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BBC Studios Africa Reveals New Format For BBC Lifestyle, Hidden Gems: South Africa

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BBC Lifestyle is set to unveil Hidden Gems: South Africa, a fresh and immersive travel series that takes viewers off the beaten path to discover South Africa’s most luxurious and lesser-known escapes. Launching in 2026, the six-part series blends influencer-led storytelling with audience participation to celebrate the country’s rich natural beauty.

Hidden Gems: South Africa follows five South African travel influencers as they explore and showcase two of South Africa’s greatest hidden gems per episode, each accompanied by a guest. In each episode, the influencer receives an envelope revealing the surprise gems which they must visit, review, and showcase. BBC Lifestyle viewers will vote for their favourite hidden gem from the series and be in with the chance of winning exciting prizes. The most compelling review and favourite gem, voted for by the audience, will be revealed in the final episode (Episode Six) with the winning influencer receiving a special prize.

The series sees the influencers traveling across South Africa, offering a curated look at destinations that combine luxury with authenticity. Each episode is shaped by a distinct theme, celebrating the diverse beauty and character of South Africa’s landscapes.

The new series is produced by PD Production, the producers behind BBC Lifestyle’s popular shows – Listing Jozi, Listing Cape Town, Listing Mauritius and Listing Coastal South Africa which is currently airing on BBC Lifestyle (DStv channel 174) every Wednesday at 8pm with repeats Thursdays at 5pm.

Pierre Cloete, Vice President for Africa at BBC Studios, commented: “We’re thrilled to bring Hidden Gems: South Africa to BBC Lifestyle in 2026. This new format celebrates the diversity and richness of South Africa’s hidden destinations and showcases authentic local stories and personalities that will resonate with audiences across the continent. For the first time, BBC Lifestyle viewers will be invited to vote for their favourite gem, adding an exciting interactive element to the series.”

Nico Nel and Trevor Kaplan producers from PD Production said: “With Hidden Gems: South Africa, we wanted to go beyond the usual travel show format. By empowering local influencers to spotlight South Africa’s hidden gems, we’re creating a series for BBC Lifestyle that’s both visually stunning and unique. We have just started filming and can’t wait for viewers to see the magic that’s been captured”

Hidden Gems: South Africa is proudly sponsored by LekkeSlaap, South Africa’s leading accommodation app.

Gerriline Fouché, LekkeSlaap's Chief Marketing Officer said “Hidden Gems: South Africa beautifully captures what we love most about local travel: discovering special places and the passionate people behind them. It’s a privilege for LekkeSlaap to help shine a light on these unique stays across the country.”

BBC Studios And MultiChoice Strengthen Long-Standing Partnership By Expanding Reach Of BBC Channels On DStv In South Africa

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• BBC UKTV expands its potential audience by a further 2.7 million homes by joining DStv Compact.

• BBC Lifestyle joins DStv family for the first time

• The DStv catch-up window for BBC owned content on BBC Brit, BBC Lifestyle, BBC Earth, BBC UKTV and CBeebies will increase from 30 days to 60 days

BBC Studios’ multi-genre channel, BBC UKTV, will expand to DStv’s Compact package and Lifestyle channel, BBC Lifestyle, will join DStv Family from 1st September 2023. BBC Studios’ will also extend the DStv catch-up window on BBC owned content across channel portfolio from 30 days to 60 days from September, providing DStv audiences further access to the best of British content.

BBC Studios’ multi-genre channel, BBC UKTV (DStv channel 134), launched in December 2023 and has proven to be a channel of choice with subscribers to the DStv Family, Access and EasyView packages with its audience share increasing by 79% in its second quarter since launch. BBC UKTV will now also be available in DStv’s Compact package, providing around 8 million families in South Africa access to a variety of entertainment, natural history series, soaps, and children’s shows from BBC Studios’ award-winning catalogue. Shows coming to the channel in September include Shakespeare and Hathaway: Private Investigators, Father Brown Season 3 and Earth's Great Seasons Season 1.

Home to a variety of premium local and entertainment programming, including The Great South African Bake Off Season 4, Listing Jozi and Jamie Oliver Cooking for Less, BBC Lifestyle (channel 174) will be available on DStv Family subscribers for the first time since launch in 2015 in addition to its place in the DStv Compact package. DStv Family subscribers can look forward to Come Dine With Me South Africa Season 9 and Britain’s Most Expensive House Season 2.

BBC Studios’ suite of channels will continue to offer DStv audiences premium programming, now with an increased catch-up window for BBC owned content on DStv catch-up across BBC Brit, BBC Lifestyle, BBC Earth, BBC UKTV and CBeebies, from 30 days to 60 days. Shows include Death in Paradise, Green Planet, The Great British Bake-Off, Hey Duggee and many more.

Pierre Cloete, the Commercial Director at BBC Studios in Africa says “We have a long-standing relationship with Multichoice and are proud of our six incredible BBC channels on the DStv platform. Each channel offers something for everyone with broad genre, trusted quality and international and local talent. I’m so excited to showcase our commitment to going further, broadening the reach of BBC Lifestyle and BBC UKTV and increasing the catch-up window for BBC owned content across our portfolio. This will give even more people in South Africa access to the very best BBC content and I can’t wait for new audiences to find their new favourite shows.”

Arran Tindall, Chief Commercial Officer, EVP, EMEA Key Markets says “We are proud to extend the reach of our portfolio. Adding BBC Lifestyle to Family and BBC UKTV to Compact enables us to reach wider audiences utilizing the richness of the BBC’s content, providing more DStv subscribers access to award-winning shows.”

“We continue to strengthen our content offering, therefore, we are excited about broadening the content scope for our customers,” says Georginah Machiridza, Executive Head of General Entertainment Channels at MultiChoice Group.

BBC To Close Linear Channels And Move Into An Internet-Only Digital Future

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The BBC is to have “fewer linear broadcast services” in the next decade as it “consolidates activity under one simple, single brand,” Director General Tim Davie has revealed, as he unveiled a blueprint for a digitally-led Public Service Broadcaster.

Davie didn’t elaborate during an RTS talk this morning but Deadline understands it could be several years until the move is enacted. The speech signalled the start of a shift to taking linear-channels online only that will start over the next decade, as Davie prepares for a digital future.

“The BBC will focus its effort on the digital world and over time this will mean fewer linear broadcast services and a more tailored joined up online offer,” said the DG. He stressed “live linear is here for the long term.”

Some of this has already started happening, added Davie, who pointed to the controversial move to combine the BBC News Channel with BBC World News. BBC Four, meanwhile, still exists but has stopped commissioning original programing. To many people’s surprise, youth-skewing BBC Three went in the opposite direction, relaunching as a linear channel earlier this year.

BBC:
- eAfrica Vs. BBC UKTV: Another Attempt To Auction Off Second Hand Goods
- BBC UKTV Vs. ITV Choice: Another Attempt At Boosting The BBC On DStv
- Acorn TV Closing Down By The End Of The Year In South Africa, Still No Clue If AMC+ Will Launch In The Market
- MultiChoice: "Why Premium Customers Might Lose Out On A Certain New Channel?"

Another way in which the BBC could “unite under a single brand” would be through combining iPlayer with Sport and podcast apps, for example, with more information on this activity due in the new year.

Davie, who has been in post two years now, stressed the need for more investment to lead the BBC into an internet-only digital future.

“Inevitably all this requires another choice and that is to actively, dare I say happily, invest in the BBC,” he added, in the speech to grandees, journalists and commentators in Central London. “Moving to digital is not the challenge in of itself, moving to digital while not losing most of your audience and burning millions of pounds unnecessarily is the challenge.”

His talk came a day after UK Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan said it is “impossible” for the license fee to remain the BBC’s funding model after 2027 and a review is currently taking place into the corporation’s future funding.

Beyond the increase of commercial outfit BBC Studios’ debt limit, more partnerships and loosened regulation, Davie struggled to put his finger on how the BBC will be able to attract the necessary capital for the transformation.

He said the BBC’s current £5.3B ($6.4B) annual income can just about keep the corporation afloat with prices soaring and the license fee frozen for the next two years.

“The bigger conversation here is whether we are OK to get into the 2030s to protect PSB,” he added. “If you look across the world, [media companies] are struggling to raise revenue. There will be a massive strain but we believe we can maintain universality and scale in UK.”

His blueprint for a thriving digitally-led PSB is four-pronged: “owning a move to an internet-only future with greater urgency,” “transforming the BBC faster,” “proactively investing in the BBC brand” and “moving faster to regulate for future success.”

By this method, Davie said the pubcaster will avoid “simply drifting to the point where the emergence of vast U.S. and Chinese players marginalize us while we put on a very British brave face as they do so.”

Part of the push involves owning more IP, an area that Davie stressed is far more important than having studio space.

“We need to own IP and find the writers who own them,” he declared. “This is a bigger question than who is operating the most effective shed [studio space]. Those sheds are brilliant at skills and apprenticeships but they are not going to underpin the future – that’s about IP and ownership.”

DStv:
- kykNET Lekker Opened To More DStv Customers For A Limited Time
- What Consumers Should Be Concerned About Regarding SABC's Yet To Be Launched Channels On DStv?
- Press Release: DStv Welcomes The Launch Of Quincy Jones’ QWEST TV Onto Screens This Month
- New Channel Alert: WildEarth To Launch In The UK Later In The Year

Digital First: What's Next For BBC Brit, BBC Lifestyle And BBC Earth?

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Last month, BBC Studios Director General Tim Dave unveiled plans to become a digital first service (as seen in Asia) with terminations of BBC World News and BBC Kids on the cards. Questions rise regarding the fate of the remaining stations BBC Lifestyle, BBC Earth and already discussed CBeebies.

BBC Lifestyle (alongside BBC World News to some extent) happen to be one of the longest running channels from BBC Studios. BBC Lifestyle served up food, home & design, fashion, health and personal development.

The channel became one of the top brands in South Africa for shows like Come Dine With Me, MasterChef, First Dates, Blackpool and Great British Bake Off.

Even after trading places with BBC Knowledge, Earth continues its road to stardom with natural history and wildlife with award winning documentaries like Planet Earth, Blue Planet, Horizon, Uprising and Life.

Unfortunately, not all channels from BBC Studios have something to look back on or feel accomplished by.

BBC Brit has been active in Africa for as long as BBC Earth when it launched as a replacement to BBC Entertainment's reality offering as BBC First handled scripted programming. Shows made available included Top Gear, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and The Graham Norton Show.

Over the years, BBC Brit had struggled to surpass its successor BBC Entertainment that even BBC Studios opted to scrap production of original content for the channel and put most of its efforts in sourcing mostly already seen content from other BBC stations.

Compared to the three, there's actually more reasons to boot BBC Brit but from what we've seen with BBC First. There's more reasons to believe BBC Lifestyle or Earth to go overboard.

Roundups #58: #FreeMaoMao As Cartoon Network Withhelds The Second Season, BBC Lifestyle Is Coming To Cape Town And Die Binnekring Makes Its Linear Debut On eExtra

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Mao Mao needs your help

Mao Mao: Heroes Of Pure Heart centers on the title character, Mao Mao, a daring cat who has high intentions for action and adventure. who stumbles upon a town called Pure Heart Valley with his co-hero Badgerclops, a cyborg-armed badger, and meets Adorabat, a cute little bat. Together, the three go on adventures to protect their citizens of Pure Heart Valley from the forces of evil while they find a way to fix the Ruby Pure Heart to its original state.

The show made its debut on Cartoon Network by mid 2019 and was renewed for a second season a year from that period. For almost two years, there's been no MaoMao not even a single rerun leading some to speculate the potential demise of the series.

According to sources, Cartoon Network is withholding the new season of Mao Mao. A user asked the creator when the awaited second season will be released and the creator responded to say "Ask Cartoon Network". Since then several fans of the show insert the hashtag #FreeMaoMao in an attempt to free it from captivity.

Listing Cape Town coming soon to BBC Lifestyle

Take a glimpse inside Cape Town’s most luxurious homes, from farms in Franschhoek to sublime sunsets in Fresnaye, the Listing series returns with five new agents in the affluent suburbs of Cape Town.

Following the success of Listing Jozi in 2021, viewers can look forward to Listing Cape Town, the second season of the hit property-themed reality TV show, from 1 June 2022 . Listing Cape Town will join BBC’s local line-up on Wednesdays at 20h00 on BBC Lifestyle, DStv channel 174.

This season will take viewers into homes across the Atlantic Seaboard, Green Point, Sea Point, Bantry Bay, Fresnaye, Clifton, Camps Bay, Llandudno, De Waterkant, Cape Town City, Bishopscourt as well as inland properties in and around Franschhoek, Val de Vie and Pearl Valley. From manicured stud farms in and around the Cape winelands, to breath-taking beach bungalows, Listing Cape Town will feature some of the Mother City’s most opulent and over the top properties ranging from R15 million to R280 million in value.

More eVOD for Openview consumers

Amidst the news of a pay-tv competitor for eExtra's Kuiertyd block, we can now confirm that the action series Die Binnekring which began streaming on eMedia's streaming service eVOD earlier in the year will make way to eExtra replacing Die Put on weekdays from June 1st at 20:30.

Die Binnekring brings two young people from different places as they stand side by side and fight against a conspiracy. They bring to account old notebooks, dirty cases, big and small lies. They also face a mysterious danger known as Halka.

Until further notice: eExtra is expected to cease transmission on the DStv platform by the end of June as MultiChoice couldn't reach an agreement with eMedia that took them to court regarding the channel alongside eToonz, eMovies and eMovies Extra.

Britbox Video Streamer To Launch In South Africa Later In The Year With Content From ITV And BBC

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Another video streaming service will be launching in South Africa in the second half of 2021 with BritBox, the joint 50/50 streaming venture between BBC Studios and ITV, that announced that it will become accessible to South African consumers later this year.

BritBox, an ad-free subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) streaming service will join the quickly getting crowded video streaming market in South Africa where Netflix SA fiercely compete with the likes of MultiChoice's Showmax, VIU, Vodacom Video Play, TelkomONE, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+.

Meanwhile the South African public broadcaster is working on launching its own SABC streaming service, while Discovery+, Paramount+, HBO Max and Disney+ are still to launch in the territory and across the rest of Africa as well.

BritBox will serve as somewhat of a replacement for the ITV Choice channel and the BBC First channel that both shuttered on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform during 2020.

BritBox carries on-demand content in the form of British box sets, drama premieres and live events, as well as new and exclusive original commissions.

South Africa will be BritBox's 5th worldwide territory to launch in, following launches in the United States and Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.

"The launch of BritBox in South Africa is yet another step in the platform’s trajectory towards international expansion. We’re delighted to bring the service to a brand new territory and continue towards establishing BritBox as a premium VOD brand across the world," says Martin Goswami, ITV group strategic partnership and distribution director, in a statement.

Paul Dempsey, president of global distribution at BBC Studios, says "We know that South African audiences have a real connection to British television and we can’t wait to bring them even more great shows, on-demand, that we know they will love".

BBC Upfront + Other Rumored Developments For DStv

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BBC held a virtual upfront today to discuss details relating to the new agreement they had with MultiChoice and also unveil a bunch of programming for their channels. Here's the scoop (part of it mentioned earlier):
- MultiChoice made the decision to remove BBC First (they didn't mention it but it gave it away) and BBC is trying to get viewers hooked onto BBC Brit which will be the new hub for content that was available on First.
- BBC Brit will broadcast the new anthology miniseries, Small Axe this summer in South Africa. The 5-episode Small Axe drama series revolves around stories focused on the experience of black people in Britain, with the cast that includes John Boyega.
- Production of the latest 6th season of Come Dine with Me South Africa produced by Rapid Blue TV on BBC Lifestyle shut down because of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic but will restart soon for the last few episodes of the season that will then be shown.
- BBC Earth will broadcast Perfect Planet, with Sir David Attenborough as the narrator. Two new series filmed in Africa, will be Work On the Wild Side, and Waterhole: Africa's Animal Oasis. Other upcoming series include: Age of Nature and Ades Climate Pioneers.
- CBeebies which was available only on Premium and Compact+ will now be available on DStv Compact, Family and Access presumably around the time Disney XD stops airing on the platform.
- BBC Lifestyle will be available in high definition.

Rumored developments that have nothing to do with BBC:
- More channels are rumored to get pulled off these include regional channels.
- Nickelodeon will be open for a limited time to celebrate the launch of Danger Force.
Packages: Access, Family and Compact
- fliekNET will be available for 3 days in October.
Packages: Compact+
- M-Net Movies 2 will be open from 6:00-18:00
Packages: All packages
- EVA and National Geographic will be opened for a limited time
Packages: Access
- Telemundo will be added onto DStv Easyview from 19 October (with the deduction of new telenovelas it wouldn't shock me if it dropped from three to just two current telenovelas)
- SABC Education will be added soon you just need to wait on SABC to provide those details.
Packages: All packages
- There's been rumours that MultiChoice changed the availability for the 4 remaining channels before you'd need Compact to watch all 5 new channels now that's been adjusted in some markets. There's also been talks of expanding current channels.

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