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Canal+ Group Buys Stake In African TV Production Company Marodi TV

Canal+ Group has acquired a stake in Marodi TV, a Senegalese production company which is a leading purveyor of TV series across ...

Friday, January 1, 2021

e.tv International Drama Series Lineup From January 2021


The Librarians and occasional films will continue airing until Friday, 8th January after that the primetime viewing from 20:30 resumes with a couple of new developments from Monday, 11th January.

Weekdays at 20:30
Monday: Chicago Fire S7 (New Season)
Tuesday: Chicago Med S4 (New Season)
Wednesday: Chicago PD S6 (New Season)
Thursday: Hawaii Five-O S4 (Back-To-Back)
Friday: NCIS: Los Angeles S5 (Back-To-Back)

Weeknights at 22:30
Monday: Empire S5 (Another New Development)
Wednesday: Power S4 (Continuation)
Thursday: How To Get Away With Murder S4 (Another New Development)

February 2021 On Da Vinci Kids Africa | Odd Squad | Themed Episodes


Kids Programmes
Odd Squad
From February 20th 
Saturdays & Sundays 13:30
Is something odd? Call the Odd Squad! Join the team of agents as they use indirect reasoning and basic math to investigate and solve strange happenings in their town. From disappearing objects to duplicating pizzerias, these skillful kid agents must use their brains to help their town, and sometimes even to save humanity itself! Tune in from February 20th at 13:30 and investigate everything strange, weird and especially odd!

Adult Programmes
Project Greenglow: The Quest for Gravity Control – BRAND NEW (One-off)
Sunday, February 21st at 22:00
It’s mysterious, it’s powerful and it stops us falling off the planet. Gravity is the fundamental force that keeps us on Earth and binds the universe together. But we still don’t fully understand it. Meet the scientists who are trying to change that. Could we see flying cars and journeys to the stars in our lifetime? Find out, on Project Greenglow - The Quest for Gravity Control, Da Vinci TV, February 21st at 22:00.

Valentine’s Day Special: Electric Love and Magnetic Attraction
Sunday, February 14th 
From 17:00 to 20:00
We’re in the mood for love… a love of science, of course! We’re celebrating Valentine’s Day this year with a heart-racing lineup of shows in our Electric Love and Magnetic Attraction Special.

Launch powerful rockets you can build at home in Look Kool, and discover how our brains can play tricks on us in Mindworks. Find out why your heart is different from other organs in PinCode, and learn how your heart works in Operation Ouch!. Watch an amazing display of magnetic levitation in Science Max, and explore the magic of electromagnetic attraction in ScienceXplosion. Look into how makeup is made in When I Grow Up, and investigate what’s so attractive about magnets in Xploration DIY SCI.

Tune in to the Da Vinci channel on February 14th from 17:00 to cozy up with these awesome episodes. It’s gonna be electric!

Da Vinci Kids is available on DStv and StarTimes (and Starsat)

Read Also:
- January on Da Vinci Kids

Unexpected Developments Coming Soon For Viewers On e.tv Rewind, What Does That Spell Out?


During the festive season, e.tv and Rewind temporarily changed their lineup. On e.tv side, they did the usual for 20:30 take the 5 for 1 while Rewind scrapped almost everything for marathons of sitcoms and dramas with films.

Now the festive season has wrapped up and e.tv will be resuming with their prime time viewing but on Rewind's area it becomes even more complicated to handle.

For starters, the outdated episodes of Scandal, soon-to-be-cancelled Rhythm City and cancelled soapie Backstage aren't part of the lineup. Instead, the channel will air reruns of Una Maid En Manhattan, Naagin, Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi, Die Vreemdeling and Imbewu's YESTERYEAR STOCK. Perhaps it's just a drafted schedule.

Everything else somewhat remains even the sitcoms and drama series but this is where things get interesting.

Telemundo's Corazon Valiente (Fearless Heart) and Los Miserables (For Love And Justice) are added to the channel's lineup. These two telenovelas aren't new to the market but they are definitely are to the eBrand so Rewind is no longer recycling meals from their restaurants.

Corazon Valiente follows childhood friends Ángela (Andrea Fonseca) and Samantha (Ximena Duque) who were separated by fate for years reunite and become bodyguards for those who need protection. Los Miserables follows a woman named Lucia "Lucha" Duran (Aracley Arambula) is accused of a crime she hasn't committed and has to find a way of not going back to prison a second time.

With this in mind, is it possible that there's a rebrand coming soon to e.tv set of channels now that Rewind has exclusive programming and eExtra is more reliant on telenovelas particularly Indian and Turkish content.

Perhaps, the reason for eExtra favouritism is over the fact these two type of shows pull has a major following and huge fanbase. Other than that the offering is very unique from what you can find on DStv.

The reason Indian soaps get early timeslots is possibly due to the fact there's many of them available in the market and that eExtra put it in a timeslot where it doesn't clash with the shows on Glow TV, Star Life and Zee World while the Turkish content "was" barely available within the market until TDC arrived for which both channels still offer a unique lineup and TDC might take longer to bring the Turkish content seen on e.tv and eExtra.

With that in mind, maybe Rewind will invest more into American and Mexican telenovelas from Telemundo and Azteca since these shows are accessible not only in South Africa but across Sub-Saharan Africa.

Maybe the object now for eMedia Investments is to deduct the amount of DStv already seen on their channels. 

The Indian offering can be found on DStv Indian package so why put that on eExtra it's easy to give those who don't have that package an opportunity to watch them. The reason for it's early timeslots is to ensure that it doesn't clash with the Indian offering on Glow TV, Zee World and Star Life. They give this content attention because of its popularity and the fact that there's less English stations repeating them.

The Turkish lineup has been doing well for a long time. There was no home for the content by then some stations even abandoned them. eExtra was one of the few stations for that in Africa alongside some telenovela channels on StarTimes. MultiChoice recently launched a Turkish channel and it will be while before anyone there can see repeats from eExtra.

Perhaps these changes has something to do with the upcoming streaming service OpenView+, for those who are unaware a lot of companies like Disney, ViacomCBS and WarnerMedia have launched their own streaming services and due to that some countries had to witness the demise of certain channels.

eMedia Investments might follow these companies and streamline their offering. I don't see them shutting down anything likely replacing, adding and improving their current channels.

Rewind's days are numbered at this point or at least the name perhaps they'll call it eBinge or eSeries.

With eExtra I don't see them throwing away the name as yet even with the overflow of telenovelas. They have an Afrikaans block (Kuiertyd) which is used for other content but then again they might duplicate the block on the other channels and reduce it on eExtra leaving the door open for a name change.

News&Sports might become seperate channels perhaps it doesn't look like eMedia Investments is interested in getting another sports channel and France24 will likely go off air on the platform.

eToonz might replace Craze or vice versa I mean eMedia Investments might want to put their focus on one kids brand so they could even find another name and use it for both brands.

eNolly could be revived under another name but this time it also airs Rhythm City, Scandal and Backstage to easen the blow of Rewind and eExtra.

2021 is shaping up to be an interesting year for TV

Read Also:

- OpenView's upcoming streaming service

New Turkish telenovela coming in January on eExtra
New Telemundo telenovela coming in January on eExtra
Review on e.tv channels
eToonz better e.tv kiddies lineup needs more variety if it wants to succeed
Upcoming shows on eToonz
SABC wants platforms like OpenView to pay TV licence

Thursday, December 31, 2020

Disney Is Renaming The Star Channels In Netherlands, What Does This Mean For StarPlus And The Other Star Channels In Africa?


When Disney purchased 20th Century Fox, it obtained Star India, a hugely successful broadcasting company based in India, which has a network of 60 channels in eight languages, that reaches approximately 790 million viewers a month across India and more than 100 countries.

With it’s streaming service, Hotstar being rebranded as Disney+ Hotstar in India in March.

Disney officially revealed details of how it was planning the branding of “Star” internationally at December’s Investor Day event, which will see Star added as a new sixth tier within Disney+ in February in many regions including Europe, Australia, Canada and in Asia. At the same time, Star+ is launching in Latin America as its own platform with live sports. With many Fox channels in Latin America will also be rebranded “Star”.

Disney Africa is likely to do the same as Europe with latching the best of Star on Disney+ since no one in this market can pay for a lot of streaming services.

According to Dutch television provider Ziggo, Disney will be rebranding its Hindi channels, Star Plus and Star Gold channels in the Netherlands to Utsav Plus and Utsav Gold. This rebranding will be taking effect from February 1st.

The name Utsav is likely based on Star Utsav which is one of Star India's linear channels which is currently being used for archived content. It was available in UK for 2 years before becoming a reruns channel.

Star India already operates channels in Africa such as StarPlus, Star Vijay and Star Life through StarTimes, Platco Digital's OpenView and MultiChoice's DStv. It wouldn't be shocking if the name was dropped in favour of Utsav. The one in India might do the same it's currently unknown at this point. Readers have been wondering how Star would replace FOX in Africa if the Star branding was already being used so there's your answer.

The rebranding is being done so Disney can use the “Star” brand as part of Disney+ in the Netherlands, which is coming on February 23rd.

There's still no news on when or if Disney+ will roll out in Africa so chances are will have to wait until at least 2022/3 I mean they could take longer since they're still rolling out in other parts of Europe and the fact that there's contracts they have with other distributors so they're waiting for some of them to expire to begin rolling out Disney+.

Read Also:
- Will Comedy Central and MTV be saved in Africa?
- Magnolia Network launches in 2021, will it launch in Africa perhaps to replace certain Discovery Channels?
- New episodes of The Walking Dead return in March on FOX 
- Is Nick Jr the next kids channel to go off on DStv? At least not the Ethiopian version
- Will any of these channels occupy channel 304 on DStv?
January on Disney Channel
January on Disney Junior
- Will CourtTV rollout in Africa?
More countries shut down Disney XD

February 2021 On History Africa | WGTM | S: WHR | HH: TFC | ND Stunt


Brand New & Exclusive
WORLD’S GREATEST TREASURE MYSTERIES
26 February – 21 May | Fridays 21h05
From the producers of The Curse of Oak Island and The UnXplained, comes an excitng new documentary series delving into the mysteries of Oak Island and beyond. Hosted by real-life treasure hunters Rick and Marty Lagina, this eight episode series chronicles the greatest treasure hunts of the past, present and (perhaps) future. World’s Greatest Treasure Mysteries ofers a combinaton of great story telling, compelling interviews with treasure-hunters, historians and experts, as well as on-locaton treasure hunts in progress, sometmes with the Laginas themselves. From pirates such as Blackbeard and outlaws like Jesse James, to Aztec gold, priceless historical artfacts from American history and sunken treasure ships, this series digs deep into the many treasure quests across the globe, revealing amazing new details and clues from past searches - and in some cases, advancing the hunt.

Brand New & Exclusive
SHIPWRECKS: WHEN HISTORY RESURFACES
11 February – 18 March | Thursdays at 20:15
From the Indian Ocean’s clear blue atolls to the icy waters of the St. Lawrence River, we embark on an epic expediton with the Cinémarine team to capture the remains of six of the world’s most spectacular underwater disasters. With the most advanced technology and state-of-the-art equipment, amid danger and uncertainty at tmes, we take a deep dive to explore - up close and in 4K - these mysterious wrecks, coming up for air only to hear the testmonies of crew members and passengers who survived to tell the tale.

Brand New & Exclusive
HUNTING HITLER: THE FINAL CHAPTER
21 February | Sunday 20h15
CIA Veteran Bob Baer’s investgaton proved that Hitler could have successfully fed Germany afer the war and disappeared into South America. But the investgaton also produced a more unexpected discovery: startling evidence that a Fourth Reich was successfully mountng on South American soil with one central goal-a devastatng atack on the United States. In this special, Bob is back in the war room to interrogate the true scope of Hitler’s Fourth Reich plans, and explores how the Nazis infltrated and specifcally targeted America afer World War II.

NATURAL DISASTERS STUNT
02 February - 16 March at 20:15

HOW LIFE BEGAN
02 February | Tuesday 20h15
Billions of years before man frst walked the Earth, billions of years before even the dinosaurs existed, Earth was teeming with life! Single-cell organisms made a roiling soup of our oceans, and living creatures were crawling in our very soil. Where did it come from? What is life, exactly? Is it chemical, spiritual, or a combinaton of both? Do distant planets teem with life just as Earth does? And how do you go from a single- celled organism to a trillion-celled organism like Man?

Brand New
FIRST APOCALYPSE
09 February | Tuesday 20h15
Sixty fve million years ago the dinosaurs were wiped of the face of the Earth. Over the years there have been a number of theories as to why. For the last three decades it has been thought that the cause was an asteroid impact in Mexico. Now, some scientsts believe that a giant volcano in India was the culprit, as well as other environmental factors. Either way, many agree that the demise of the dinosaurs could not have been a simple story of a single impact event, followed by complete extncton. How can we learn from the dinosaur’s fall from grace and how much our own fate may be intertwined with theirs? Are we doomed to follow in the dinosaurs footsteps or do we face extinction?

Brand New
COMETS: PROPHETS OF DOOM
16 February | Tuesday 20h15
Comets - these celestal travellers have forever flled us with fear and wonder. Lurking in the furthest reaches of our solar system, they come close to Earth as they orbit our Sun - so close they may leave their signature: massive craters...roiling oceans. Could something as destructve as comets hold the key to life? Are the building blocks of carbon-based life forms frozen inside? Do they contain informaton about the creaton of our solar system? At the conclusion of two spectacular NASA missions that sent spaceships to rendezvous with these mysterious objects, we examine the scientfc and historical record of comets, including man’s reacton to them.

MEGAQUAKE
23 February | Tuesday 20h15
An earthquake of 8.0 happens about once a year, like the one that recently hit Hait. A 9.0 quake happens once every 20 years, like the one that struck Indonesia in 2004. An earthquake of 10.0 has never been recorded in history. Untl now. The 10.0 quake is said to occur once every 2500 years and is capable of destroying entre civilizatons. We’ll see what would unfold if a 10.0 Megaquake struck diferent fault lines in the US, underwater and around the world.

Brand New

NEANDERTHAL APOCALYPSE
2 March 20h15
Each of us, all over the world, carries up to four percent of Neanderthal DNA. Yet the Neanderthal is extnct; they disappeared 39,000 years ago. The queston is what happened to this strong and resilient species that did walk the earth for 300,000 years? What could have wiped them out and set us on the path of who we are today? And if the hearty, resourceful Neanderthal could be driven to extncton, could the same thing happen to us? This special will tell the story and explain the science with a combinaton of graphics, acton sequences, and experiments. We will be going on an exploratory journey of investgaton and discovery. Animaton will illustrate their traits, strengths and weaknesses, and bring to life our very own Neanderthal avatar.

Brand New
AFTER ARMAGEDDON
9 March | 20h15
Afer Armageddon examines how societes have survived extreme devastaton in the past to renew themselves and emerge as new communites. Based on history’s most dramatc events, such as Hiroshima, Hurricane Katrina and 9/11, hard data will be presented analysing the disappearance of water and food supplies; the efects of deteriorated sanitaton and healthcare on survivors; the increased use of violence as a means of survival; and how communites past and present have sustained themselves while living “of the grid.” The data and historical precedent are interwoven with cinematc re-creatons and archival footage, creatng dramatc tension.

LIFE AFTER PEOPLE
16 March | 20h15
This two-hour special relies on experts’ knowledge and understanding of history in order to predict the future. Specialists from the felds of engineering, botany, ecology, biology, geology, climatology, and archaeology will paint a picture of what Earth will look like in the days, weeks, months, years and millennia afer humans are gone. Looking farther into the future, and using analyses based on the past, we see how nature will reclaim New York City as realized through striking graphics. Eventually glass buildings topple, stone buildings crumble, successive freezing and thawing turn streets and sidewalks to rubble, ground water rises, subways food, sewers crack and lightning ignites overgrown grass in Central Park, engulfng the city in fames. What kind of species will survive? Will humans ever return? Will man begin the cycle again, excavatng our ruins and trying to imagine what life was like before?

Read Also:
- - January 2021 On History

February 2021 On Eva | Repeats & More Repeats


As we progress to the second month of 2021, the channel fails to redeem themselves once again. At the moment the only thing keeping it alive is Bold And The Beautiful from CBS.

In February, you have reruns of Tanto Amor (17th) and Corazon Traicionado (11th) fall off the schedule with other reruns such as La Colombiana (12th) and Mis Tres Marias (18th). Just as you thought this channel expand the telenovela selection. It's slowly digging a hole for itself to drop dead.

The channel is up for renewal during February or March on DStv. It's probably best if AMC International cuts the cord since the channel doesn't show any signs of life outside Bold. If it doesn't close in between it's likely to occur at some point.

TLNovelas is airing content that you'd find on EVA such as Anything But Plain and there's chances we could actually see more telenovelas from EVA on that channel. Similar to what FOX Life had with this exact channel now FOX is airing them on a limited basis like really they could have found another distributor that doesn't already run a channel within the market.

When or if that day arrives viewers won't completely be left in the dark as MultiChoice recently added two more telenovela channels with tvN scheduled for an early 2021 launch on DStv.

Read Also:
- January 2021 on EVA

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Pinkalicious & Peterrific Season 2 Airs This January On PBS Kids Africa


To start off the new year, PBS Kids will be broadcasting the second season of Pinkalicious & Peterrific making it somewhat the first PBS Kids show to reach this milestone on the channel.

Pinkalicious & Peterrific is one of the shows that were made available during the channel's debut in the market.

They'll be a double bill so here's a summary of the first two episodes:

S2/E1 - 'A Birthday Party for Kendra' Pinkalicious is shocked to hear Kendra has never celebrated a birthday before so she decides to throw her a surprise party with the help of their friends! But a pinkaperfect party isn't what Kendra had in mind.

S2/E2 - 'Aqualicious' While at the beach, Pinkalicious and Peter meet Aqua, a merminnie! The three become friends and play together until it's time for Aqua to go home. But Aqua's home isn't quite what Pinkalicious is expecting - it's even more pinkamazing!

Season 2 airs Fridays at 16:00 CAT/15:00 WAT/17:00 EAT as part of Fresh Fridays

PBS Kids is available on DStv and GOtv

January 2021 On WarnerMedia Africa | SU, FD | ATDL: B | KCD | More


TNT:

Standing Up, Falling Down
In this TNT Original, sharply scripted comedy, failed stand-up comedian Scott (Ben Schwartz) moves from LA back in with his parents and sister, Megan (Grace Gummer), in Long Island and makes a dangerous new best bro, alcoholic dermatologist, Marty (Billy Crystal). With nothing to lose, the pair are soon causing chaos in bars around the city as a perfectly matched comedy duo.
Watch on Saturday, 2 January at 20:00

Available on DStv and StarTimes


Cartoon Network:

Teen Titans GO! (New episodes)
Superhero roommates Robin, Cyborg, Starfire, Raven and Beast Boy love saving the day, but what happens when they're done fighting crime?
Starts Monday, 4 January at 9:15

CN To The Rescue
André Lembwa is off YouTube and right onto your TV with the live action/cartoon blend
Starts Monday, 18 January at 18:35

Adventure Time Distant Lands: BMO
BMO travels to a far corner of the galaxy to save its people from a deadly threat.
Starts Saturday, 30 January at 10:10

Available on DStv and GOtv


Boomerang:

My Little Pony: Pony Life (New episodes)
A look at the funny side of friendship, with the mane 6 going on adorable adventures.
Starts Monday, 4 January at 17:00

Masha And The Bear: Masha's Songs
The new season consists of 13 episodes, each dedicated to exploring a particular country and its music, values, and culture. Together with her forest pals, Masha travels around the world to bring us a thrilling new season.
Starts Monday, 18 January at 15:30

Kikoumba Crown Down
Every Morning Kikoumba is challenged by a candidate who comes to claim his crown and with it, the title of King.
Starts Monday, 25 January at 17:45

Available on DStv

Read Also:
- Elliott From Earth coming soon to Cartoon Network
We Baby Bears coming soon to Cartoon Network

January 2021 On National Geographic Wild Africa


SAVAGE KINGDOM S4
Sundays at 18:00, from 3 January (starts with a double bill)

In the epic fourth season of Emmy-nominated SAVAGE KINGDOM, narrated by Charles Dance (“Game of Thrones”), comes the eagerly awaited real-life drama from the heart of Mombo, Northern Botswana, where peace never lasts long, and power comes with a price. Since the tumultuous aftermath of the previous season, the Kingdom’s kings and queens return to purge the land of hyena rule and regain their rightful control.

The worst drought in decades has devastated the area, making it the perfect breeding ground for a warzone. The tables are turning; dominance is shifting; and every player in this feline “Game of Thrones” must fight not only to survive but to defend his or her rightful place in an ever-changing, cutthroat kingdom. As more lions, leopards and African wild dogs enter this bloody battlefield to fight for their share of the power, only the strongest and most audacious can be victorious. War is the heartbeat of the SAVAGE KINGDOM. The story of life is written in blood; power is everything; and there can be only one ruler … right?

SNAKES IN THE CITY S7
Mondays at 18:00 from 25 January 

Episode 1: Catching a black mamba at midnight is only part of Simon and Siouxsie's latest challenge. They also bring 25 baby rock pythons into the world.

Read Also:
- Will Star Replace The FOX Branding Internationally?
- New episodes of The Walking Dead return in March on FOX
- January on Disney Channel
January on Disney Junior
More countries shut down Disney XD