New Series Alert: It's A Big Big World Coming Soon To PBS Kids Africa

PBS Kids, the most trusted brand for educational content for children aged 2-8 years home to shows like Sesame Street and Daniel Tiger that launched on the DStv platform later in 2019 is set on introducing to African audiences one of their older shows, It's A Big Big World.

The show revolves around a group of animals living in "The World Tree" in the rainforest along the Amazon River with the Pico da Neblina mountain background. The main character and host is Snook the sloth (performed by Peter Linz).

It's A Big Big World was broadcast on PBS Kids in the United States from January 6, 2006 to January 8, 2010 with a total of 47 episodes divided within 2 seasons. The series was created by Mitchell Kriegman, the creator of the Muppet television series, Bear in the Big Blue House.

The first season commences Tuesday 16 May on PBS Kids with a second season following almost a month from that day on 13 June.

During the month, PBS Kids rolled out new episodes of the puppet musical Donkey Hodie. It the second spinoff of Rogers' television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood after Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood under Spiffy Pictures and Fred Rogers Production.

Presenting The 12 TV Channels On DStv To Offer DStv Repeats

Last year, eMedia Investments and MultiChoice got into a fist fight in regard to e.tv's 4 channels. According to MultiChoice, the channels don't fit their 5 year content plan and leverage of DStv content so we look at channels from the platform that air DStv content.

1. Televista

Not to be mistaken with Televisa, the channel is operated by Consolidated Media in Nigeria is home to brands like Trybe TV and SoundCity. Initially, the line-up featured the best of Mexico and Latin America with shows like Part Of Me and Without Breasts There's No Paradise. But over the years, the channel has gone as far as supplying Bollywood shows from Zee World.

2. TLNovelas

Despite being home to various original shows such as Head Over Heels, Secrets At The Hotel and Rubi. The TelevisaUnivision channel has been licensing content to various broadcasters across Africa so if there's a channel you want out then look no further than TLNovelas or likely the competition, Citizen TV.

3. Akilli Kids

Located in East Africa, Akilli Kids is a popular children's channel home to educational content in various languages including English aside from Akilli And Me. The channel supplies a stack of shows already viewed on DStv including various shows like Wild Kratts, Team Umizoomi, Splash And Bubbles and Elinor Wonders Why.

4. DreamWorks

International adaptation of eMedia Investments' eToonz so to speak as NBCUniversal had been licencing numerous content in a similar manner to TLNovelas to various broadcasters including the SABC. Basically, 90% of the channel consists of rehashed content for consumers in South Africa while eToonz gets with modern times.

5. Movie Room

Launched in 2022 as a replacement to eMovies and eMovies Extra, the channel is an M-Net Movies Zone or TCM tiered channel with Kagiso Media hoping to rollout original local films on the channel. The competitor to M-Net Movies has some type of uniqueness that can't be explored on other movie channels but when it comes to new movies there's only repeats of Step Up, Madea and Dragonball: Evolution.

6. TNT

Replaced TCM back in 2018, the channel currently ranks as the most popular movie channel in South Africa reaching 10 million households has something for action lovers with Venom, Poltergeist, Lethal Weapon, Suicide Squad and Justice League as if that hasn't been explored on M-Net Movies alongside TV's most talked about wrestling promotion, All Elite Wrestling.

7. Studio Universal

Basically an international version of eMovies or so what we almost believed at one point. The channel blew M-Net Movies out of the water after bringing out the latest films before any other channel on the Compact bouquet including Men In Black: International, Woody Woodpecker, Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle and Bad Boys For Life all of which had been seen on M-Net Movies 1 & 2.

8. Comedy Central

Being one of the few routes for international dramas (comedies) alongside BBC Brit and M-Net (or Me) the channel has garnered traction with the likes of South Park, The Daily Show, The Carbonaro Effect and Impractical Jokers. But what catches consumers attention is the endless reruns of M-Net's Two And A Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family and Friends.

9. Universal

Serving as one of the few competitors to M-Net and BBC Brit, the channel garnered traction for the likes of Rosewood, Law And Order: SVU, Transplant and Fantasy Island. But just like most channels on the list play second fiddle to DStv/M-Net repeat with shows like Chicago P.D., NCIS: Los Angeles, S.W.A.T., Rizzoli And Isles and Bones.

10. Real Time and Discovery Family

After axing Discovery World and Animal Planet, MultiChoice thought of a swell to duplicate the content seen on Discovery Channel, TLC, Food Network, HGTV and Investigation Discovery on two channels thus limiting the content seen on the successors for content selected consumers already have.

11. Nicktoons

Currently the only kids channel to play second fiddle to another DStv channel as Cartoonito graduated out of repeats prior to its rebrand but Nicktoons continues to build up their offering with a stack of content already viewed on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. including Dora The Explorer, Paw Patrol, The Casagrandes and Middlemost Post.

Conclusion:
This is Insidus giving you the 11 channels to offer DStv repeats but remain onboard while eMedia Investments 4 TV channels on DStv platform were being phased from existence for that exact same reason.

Ignition TV To Broadcast The 2023 Shell Gaborone Motor Show

Ignition TV, owned by Arena Broadcast delivers some of the best motoring content from around the globe, as well as a compelling slate of local shows including car reviews, spinning, advice for buyers, biking, kasi culture, and plenty of lifestyle shows.

From 1 April, Ignition TV (DStv Channel 189) was included in DStv’s fast-growing Access platform, bringing its unique blend of adrenalin-fuelled entertainment and sound motoring advice to a brand-new audience.

Powered by Shell X and Shell V-Power, it is the biggest and most anticipated motor show by far, and it is finally making a comeback at the perfect time and place, which is 5 - 6 May of this year at The Fields Mall CDB, just when new cars will be ready and up for display at the motor show.

More to be on the show includes of New Car Dealers, Passenger Cars, Super Cars, New Car Launches, Trucks And Buses, Desert Race Display, Stance Display, Tuned Performance Cars, Best In Show, Mobile Vehicle Technology & many other automotive businesses.

Activities to be there are even much more exciting, which includes the best test drives, Go Carts, PS5 F1 Racing Simulator time trial Leaderboard, Remote Controlled racing cars, Formula 1 Miami GP Screening, Jumping Castles, Food and DJ sets and much more.

Ignition TV is set to cover the whole festivity from 5-6 May on DStv channel 189.

News Shorts: The Boomerang Bug Has Been Retired On Cartoonito Africa, A Rebroadcast Of Fenix Rollouts On e.tv And Miss Heritage Global To Broadcast On Tshwane TV And GauTV

Cartoonito rolled out in Africa with some technical issues

Last month, Warner Bros. Discovery rolled out Cartoonito across Africa offering shows such as Batwheels, CoComelon and Bugs Bunny Builders. The channel has something for preschoolers and their families. Compared to France which only took a day to bid farewell to Boing, WBD Africa took several weeks.

In Portuguese speaking territories particularly Angola and Mozambique, the switch from Boomerang to Cartoonito rolled out smoothly while as the whole of Africa took several weeks to transition out of Boomerang. As of right now, the channel fully rebranded to Cartoonito with Boomerang appearing in few areas.

Fenix makes its highly anticipated return on e.tv

Based on the French miniseries Le Bazar de la Charité, Fenix tells the story of three women whose lives change after a fire breaks out during a charity party, but more of the focus goes to one of the leading lady's husband who has resorted to violence and injustice and used his power to seperate her from their child.

The series launched on eExtra back in 2021 in a similar format to e.tv's 8:30 timeslot in place of Wrede Stad now consumers can catch all the action again on weekdays from 1st May. Another series is set to rollout on the channel is Roekeloos Dade.

Miss Heritage Global is coming to DStv

Miss Heritage Global formerly known as Miss Heritage World is an international beauty pageant, that stands for advancing World Heritage. The pageant was founded in Zimbabwean Country Branding Expert by Tare Munzara. The 6th Miss Heritage Global was crowned at Kalahari Resort in the Province of Limpopo on the 24th of September 2022.

The committee formalised their agreement with both Tshwane TV and GauTV which are both slated to air The 7th Miss Heritage Global later in the year.

Recap To The Month: Takalani Sesame Was Added As A Replacement To Cool Catz On e.tv

Cool Catz followed the lives of four cats who hanged around in a treehouse playing games, telling stories and engaging consumers on phonics. It was the first original preschool series derived from e.tv and just like Craze's local offering that was axed over the years.

Craz-e went from being youth block that supplied local programming such as Shiz Niz and Sistahood to being a K-TV oriented block that licenced content from various production studios including DreamWorks Animation, Mattel Creations and Hasbro.

In short, this was an improvement to the preschool oriented brand by eMedia Investments. Craz-e was more geared toward preschoolers when licensing content that it led to rivals such as SABC 2 gaining a upper hand with a similar lineup including the 5pm anime block.

As reported in March, eMedia Investments had acquired the South African adaptation to Sesame Street, Takalani Sesame. As of the moment, it's currently airing on weekdays at 14:30 the same timeslot they used to dub various international preschool series in local languages.

At the time when media outlets where wondering how e.tv abide by the local quota particularly with kids programming this was your answer, Takalani Sesame.

Instead of acquiring various programming from M-Net's defunct Koowe block as not a lot of households have access to a DStv they'd rather air a show that can already be seen on SABC 1-3 which just leaves more questions about the former slot for Shiz Niz.

Could it be possible that another local program like Siyaya Come Wild With Us, Signal High or even the likes of Thandeka's Diary could make up for the loss of Sistahood, Craze World Live, Frenzy and Shiz Niz.

Honestly, most of the youth block is repetitive at the moment and this could be one way to cut down and perhaps give eToonz more purpose. Considering that content from the SABC is being licenced maybe they could look into a partnership for eToonz.