Ashes Of Love, eExtra Unveils It's Second Asian Drama For The Year

Following eExtra's restructure in 2024 which saw its Asian offering get further reduced to a single timeslot will once again get additional timeslot with Phoenix taking up the 13:45 timeslot. This will be accompanied by Ashes Of Love at 16:15 replacing Empresses In The Palace from 28 April.

Synopsis for Ashes Of Love 

Zi Fen, the Flower Deity, dies after giving birth to a daughter, Jin Mi. Before her death, Zi Fen foresaw that Jin Mi would encounter a fatal love trial and fed her daughter an 'Unfeeling Pill' to prevent her from developing any romantic feelings. Zi Fen also instructed the leaders of the Flower Realm to keep Jin Mi's identity a secret and had her kept locked in a water boundary within the Flower Realm.

Several thousand years later, Jin Mi has grown up into an innocent and naive sprite who longs to see the world outside of the Flower Realm. When Xu Feng, the Fire Deity and second son of the Heavenly Emperor, accidentally lands in the Flower Realm after being attacked during his phoenix rebirth process, Jin Mi nurses Xu Feng back to health and demands that he takes her along with him when he leaves the Flower Realm. This is where Jin Mi's adventure and love trial begins as she explores the realms and meets various immortals & demons.

It starred Yang Zi as Jin Mi, Deng Lun as Xu Feng/Phoenix/Fire Deity, Luo Yun Xi as Run Yu/Night Deity, Wang Yi Fei as Sui He, Chen Yu Qi as Liu Ying, Zou Ting Wei and Mu Ci/Qi Yuan.

Ashes Of Love was broadcast on Chinese broadcaster iQiyi from 2 August to 4 September 2018 with 63 episodes having being filmed each with a duration of 45 minutes. A second season had also been commissioned with eExtra airing the first from 28 April at 16:15.

Yosef (Yusuf), A Brand New Family Drama Launches On e.tv (And eExtra) In May

After filling up its schedule with eVOD imports, eMedia Investments will finally be adding some new blood to the lineup with the launch of Yosef: A Family Legacy. Known in Turkey as Emanet, this is one of the first confirmed shows as Annekan Die Swa Kry, Op Dun Ys and Vierspel Vuurspel are set to conclude in May.

Synopsis for Yosef

Kevser, from a poor neighborhood, marries into the wealthy Kırımlı family, causing her father to cut ties with her. After her husband's death, Kevser is trapped in the loveless Kırımlı mansion with her 5-year-old son, Yusuf. Tragedy strikes when Kevser dies in an accident, leaving Yusuf in a mansion filled with uncaring people. His uncle Yaman, a powerful and cold-hearted businessman, provides protection but no affection.

On her deathbed, Kevser begs her sister Seher to care for Yusuf. Feeling obligated to honor her sister's wish, Seher moves into the Kırımlı mansion. Despite Yaman’s initial suspicion of the humble Seher, he can't ignore the bond between her and Yusuf. As an unlikely but deep, undeniable romance blossoms, they begin to build a new family for Yusuf. 

It starred Nik Celilay as Poyraz, Nana Stambolishvili as Nana, Berat Rüzgar Özkan as Yusuf, Halil Ibrahim Ceyhan as Yaman and Sıla Türkoğlu as Seher.

Eccho Rights serves as the production for Yusuf and is also responsible for the series Blink Kant Bo (Yalı Çapkını, streaming on eVOD) which ranked as the most watched Turkish drama in 2022/3. They've even handled the distribution of Chrysalis (Camdaki Kiz) with the third season rolling out on eMedia's platforms soon.

Annekan Die Swa Kry will end on Friday, May 2nd with Yosef: A Family Legacy set to follow on Monday, May 5th at 17:30.

Cartoon Network And Boomerang Will Be Closing In Australia

Disney XD Is Closing Down In Netherlands, To Be Replaced By Disney Junior

In a surprising move by the Mouse House, Disney XD is set to fold under the Disney Junior umbrella in Netherlands from the 1st of May. This means Disney XD will only be available in only 3 markets namely United States, Canada (through Corus Entertainment) and Poland (through AMC Networks International).

It also means shows like Big City Greens, Marvel's Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur and Kiff will be exclusively on Disney Channel.

Disney hasn't stated the reason for this reshuffle but with this brand residing in Europe it was likely due to an alignment strategy. For several years, Disney had been closing their linear platforms outside the United States with Disney Junior maintaining some presence within the regions.

Prior to Disney Junior's launch in Netherlands, the company once offered a Dutch feed to the brand so this would technically be a re-entry of the channel to the region. It's currently unknown if the brand will use the feed taken up by the channel in Africa or opt for a localised feed.

Disney Junior serves as a preschool counterpart for the Disney Channel offering shows like PJ Masks, Spidey And His Amazing Friends and Little Mermaid. Unlike Disney XD, the company continues to invest in its preschool offering although it's been in a repetitive slope.

Clarification About TLC Africa And TLC South Africa (Formerly Discovery TLC) On DStv

TLC is a female skewed entertainment channel operated by Warner Bros. Discovery that offers a mixture of factual and lifestyle programming. It grew to become the leading destination for newlyweds with shows like 90 Day Fiance and Say Yes To The Dress alongside other shows like Body Parts and Monster Inside Me.

For sometime, TLC has become one of the few TV channels on DStv alongside Nickelodeon to distribute localised feeds in Africa. Since last year, MultiChoice had picked up and launched TLC Africa for its consumers in Southern Africa (excluding South Africa) on channel 125.

Currently seen in the West and Eastern parts of Africa, TLC Africa was a lightweight version to TLC South Africa often featuring older shows from the channel. Unlike TLC South Africa, the channel has had resorted to censorship by even isolating shows like I Am Jazz as the lead is transgender.

Last week, a DStv consumer in South Africa had noticed that TLC Africa is not seen on channel 125 and with Southern African consumers sharing a transponder can see the frequencies of the mentioned channels. Since then, a notice was sent to the relevant team and we had finally gotten feedback.

This DStv subscriber had asked whether TLC Africa was removed from channel 125 or merged with channel 135 and the answer was as follows:

TLC Africa and TLC South Africa have not merged. Viewers will now only see the TLC channel feed available to their region—so South African audiences should only access the localised TLC feed on channel 135, and audiences across the rest of Africa will only have access to TLC Africa on channel 125

To dive deeper into this, the sudden disappearance of TLC Africa on channel 125 in South Africa was a MultiChoice thing as they can configure with the settings of their decoders. One example would be SuperSport while South Africa groups them on channels 200-220 these regions group them by 220-240.

Another question was pertaining to Discovery TLC now being referred to as TLC South Africa:

The channel formerly listed as “Discovery TLC” on DStv channel 135 has been updated to reflect its correct brand name, TLC South Africa, aligning with how we refer to it across our PR and marketing platforms.