New Series Alert: New Buddy Comedy Popularity Papers To Rollout On Nickelodeon Across The UK And Italy In The Coming Months, Might Launch Elsewhere

Based on the award-winning scrapbook-style middle-grade book series by author Amy Ignatow, Popularity Papers follows middle-school besties Julie and Lydia as they seek to demystify one of life’s greatest questions: what makes someone popular? Every social experiment they test out comes with unexpected lessons about the value of friendship, kindness, and confidence, helping guide our characters through the struggles of middle school with humour and heart.

Popularity Papers is a single-camera, live-action comedy series (26 x 30′) adapted for the screen by Corus Media-backed Aircraft Pictures ( Roxy Hunter , Bruno & Boots franchises), the Oscar-nominated producers behind The Breadwinner, and Emmy-nominated production company WexWorks Media. On top of the financial participation of the Canada Film Fund, BBC Studios co-funds and handles the international distribution rights for the show.

The series currently airs on YTV in Canada and is also slated to debut on Nickelodeon across Italy from 11 December 2023 while UK & Ireland is slated for 8 January 2024. It might surface on various international Nickelodeon channels (including Africa).

The original book series, for which the first installment was selected as a top-10 title of 2011 by the American Library Association’s Rainbow Project and won the 2010 Gold Award from the National Parenting Publications Association, tells the story of two best friends, Lydia Goldblatt and Julie Graham-Chang, who are on a mission to crack the popularity code and dismantle the social construct for middle-schoolers everywhere. Using the scientific method, the girls conduct social experiments on their peers with hilarious results.

The Popularity Papers is executive produced by showrunner Vivian Lin ( Holly Hobbie, Hudson & Rex) and co-created for television by Lin and Amanda Brook Perrin (The Croods: Family Tree, Fast Layne). Matthew Wexler of WexWorks Media executive produces, along with Amelia Johnson at BBC Studios together with Anthony Leo and Andrew Rosen of Aircraft Pictures.

Possible Rebrand??? BBC's UKTV Announces Creation Of ‘U’ - A New Brand To Unite Its Free TV And Digital Portfolio

UKTV today announced its intention to launch 'U' next year - a new masterbrand that will unite its family of free-to-air channels and its free streaming service.

Launching in Summer 2024, the move will see its current streaming service UKTV Play transition to U and UKTV's family of free-to-air channels will become U&Dave, U&DRAMA, U&YESTERDAY and U&W.

Penny Brough, UKTV's Chief Marketing Officer, said:

For 30 years, UKTV has had shows that people are passionate about - crime, drama, witty comedy and more - but until now it's felt disconnected. We want to make sure our audiences can enjoy the full value of our free and wonderfully diverse offer, so we're making it easier for them to navigate. U is the glue that enables us to do this: it means we go to market with a bold, simple and distinctive identity for our streaming service. U makes it easy for people to connect the dots between the streaming service and our family of TV channels - all while keeping hold of each channel's unique personality and fame. This is now a family that's fit for a digital future. It's simple, but still full of personality because it's all about U.

The U streaming service, created in partnership with global brand consultancy Wolff Olins, will become home to thousands of hours of free content from a raft of genres, including: drama (Annika, Holby City, Madam Secretary, Sister Boniface Mysteries, A Million Little Things), comedy (Meet the Richardsons, Red Dwarf, Live at the Apollo, Mock the Week, We Are Not Alone), entertainment (Big Zuu's Big Eats, David Mitchell's Outsiders, QI, Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable, World's Most Dangerous Roads), and factual entertainment (Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over, Masterchef Australia, Katie Piper: Jailhouse Mums, Secrets of the London Underground, Bangers & Cash). U will also give viewers access to exclusive shows, award-winning originals, premiere acquisitions and iconic programmes from the BBC.

David Stevens, Executive Strategy Director at Wolff Olins, said:

The entertainment market is so awash with confusing and bizarrely named offers, so we wanted to strip back, reduce the noise and present this family of brands in a clear, crisp, singular way. The new 'U' name is a nod to UKTV's heritage, while emphasising that this new viewing experience is all about you. We're excited about creating a bold brand that will stand out but won't get in the way. We wanted to unite an eclectic portfolio, but hold onto the personality, and help you to lose yourself in what you love.

UKTV has an ambitious growth strategy, focussed on supercharging its streaming service and growing its linear channels. A key driver of this is connecting and better leveraging the brands within UKTV's estate. The launch of this new masterbrand supports this strategy by making it easier for users to navigate both online and on-air, as well as creating a halo effect in brand marketing across the portfolio and ultimately building equity into a more unified family of brands. The simplicity of the new U brand architecture also retains the names and equity of the existing channel brands that are well-known and loved across the UK.

As part of the company's transformation plans, UKTV Play has already evolved into a digital streaming destination with a plethora of free content to suit all tastes. Its popularity has propelled the service to grow views by 69% since the start of the year (Jan-Aug), and with FAST channels set to debut on the service in 2024, viewers have even more choice to look forward to.

The new U visual identity and brand architecture is set to be unveiled in 2024. Wolff Olins is working alongside UKTV's own in-house Creative team on a suite of assets for the rebrand, which will simultaneously launch across UKTV's free-to-air channels and its streaming service next year.

UKTV's pay channels Alibi, Gold and Eden will transition to U&alibi, U&GOLD, U&eden at a later date, uniting the full network under the U brand.

News Shorts: People's Weather Loads Up On New Documentary Guardians Of The Forest, Divya-Drishti Gets A New Release Date On Star Life And Warner Bros. Discovery Scraps Tooncast And TCM From Brazil By The End Of 2023

People's Weather is travelling to Zambia

People's Weather, an environmental and wildlife channel currently viewed on DStv and Openview had announced the launch of a new documentary Guardian Of The Forest from Tuesday 5 December.

Explore how the magnificent Luangwa Valley in Zambia is working to protect its forests, biodiversity and livelihoods. With investable carbon offsets, the Luangwa Valley is making Africa shine by helping save the planet by reducing emissions through the proper management of forests, surrounding communities and their interaction with nature. 

Star Life is giving the run-around

During the month, Star Life was initially slated to launch the supernatural drama Divya Drishti but to many viewers surprise the current rebroadcast to A Magical Love Story would take up its timeslot daily at 23:00 with repeats still at 17:00.

Through an updated EPG, Divya Drishti is anticipated to replace Mismatched at 22:00 from Sunday 24 December - exactly as I anticipated. Of course, we take "premiere dates" on both Zee World and Star Life with a grain of salt and rather focus on the program in general.

Sky boots two WB channels

Through a viewer in Brazil, it was announced TCM and Tooncast would be exiting Sky on 31 December 2023. It's currently unknown whether this affects Latin America but prior to the termination consumers across Europe would be losing Discovery Turbo Xtra and Discovery Science.

Tooncast was a Latin American adaptation to the current Boomerang and Boing channels seen globally as the channel would leverage content viewed on Cartoon Network while TCM was viewed as a retro movie channel home to films from the 60s to 00s.

Before TCM's exit in Brazil the channel was shuttered across the UK and if one had to guess the reason for these terminations. Warner Bros. Discovery is probably removing non-performing channels as they've seen a decline in relevance from advertisers and viewers.

Bulldog Licensing To Represent Banijay’s Totally Spies! Reboot

UK agency Bulldog Licensing (Sesame Street, Care Bears) has come on board to oversee consumer products in the region for Banijay Kids & Family’s Totally Spies! franchise just months ahead of the brand’s series reboot (26 x 22 minutes, pictured) premiering on France’s Gulli and Discovery Kids Latin America. 

Targeting six- to nine-year-olds, the 2D-animated series was greenlit in 2022, and Warner Bros. Discovery has also picked it up to launch next year on Cartoon Network (US) and Max (EMEA).

Totally Spies! originally debuted in 2001 on ABC Family (now Freeform) in the US and ran for six seasons until 2013. The anime-inspired toon about three female teens balancing spy missions and high school drama has since been sold into 220 territories and is currently available in 60 languages. 

Over the years, the brand has built and maintained a strong digital presence on YouTube, where 351 million hours of episodes have been streamed, according to Banijay. 

Given the original series’ cult following among Millennials and Gen-Z, Bulldog plans to initially tap into the “strong adult nostalgia market” before moving on to product categories for kids. To begin with, the company is eyeing apparel (daywear and nightwear), fashion accessories, health & beauty, stationery and tech products.

Bulldog’s strategy aligns well with a broader industry trend to serve the lucrative “kidult” demographic, which was responsible for  nearly US$9 billion in sales last year, according to The Toy Association.

Bulldog managing director Rob Corney says the company will start courting potential licensees soon, on the heels of observing a “great reaction” to the Totally Spies! brand at this year’s Brand Licensing Europe event. 

Important Notice: Insidus 2.0 Is Coming Soon

From 31 December 2023, Regular Nick: Games and Insidus Plus will cease to exist as the latter will be refolded under Insidus. We are looking to promote content that not only attract our local readers but those staying abroad. This is something we've been looking to do for a while now and we thank our readers for supporting these brands.

Here's some Q&A's

1. When will Regular Nick: Games and Insidus Plus shut down?

From 31 December 2023, the site could remain active for another three months.

2. What will happen to the content on Regular Nick: Games and Insidus Plus?

We are backing up content from Insidus Plus and will roll them out shortly as for Regular Nick: Games we are looking to reboot this area. For those worried about losing out on content, just to let you know we will be rolling out Insidus Collection which will feature various content from both brands including unreleased.

3. What will happen to the pages of Regular Nick: Games and Insidus Plus through Insidus Lite?

Replacements are currently in development for both of course they may start out as lightweight but we will make Insidus Collection available to fill that gap as we promote numerous archived material.

4. Are Regular Nick: Games and Insidus Plus being discontinued due to poor reception?

No, numerous brands had been doing consolidation and we felt it was about time we did some consolidating of our own. Regular Nick: Games and Insidus Plus will continue to be our greatest creation and them finding a new home on Insidus would equal to more reach especially with SEO.

5. What to expect on Insidus come 2024?

As mentioned, we are looking to offer the best of Regular Nick: Games and Insidus Plus without jeopardizing the content currently distributed on Insidus. The remainder of 2023 and onwards will be used to build up the offering from these brands.

A lot of excitement comes out from revisiting this journey and we are looking to introduce more new stuff.

Recap To The Week: Disney's ESPN 1 Currently Seen On DStv And StarSat Is Set To Take On SABC Sport

During the day, it was reported that MultiChoice and Disney would be adding the US sports channel ESPN 1 to its R129 per month DStv Access package. It was previously only available on the R449-a-month Compact package or higher which concide with the addition of NWTV.

Since Openview's inception, it served as a rival brand to DStv's existing offering with general entertainment channels like eReality and eSeries, lifestyle brands like People's Weather and The Home Channel+ and Bollywood entertainment from Star Life and Zee One.

They had also garnered popularity from SABC Sport which serves as one of the top 10 most watched channels on the Openview platform.

In previous years, Access served as somewhat of an underling to the freemium platform as it lacked a worthy advisory to the current offering. Despite offering more channels there wasn't noteworthy content on the bouquet and in recent years MultiChoice had started to catch-up with eMedia Investments.

Zee Zonke was added back in August as the first Zulu dubbed telenovela channel and also Access consumers first Bollywood channel with the likes of Star Life and eExtra's Kuiertyd partially contributing to Openview's success and from December ESPN 1 will be added to the bouquet.

ESPN 1 features live football from the English Football League (EFL), Scottish Premier Football League (SPFL), Dutch Eredivisie and Major League Soccer (MLS), as well as local sports like West African Football Union (WAFU) Cup of Nations and featured boxing tournaments and events.

It will basically take on SABC Sport which too had been dominant on football particularly with Bundesliga, Cosafa Women’s Championship and Liverpool Football Club with other content like Racing Today (from 4Racing TV), Max Power and Retro Boxing.

Development Alert: MultiChoice And The Walt Disney Company Extend The Reach Of ESPN 1 To DStv Family And Access Customers PERMANENTLY

MultiChoice has announced that it is adding the US sports channel ESPN 1 to its R129 per month DStv Access package.

DStv Access customers will have access to the channel starting 1 December 2023. It was previously only available on the R449-a-month Compact package or higher.

ESPN focuses on US sports like basketball, American football, and baseball, giving fans of these sports in South Africa a significantly lower entry point to watch them.

Popular competitions include the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Football League (NFL).

“We continue to monitor viewership trends and are thrilled to be adding ESPN 1 for our DStv Access customers,” said Marc Jury, CEO of MultiChoice South Africa.

“This announcement is our way of rewarding our loyal customers with a wider catalogue of entertaining content to choose from,” he added.

“We are also excited that this move will also give sports fans out there looking to get more, for less, an opportunity to stay in the game and take our offering to be front row of the best sports entertainment in the world.”

Basketball and American football fans in South Africa will have access to a slew of NFL and NBA fixtures over the festive season, including on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day.

“We look forward to celebrating the achievements and triumphs of both international and local athletes, our quality storytelling and innovative content with a brand new audience of sports fans across the continent,” says Kyle de Klerk, director of sport for the Walt Disney Company Africa.

TNT Africa Celebrates ‘100 Years Of Warner Bros.’ With Exclusive Documentary Series

TNT Africa, an official partner of Warner Bros. 100 Years, proudly presents a captivating documentary series, ‘100 Years of Warner Bros.’, airing every Wednesday night from the 6th of December. This unprecedented four-part documentary, directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Leslie Iwerks and narrated by the legendary Morgan Freeman, delves into the extraordinary legacy of Warner Bros. as it celebrates its centennial anniversary in 2023.

 

‘100 Years of Warner Bros.’ takes audiences on a historical journey, delving into the extraordinary legacy of one of America's greatest studios. Warner Bros. has played a pivotal role in shaping the entertainment industry over the past century, from its humble beginnings as a family affair to evolving into a global giant. This documentary series celebrates the studio's 100th anniversary in 2023, exploring the origin, evolution, and longevity of Warner Bros. and showcasing the vision, courage, and talent that created some of the most impactful stories in cinematic history.

The four 60-minute documentary specials feature over 60 interviews with legendary filmmakers, actors, and executives, including Morgan Freeman, Kim Basinger, Clint Eastwood, Gal Gadot, Martin Scorsese, and many others. The series provides an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at Warner Bros.'s unforgettable stories that have captivated audiences worldwide for generations.

 

‘100 Years of Warner Bros.’ expresses passion and innovation, offering a captivating journey into the heart of ‘what dreams are made of’. The series explores the impact of Warner Bros. on art, commerce, and culture, highlighting the underdog origins of the studio and its transformation into a global entertainment powerhouse.

 

Viewers can catch the exclusive premieres every Wednesday night in December on TNT Africa, starting on the 6th of December at 22:25 CAT with ‘The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of’. The subsequent episodes, airing on the 13th, 20th, and 27th of December, will delve into the eras of ‘Clint, Kubrick, and Kryptonite’, ‘Heroes, Villains, and Friends’, and ‘Wizarding World and the Big Bang’, respectively.

Don't miss this unparalleled opportunity to witness the evolution of Warner Bros. and the indelible mark it has left on the world of entertainment.

 

ENDS

 

Notes to Editors:

 

6 December at 22:25 CAT

100 YEARS OF WARNER BROS: THE STUFF THAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF

Synopsis: Four brothers set out to build a movie studio from the ground up–while making a giant leap from silent films to “talkies.” As the Warners stand up to WWII Nazism, personal ambitions lead to family betrayal.

 

13 December at 22:05 CAT

100 YEARS OF WARNER BROS: CLINT, KUBRICK AND KRYPTONITE

Synopsis: After a historic sale, Warner Bros. navigates the upheavals of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Under a new strategist CEO, the company enters an era of unmatched storytelling with groundbreaking ­projects.

 

20 December at 23:00 CAT

100 YEARS OF WARNER BROS: HEROES, VILLAINS AND FRIENDS

Synopsis: In the ‘80s, a new generation helped crown Warner Bros. as a forerunner in Hollywood’s blockbuster age. After a historic merger, the company became one of the biggest entertainment giants in the world.

27 December at 22:25 CAT

100 YEARS OF WARNER BROS: WIZARDING WORLD AND THE BIG BANG

Synopsis: As the millennium brings a new era of business partnerships bookended by mergers, Warner Bros. continues to champion authentic voices while harnessing the latest technologies of the digital age.

 

Featuring: The four-part documentary specials feature over 60 interviews with legendary filmmakers, actors and executives, including Kim Basinger, Candice Bergen, Linda Blair, Orlando Bloom, Quinta Brunson, LeVar Burton, Tim Burton, Lynda Carter, Jon M. Chu, George Clooney, Chris Columbus, Kevin Costner, Alfonso Cuarón, Ellen DeGeneres, Robert De Niro Ernest Dickerson, Clint Eastwood, Toby Emmerich, Morgan Freeman, William Friedkin, Gal Gadot, Andy Garcia, Tony Gilroy, Ron Howard, Ke Huy Quan, Patty Jenkins, Harvey Keitel, Linda Lavin, Chuck Lorre, Baz Luhrmann, Leonard Maltin, Ben Mankiewicz, Matthew Modine, Gregory Nava, Christopher Nolan, Edward James Olmos, Gregory Orr, Jesse Palmer, Todd Phillips, Daniel Radcliffe, Keanu Reeves, Charles Roven, Martin Scorsese, Jacqueline Stewart, Oliver Stone, Emma Thomas, Cass Warner, John Wells, Oprah Winfrey and Constance Wu, among others.

 

Credits: 100 YEARS OF WARNER BROS. is produced by Warner Bros. Unscripted Television, Warner Horizon and Iwerks & Co. The four documentary specials are executive produced by Leslie Iwerks, Mike Darnell, Brooke Karzen, Dan Sacks and Bridgette Theriault. Rebecca Ratliff Cameron, Richard Burgio and Stacey Thomas-Muir serve as co-executive producers.

 

 

New Series Alert: Tomorrow Belongs To Me Coming Soon To Novela E Plus

Novela E Plus, a dedicated telenovela channel tailored for StarTimes which features various English dubbed shows from Latin America, Turkey and Asia had acquired broadcasting rights to the 2014 melodrama Tomorrow Belongs To Me (Sana Bukas Pa ang Kahapon).

The story revolves around two women, who will be united by fate and their hunger to seek truth and justice - Emmanuelle, a feisty lawyer; and Rose, the kindhearted heiress of the Buena Criollo chocolate company, who will be accused of a crime she did not commit.

Based on 1983 film of the same name, it starred Bea Alonzo in her very first dual role with Paulo Avelino, Maricar Reyes, and Albert Martinez, together with an ensemble cast consisting of Susan Roces, Anita Linda, Eddie Garcia, Tonton Gutierrez, Dina Bonnevie, and Michelle Vito.

It debuted on June 16 2014 to October 10 2014 on ABS-CBN with a total of 85 episodes each with a duration between 30 - 36 minutes. Star Records Inc. curated a soundtrack album with various songs making an appearance within the series.

Tomorrow Is A New Day will air daily at 19:00 CAT from Novela E Plus. ABS-CBN has also distributed other shows including Marry Me, Marry You, He's Into Her and Brothers.