More Zulu In The Stoep!!! With Blippi And Shaq's Garage Loading Soon On Play Room

Play Room, a South African based children's channel operated by Ngwato Nkosi Group offering a mixture animated and live action will be adding two shows to the lineup: Blippi and Shaq's Garage. Both shows are also set to be dubbed in Zulu and made available in English.

Synopsis for Blippi 

The show features a cheerful, energetic character named Blippi, who takes viewers on adventures to places like factories, play parks, and zoos. As he tours these locations, Blippi relays his experiences directly to his audience, posing questions and explaining unfamiliar concepts.

The Blippi universe primarily consists of live-action content featuring the main character, Blippi (originally played by the creator, Stevin John, and later by actors like Clayton Grimm), as well as animated spin-offs. 

Blippi will be first live-action series to have been dubbed on the channel. For 2 years, they've only been targeting animated shows and not long ago Movie Room had numerous international films.

Synopsis for Shaq's Garage

Inspired by Shaq’s real-life love of cars, Shaq’s Garage is a modern-day mix of action, adventure and comedy that brings the athlete-entrepreneur’s “family” of cars, known as the Shaq PA, to life. This auto squad is sent by Shaq on various missions to help others and do good in their hometown community of Ollanta and beyond!

The Shaq PA is a diverse cast of 10 different characters, with O’Neal as the Shaq PA leader and the voice of giant truck, Biggie D, along with his buddy, the Grenoble, voiced by NFL Superbowl champion Rob Gronkowski.

This comes after the announcement that Barbie's Dreamhouse Adventures and Rainbow Rangers would be added to the lineup. Both of which are currently seen on the channel in English.

Barbie's Dreamhouse Adventures And Rainbow Rangers Coming Soon To Play Room In Zulu

Play Room, a South African based children's channel operated by Ngwato Nkosi Group offering a mixture animated and live action will be adding Zulu audio to Barbie's Dreamhouse Adventures and Rainbow Rangers. For sometime, both shows had only been distributed on the channel in English.

Synopsis for Barbie's Dreamhouse Adventures

The show centers on the everyday life and exciting adventures of Barbie Roberts as she navigates school, sports, and time with her three younger sisters—Skipper, Stacie, and Chelsea—her parents, and her wide circle of friends, including her next-door neighbor Ken Carson. A key element of the series is the family's "Smart House", which occasionally exhibits strange behaviors, adding a fun dynamic to their lives. 

Synopsis for Rainbow Rangers 

Rainbow Rangers takes place in the magical land of Kaleidoscopia and focuses on the adventures of seven 9-year-old girls—Rosie Redd, Mandarin Orange, Anna Banana, Pepper Mintz, Bonnie Blueberry, Indigo Allfruit, and Lavender LaViolette—who are all represented by the colors of the rainbow. Each use their own powers to help protect the citizens of their land, clean the planet, and make the world a better place while also contending with the Praxton family.

Each episode begins with a problem with nature seen on Earth. A rainbow is sent to Kaleidoscopia and Kalia calls all seven rangers and Floof to her. After they are shown the nature problem, Kalia chooses the three ideal rangers for the mission, Floof mostly joins the three on their scooters. When the mission is completed, the three rangers return to Kaleidoscopia on their scooters.

This comes after the announcement that Blippi and Shaq's Garage would be added to the lineup. Both of which will be dubbed in Zulu and distributed in English 

Paramount Cancels DORA And 2D-Animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles On Nickelodeon

The upcoming seasons of Nickelodeon's CG-animated DORA and 2D-animated Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will be their last.

Season two of Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles premieres on Paramount+ in December and will run on Nicktoons next year. Produced by Nickelodeon Animation and Point Grey Pictures, the series bridges the gap between Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures' blockbuster TMNT movie, Mutant Mayhem, and it's upcoming sequel, currently slated for release in 2027. The franchise is expected to continue with IDW's TMNT comics.

The debut of Dora‘s fourth season on the streamer was originally slated for the fourth quarter of this year, but is now TBD. It too will be followed by a linear window on Nick Jr. A fifth and final season of Dora also has been produced; its fate is unclear. A reimagining of Nickelodeon's iconic Latina heroine, the series is produced by Nickelodeon Animation, with the show's cancellation coming as the franchise is celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Paramount is actively exploring third-party licensing opportunities for both series, something the company has been doing consistently for a number of years, with a number of Nickelodeon titles available on Netflix, for example.

The cancellation decisions come on the heels of the post Paramount-Skydance merger restructuring. In it, all Paramount linear networks, including Nickelodeon, as well as the Nickelodeon Animation Studios, which produces the majority of the Nick animated shows, including Dora and Ninja Turtles, were consolidated into a TV Media division overseen by Chair George Cheeks.

In a memo last week announcing TV Media’s executive structure, Cheeks hinted at a slimming down the current roster of cable series.

“Our cable brands will focus on a more curated slate, optimizing programming and marketing resources to amplify what resonates most,” he said. “That means leaning into franchises like SpongeBob, PAW Patrol, RuPaul’s Drag Race, South Park, Ms. Pat and The Daily Show, while continuing to develop new IP across our studios and seeking new ways to amplify and connect with audiences.”

Not surprisingly, Nick’s flagship franchises, SpongeBob SquarePants and PAW Patrol, made the list of priority linear brands. Neither Dora nor Ninja Turtles did but both have a long history at the network and may be revisited in the future with new iterations.

The Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cancellation was first reported by The InSneider.

Sky New Zealand Launches Two New Channels To Replace Paramount's Offering And Cartoon Network

Sky New Zealand is launching two new self-branded channels to replace Paramount’s Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, Comedy Central and Cartoon Network, which are ceasing transmission from early December.

The new offerings, Sky Comedy and Sky Kids, will carry programming from the expiring channels in addition to new shows from a range of studios and locally commissioned content.

“Kids and comedy programming are at the heart of Sky’s entertainment offering. By bringing these important channels ‘in-house’ we can choose and curate the content that we know our customers enjoy and engage with, combining Paramount fan favourites with content from other studios,” said Fiona Murray, Sky NZ’s head of entertainment.

Sky Comedy will feature Comedy Central content including the final season of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, South Park, The Daily Show and Beavis & Butt-Head, in addition to retro classics including Cheers, Reno 911!, Nathan For You and Key & Peele.

Sky Kids is being pitched as offering educational programming for preschoolers through to primary school-age children. Former Nickelodeon and Nick Jr content will be included alongside “a strong slate of local programming.”

The new outlet will complement the existing CBeebies channel, providing local content including Katie’s Kuri and The Last Moa, as well as multiple seasons of home-grown hits such as Kiri & Lou, The Drawing Show, Extreme Cake Sports and Secrets at Red Rocks.

Sky NZ said some content from the axed channels will continue to be available via on-demand on the new Sky Experience service across the Sky Box and Sky Pod platforms. Cartoon Network content will continue to be available on-demand through the HBO Max hub via the Sky Entertainment package.

The broadcaster has also partnered with Mood TV to bring two new local music channels to its channel line-up, Juice TV and J2, which effectively replace MTV Hits and MTV 80s. In line with the global shutdown of the MTV brand, the music channels will no longer be available via linear in New Zealand.

In October, it was announced that MTV linear channels would progressively shut down in the UK, Poland, France and Brazil. In Australia, the MTV brand has suffered a similar fate, with its channels having been shut down weeks ago by OTT provider Fetch TV. Paramount owned Australian channels MTV 80s, MTV 90s, MTV 00s, MTV Club and MTV Hits which were previously carried by Foxtel in a deal that was not renewed.

All changes to Sky NZ programming take effect from December 2.

New Channel Alert: MultiChoice Rwanda And Zacu Entertainment Bring Kinyarwanda Content To More DStv Customers

Following the expansion of Africa Magic Hausa, Africa Magic Igbo, Maisha Magic East and Maisha Magic Plus to Canal+ Afrique. MultiChoice will be adding Canal+ Afrique's Zacu TV to the DStv platform.

This comes after MultiChoice had been acquired by Canal+ with a full integration underway within the next 12-18 months. 

Zacu Entertainment (also known as ZACU TV) stands as a trailblazing content production and distribution powerhouse, strategically headquarted in Rwanda. Established in 2017 and subsequently acquired by the distringuished CANAL+ Group in 2022, Zacu has gained an exemplary reputation for entrancing audiences with an impressive array of critically acclaimed TV series, which includes Seburikoko, City Maid, Indoto, Ejo Si Kera, The Bishop’s Family, and Ishusho ya Papa. 

It has contributed over 1000 episodes to the esteemed National Television networdk RBA, cementing our role as a significant contributor to the industry. With a diverse library spanning 800 hours of captivating local short and feature films that encompasass rich tapestry of genres, from compelling drama to heartwarming romance and side-splitting comedy. 

MultiChoice is currently running an upsize promotion for various DStv consumers until the end of December. Those paying DStv Access will be automatically be upgraded to DStv Compact while those on the mentioned package upgrade to DStv Premium.