New Series Alert: Digman! Coming Soon To Comedy Central And Paramount+ Africa

Anticipated to rollout in the market later in the year, Paramount+ is set to join existing streamers such as Netflix, Showmax, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+ featuring a lineup of exclusive original content from MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.

Although a date has yet to be announced, Paramount+ and Comedy Central have begun marketing the animated sitcom, Digman! featuring Andy Samberg of The Lonely Island. Of course, Paramount+ isn't present in the press release released by MultiChoice Africa.

Taking the timeframe to account, Paramount+ is likely to rollout in the coming months as pictured above. On top of that, it's likely going to rollout on a region by region basis as seen with BritBox and Disney+ as mentioned Paramount+ is absent from the press release.

Paramount+ is likely to be made available on MultiChoice's DStv Explora Ultra joining streamers such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Universal+ (through the DStv App) and Disney+.

Press release

Comedy Central announces guest line-up for Andy Samberg-led adult animated series starring Maya Rudolph, Jason Schwartzman, Daniel Radcliffe and more.

The series will premiere in on Saturday, 17 June, at 22:00 CAT.

Digman! is the first series written and produced by Emmy® and Golden Globe® winning actor and producer Andy Samberg (Palm Springs), along with co-creator and showrunner Neil Campbell (Brooklyn Nine-Nine).

“We are thrilled to be adding Digman! to the Comedy Central line-up. Andy Samberg has a unique way of delivering comedy that resonates with all audiences of all types of humour. It’s one we have long had our eyes on, and we know it will not disappoint in the market,” says Dillon Khan, Vice President Comedy Central Africa.

The half-hour animated episodes are set in a world where archaeologists are massive celebrities and the coolest people on the planet, with Samberg providing the voice of the protagonist, Rip Digman. In addition to the previously announced principal cast, the show will feature guest performances from Clancy Brown, Andy Daly, Cole Escola, Harvey Guillén, Kirby, Marc Evan Jackson, Rachel Kaly, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Lauren Lapkus, Jane Lynch, Mike Mitchell, Kyle Mooney, Claudia O’Doherty, Lennon Parham, Daniel Radcliffe, Maya Rudolph, Paul Rust, Jason Schwartzman, Carl Tart, Joe Lo Truglio, and Edgar Wright.

The impressive guest lineup will join Samberg and the principal cast which includes Mitra Jouhari (Three Busy Debras), Tim Robinson (I Think You Should Leave), Dale Soules (Orange Is The New Black), Guz Khan (Our Flag Means Death), Melissa Fumero (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) and Tim Meadows (The Goldbergs).

The series is created by Andy Samberg and Neil Campbell and produced by CBS Studios alongside Ali Bell and The Lonely Island’s Party Over Here banner. Titmouse will Executive Produce, with their own Chris Prynoski, Shannon Prynoski, Antonio Canobbio and Ben Kalina.

Digman! joins MTV Entertainment’s growing arsenal of adult animation, including Everybody Still Hates Chris, a reimagined animated version of superstar Chris Rock's popular award-winning family show Everybody Hates Chris; Jodie, a film spin-off of MTV’s iconic Daria franchise with Tracee Ellis Ross in the titular role along with the award-winning South Park franchise, and the critically lauded Mike Judge's Beavis and Butt-Head series and film Beavis & Butt-Head Do the Universe.

Be the first to catch this hilarious show and tune into Comedy Central (DStv channel 122) on Saturday, 17 June, at 22:00 CAT.

Development Alert: More Nicktoons Coming Soon To Nickelodeon Africa With Best & Bester And The Adventures Of Sammy & Raj

During the year, the repeat studded Nicktoons by Paramount Global unveiled two new series, The Adventures Of Sammy & Raj and Best & Bester. This was the first in several months that the brand had recieved any fresh content following its snoozefest in 2022.

Synopsis for The Adventures Of Sammy & Raj:

The series follows the reality-bending adventures of a pair of cousin-brothers, Sammy and Raj, as they pause, rewind, fast-forward, and slow-motion their way into a whole host of rowdy laugh-out-loud exploits with a mysterious time-altering app at their fingertips.

Nickelodeon International teamed up with Nickelodeon India, a part of Viacom18 that is a joint venture between Paramount Global and Network18, to co-produce The Twisted Timeline of Sammy & Raj making it the first collaboration between both parties.

Synopsis for Best & Bester:

Best & Bester is a buddy comedy about two friends who can transform themselves into whatever they want, once per day — but figuring out what’s the best thing to be can be pretty tricky when you can be anything. Catered for 7 to 11 year olds, it takes the idea of choices and comparisons to ridiculous heights.

The series was produced by Giggle Entertainment who previously worked on 101 Dalmatian Street which was basically a revival to the 101 Dalmatian franchise for Disney Channels in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

After several months, both series are slated to air on Nickelodeon later in July. For a while now, this has been a norm for Paramount to take the channel's very few premier shows and have reruns and further episodes made available to Nickelodeon.

We've been saying this for a while now it's better the brand merges with Nickelodeon as there's isn't much left to explore that you wouldn't find on the main channel. It's weird how the channel is regarded premium in various African markets if the only thing original is NickMusic.

AMC International And Paramount Global Are Relaunching CBS Justice In United Kingdom As True Crime By The End Of 2023, Will The Same Be Happening For CBS Justice In Africa At Some Point?

AMC International and Paramount Global will be reviving CBS Justice in the UK later in the year as a streaming service under Amazon Freevee. This comes after the channel was shuttered last year as the parties were reviewing their offering for consumers in the region.

True Crime UK is set to launch on more major platforms later in the year, with a slate of shows currently seen on CBS Reality internationally (and CBS Justice in Africa) including Evidence of Evil, Murder Wall, Donal MacIntyre Unsolved and Medical Detectives.

Despite having resounding resemblance to to the defunct Sony Crime operated by Sony Pictures Television which too was known as True Crime. The channels are operated by different parties with AMC International opting to use "From CBS Reality" as to not avoid confusion.

Tanya Gugenheim, SVP, business development, AMC Networks International – UK said, “We’re thrilled to launch True Crime UK from CBS Reality on Amazon Freevee and Rakuten TV. Expanding our factual entertainment content into the FAST space underscores the demand for our acclaimed true crime programming and will enable us to share it with a huge new audience.”

During the year, CBS Justice expanded their footprint in the African market on StarTimes' StarSat platform alongside CBS Reality. Since spinning off CBS Reality into a second channel back in November 2019, CBS Justice has been garnering popularity to factual lovers.

As mentioned, CBS Justice's days in Africa could be numbered or at least the brand name as True Crime is just a digital duplicate. On top of that, AMC International UK manages brands like CBS Reality, JimJam and the already mentioned CBS Justice in Africa.

Recap To Last Year: The Racing Partnership And The Via Duplicate Channel Likely Scrapped On DStv As Seen With BBC UKTV On Openview

Last year, MultiChoice and BBC Studios unveiled the general entertainment channel, BBC UKTV. It features drama series and game shows from BBC Brit alongside lifestyle and factual content from BBC Lifestyle and BBC Earth and kiddies entertainment from CBeebies.

Before it's rollout on the pay-tv platform, plans were underway for the channel to make its free-to-air debut on eMedia Investments' Openview platform. For unknown reasons, those plans fell through as the red brand and BBC Studios remain silent on the channel.

During that year, MultiChoice had conducted tests on additional channel to Media24's Via which has seen a boost in popularity following its induction back in 2015. The channel similar to the already mentioned BBC UKTV would supply existing content to more DStv customers.

Another channel which was also in development was a possible rival to 4Racing TV's Racing240, The Racing Partnership. It is described as the exclusive betting shop to which all of the owners Arena Racing's content is delivered to bookmakers.

Although no official name was given to this duplicate channel, the channel's 24 hour lineup was available to browse at the time while The Racing Partnership only had this test card pictured above.

TNT Novelas Expands To More Parts Of Latin America, Kills Off TBS

During the year, Turner Network Television, Inc. a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery had trademarked a new brand, TNT Novelas. The channel rolled out in place of TNT Series which had since then inherited a number of soap operas from Turkey and Colombia.

As seen through various pay-tv outlets, the general entertainment channel TBS similar to family brand Boomerang earlier in the year in parts of Europe is being phased out for a more productive brand, TNT Novelas.

Sources site the cutback of original programming on TNT, Cartoon Network and TBS in the United States as one of the contributing factors of TNT Novelas which is expected to takeover the TBS brand name across Latin America (including Brazil) from June 26.

Another being the newly launched Max streaming service in which Warner Bros. Discovery is prioritising the original programming and leaving brands like Cartoon Network to promote the existing batch of content from the streaming service.

In other developments, Warner Bros. Discovery has been phasing out TNT across Europe for Warner TV. Of course, the TNT brand name was revived as a sports channel in the UK on top of that these changes have yet to take affect in the African market.

Everyday Novelas Shorts: Doodsondes Season 5 And Season 6 Confirmed For eExtra, Love To Death To Rollout On Galaxy Television And Land Of Passions To Debut On Telemundo Africa's Passionistas Group In The Coming Months

More Doodsondes coming soon to Openview

During the year, it was announced that the popular FOX series, Doodsondes (Yasak Elma) will be returning for a fifth season later in the year. In a recent interview, it was also revealed that production had begun on season 6 hinting at a back-to-back rollout.

Doodsondes premiered on eExtra in 2019 and after a few seasons it moved to e.tv. The upcoming seasons are currently listed under eExtra but considering the brand is dubbed Turkwood they might as well be referring to e.tv.

Upcoming shows for eExtra include Ramo, Chrysalis and Annekan Die Swa Kry.

Another yet to be seen TLNovelas original is launching on Galaxy TV

Galaxy TV, a private owned television channel situated in Nigeria had acquired rights to Mexican drama Amar A Muerte (Love To Death). It stars Angelique Boyer, Michel Brown, Alejandro Nones, Arturo Barba, Claudia Martín, Macarena Achaga and Henry Zakka.

The heart is deceitful and more often than not we live believing that we have everything around us under control. This is exactly the case of media mogul Leon Carvajal who thinks he has the perfect life but Lady Death proves to him otherwise when he dies and comes back in a different body only to realize everything around him is in rambles.

A classic Telemundo original to debut on the Passionistas Group

Telemundo, a general entertainment channel owned by NBCUniversal that is home to variety of telenovelas in Latin America had rolled out in the African market by 2013. Unlike fellow competitors TLNovelas, the channel has yet to relive the early 2000s.

But due to a poll held sometime ago, this dream is about to become a reality or at least through their Passionistas Group on Facebook as the classic Tierra De Pasiones (Land Of Passions) will begin streaming on the group from July 26th with English subtitles.

It follows the stormy life of the beautiful Valeria San Román who is full of secrets and disappointments, only her indomitable character gives her the strength to face her enemies, and even her own family, and give love a chance with the appearance of Francisco Contreras.