Why A Revival Of M-Net's 1Magic And Me Is Unlikely?

Two years ago, MultiChoice and NBCUniversal unveiled the revamped Showmax streaming service which served as a distribution outlet for Universal Pictures, DreamWorks Animation and Telemundo. It even bolstered originals like Youngins and Adulting.

During that time, MultiChoice and M-Net also made the decision to do away with Me and 1Magic as part of its efforts to get more people onto Showmax. This had yielded lackluster success as Canal+ deemed the streamer a "commercial failure".

Under the Naspers regime, MultiChoice had put a lot of hopes in creating a rival for Netflix since 2024 but the losses continued to double each year. That Canal+ made the decision to discontinue Showmax and deploy its own streaming app in these markets.

With MultiChoice doing away with Showmax, there's several DStv consumers that are probably wondering if these means we'll getting back our M-Net Essentials (Me) and 1Magic.

If I had to be honest this kind of seems unlikely.

DStv had been in decline for several years with the consumer base that once hit the 20 million mark under 15 million. The losses spread across all areas of DStv with Canal+ looking to restructure these packages in order to gain more consumers.

Another reason I don't see anything like these channels coming  has to do with their streamlining endeavours post the relaunch of Showmax.

When 1Magic was first introduced a lot of people in the media didn't like the fact that MultiChoice was creating competition and diluting value from Mzansi Magic. Same goes for Me, reviving it would only dilute the value of Universal TV and Bravo.

Universal TV has got a lot more purpose after the cancellation of Me with The Equalizer, Hudson & Rex and NCIS. Same for Bravo, if 1Magic existed, people wouldn't dare watch to have watched The Real Housewives as the later season was on 1Magic.

Even under Canal+, it doesn't seem like they plan to launch any variants of these channels anytime soon. As Canal+ Afrique already distributes these channels for its Francophone Africa audiences through the DStv English Plus add-on.

However it appears they found new ways of getting these shows to more DStv consumers. As Landman had found its way onto KykNET after being made available exclusively on M-Net and I wouldn't be surprised if we got to see King & Conqueror.

Either way KykNET's induction into the international scene wouldn't dilute what's seen on Universal TV as they'd prioritise authenticity from Binnelanders and Tussen Ons.

Development Alert: uMakhwapheni To Make Its Freemium Debut On Zee One In South Africa

Zee One, an English dubbed Bollywood channel operated by Zee Entertainment Enterprises and spinoff to Zee World will now be importing shows from Zee Zonke. With uMakhwapheni being the first entry to consumers in South Africa.

Following Zee Zonke's successful launch on DStv, eMedia Investments had attempted to replicate this offering with the short lived Uzozisola Regrets. With JioStar that launched Star Khanya into the market as a rivalled broadcaster to the lineup.

With Zee Zonke being confined to DStv, Zee TV is using Zee One's existing footprint to increase its reach. Zee One will not only be competing with Star Life but also Star Khanya when uMakhwapheni launches on 30th March at 7PM CAT.

Synopsis for uMakhwapheni 

The story follows Radhika, a devoted and somewhat overprotective wife, whose life is turned upside down when she discovers her husband, Gurunath (often called "Garry"), is having an affair with his trendy colleague, Shanaya. 

Gurunath leaves Radhika for Shanaya, even attempting to kick Radhika out of their home.

Instead of giving up, Radhika undergoes a massive transformation. With the support of her friend Saumitra, she works hard to build her own business, eventually founding a successful spice company called Radhika Masale.

In a major twist, Radhika becomes the boss of the very company where Gurunath and Shanaya work, leaving them shocked by her success.

As the drama unfolds, Shanaya eventually realizes Gurunath's true nature and switches sides to help Radhika. Radhika moves on from her toxic marriage and eventually finds true love and happiness with Saumitra. 

Known in India as Majhya Navaryachi Bayko, uMakhwapheni launches on Zee One from 30th March at 6PM CAT.

Development Alert: Onesipho To Make Its Freemium Debut On Zee One In South Africa

Zee One, an English dubbed Bollywood channel operated by Zee Entertainment Enterprises and spinoff to Zee World will also air shows from Zee Zonke. With Onesipho being another entry to consumers in SA following uMakhwapheni.

Following Zee Zonke's successful launch on DStv, eMedia Investments had attempted to replicate this offering with the short lived Uzozisola Regrets. With JioStar that launched Star Khanya into the market as a rivalled broadcaster to the lineup.

With Zee Zonke being confined to DStv, Zee TV is using Zee One's existing footprint to increase its reach. Zee One will not only be competing with Star Life but also Star Khanya when Onesipho launches on 30th March at 6PM CAT.

Synopsis for Onesipho

The story follows Nayan, a simple small-town girl who is born with the gift of premonition—the ability to see visions of the future before they happen. While many in her village view her powers with suspicion, she often uses them to help others.

Through a series of unexpected events, Nayan marries Devansh, a wealthy man whose life is constantly in danger.

Nayan discovers that her visions are meant to protect Devansh. She becomes his "shield" against various threats, most notably from his own family.

The primary villain is Devansh's stepmother, Rita. Driven by greed, Rita repeatedly plots to kill Devansh so she can inherit his vast property. She is frequently assisted by her brother, Pompy.

Known in India as Nayan - Jo Vekhe Unvekha, Onesipho launches on Zee One from 30th March at 6PM CAT.

This Is Love, Former Glow TV Series Will Be Dubbed In IsiZulu And Broadcast On Star Khanya As Uthando Lento

Star Khanya, a Zulu dubbed Bollywood channel operated by JioStar had picked up rights to the Bollywood drama Uthando Lento. Known as Yeh Hai Mohabbatein (This Is Love) in India, the series airs on weeknights at 20:30 from 2nd April.

To South African audiences, Uthando Lento had already been broadcast on the defunct Glow TV brand as This Is Love. Now Star Khanya will be giving DStv consumers the opportunity to complete the show 7 years after it ended.

To recap, Glow TV was removed from DStv as part of extensive review carried out by MultiChoice. This was before any of the shows on Glow TV could wrap productions.

Consumers had to rely on alternatives just to watch Uthando Lento for which there was Openview as it once carried Glow TV. Then there was DStv Indian which featured shows from Glow TV suppliers such as StarPlus, Colors TV and Sony Max.

Now the catch here is that This Is Love is coming back to South African audiences but as Uthando Lento. It's not being picked up by Star Life which aired it's spinoff and has wider reach but is being alienated from most parts of Africa.

It's not airing in English and Hindi which is what would have been the case if it aired on Star Life but Zulu as that is Star Khanya's target market.

Synopsis for Uthando Lento 

The story begins with Ishita Iyer, a kind-hearted Tamil dentist who is unable to have children. She forms a deep bond with her neighbour's daughter, Ruhi Bhalla, who is often neglected by her hot-headed Punjabi father, Raman Bhalla. 

Raman is embroiled in a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife, Shagun, who left him for his business rival, Ashok Khanna.

To ensure Ruhi stays with a loving mother figure, Raman and Ishita enter into a "marriage of convenience" despite their constant bickering and cultural differences. As they live together, Ishita helps Raman heal from his past. 

Uthando Lento will air daily at 20:30 from 2nd April.

Channel Premiere: Play Room Unveils Fast & Furious: Spy Racers From DreamWorks Animation

Play Room, a South African based children's channel operated by Ngwato Nkosi Group that offers content in English and Zulu will rollout its first new series, Fast & Furious: Spy Racers. It will broadcast on the channel daily at 17:30 from 1st April.

Synopsis for Fast & Furious: Spy Racers 

Teenager Tony Toretto follows in the footsteps of his cousin Dom when he and his friends are recruited by a government agency to infiltrate an elite racing league serving as a front for a nefarious crime organization called SH1FT3R bent on world domination.

The series is executive produced by Vin Diesel, Neal H. Moritz, Chris Morgan, Tim Hedrick (Voltron Legendary Defender) and Bret Haaland (All Hail King Julien). Diesel, Moritz and Morgan also served as producers on the live-action Fast & Furious film franchise.

The cast features Tyler Posey (Teen Wolf) as Dom’s younger cousin turned spy racer Tony Toretto; Camille Ramsey as Layla Gray, a notable underground racer who works for SH1FT3R and Luke Youngblood (Harry Potter) as Frostee Benson, a 13-year old tech genius.

Prior to its broadcast on Play Room, Fast & Furious: Spy Racers was also broadcast on eToonz (South Africa), Showmax (Africa) and Netflix (international).

Fast & Furious: Spy Racers has yet to be made available on DreamWorks Channel as most of its later shows are available on these outlets. With the only exception being Play Room as this is their first with others like Rio and Shrek being films.

Athletics South Africa Exits SuperSport After 4 Years With Further Matches Set To Be Broadcast On SABC

DStv consumers have to brace for more bad news as Athletics SA had announced that their agreement with SuperSport had come to an end after 4 years. As the new owners Canal+ are busy aggressively slashing costs at MultiChoice.

Canal+ stripped SuperSport of its acquisition power with decisions over what to broadcast made in Paris. Since then, DStv consumers had missed out on various events like World Darts Championship, Winter Olympics and now Athletics SA.

According to Cash N Sport, Athletics SA was in talks with the SABC and SuperSport but couldn't come to an agreement over which events would air on either broadcaster. They were aiming to restructure their broadcasting agreement with SuperSport.

After SuperSport and Athletics SA formed an alliance to have these matches broadcast exclusively on DStv. The plan was to make a non-exclusive agreement which would give them a cheque and increased exposure from the SABC. 

With Athletics SA losing a major broadcaster like SuperSport, there's growing fear about how they'll plan to accommodate it's staff and put on races. Advertising alone can't accommodate sports as opposed to general entertainment.

Even though these matches would be broadcast on SABC, the broadcaster has fallen on troubled times and relied on sponsors to cover such events. With them losing out on SuperSport, the quality of these matches will see further diminish.

 

Could MultiChoice Look To Replace BET As Canal+ Afrique Might Have A Suitor For Paramount Network France?

Last year, Paramount closed its doors in Africa and various parts of Europe affecting brands like BET, MTV Base and Paramount Network. These channels were distributed in Canal+ Afrique and MultiChoice territories that started the year with less channels.

Prior to their exist, MultiChoice had stated that at this stage they weren't looking to replace these channels. Looking at the number of channels to have exited their platforms it was believed that they weren't interested in replacing them.

They had widened the reach of Trace TV's remaining channels like Gospel and Ngoma (formerly Africa) to its DStv Access subscribers. To some this was probably their way of compensating for MTV Base but that was not the case here.

During the month, MultiChoice had launched Base Pulse in the same frequency as MTV Base. Oddly enough some of Paramount's staff are now seen on this newest addition by Pulse Entertainment.

Prior to its addition, they were whispers of an MTV Base revival and all of this was likely pointing toward Base Pulse. As both brands have "Base" in the name aside from channel number, staff and heavy focus on Amapiano vibes.

Canal+ Afrique had also been test running a TV channel with Paramount Network's frequency and it's a safe bet that like Base Pulse maybe some of the content will resurface on this channel. Unless it could as well be another Canal+ branded channel.

Following the acquisition of MultiChoice, they have access to M-Net's local archives so they might as well dust out some old IPs and introduce them to these consumers. As mentioned, it's just speculation as tests are still underway.

As for MultiChoice, I haven't seen any signs that they're looking to replace BET however a duplicate feed for Moja 9.9. is currently being tested. Sometimes when a duplicate feed is placed it's usually just a placeholder for another TV channel.

In rare cases, they're just making upgrades which I doubt as there's an SD and HD feed, and I also doubt they're launching a localised feed. These are usually reserved for flagship brands like Moja Love as rerun channels aren't prioritised for such in this instance.

MultiChoice has localised feeds for M-Net, M-Net Movies 1, Disney Channel and TLC but not for your M-Net Movies 2-4, Disney Junior and Real Time.

Could Paramount Look To Merge Cartoonito With Nick Jr.?

Paramount is looking to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery after Netflix walked out of the bidding war. As preschool brands like Cartoonito and Nick Jr. likely to be owned by the same company, with this merger set to close by the end of 2026.

According to Paramount, they intend to keep most of the company intact but with the amount of debt they'd be digesting it's hard to believe they'll retain both Cartoonito and Nick Jr. if this deal closes.

Cartoonito is home to shows like Bugs Bunny Builders, Batwheels and Grizzy And The Lemmings. While Nick Jr. offers Paw Patrol, Dora The Explorer and The Tiny Chef Show.

Even if Paramount plans to keep Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. while inheriting Cartoon Network and Cartoonito. There's definitely going to be some restructuring content wise, likely for its international variants of Cartoonito.

Cartoonito had been struggling to find it's footing in the US despite having hits shows like Batwheels. All the while Warner Bros. Discovery continued expanding its preschool slate the development of Hey BMO and Foster's Funtime.

Of course the problem part here is that none of these shows have a platform and with this buyout by Paramount. This offering will most definitely get picked up by Nick Jr.

Nick Jr. has global appeal and it's history dates to the 80s as opposed to Cartoonito which dates to the mid 2000s in the UK/Europe so it's safe to bet they will handle this department.

Cartoonito will likely lean more toward shows like Mr. Bean and Grizzy And The Lemmings perhaps become a complementary/extension to Nick Jr. Think of how Candle Media structured it's Moonbug and Blippi And Friends channels internationally.

Nick Jr. could offer a programming block on Cartoonito perhaps for older shows like Nella The Princess Knight, Bubble Guppies and Rusty Rivets.