Turkish Drama Series Rolling Out In Africa Soon: "Annem Ankara" + "Kızılcık Şerbeti" + "Kan Çiçekleri" + "Toprak Ile Fidan"

Below is a list of confirmed shows set to debut in Africa soon as advised we can't disclose which broadcaster picked up the mentioned programs on the list.

Annem Ankara

Annem Ankara, the 90s-set series is produced by BKM and will follow the struggles of a single mother in Ankara, evoking familiar feelings from recent times along the way. The story of ‘Zuhal,’ a mother of three children and the wife of a man who could never truly be a son to anyone, promises to tug at the heartstrings.

Based on a true story, Annem Ankara will portray the journey of a solitary but resilient woman within her home. The series is penned by Başak Angigün and directed by the veteran director Faruk Teber.

Kızılcık Şerbeti

“Kızılcık Şerbeti” tells the captivating story of the idealistic Doga falling hopelessly in love with a charming man from a devout family whose values clash with those of her mother, creating a powerful drama as they seek to overcome their differences and find harmony.

“Kızılcık Şerbeti” explores the powerful evolution in the idealistic Doga when she finds love at the start of university with a man whose beliefs conflict with those of her mother, Kivilcim. An unexpected pregnancy is set to turn Doga’s life plans upside down, shaking to the core two families from different worlds.

Kan Çiçekleri 

“Kan Çiçekleri” tells the story of Dilan and Baran, and the marriage into which they are forced to end a blood feud between their families. Baran must put aside hatred of his enemies to save his brother and overcome guilt he feels over an attack that killed his mother, as he seeks to bring peace to a family baying for a revenge.

Toprak Ile Fidan

In "Toprak ile Fidan," Toprak wakes up after five years in a coma and comes home to a family he can’t remember. Ayden, his fiancée, has loved him since they were kids but Toprak cannot remember anything. The little boy Burak doesn’t know at all. Toprak’s mother, Keriman, encourages him to finally marry Ayden and get on with his life.

Fidan lost her husband and baby in a terrible car accident five years ago. Now she lives in Şile with her sick father and stepmother, working to pay off the enormous debt they owe to the loan shark who yearns to marry her.

Other shows also eyeing rollouts as previously reported include No. 309, Hercai and Kaderimin Oyunu.

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.

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