eExtra To Debut First Series Of The New Year, "Empresses In The Palace"

eExtra is a South African based entertainment channel operated by eMedia Investments that distributes a variety of dubbed telenovelas from Turkey, Asia and India. To start of the new year, eExtra will be unveiling a new fictional drama series, Empresses In The Palace.

Synopsis for Empresses In The Palace 

Six months after his ascension to the throne, Empress Dowager Renshou organizes a selection to bring newer members into the Imperial Harem of the Yongzheng Emperor. Despite not wanting to be selected, the titular Zhen Huan is forced to join the selection and ends up being chosen due to her resemblance to the late Empress Chunyuan. She joins the Imperial Harem alongside her childhood friend Shen Meizhuang, and the low-born An Lingrong.

Zhen Huan attempts to avoid the Imperial Harem's politics but ultimately falls in love with the Emperor, resulting the other consorts in plotting various schemes against her and Shen Meizhuang as retaliation.

Based on the Chinese novel of the same name, it starred Sun Li in the leading role alongside Chen Jianbin, Ada Choi, Jiang Xin, Lan Xi, Tao Xinran and Yang Fanghan. The series consists of 76 episodes each with a duration of 45 minutes and since it's inception the series has got various accolades including Best Television Series and Best Actress.

Empresses In The Palace airs daily at 16:15 on eExtra from Friday 10 January. Prior to this, eMedia Investments silently moved Die Agentskap's premiere slot on ePlesier 4 hours later from 12:00 to 16:00 which would come an hour before e.tv broadcasts Annekan Die Swa Kry.

Could KykNet And Mzansi Magic Undergo Further Restructure As Canal+ Edges Closer To MultiChoice?

For those who haven't heard the news already, VIU which serves as one of the various streaming services competing with Netflix, Showmax, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ now offers Afrikaans programming. After announcing plans to curate content in local languages original and dubbed programs like Eerste Liefde Laaste and Trom.

This isn't the first time that VIU has curated local content as they've licensed numerous projects from the SABC such as Skeem Saam, Uzalo, Muvhango and uBettina Wethu.

VIU aside from being a subsidiary of Canal+ who is currently in the process of completing it's acquisition of MultiChoice is very much like Showmax when it comes to scale and content. Should this deal move ahead, DStv consumers are likely to be seeing more imports on Mzansi Magic and KykNet.

Although from everyone's understanding, Canal+ would retain a 20% stake in MultiChoice SA there is ways to navigate those restrictions. KykNet has become a Southern African brand by filming content in Namibia and Botswana where this restriction wouldn't apply and another as we already mentioned is VIU.

VIU would continue curating content from the market with KykNet and Mzansi Magic serving as imports to select shows as seen with Showmax. For someone who uses Showmax wouldn't this render the mentioned brands obsolete as most of their shows would be accessible elsewhere.

That's what already seen with 1Max as its confined to premium package despite consumers on the mentioned offering getting Showmax at no extra charge. This is also a meant to serve as a placeholder to Me but seeing as it's not a lower tiered channel it's basically redundant.

Smile TV, Former StarSat Channel Is Shutting Down In The US

 Smile Of A Child (also known as Smile) was a Christian based children's network operated by Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) with a mixture of animated and live-action content. The channel offered shows like Superbook, Quigley's Village and Veggie Tales.

Through their website, it was announced that Smile would cease to exist from January 12th with content being integrated to Yippee TV and TBN+ both of which are streaming services. In other countries, TBN's 24 hour channel of the same name offers an educational block for most shows.

Prior to Smile's demise, StarTimes served as one of the various broadcasters to distribute the channel before TBN made the decision to close its offering internationally. It had been alleged that Smile was struggling to garner traction in most of these markets which is the reason all of the content reverted to TBN.

If Smile TV's demise has taught us anything is to preserve life while you still got it. This is further indication that cable networks aren't the latest fashion trend right now as Comcast looks to discard most of its cable networks while the remaining networks offer very little to new content.

2025 could shape up to be one of the most historic years for cable networks aside from Comcast you have Warner Bros. Discovery spinning off its cable networks from Max and Warner Bros. Pictures followed by Skydance's aggressive takeover of Paramount Global.

Could We Baby Bears Be Getting Cancelled On Cartoon Network After Two Seasons?

SABC 3 To Debut Turkish Dramas "The Unusual Suspects" And "Meyrem" In The Month Of January

SABC 3, a South African based free-to-air entertainment channel operated by the SABC which offers a mixture of content in English and Afrikaans has announced the additions of The Unusual Suspects and Meyrem. Both shows will occupy the 16:30 and will basically rival with e.tv's Die Agentskap which comes at 16:00.

Synopsis for The Unusual Suspects

Feyza, Zuhal and Nehir surprise their husbands to celebrate the anniversary of their husband's hotel. However, this surprise has unexpected consequences. These women, who suddenly find themselves in the middle of various actions, will enter the world of men quite eventful.

The limited series starred Bennu Yıldırımlar as Feyza, Yasemin Kay Allen as Zuhal, Ceren Moray as Nehir, Beril Pozam as Zeynep, Berk Hakman as Yalçın and Pamir Pekin as Gökhan Aktemur.

Synopsis for Meyrem 

A tragic accident binds three lives forever: Meryem, who takes the fall for a crime she didn’t commit; Oktay, the prosecutor who was actually behind the wheel; and Savaş, the grieving husband seeking vengeance. Meryem’s sacrifice to protect Oktay leads to a dramatic courtroom battle where love and truth become entangled in a web of deceit and revenge.

The melodrama starred Furkan Andıç as Savaş Sargun, Ayça Ayşin Turan as Meryem Akça, Açelya Topaloğlu as Derin Berker, Serenay Aktaş as Burcu Aktar, Cemal Toktaş as Oktay Şahin, Bestemsu Özdemir as Beliz Bilen and Kenan Acar as Güçlü Tekiner.

The Unusual Suspects will air daily at 16:00 from Monday 6 January on SABC 3 with Meyrem replacing it once it ends on Monday 20 January.