Da Vinci Kids Becomes A Permanent Channel On DStv In South Africa

As we stay true to our promise of looking at different aspects, what we believe is a key aspect to a child’s development and link these to different programming, with shows  balancing education and entertainment, we are proud to be bringing you the Da Vinci channel to our valued South African subscribers on DStv channel 318.

Da Vinci will be available to subscribers of DStv Premium, DStv Compact Plus, and DStv Compact & Family packages.

It is inspirational artist, scientist and inventor, Leonardo Da Vinci - the Germany-based channel aspires to illustrate the beauty and wonders of human curiosity and its explorations, be it in science, arts or innovation 24/7. The new edutainment channel will amaze and delight DStv kiddies viewers – at home and on the go via DStv Now – with a range of fun educational programming for kids and the whole family alike filled with humour, imagination and meaningful, educational takeaways that cover Science, Math and Technology, and moreover Play & Make; History & Personalities; Culture; Life & Nature and Sports & Leisure.

“What we’ve done is provide a safe space for children and parents to choose from a range of age-appropriate content that is entertaining and educational for both. As a trusted partner for parents on the journey of raising children we strive to create moments of family, we’re bonding millions of homes daily. The launch of this channel is in  line with our commitment to delivering content that caters and resonates with the whole family, while enriching their lives by delivering programming that educates, informs and entertains,” concluded Thabisa Mkhwanazi, Executive Head of Marketing at DStv.

For more information on the programming and to access the daily TV Guide on the programming, please visit: www.dstv.co.za

MultiChoice Adds More Channels To DStv Now Service

Admist the coronavirus outbreak MultiChoice has added various channels to DStv and non-DStv subscribers. Along with adding some various other channels through the DStv platform.

Now MultiChoice will add Toonami (Channel 300), Keep Fit (Channel 133), Mzansi Live (Channel 113), M-Net Binge (Channel 114) through their DStv Now service.

Toonami the superhero version of Cartoon Network supplied by WarnerMedia will be added on Compact while M-Net Binge supplied by M-Net will go to Compact Plus. There's no details on the rest but I'm presuming it's for Access customers along with WWE channel and Mzansi Magic.

These channels will go live from Friday 25 March while Mzansi Live went live from Wednesday 23 March.

M-Net Binge Returns As A Pop-Up Channel On DStv

M-Net revives the shuttered brand M-Net Binge from Friday, 25 March on channel 114. Probably due to the Coronavirus and lack of entertainment across all platforms.

M-Net Binge launched in May 2017 on channel 900 to DStv Premium customers and was scrapped a year later only to return to 2 years later this time it's available on Compact Plus.

According to the TV Guide, M-Net Binge is home to best HBO series as well as doccies and movies. No end date has been provided for the channel as yet when there is one it will be added here.

M-Net Binge will air repeats of series such as Game Of Thrones, Band Of Brothers and Six Feet Under. Making it the ideal channel for Compact Plus customers.

After 17 Years, Mindset Is Getting A Spin-off Channel

Mindset is an digital satellite television free-to air channel launched in 2003 to help educate and improve health in South Africa, uplift and empower communities with various Educational and Health initiatives and interventions is getting a second TV channel.

Pop Primary, the channel is skewed towards Grade 1-7 and just like Mindset will carry educational content. No details about the channel have been unveiled on the package and launch but judging by the founder it could be on every single platform in South Africa and possibly the rest of Africa.

The organisation that handles Mindset works with Government, International Donors and blue-chip corporates to deliver impactful, sustainable and practical change to the developmental challenges that communities face. It develops, sources, distributes and uses digital content. Its multimedia content is distributed via broadcast television, IP based satellite datacast, the web, distributable media (hard drives, DVDs and CDs) and mobile networks.

This comes admist the time coronavirus has mismanaged most of our lives along with a lot of companies that had to postpone major events and schools that had to close earlier.

Within those holidays MultiChoice supplied viewers with free channels on their DStv Now service and added two further channels along with promotional channels to the DStv platform. While StarSat offered viewers free channels through their app.

Since the school holidays parents have been urging platforms to get more educational channels since they'll be joining their kids on lockdown. So far MultiChoice has PBS Kids, Da Vinci Kids and Mindset followed by StarSat with only the last two from DStv and OpenView being Mindset.

Global Citizens has been urging parents to get SABC and DStv to dedicate a channel for educational content. Now parents can be put at ease with this upcoming channel.

More details about the channel will be available soon.

SuperSport Launches All-New Themed Channels

Amid the uncertainty and concern around the threat of coronavirus, SuperSport is working closely with its broadcast partners to mitigate the absence of live sport.

While almost all major sport has been affected, SuperSport will be broadcasting events which have been postponed - when they are rescheduled.

SuperSport chief executive Gideon Khobane said: “All of our partners have reached out to explain their measures, which we appreciate.

“Live sport is massively impacted; we are combatting this by acquiring the best award-winning sport documentaries from around the globe, among other top programming. We will use our various platforms to communicate this to viewers.”

The impact of this has necessitated major changes to the schedules, which will see SuperSport convert its line-up to thematic channels for the foreseeable future.

This is a time to relive the best of the best and SuperSport will duly open SS1 down to the Compact package.

This channel will form the crux of the SuperSport offering. It will feature the best documentaries, sport movies and a presented block called SuperSport GrandStand between 5pm and 9pm where SuperSport presenters will host a studio show that focuses on themed content from a specific sporting genre.

Between 1pm and 5pm daily, SS1 will feature a Viewers’ Choice block where viewers’ social media suggestions on their favourite sporting moments will determine the content.

Another significant change sees SuperSport 7 becoming a best of football offering now open from Premium to Access.

# Ahead of the weekend, SuperSport is already rolling out best of its archives on its channels, including the award-winning “30 for 30” series of ESPN documentaries.

Please see the full list of channel changes below:

SOUTH AFRICA

SS1: Relive Sport Stories (Grandstand / Viewers’ Choice / Documentaries)
SS2: Relive Rugby / Cricket        
SS3: Relive Premier League       
SS4: Relive PSL 
SS5: Relive Golf
SS6: Relive Tennis         
SS7: Relive Best Football (mix of UCL, EPL, La Liga, Serie A, FIFA, Documentaries)
SS8: Relive Motorsport, F1, MotoGP, Superbikes
SS9: Relive WWE           
SS10: Relive local sports / Athletics / Various    
SS11: Relive Action: Combat, UFC, EFC, Boxing, Extreme
SS12: Relive E Sport       

MultiChoice SA Temporarily Adds AfricaNews And Da Vinci Kids And Here's Why (Nickelodeon And CNN Also Accessible)

Later today, MultiChoice silently opened up Da Vinci Kids, AfricaNews, CNN and Nickelodeon admist the coronavirus outbreak with ICASA wanting StarSat and MultiChoice to make channels free.

AfricaNews and CNN are all accessible to Access customers until April 30 with Nickelodeon being April 14 and Da Vinci Kids being the end of May. So far only Nickelodeon and CNN have been accessible in South Africa while the two just popped up recently on DStv with the rest of Africa adding it back in 2019.

Da Vinci Kids is an educational pay television channel for children aged 6–12 and families, and broadcasting in 19 language versions to more than 35 million homes worldwide. It broadcasts STEM and soft skills-based learning programs aimed at children and families during the daytime, and documentaries and educational series for grown-ups in the evenings. The channel can be found on StarSat in South Africa.

AfricaNews is a multilingual news media service, headquartered in Pointe-Noire, Republic of the Congo. The news channel is a subsidiary of France-based euronews and began broadcasting online, and via TV and satellite on 20 April 2016.

The strange part about these two new temporary channels is they're both closing at the same time as SuperSport channels so why didn't MultiChoice advertise them with the other existing channels opening for a limited time.

According to sources through a media enquiry, MultiChoice has been trying to launch AfricaNews since last year but ran through some technical and financial problems. It might also apply to Da Vinci Kids since both of these channels popped up in the test section at the same time and officially launched together.

Even PBS Kids is sort of suffering a similar altercation maybe PBS is trying to build the brand in other markets and merging their operations with Africa or maybe MultiChoice is working on some bugs either way these channels are going through some tough times.

Maybe A+E Networks is the cause of AfricaNews and Da Vinci turmoil since MultiChoice intended to dump Lifetime, History and Crime & Investigation only to keep two of them around and add 2 further channels which put more pressure to their pocket.

With this in mind AfricaNews and Da Vinci Kids might be future permanent additions while all the other channels will go off as scheduled. The only thing uncertain about those possible additions is their availability since Family customers carry them in other markets with South Africa being Access customers.

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DStv OPENS UP MORE CHANNELS TO MORE CUSTOMERS – AND NON-DStv CUSTOMERS TOO!

 

Self-distancing might be a little less hard to deal with now that DStv has made five extra channels available to packages all the way down to Access. These include new channel Africanews (channel 417), CNN (channel 401), Da Vinci (channel 318), Nickelodeon (channel 305) and SuperSport 7 (channel 207). 

 

What’s more, some of the channels that feature on online streaming service DStv Now will be accessible to everyone – DStv customer or not. This incredible service is to ensure that the whole country has easy access to accurate information about COVID-19. All they have to do is download the DStv Now App to have free, comprehensive coverage to a wide range of news channels. The great thing is that DStv Now can be accessed from your smartphone, tablet, smart TV or laptop. The channels that can be viewed for free are: BBC World News; CNN; Sky News; eNCA; SABC News; Newzroom Afrika and Euronews. In addition, you will be able to view People’s Weather;  SuperSport Play; PBS Kids; Channel O and TBN, as well as episodes of some of South Africa’s best-loved soapies for free, including Igazi, The River, Isibaya, Binnelanders, Suidooster and Die Ware Naarheid.

 

In terms of the channels that will now be available to DStv customers all the way down to Access, Africanews launches on 20 March, and is the first pan-African, multilingual and unbiased media channel in Africa. It’s the only place where viewers can watch the most up-to-date news about the 54 African countries simultaneously. With 50 local correspondents travelling the continent to cover social, business, political and cultural stories, Africanews is the voice of the continent.

 

American-based CNN (channel 401) is renowned for its breaking news stories, in-depth investigations and celebrity reporters, including Anderson Cooper, Wolf Blitzer and Christiane Amanpour.

 

Da Vinci (channel 318) is an educational children’s channel that is inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci, in that it encourages children to explore, invent and pioneer. It’s an edutainment channel filled with fun educational shows.

 

Nickelodeon (channel 305) is Viacom’s premium kids’ channel, and home to favourites such as Sponge Bob Squarepants, The Loud House, The Casagrandes and PAW Patrol. 

SuperSport 7 is devoted to La Liga and will allow customers to view all the Spanish football action (once it is back on track), including the likes of Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann. It will definitely appeal to football fanatics everywhere.

 

If all this weren’t enough, the DStv BoxOffice service is also upping its offering to customers. There will now be 40 fresh-from-the-cinema movies available to view for the nominal price of just R25 for DStv Premium, Extra and Compact subscribers packages. 

 

While the world remains in a time of crisis and uncertainty, DStv is determined to keep customers informed and entertained, no matter what it takes.