Insidus

Friday, September 4, 2020

Fashion One Stops Airing On DStv And StarTimes In General

Fashion One (DStv 178) that has been running outdated and old content on a loop, abruptly stopped broadcasting without warning a few days ago. MultiChoice that tried to engage the Fashion One owners has removed Fashion One with immediate effect from the DStv line-up. Even StarSat and StarTimes scrapped the Fashion channels as well but does anyone really care.

At the moment, DStv subscribers are still trying to digest the changes made with M-Net Movies and SuperSport while StarTimes subscribers act as if nothing happened on top of StarTimes scrapping all the channels from SPI International.

A dead source suggested that a replacement was being considered for DStv and StarTimes but it doesn't look like neither platform care about replacing it.

MultiChoice redirects viewers to Spice TV, TLC and E! while StarTimes remains unresponsive as usual.

Disney XD Africa Could Be Shutting Down Sooner Then We Thought And Here's Why

Ever since the launch of Disney+, several markets have been shutting down a couple of Disney Channels due to that platforms existence.

According to The Information, Disney would be investing more towards Disney+ on top of that take a couple of programs from other channels and move them to that streaming platform leaving less content for the current channels.

So the whole shutting of Disney channels was being discussed since 2019 internationally and the pandemic might have moved up the inevitable.

Since Disney+ rollout a lot of markets have been throwing Disney XD in the gutter while others like the UK canned all the whole batch of Disney Channels with India replacing it with Marvel HQ.

Marvel HQ, the home to all things Marvel made its way to India. It looked like this channel was set to be the future of Disney XD. Disney India stated that Marvel HQ will rollout elsewhere depending on the demand in the market. If you visit Disney XD YouTube channel for Germany and Latin America you'll discover that they've been scrapped for Marvel HQ. Since then Germany scrapped Disney XD and didn't turn it into Marvel HQ while L.A. is trying to keep the XD alive for the time being which proves that Marvel HQ is major bust.

Back in June, UK pay-tv operators decided to not renew their carriage agreement with Disney due to the arrival of Disney+. The UK is one of Disney's biggest markets so who wouldn't worry about its effects in other countries.

Following the termination of Disney Channels in the UK, Disney Channel (DStv 303) which is found in Africa decided to take up 7 shows from Disney XD (DStv 304) and place them onto their channel.

Which means new animated shows such as The Owl House, Disney's Fam Jam and Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure S3 will just have to wait for now with all these changes happening.

I did email someone regarding this change and here's their response:

We are currently going through some schedule and programming changes as per our ongoing review of our channel offering. I will be able to share more details of this in the coming weeks.

And yes I will release another article when that day arrives. I wonder how long it will be till ViacomCBS or WarnerMedia do the same.

November 2020 On History Africa | Grant | The Chop | New Seasons

Brand New & Exclusive
GRANT
01 November – 15 November Sundays 20h15
Grant tells the remarkable and quintessentally American story of a humble man who overcomes incredible obstacles, rises to the highest ranks of power and saves the naton not once, but twice. With a seamless blend of dramatc scenes, expert commentary and beautfully enhanced archival imagery, this three- part miniseries uncovers the true legacy of the unlikely hero who led the naton during its greatest tests: the Civil War and Reconstructon.

Brand New & Exclusive
THE CHOP
9 November – 4 January
Mondays 20h15
Hosted by comedian Lee Mack, TV presenter Rick Edwards and Master Carpenter William Hardie, The Chop: Britain’s Top Woodworker sees 10 of the country’s fnest carpenters gather to whitle, carve and chop their way to fnd Britain’s Top Woodworker and the chance to stage their own personal exhibiton at the prestgious William Morris Gallery in London. William Hardie oversees the constructon of a grand and spectacular cabin in the woods, adding a new room every week, each with a diferent historical theme, including Nelson’s cabin on HMS Victory, a Victorian pub and a 1960s’ Mad Men-inspired lounge. The contestants are tasked with creatng items and artefacts to furnish the rooms whilst expert guest judges with specialist knowledge of the diferent historical eras help Lee, Rick and William decide who progresses to the next round and who gets the chop!

Brand New Season
PAWN STARS S22
18 November – 13 January
Wednesdays 21h05
Long before HISTORY’s hit series, PAWN STARS, pawnbrokers provided loans in exchange for personal items of value. At the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, the Harrison family clash with friendly camaraderie over items ranging from a 1763 Stradivarius violin to a 1973 Husqvarna Enduro motorcycle. Here, everything has a history, and everything has a price, and you never know what is going to walk through the door.

Brand New Episodes
THE UNXPLAINED
20 November – 19 March
Fridays 20h15
From the producers of Ancient Aliens® and The Curse of Oak Island® comes The UnXplained. From alleged UFO encounters to sudden disappearances to evil possessions, series host William Shatner atempts to get to the truth behind the most bizarre and mysterious events ever reported. With the help of the world’s top scientsts, frst-hand “experiencer” accounts, and dramatc re-enactments, viewers gain shocking insight into what’s really happening – and why.

Thursday, September 3, 2020

Discovery Streamlines EMEA Operation

Discovery has announced it is aligning several of its operating markets in EMEA to improve strategic focus and enable further investment in its D2C businesses.

“We are working systematically to rationalise our operation and find synergies and efficiencies across our EMEA business. We have come a long way over the years and with this restructuring we have defined a clear path towards a leaner operating model, where we utilise the best competence across markets. By combining knowhow and leveraging our scale, we will be able to streamline decision making and operate with greater speed and focus towards future business opportunities”, said Kasia Kieli, President and MD of EMEA.

In the new EMEA operation James Gibbons’ portfolio is realigned to encompass the Nordic markets in addition to the UK markets, and Gibbons becomes GM UK & Nordics. The Nordic markets will be unified under the leadership of Nicklas Norrby. Norrby has been in charge of the Swedish business since 2019 and will now report directly to James Gibbons.

Benelux will be unified with Germany under the leadership of GM Germany & Benelux Susanne Aigner, while Spain and France will be unified under the leadership of GM Iberia & France, Antonio Ruiz.

Jamie Cooke will take on a new combined role for Russia, CEEMCA, MEA & pay-TV, and will continue to cover maternity leave for Victoria Davies. Cooke comes from the role as SVP Chief of Staff EMEA.

Leah Hooper will be taking the role of SVP D2C Growth & Strategy International, and Espen Skoland is named SVP Communications for EMEA.

CEO of TVN, Piotr Korycki has announced his departure from Discovery. He will not be replaced as Kasia Kieli, President and MD of EMEA, will take a leadership role of the Polish television network herself.

(Updated: 04/09/2020)TLNovelas Has A Premiere Date On DStv Alongside Package

A month ago, MultiChoice unveiled 5 new "pop-up channels" at the DStv Showcase. These channels were just sneak peeks which would answer your question on why customer care was clueless about its existence on the platform.

Each channel rollouts within a 3 month period. The first channel set to roll out on viewer's screens will be Televisa.

tlnovelas (currently available on StarTimes/Starsat) offers a huge array of English-dubbed Mexican telenovelas from Latin America's second-largest producer, Televisa.

MultiChoice and StarTimes have the awful and overrated channel FOX Life supplying content from Televisa. To make it worse FOX Life hits the repeat button after the current telenovelas so there's no need to have that useless FOX channel if tlnovelas exists.

Unlike StarTimes, tlnovelas will be available from the 14th of September 2020 until August 2021 on DStv channel 133. This pop-up format might apply to South Africa and a few other African markets as MultiChoice in some markets have a history of advertising permanent channels as popups e.g. Da Vinci, WWE Channel, PBS Kids, ESPN and AfricaNews.

There won't be a Portuguese version of the channel maybe in future they'll have one but for now it's just the English version which will be added.

TLNovelas will be available on DStv Premium, Compact+ and Compact in South Africa. Please note that the availability differs in each market so please consult MultiChoice in your country for further information.

Update: TLNovelas might launch 1st October on DStv channel 133 if not on the specified date mentioned a while back and it will be on Family in the end there's a lot of inaccuracies on their stable.

You can find the lineup here

Three Channels Are Rumored To Be Added On StarTimes Really Soon, Not Sure With Starsat

At the end of August, StarTimes lost Fashion TV, Fashion One, TDC (coming to DStv), FashionBOX, Gametoon and FilmBOX. Reasons for SPI International removal is still a mystery while the owners of Fashion TV and One decided to cut transmission for both Starsat and DStv. Now there's three channels are rumored to be added onto the StarTimes platform which is Comedy Central, TNT and Zoomoo.

Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by ViacomCBS through its domestic network division's Entertainment & Youth Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared for mature audiences and carries comedy programming in the form of both original, licensed, and syndicated series, stand-up comedy specials, and feature films. The channel has made a huge impact in the African market especially through the DStv platform.

TNT, offers the best of contemporary and Hollywood blockbusters, with programming built on an action-driven, pulse-raising slate, mixed with romantic gems and hilarious comedy just as our African fans like it and offers programming that is relevant and interesting to African fans, with channel premieres of films such as Robin Hood, Jurassic Park and Pitch Perfect. TNT is a brand by WarnerMedia (Cartoon Network, CNN and Boomerang). The channel is currently available on DStv in South Africa and the the rest of Africa.

ZooMoo is a Canadian kids' channel that delivers a unique mix of live-action combined with animation and puppets - it's the world's first fully-interactive pre-school channel dedicated entirely to animals and nature, aimed at kids aged 2-7 years old. The channel is accompanied by a free ZooMoo App, which completes the multi-screen environment, synchronized on a real-time basis with the channel. The channel is available in other parts of Africa like Zuku TV for example. The channel is owned by Blue Ant Media (The Smithsonian Channel and Love Nature).

Comedy Central might be available later this month on StarTimes I doubt Starsat will get it since it's a cheaper version of the StarTimes platform (which costs just as much as DStv in those territories). TNT is said to launch on September 9th on StarTimes this is the first channel I can see on StarSat which to me is a replacement for FilmBOX and Zoomoo is still in the rumored category, for now it will launch as a pop-up channel from the 1st of October on DStv.

Read Also:
- October 2020 On Comedy Central

Monday, August 31, 2020

eMedia Investments Is Launching An OpenView Inspired Streaming Service

Yep, you read correctly eMedia Investments will be launching a new streaming service called OpenView Plus by October 2020.

This cames after their ongoing partnership with VIU which is also a streaming service that distributes several of their local productions alongside some content from the SABC.

OpenView launched back in October 2013 with e.tv, eMovies and eToonz available since it's arrival. By 2017, they were available in 1 million households only to grow by another million in the next 3 years.

That's not the only thing launching from the brand as they'll begin rolling out OpenView Connect in the upcoming months to households without fibre. They're also looking into launching more channels on the platform.

The platform might be similar to the DStv Now service except you don't need a decoder to watch the content and more likely channels seen on the app. There's also no details on whether this platform will distribute new content or channels that you won't found on your regular OpenView decoder.

OpenView is exclusive to South Africa so are these new products coming from the platform knowing neighbouring countries they'll distribute these products illegally.

MultiChoice will also be launching a dishless version of DStv in the coming months and SABC was plotting to launch their own streaming service back in 2018 but since then there's been no updates about it.