Insidus

Friday, February 5, 2021

Prediction: The Future Of Discovery Family And Real Time In Africa

Discovery Family launched in March 2016 on MultiChoice's DStv replacing Discovery World and 2 years later on StarTimes (Starsat) replacing Discovery Science around that time Real Time launched on DStv and a year later on StarTimes.

The channels are operated by Discovery, Inc the same corporation that own Discovery Channel, TLC, ID, HGTV, Travel Channel, Food Network, Animal Planet and (Discovery Science).

Discovery Family is an adaptation of the U.S. counterpart the only difference is the target audience since that counterpart has existing contracts with other partners plus our version has been duplicated in other parts of Europe which is the same market that spawned Real Time.

Our feeds leverage content from other Discovery brands. Brands like these two possess less value but if you have a provider that restricts access to a certain brand or one that can't afford it then it comes in handy.

Not long ago, StarTimes (Starsat) discontinued Discovery Family and the reason raises eyebrows for some readers.

According to them, when a provider (Discovery) changes production of content they (StarTimes) can't prevent it. For now, the channel is still kicking on DStv probably by the end of March which is the same time it launched after that Discovery Channel might be added onto the Compact package.

Real Time is very unlikely to suffer the same fate as it recently launched on Zuku TV as a replacement to a channel StarTimes is still looking into which is Discovery's Fine Living.

Perhaps, the demise has something to do with their new streaming service, Discovery+ as streaming has been the benefactor in the cutback of redundancy (repeats).

Real Time incorporated the most brands including ones seen on Discovery Family. The first issue, viewers might have a hard time catching up as the rollout for both these brands differ. Real Time's stock is very old by decades unlike Discovery Family which is close to a year.

To make matters worse, Real Time is not a family channel so viewers might miss out or wait longer on certain shows if a rebrand/revamp is not in place. Unless you have Discovery Channel then it won't affect you.

The lesson here is don't be an easy target and try making your craft impossible to duplicate. If you want to duplicate do it on seperate grounds e.g. KykNet and Mzansi Magic.

If you had to scroll through the channel set you'll find plenty of past/present channels lurking with these two like (Nickelodeon/Nick Jr with Nicktoons), (Channel O and Mzansi Music), (MGM/ AMC/Sundance TV with TCM), (BBC First and BBC Brit), (National Geographic and National Geographic Gold), and (HGTV and Travel Channel).

Since this decision is entirely on Discovery then the cable provider doesn't take any responsibility unless it doesn't give consumers alternatives regardless of the outcome some turn a blind eye.

Friday, January 29, 2021

Adult Swim Africa Releases New Season Of Momma Named Me Sherriff - And More!

New seasons of Momma Named me Sheriff, Lazor Wulf and Ballmastrz: 9009 are lined up this February to give Adult Swim a refresh for 2021. The channel, exclusive to Showmax in Sub-Saharan Africa, is not mincing words about shaking off the shackles of 2020, they mean business! A double-feature drops on the 8th of February, with the launch of Season 2 of Lazor Wulf and Season 2 of Ballmastrz 9009, and, the Sheriff is back in town with Season 2 of the Mr. Pickles spinoff: Momma Named Me Sheriff, available to Africa as part of the international release on Monday, 15 February, just 24 hours after the US premiere !!

What trauma could you be working through, when you’re living at home with your momma, have a doll for a best friend, and you’re the sheriff of Old Town? Yeah, some things are stranger than fiction, for sure! Well, be sure to grab your pudding cups and hold on to something because the sheriff is ready to get to work in Momma Named Me Sheriff Season 2. When havoc breaks loose in Old Town, Sheriff, Deputy Goodman and Dispatch must work together to solve cases and uncover unthinkable mysteries. Aside from the usual charmingly disturbing hijinks, this season you'll finally learn the meaning behind ‘roostering’. Plus, Goodman gets lost in the desert, Dispatch uncovers a secret conspiracy in Old Town, and some dragons take over. That last part isn’t true. Just kidding, it is. Just kidding, it’s not. Just kidding, it’s partially true. No, it’s not. Maybe? Find out on Monday, 15 February.

Created by Henry Bonsu and executive produced by Honsu and rapper, Vince Staples, the pack is back from Monday, 8 February, with Season 2 of the animated series, Lazor Wulf. This season, Lazor Wulf is about coming back from the DEAD$ and embracing the Scam of Life. It's definitely a quarter-hour series, that definitely has a wolf with a laser on his back, and situations that can be deemed most bizarre.

In Season 2 of Ballmastrz: 9009, created by Christy Karacas, Showmax welcomes The Leptons back! After the burning spirit of teamwork in their hearts, inspired the offbeat outcasts to win their first game, they’re actually showing moments of non-suckage! Led by Gaz Digzy and supercharged by the awesome power of Ballmastr, the team wrestle new foes as they claw their way to the top. Will the Leptons continue to surprise fans and reach their ultimate goal, or will the seductive distractions of newfound fame sideline them for good? It's survival of the fittest in Ballmastrz: 9009 Season 2, coming Monday, 8 February!

The three shows join the ranks of Adult Swim’s idiosyncratic, unhinged content line up including all seasons of Rick and Morty, Robot Chicken and Mr Pickles, Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal, and, the bizarre exploits of pseudo-heroic scientist, Dr. Rusty Venture, in The Venture Bros.

Get your Adult Swim fix this February, whenever and wherever you want, only on Showmax!

The Mind Bongling Reason SuperSport Has Two WWE Channels

SuperSlam (former name) launched as a a promotional channel back in August 2019 with some outlets referring to it as The WWE Channel and would continue running until the end of that year. The pop-up version was bombarded with repeats and yes Total Divas would constantly hit the restart button.

From January 2020, the channel was officially renamed into The WWE Channel and became a full-time brand for SuperSport not only that they incorporated NXT and 205 Live which weren't available on SuperSport at the time e.tv lost rights to WWE alongside content that was only found only on the WWE app.

2020 was also the year where COVID-19 became a trendsetter causing setbacks in people's daily lives. On cable, you got to see viewers lose out on several channels while others were reshuffled and that's where SuperSport comes in.

In September 2020, the brand followed Sky in the UK and launched thematic channels. Not only that WWE could also be found on channel 236.

Now here's the issue, SuperSport gave the WWE Channel a different logo on top of that other channel number and viewers woke up and saw two WWE Channels and it wasn't even using the SuperSport logo.

Since then viewers have been complaining about it not only that UFC had its own channel now viewers have a hard time catching up due to the reshuffle. Once again proving that bigger brands (in this case cash cow) get most of the spotlight.

According to their customer care, both channels will remain as they are mirrored channels with the same content, the reason is to try and get WWE closer to their sports content (SuperSport), without affecting those who are accustomed to 128.

Now this is just ridiculous, viewers experience change everyday so I'm certain they're immune to these things look at BBC First and Disney XD for starters. Now tell me where was that energy when those channels were canned. Perhaps the other reason 128 is alive to keep Ginx TV on 127 company since they're both sports and entertainment brands.

The least SuperSport could have done was perhaps make 236 a timeshift channel where viewers get to watch everything an hour later kind of like what M-Net has with its M-Net +1 on channel 901 but hey that would impact negatively as it already is with DStv attempt to cutback on duplication and 236 is not a place for timeshift channels.

So how long do you suppose M-Net +1 will stick around with the likeness of Catch Up and the fact that content from M-Net resurfaces on its other channels. In the end, MultiChoice just proved to everyone once again why viewers should be disappointed and rather downgrade, cancel or look into other alternatives.

"Discovery Family" Goes Off Air On Starsat, Could This Be The End Of The Brand? + Other Starsat Related Developments

In one month, StarTimes (Starsat) deserves a trophy for being the most mismanaged and discreet cable provider.

They first went from removing two music channels which can also be found on Openview to relaunching them with more content added onto them.

The second was scrap a bunch of channels without notice as usual and promise fresh content and more channels and it looks like viewers are losing their patients since the only thing untouched there is Indian, Nigerian and Chinese channels.

There's another African based channel running called St Kasi. It seems like the music offering as just as dry as DStv unless you have DMX.

Finally, Discovery Family is set to go off air on the platform by the end of January 2021 but the reasoning behind this seems to be confusing for most readers.

According to them, when a content provider decides to make changes in the production of content they cannot prevent it, but they are constantly working on sourcing new content to ensure viewing delight.

So what they're implying is maybe just maybe Discovery Family will go off air on DStv very likely by the end of March. That is if they're being honest this time around.

In the end, viewers did lose out on another Discovery Channel through the platform not long ago as part of a realignment strategy. Could Discovery Family not fit this criteria? Does this change have something to do with the arrival of Discovery+ perhaps?

ViacomCBS To Rollout Paramount+ Streaming Service This March, Africa Is Not Part Of It's Initial Rollout

CBS All Access will be rebranded as Paramount+ on March 4, 2021 in the United States and Canada as part of its expansion to feature content from ViacomCBS' other brands. Paramount+ will also expand to other markets, starting with Latin America on March 4, 2021, followed by the Nordics on March 25, 2021 and Australia in mid-2021.

According to ViacomCBS CEO, Paramount was "an iconic and storied brand beloved by consumers all over the world, and it is synonymous with quality, integrity and world-class storytelling". From what I remember, CBS hasn't been having much success and sustainability internationally.

On September 15, 2020, it was announced that CBS All Access would rebrand as Paramount+ in early 2021, and that it planned to perform more international expansion under the new name.

This platform joins other streaming platforms that aren't available in South Africa such as Disney+, HBO Max and Discovery+. I wouldn't shocked if Discovery+ launched before any of them.

As most readers noticed due to the domination of streaming services a lot of TV providers are streamlining their entertainment which led to the shutdown of several channels in Africa and the rest of the world.

If Paramount+ manages to rollout in Africa, could it have an affect on its linear channels currently available on DStv and StarTimes (ROA) such as Comedy Central and MTV, and Nicktoons and Nick Jr which is likely the first place they'd look into.

Qubo: Background Information And Why It's Not Successful Despite Having Huge Owners Behind Them

The kids brand has been around since 2006 in the United States as a block and standalone channel and most people there (including other markets) never heard of it.

Most of its shows are forgettable except Veggie Tales and most who knew the brand probably grew up watching something from there at some point.

In May 2006, Ion Media alongside NBCUniversal, Corus Entertainment and Scholastic and Classic Media (now DreamWorks Classics with the old branding being used sometimes) announced that they were launching a new educational brand for kids called Qubo.

The brand would have a programming block on NBC, Telemundo and Ion Television as well as on demand service and seperate TV network.

As stated by Rick Rodriguez (former president of Qubo), the brand would be a bilingual offering content in English and Spanish. The reason they call it Qubo is based on the fact you can use it in both those languages without any changes.

In September 2006, NBC launched the kids block which replaced the Discovery Kids block (owned by Discovery, discontinued it to focus on the kids channel). At launch the lineup consisted of shows such as Jane And The Dragon, 321 Penguins, Veggie Tales and Larryboy.

Now the issue here was all the religious stuff was censored out because they violated the rules of NBC's standards and practices department. Many people including the creator of Veggie Tales hated this so the brand pulled those shows off Qubo in 2009.

Ion Media requested must carry policy from the FC to further expand the brand. A year later, they signed carriage agreements with Advanced Cable Communications and Blue Ridge Communications.

After Comcast acquired NBCUniversal in 2012, NBC and Telemundo announced that they would be discontinuing the Qubo block. NBC replaced theirs with NBC Kids and Telemundo replaced theirs with Mi Telemundo.

This left Ion Television as the only network as the only channel with the Qubo block.

In October 2013, Ion Media Networks acquired Corus Entertainment, Scholastic and by the time Classic Media's shares of Qubo of course these 3 brands obtained programming redistribution from Qubo.

On January 2015, the block on Ion Television was renamed Qubo Kids Corner because it was moved from Friday mornings to Saturday mornings.

Here's why it hasn't been successful even after having huge brands behind them:

1. Many of Qubo's programming isn't all that great. Most of their shows are throwaway and forgettable pieces of nothing. The ones that aren't existed way before Qubo like Veggie Tales and Babar The Elephant.

2. It doesn't exist everywhere. Qubo is affiliated with 67 stations across 36 states and Washington, DC. Many major areas like Baltimore, Merlin and San Diego California are not in Qubo territory.

Add the fact it has no app and you got an epic fail.

Just as Medora Entertainment speculated the channel would be shutting down:

On January 14, 2021, Scripps announced that it will discontinue Ion Plus, Qubo and Shop Ion effective February 28. The spectrum allocated to the networks on the former Ion Media stations will be repurposed to carry the Katz-owned networks starting March 1. with the initial slate of Ion Television O&Os adding those networks following the expiration of Scripps/Katz's existing contracts with other broadcasting companies the day prior, and other stations following suit as contracts with existing affiliates expire throughout 2021 and 2022; in markets where major network affiliates operated by Scripps already carry a Katz-owned network, some will be offloaded to the Ion stations to free up limited spectrum capacity during the ATSC 3.0 transition..

There are rumours that Qubo with be replaced with Ion Kids regardless I don't any kids channel will gain much recognition in the United States since viewers are opting towards streaming.

USA: The WWE Network Finds A New Home

According to the Wall Street Journal, WWE’s deal to have Peacock on the Network is a big one financially as well as in terms of impact. The outlet reports that a person familiar with the deal is a five-year one and is valued at over $1 billion.

The report confirms that the WWE Network will officially shut down as an independent streaming service, and Peacock will license WWE’s programming, including WrestleMania and PPVs. Peacock has a current estimated subscriber base of 26 million. By comparison, WWE reported in Q3 of 2020 that the Network averaged 1.6 million monthly paid subscribers.

ORIGINAL: In a major deal, WWE has signed a multi-year agreement that brings the service to the Peacock streaming service in the US. Peacock and WWE announced on Monday that they have signed an agreement that gives the NBCUniversal service exclusive streaming rights in the United States.

The Network will launch on Peacock on March 18th.

The news comes just days after it was reported that NBC was shuttering the NBC Sports Network by the end of 2021 and moving live sports telecasts to USA Network and, to a lesser extent, Peacock. It was speculated at the time whether WWE would be affected by live sports broadcasts moving to USA Network. While nothing about that is mentioned in the announcement, the deal to break the Network to Peacock could potentially give WWE and NBCUniversal several options in terms of how to deal with the crunch of available timeslots.

As far as international markets are concerned this move won't have any affect on them as Peacock is exclusive to the United States. Even if Peacock were to be accessible "legally" outside of the United States chances are you'll get a watered down version of the platform.

NBCSN Shutting Down By The End Of 2021 And How It Affects SuperSport, WWE Channel And Perhaps ESPN

A memo sent to NBC Sports staff was leaked today (Fri, Jan. 22) confirming the company is shutting down operations of cable network NBCSN at the end of the 2021 calendar year. With this, NBC Sports coverage of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs and select NASCAR races will be carried and/or simulcasted by the USA Network during the 2020 season.

The company’s plan on shutting down NBCSN at the conclusion of 2021 is to shift sports focus to NBC’s new streaming service, Peacock, for 2022 and beyond. Elements of NBCSN’s current programming will shift to USA Network or Peacock, if sports renew contracts past the 2021 season.

The news has been rumored for a month now and hasn’t officially been announced yet, but as mentioned before, the leaked memo was sent by NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua to his staff.

NBC Sports was also home to some matches seen on SuperSport and ESPN such as the Premier League and NFL's Sunday Night Football. The USA Network handles majority of WWE (excluding SmackDown and reality shows).

These changes do affect SuperSport, WWE Channel and ESPN but it's not something to stress over as no one will be losing out on anything.

As stated earlier some of NBC Sports' content (Premier League and NFL's Sunday Night Football) will move to USA Network (home of WWE) so all they'll be doing is adjusting the timeslots perhaps even changing the day some of those programs come on.

This change comes in after NBC cancelled E! News and Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

Friday, January 22, 2021

SABC 2 Reduces Muvhango And 7de Laan To 3 Days A Week

The channel has revealed plans to add to more local content to bolster their line-up…but it means trimming both 7de Laan and Muvhango to three days a week.

From 5 April 2021, 7de Laan will air Monday to Wednesday at 18:00, with its Thursday and Friday timeslot taken up by new telenovela Die Sentrum.

From August, Muvhango will air Monday to Wednesday at 21:00, with its Thursday and Friday timeslot filled by season 2 of drama series Giyani.

Merlin Naicker (Group Executive: Television) says that “the acquisition of this new local production is part of our long-term plan to invest in quality local content. Serving a diverse South African audience, it is imperative that we come with innovative and exciting content, which will not only draw the viewership, but bring in the revenue required to keep the public service broadcaster financially sustainable”.