PBS Kids Africa To Become A Pop-Up Channel For Arthur

PBS Kids, the #1 educational media brand for children aged 2 to 8 with community-based programs that reflect and celebrate lovable, diverse characters who serve as positive role models in life will soon be hosting likely a month worth of Arthur.

Based on the book of the same name by Marc Brown, Arthur set in the fictional U.S. city of Elwood City, and revolves around the lives of an anthropomorphic aardvark, his friends and family, and their daily interactions with each other.

The series often deals with important issues families face such as asthma, dyslexia, cancer, diabetes, and autism spectrum disorder. It also encourages reading and relationships with family and friends by explaining that people have different personalities and interests.

Earlier in the year, the series wrapped production in the U.S. after 25 seasons with a total of 253 half hour episodes with reruns still seem on the brand making it the longest running children's show in the U.S. and second longest running animation behind The Simpsons.

As seen this past week, PBS Kids seems to be maxing out their schedule for a months worth of Arthur which might include specials and movies as the channel has yet to air any of those for some reason but the question to Arthur's presence remains a mystery.

Could it have something to do with its 26th anniversary in October or is there something bigger happening especially now that the main feed got a makeover with ones in Africa and Australia expected to follow soon.

The Arthur Bonanza starts on Saturday 3 September exactly at 23:59 which does seem a bit odd of a timeslot but PBS Kids is known for such instances airing stuff when most viewers won't be present so they view repeats.

 

A Two Part Little People Special Coming Soon To CBS Reality Africa With New Series Murdered By Morning On CBS Justice Africa - September 2022 Highlights

CBS Justice:

MURDERED BY MORNING
Season 1.
Channel premiere.
Weeknights at 19:00 from 5th until 16th September.
"Murdered by Morning" recounts true stories of seemingly ordinary nights that ended with someone dead before dawn. For the unsuspecting victims, these nights began like any other, until a series of unforeseen events led to their deaths. Each standalone episode takes viewers through the twists and turns of a different case, examining numerous potential suspects before zeroing in on the actual killer. Riveting, chilling and unexpected, "Murdered by Morning" shines a light on the deadliest crimes taking place under the cover of darkness.

CBS Reality:

MY EXTREME STAMMER AND ME
1x60min
Channel Premiere
Saturday 3rd September at 07:05 and 20:40.
In this film we follow the lives of four extraordinary young people living with a stammer - because when you struggle to make yourself understood, everyday tasks can be a nightmare. In powerful honest first-hand accounts they reveal private battles and public challenges as they fight to make their voices heard. We meet 20-year-old Jordan who is trying to overcome his stutter and get his first job; we join 23-year-old Zain as he reflects with his Mum a time when he could barely get any words out; 24-year-old Namrah takes us to University College London where she is part of a study researching the causes of stammering; and 21-year-old Ishaq proves anything is possible as he triumphs over his stammer to take on a paediatric placement as part of his medical studies.

MY MULTIPLE PERSONALITIES AND ME
1x60min
Channel Premiere
Sunday 4th September at 07:05 and 20:40.
This film is a unique window into the worlds of four extraordinary young people – who all live with multiple personalities. Each with more than a dozen personalities - known as alters - fighting to be heard, in incredible accounts they reveal how they are never alone. As they try to live ordinary lives surrounded by a constant crowd, we uncover what it’s really like to live with Dissociative Identity Disorder - or DID - formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder. We meet 24year old Jade, who has never been able to share with her family any of her alternative personalities; we join 27 year old Kai and her 26 year old partner Franz, who both have DID - and between them live with over 400 alters- as they show us that nothing in their lives is simple; and we hear from 27 year old Stacey who has a system of 16 different personalities.

MY LIFE WITH A DISFIGUREMENT
1x60min
Channel Premiere
Saturday 10th September at 07:05 and 20:40.
In this emotionally charged film we follow three extraordinary young people living with facial disfigurement - in emotional accounts they reveal their battles to overcome how others see them. Over a million people in the UK live with some type of disfigurement. Growing up in a world where image is everything, looking different can be a huge challenge, but these young people are determined not to let their disfigurement hold them back. We meet 25-year-old Yasmin, who suffers from a rare condition called Parry Romberg syndrome, which is a degenerative disease destroying the tissue on the left side of her face. Yasmin finds the courage to do something she loves more than anything – and sings at an open mic night. We join 24-year-old Raiche, who suffered 70% burns from a house fire when she was just 18 months old, as she has a new wig fitted and her eyebrows tattooed; and we hear from 22-year-old Chloe who has a port wine stain, as she battles her insecurities as she studies at University.

LITTLE PEOPLE - GIANT WORLD
2x60min
Channel Premiere
Sunday 11th September at 07:05 and 20:40.

Over 6000 people in the UK have dwarfism - we follow 3 extraordinary young people who have Achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism, as they reach major milestones in their lives and find the determination to overcome daily obstacles. Often the simplest of tasks can be a huge challenge as they learn to live in a giant world. We meet 28-year-old Jack who is leaving home to take part in Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs pantomime; and we join 19-year-old Jess as she starts learning to drive; and 15-year-old Freya is shopping for a very special dress for her end of school prom.

INSIDE THE FORCE: 24/7
Season 2
Channel Premiere
Weekdays at 07:30, 12:45 and 21:35, from 21st to 30th September.
Based inside Lincolnshire’s busiest police station, this series goes behind the station doors from where everything is run. Inside The Force 24/7 shows what life is really like for the extraordinary officers and staff at South Park Police Station in Lincoln. The series follows the different layers of policing as in-the-moment decisions are made and the police react, from the custody suite and over stretched response officers, to the force control room and the investigation teams.  Filmed as the lockdown restrictions eased in Summer 2021 and crime rates surged, Lincolnshire Police, the country’s least funded force, is stretched like never before.

Digital First: Rebranding Of MTV Asia To MTV 90s

Paramount is scheduled to roll out their streaming service Paramount+ in Africa alongside various other markets by 2023 and as seen with Disney+ their streaming service has led to a further cutback in channels with questions regarding Paramount's linear offering.

I know Paramount had stated a while back that they weren't planning to halt their linear offering as seen with The House Of Mouse. But that doesn't mean they won't do it eventually as they make some minor changes to the current offering.

In the UK, BET became a digital exclusive and Nicktoons is seen as music channel (NickMusic) in Latin America outside of that Paramount has been eliminating a lot of channels mainly MTV as they're said to carry outdated content or don't have a lot of viewers following them.

Unfortunately this wasn't the case in Asia as Sky announced the rebrand of MTV Asia which will now be MTV 90s a music channel from 1st September. This comes after Nickelodeon exited South Korea a few months ago and that just builds onto further speculation.

Is it possible that MTV and Nickelodeon's future in Asia will be the same fate awaiting consumers around the world. It's possible as evolution is a constant you had your VCR now there's DVD and not a lot of people SMS as there's social media.

Regarding MTV, I can see many reasons for Paramount to let go off the channel one cause compared to other general entertainment channels MTV holds more original content which a company like Disney would want to put onto a streaming service.

Compared to BET and Comedy Central as there's not much on there I mean you get plenty of original content but it doesn't dominate the schedule as seen with MTV. Not saying there's no chance of them going away but the less relevant a brand gets the more easier it will be to miss.

Adani Acquires 29% Stake In NDTV

Gautam Adani, Asia’s richest man, signalled serious intent for a play in India’s media and entertainment industry as his companies acquired a 29% stake in broadcaster NDTV Ltd and launched an open offer to acquire an additional 26% from shareholders, as mandated by law.

The acquisition capped months of speculation about a potential acquisition that saw the NDTV stock rally fivefold in nine months (from ₹75.55 on 1 December to ₹376.55 on Tuesday on BSE).

Adani Group companies acquired the stake in NDTV indirectly by buying Vishvapradhan Commercial Pvt. Ltd (VCPL), which owned convertible debentures (warrants that provide for the conversion of debt to equity) in RRPR Holding Pvt. Ltd that in turn owned 29.18% of NDTV Ltd. Vishvapradhan acquired the debentures in 2009-10 in return for a loan amounting to ₹404 crore it extended to the promoter holding company.

According to India’s securities law, an entity that acquires more than 25% of the equity in a publicly traded company must launch an open offer to acquire an additional 26% from public shareholders. Adani Group and Vishvapradhan on Tuesday announced an open offer at ₹294 per share (based on Sebi’s takeover guidelines), representing a 28% discount to NDTV’s ₹376 closing price on Tuesday.

The acquisition drew immediate protests from NDTV, which said in a filing to the exchanges on Tuesday evening that Adani group firms had acquired the stake without consulting its promoters.

“The NDTV founders and the company would like to make it clear that this exercise of rights by VCPL was executed without any input from, conversation with, or consent of the NDTV founders, who, like NDTV, have been made aware of this exercise of rights only today."

Adani’s acquisition of a stake in the high-profile broadcaster, although the subject of market speculation even before the Adani group formally announced its entry into media in March this year, dramatically came to light in exchange filings fired in quick succession on Tuesday evening. On Monday, NDTV told exchanges in response to a media query that its promoters were not engaged in any talks for a stake sale. On Tuesday evening, Adani Enterprises first announced its wholly owned subsidiary Adani Media Networks acquired Vishvapradhan from Eminent Networks and Nextwave Televentures—entities linked to entrepreneur Mahendra Nahata.

Then came the announcement that VCPL had exercised the convertible warrants and now owned 99.5% of RRPR Holdings and, in turn, 29.18% of the equity stake in NDTV. Alongside, Vishvapradhan and the Adani companies announced the open offer triggered by the acquisition.

“This acquisition is a significant milestone in the journey of AMNL’s goal to pave the path of new age media across platforms," Sanjay Pugalia, chief executive officer, AMG Media Networks Ltd, said in a statement.

NDTV founders Prannoy and Radhika Roy control 32.2% of shares in NDTV, while the public shareholders own 38.55%. The company posted revenues of ₹421 crore and a net profit of ₹85 crore in the year ended March 2022.

The 2009-10 transaction between Vishvapradhan and RRPR Holdings was subject to regulatory ire as the Securities and Exchanges Board of India (Sebi) held in a 2019 order that the loan agreement between the two entities amounted to a transferring of beneficial interest in NDTV and should have triggered an open offer by Vishvapradhan then. The regulator castigated the NDTV promoters in strong terms, saying they perpetrated fraud on minority investors by entering into this kind of arrangement. The order was subsequently set aside by the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), which held that just because no interest was charged on loan, it didn’t mean an indirect acquisition as there was no transfer of management control.

In May, Adani Media Networks acquired a 49% equity stake in Quintillion Media, founded by media entrepreneur Raghav Bahl.

El Mataviejitas. The Killer Of Old Ladies

2005. At a symposium on crime in Mexico City, a man from the Department of Justice stands up to give a talk. What he has to say is horrifying. He announces that Mexico is now experiencing “a terrifying and new phenomenon: the presence, now indisputable, of a serial killer. That which happens to us today didn’t happen to us before; happened in movies, in the United States. However, violence and crime have also become globalized—the serial killer of elderly women, El Mataviejitas, is an example of this.”

El Mataviejitas. The Killer of Old Ladies. You could tell from the nickname—from the El in El Mataviejitas—that the police were looking for a man. They were looking for a man because—well, who else could commit crimes like these? Someone was killing elderly women in brutal fashion around the city, leaving them dead on the floor, strangled by things like stethoscopes or phone cables or women’s tights. Sure, witnesses were claiming that they’d seen a woman—a tall woman—around the scenes of some of these crimes, but authorities would not be shaken from their belief. The killer was a man. Maybe a man who dressed in women’s clothes. But a man nonetheless. El Mataviejitas.

Susana Vargas Cervantes has been studying the case of the killer initially known as El Mataviejitas for over a decade. One of the things she noticed was that Mexican police had kind of imported their idea of what a serial killer looked and acted like from their neighbor to the north—from the United States, land of the celebrity serial killer. So when police in Mexico City finally started thinking that all of these killings of elderly women might be connected, they started looking for someone…well, someone like Ted Bundy. Someone charismatic. Brilliant. Psychopathic. And definitely male.

Back in the 1960s, before the killings of old women and before the symposium on crime, a thirteen-year-old girl was being sold to an older man. The girl’s name was Juana Barraza. Her mother, Justa Samperio, was an alcoholic who beat her daughter at every turn. Juana grew up in poverty, north of Mexico City, and had never learned to read or write much, and didn’t know her biological father. But the main source of trauma in her life, it seems, was her mother. Justa would have done anything for a drink. Anything. And so when Juana was thirteen years old, her mother sold her to a man named Jose Lugo in exchange for—some say—three beers.

The exchange was so cruel that Juana thought that the whole thing was somehow…not real. A joke, or a misunderstanding, or a set-up. Jose Lugo took her back to his house and she waited for her mother—or her stepfather, who she trusted—to come and save her. But no one showed up. No one showed up when Jose Lugo tied her to his bed. No one came to save her for the next five years, while Lugo raped her over and over, when she had an abortion, or when she gave birth to a son. After those five years, her uncles finally found her and rescued her. As it turned out, Juana’s mother had been lying to the rest of the family this entire time, saying that Juana had just…left with her rapist of her own free will.

Years later, Juana would weep on camera, under arrest, as she said, “That is why I hated older women.”

Credits: Tori Telfer