Heads Up! E! Unveils Botched Presents: Plastic Surgery On 17 August

Things are going all natural in new series Botched Presents: Plastic Surgery Rewind. From 17 August, viewers can tune into new episodes airing on E! (DStv 124) every Sunday at 7.05pm, until the season finale on 5 October 2025. 

Hosted by international radio and television personality Michelle Visage (RuPaul’s Drag Race) with plastic surgeon Dr. Terry Dubrow (Botched) and body image expert Dr. Spirit, PhD, Botched Presents: Plastic Surgery Rewind follows nine celebrities and social influencers through a transformative journey of self-discovery at the “Rewind Retreat,” as they decide whether to reverse previous plastic surgeries and return to a more natural look. Through eye-opening challenges, unexpected emotional connections and laugh-out-loud moments, the participants are asked to look within while reassessing their concept of beauty.  

Meet the participants:

• Aubrey O’Day is a platinum singer and reality TV personality known for the girl group Danity Kane, which launched her successful solo career in pop music and several TV shows. She wants to reconsider her facial filler at the Rewind Retreat while connecting with the other participants on their shared experiences.   

• Reality star Kim Zolciak was an original cast member of The Real Housewives of Atlanta and a star of the spin-off series Don’t Be Tardy, which followed her family life and documented several of her cosmetic surgeries. Following her recent divorce and some weight loss, Kim joins the retreat with her daughter Brielle, where she reevaluates one of her procedures.

• Reality star and influencer Brielle Biermann joins her mum, Kim, at the retreat where she weighs the pros and cons of facial filler. Recently engaged, Brielle wants a softer, more natural look as she heads into her wedding.

• Rapper and TV personality Jessica Dime gained prominence as a cast member on four seasons of Love and Hip Hop Atlanta. Now a mum and wife, she continues to make music and build her fanbase. At the retreat, she is hoping to “tone down” certain procedures but worries that it could impact her career.   

• Brazilian-born Larissa Santos Lima is a TV personality and content creator that rose to fame after appearing on 90 Day Fiancé. After undergoing extensive cosmetic surgeries on her face and body, Larissa worries her enhancements are limiting her ability to have an active lifestyle.

• Sebastian Bails is a social media and YouTube star known for his comedic characters, as well as his candid videos about his journey with cosmetic injections at a young age. Sebastian is vocal about the pressures of maintaining appearances in the influencer industry but his reasons for seeking out surgery catches everyone by surprise.  

• Sophia Elgerabli is a content creator and model whose career took off after two BBL procedures. In this phase of life, she is shifting to new business ventures and wants to be taken more seriously with an updated look.

• Irish content creator Alan McGarry is known for their bold presence in the reality TV world and LGBTQ+ media. Alan used filler procedures to help boost their self-confidence but they came to the retreat with regrets over a BBL.

• Kathy Brown ended up in the glamorous yet high-pressure world of Playboy modeling, where she eventually had a breast augmentation that caused extreme physical discomfort and emotional strain. She hopes to reverse the surgery so she can resume an active lifestyle centered around her grandchildren.  

Botched Presents: Plastic Surgery Rewind is produced by Fulwell Entertainment with Matt Cox, Rebecca Hertz, Emma Conway, Charlie Van Vleet, Ben Turner and Dr. Terry Dubrow as executive producers.    

Botched Presents: Plastic Surgery Rewind premieres on E! on 17 August at 7.05pm, with new episodes airing every Sunday until 5 October 2025.

ENDS

Hulu Is Set To Launch On Disney+ Globally By The End Of The Year

A new “unified” Disney+ and Hulu streaming app will be available in 2026, the company said. According to a Disney rep, customers will still be able to buy a stand-alone Hulu subscription (as well as a stand-alone Disney+ plan).

“Today we are announcing a major step forward in strengthening our streaming offering by fully integrating Hulu into Disney+,” CEO Bob Iger and CFO Hugh Johnston said in prepared commentary on the media giant’s quarterly earnings. “This will create an impressive package of entertainment, pairing the highest-caliber brands and franchises, great general entertainment, family programming, news and industry-leading live sports content in a single app.”

The single Disney+ app with Hulu will deliver an “improved consumer experience,” which will lower churn, Iger said on the earnings call. Both services will be “on one tech platform,” which will result in cost synergies, according to Iger. In addition, Disney — which already sells ads for Disney+ and Hulu together — sees new opportunities for bundling ad sales by fully combining them, he said.

In their prepared remarks, the Disney execs said, “By creating a truly differentiated streaming offering, we will be providing subscribers tremendous choice, convenience, quality, and enhanced personalization. This will enhance our ability to continue to grow profitability and margins in our entertainment streaming business through expected higher engagement, lower churn, and advertising revenue potential, as well as operational efficiencies that over time may result in savings that we can reinvest back into the business.”

In addition, Hulu will become a global general entertainment brand: Starting in the fall of 2025, it will replace the Star tile on Disney+ internationally.

“Work is already underway to continue enhancing our technology, and over the coming months, we will be implementing numerous improvements within the Disney+ app, including exciting new features and a more personalized homepage,” Iger and Johnston said.

The move to fully sew Hulu together with Disney+ comes after Disney — following two years of negotiating — closed its deal with Comcast to buy out NBCUniversal‘s one-third stake in Hulu in June 2025. Disney paid Comcast in total about $9 billion, including $8.61 billion in November 2023 and $438.7 million this past June. Comcast had been seeking more than $13 billion for the 33% Hulu stake; the final price tag was determined through arbitration by a third-party banker.

Disney has already taken steps to integrate Hulu and Disney+. In the spring of 2024, the Disney+ app launched “full” integration of Hulu content, which the company has used as a way to convert stand-alone Disney+ customers into bundled Disney+/Hulu subs.

Also Wednesday, Disney announced that it will no longer report streaming subscriber numbers for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, following the lead of Netflix and others.

MTV Entertainment Studios, Home To Ridiculousness And Catfish: The TV Show Is Shutting Down

A year ago, Paramount Television Studios was shuttered in a cost-cutting move as its parent company prepared to merge with Skydance.

With that deal on the verge of closing, the new Paramount is reviving the Paramount TV Studios name — which will in turn absorb one of the company’s two remaining studio operations as well as the formerly independent Skydance Television.

Skydance TV president Matt Thunell is set to lead Paramount TV Studios, reporting to Dana Goldberg, the newly named co-chair of Paramount Pictures (with Josh Greenstein) and chair of Paramount Television.

The reconstituted Paramount TV Studios will house productions currently under Showtime/MTV Entertainment, the home of prolific creator Taylor Sheridan (the Yellowstone-verse, Landman et al), key Showtime series like the Dexter franchise and Yellowjackets, and Netflix’s Emily in Paris, among others. It will also be home to Skydance productions including Prime Video’s Reacher and Cross — which were co-productions with the former Paramount TV Studios.

Paramount announced in August 2024 that PTVS, then led by Nicole Clemens, would shut down. Its productions — including the aforementioned Reacher and Cross and Apple TV+’s Murderbot — moved to CBS Studios. The shutdown was part of a wave of cost-cutting moves, which included hundreds of layoffs, in the year-plus leading up to the merger, which is set to formally close on Aug. 7.

Former Paramount co-CEO Chris McCarthy previously headed Showtime/MTV Entertainment but will not remain with the merged company after the deal closes. Keith Cox, head of scripted at Showtime/MTV Entertainment, is expected to stay on; Cox has a long working relationship with Sheridan and David C. Glasser, the head of 101 Studios which co-produces Sheridan’s shows and Showtime’s The Agency.

Thunell became president of Skydance TV in late 2022 after nearly eight years at Netflix, where he oversaw development and production of series in the U.S. and Canada.

Former Paramount co-CEO George Cheeks will have CBS Studios in his portfolio as the merged company’s chair of TV media, which also includes the CBS network and the company’s cable channels.

Canal+'s MultiChoice Unveils Structure For LicenceCo

MultiChoice Group has announced details for the first time about its plans to restructure the shareholding in its main South African operation to facilitate the JSE-listed broadcaster’s sale to France’s Groupe Canal+.

The move comes 10 days after the two companies secured the green light from the Competition Tribunal for their transaction to proceed.

The merging parties have agreed to a special shareholding structure in South Africa to comply with South African legislation that prevents foreign entities from holding more than 20% of the voting rights in locally licensed broadcasters. Although the 20% restriction is likely to be lifted to 49% through proposed legislative changes, this could still take years.

MultiChoice South Africa Holdings will declare an extraordinary dividend to its shareholders of R1.375-billion

MultiChoice said last month that the new structure for its South African operation will meet the requirements of “all applicable laws, including the restrictions on foreign ownership and control of South African broadcasting licences contained in the Electronic Communications Act (ECA)”.

“The structure includes MultiChoice (Pty) Ltd, the entity which contracts with South African subscribers, being carved out of MultiChoice Group and becoming an independent entity, majority owned and controlled by HDPs,” it said with reference to “historically disadvantaged persons”, a definition used in the ECA to deal with black economic empowerment rules.

“The reorganisation is specifically designed to ensure that the licensed entities within MultiChoice Group remain compliant with foreign control restrictions under the ECA, thereby preserving the integrity of the company’s broadcasting and signal distribution licences,” MultiChoice said on Monday.

As a result of the changes, MultiChoice South Africa will effectively be getting a range of new investors.

New shareholders

In recent days, MultiChoice, LicenceCo (created to host the new structure), Phuthuma Nathi Investments, 13th Ave Investments, Identity Partners Itai Consortium (IPIC) and the trustees of the MultiChoice Workers Trust have entered into several transaction agreements (including various subscription, repurchase and shareholders’ agreements) to give effect to the reorganisation.

13th Avenue is owned by investment vehicles associated with former Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko, Neo Lesela, Khanyisile Kweyama and Philiswe Sibiya.

IPIC is owned by investment vehicles associated with Sonja De Bruyn, Maxwell Nyanteh, Taleleni Moshapo, Ernest Kwinda and Eugene Govender.

Phuthuma Nathi is a listed broad-based black economic empowerment vehicle.

The Workers Trust is a broad-based ownership scheme, the beneficiaries of which are employees of LicenceCo and employees of key suppliers of LicenceCo.

Upon implementation of the transactions, MultiChoice will hold 20% voting rights in LicenceCo ordinary shares and a 49% economic interest:

1) The class-A shares are ordinary shares with full economic rights from the outset, while the class-B shares and the class-C shares are notional vendor funded (NVF) shares that entitle the holder to a “trickle” dividend of 20% and 35%, respectively, until the NVF balance is reduced to zero, after which they convert to ordinary shares with full rights. 

2) Initial NVF balance of R2.148-million escalated at 75% of the prime rate. 

3) Notwithstanding that this portion of PN’s overall shareholding is notionally vendor funded, the overall financial effect of its combined shareholding in LicenceCo (though the class-A shares and class-B shares) is an effective increase in shareholding

The economic interest referred to here includes the economic interest associated with the LicenceCo B shares and C shares, which are subject to the notional vendor funding mechanic. #The voting percentage referred to arises from the application of the foreign control restriction and other qualifications to the voting rights of shareholders. This voting percentage may adjust if the foreign control restriction and other qualifications are amended or fall away

MultiChoice South Africa Holdings will soon declare an extraordinary dividend to its shareholders – Phuthuma Nathi and MultiChoice – of R1.375-billion, of which R343.75 million will go to Phuthuma Nathi. The payment of this dividend is subject to the implementation of the steps in the reorganisation.

“The net economic effect of the reorganisation for MultiChoice is that 26% of the economic interest in LicenceCo, the licensed broadcasting service provider that contracts with South African subscribers, will be disposed of, and 15% of the economic interest in Orbicom, the licensed signal distributor and holder of electronic communications and radio frequency spectrum licences, will be disposed of,” MultiChoice said. Under the plan, Phuthuma Nathi will increase its effective shareholding in Orbicom from 25% to 40%.

The article was originally published by TechCentral

Why Paramount Global Is Looking To Discontinue MTV Base Africa And Various Other MTV Channels?

Skydance Media is looking to finalise it's acquisition with Paramount Global to form a new entity known as Paramount Skydance Corporation. As some have heard, the merged company is looking to shed $2 billion in costs most of which is being directed to its cable networks.

A few months ago, it was reported that Paramount Global was looking to discontinue various MTV channels across Europe primarily music brands like MTV 90s and MTV Hits. These brands are set to go dark by the end of 2025 as the company is re-evaluating it's international strategy.

These endeavours have also hit Africa with reports going around that the company is looking to close its local operations in the region affecting MTV Base and BET Africa. From what some insiders have revealed, Paramount Skydance Corporation is shifting more toward film and streaming.

This means MTV Base, MTV Hits and MTV 90s are no longer viewed as core brands for the merged company as this audience had shifted to Apple Music, Spotify and YouTube. Paramount Skydance Corporation doesn't see any profit coming from these networks. 

MTV Europe for sometime had shifted toward reality TV with Catfish: The TV Show and Teen Mom while music served as an afterthought on weekday mornings. We can only assume with the closures of these brands, Paramount Skydance Corporation could phase this out from its offering entirely.

In other developments, Paramount Global is also looking to close Comedy Central, Paramount Network, TeenNick and NickMusic in Hungary. The company is expected to retain Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Nicktoons, MTV and Comedy Central channels in the region.