptions by 2029, up from seven million at the end of 2023.

It notes Netflix will remain the SVOD market leader, with 6.9 million subscribers by 2029, and Showmax will be the second-largest platform, with 3.7 million paying subscribers.

MultiChoice recently enhanced its DStv Stream app

 by adding personalisation features, which it believes will draw more viewers to the platform.