What Happened To SABC's Indigenous News Channel, SABC eKhaya?

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During the year, the public broadcaster promised to unveil the highly anticipated news brand, SABC eKhaya. A spinoff to the current SABC News channel seen on MultiChoice's DStv, the channel would be broadcast in all 11 South African languages was slated for April 2023. 

We were told by sources that the channel had a soft launch so to better understand this we turn to SABC Sport. The channel was active almost a year or so before it was added to the Openview platform and TelkomOne (now SABC+) and similar to SABC Sport it's not available on SABC+.

If we had to guess, the public broadcaster is probably looking to get the channel on MultiChoice's DStv or eMedia Investments' Openview. We assume they want to give this channel as much exposure as seen with SABC Sport which became the top 10 channels on Openview.

Not much marketing was put into SABC Sport but the channel managed to defy all odds and the same outcome could be expected for SABC eKhaya should it not exclusively to DTT and streaming.

From what we understand they want to make it a leading brand similar to SABC News or it's initial offering at the time, SABC Parliament. For now, the channel will serve as a catch-up to the current offering seen on SABC 1-3 and overtime they could fiddle around with the repeats.

It's currently unknown whether the public broadcaster plans to market SABC eKhaya or similar to SABC Sport wait until they can get more platforms onto the concept.

Sentech To Launch Streaming Platform To Rival SABC+

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The SABC is Sentech’s biggest client — by far. But that’s not stopping the state-owned broadcast signal distributor from formulating plans to rival the public broadcaster in streaming services.

While the SABC has been without a board for several months, Sentech has been making plans to launch what appears will be a competitor to SABC+, the streaming service launched by the public broadcaster late last year when it took over management and operation of Telkom One, a joint venture it had with Telkom.

News of Sentech’s plans to offer a so-called OTT service (over the top — industry jargon for streaming) emerged in parliament on Wednesday when communications minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the company will “soon launch a homegrown OTT platform that will be anchored by Nemisa but which will be available to other content producers”. Nemisa is a state-owned non-profit in Ntshavheni’s portfolio that focuses on technology education, including in multimedia production.

The launch plans come amid growing tension between the SABC and Sentech over signal carriage fees.

“Our goal is to eventually make this platform the home for quality films, documentaries and children’s stories, in addition to SABC+,” the minister told MPs.

Sentech plans to launch the OTT platform in the first quarter of the 2024 financial year – that’s sometime between March and May this calendar year. A Sentech spokeswoman was on leave and not immediately available to comment further on the platform and its planned content offerings.

The launch plans come amid growing tension between the SABC and Sentech over the signal carriage fees the latter charges the former to distribute its terrestrial channels to South African audiences.

The SABC and its commercial free-to-air rival e.tv last year accused the broadcasting signal distributor of excessive pricing and anticompetitive behaviour.

Formal submissions
Their broadsides against the state-owned enterprise were included in formal submissions to communications regulator Icasa, in which they called for urgent regulatory interventions in the signal distribution market to deal with alleged monopolistic abuses by Sentech.

The submissions form part of a market inquiry by Icasa into the signal distribution services market. Sentech has asked that the regulator’s discussion document be withdrawn because, among other reasons, updated legislation to govern audiovisual services is in development and Icasa’s investigations shouldn’t pre-empt these potential policy changes.

E.tv parent eMedia Investments said in its submission to Icasa that it is “deeply concerned at the fact that the issues relating to significant market power in relation to signal distribution services have been ignored for decades”.

Video Entertainment:
- Rumour: SuperSport Schools to get a dedicated channel on the DStv platform
- Disney Junior and Disney+ to debut new Star Wars series in May
- Paramount+ set to merge with Showtime
- eVOD has yet to offer linear channels as promised in 2021

“This is despite pleas by the broadcasters that the market needed urgent regulation. Indeed, Icasa recognised as far back as 2010 that there was an urgent need to regulate the market due to Sentech’s undisputed dominance,” eMedia said. “Yet Icasa has taken no steps in this regard… All this has been to the detriment of broadcasters and caused them financial harm.”

The SABC also strongly criticised Sentech’s tariffs and behaviour, describing them as “not appropriate or correct”. It said its concerns led to the creation of a “chart of accounts project” at the public broadcaster to determine the fairness or otherwise of Sentech’s fees.

“The details of the various costs per service and per transmission site have been requested from Sentech with the objective of understanding how the structure of the cost for each service was derived. Sentech has not been cooperative in this regard for the past two years,” the public broadcaster alleged in its submission.

The SABC also filed a complaint against Sentech at the Competition Commission in 2021, in which it accused the signal distributor of “unfair and anticompetitive pricing”. 

Reviewing Major Changes Coming Soon To The SABC

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Last month, the public broadcaster was all buzz hosting a last minute showcase where they transitioned to video entertainment announcing further content for their current channels on top of launching SABC+ in place of the former TelkomOne streaming service.

Of course, what remains absent is the two entertainment channels announced in partnership with eMedia Investments last year. Just like SABC+, sources mention that those channels had already entered final stages a while back.

Honestly, it doesn't appear that they'll be anything time soon but with these recent adjustments. It's possible that they'll likely bring them up in the near future or as soon as most of these developments are dealt with.

As mentioned, the SABC has shared a couple of things in which we want to brief everyone on:

* The public broadcaster is heading for another loss making year with R608 million which has just tripled from last year R201 million.
* They failed to hit their targets in terms of commissioning, producing and broadcasting fresh content with most of the blows going onto SABC 1. All 3 channels target 20% of which the top channel reaches 4% with the second channel 14% and least watched 9%.
* The SABC is expected to make a chunk of cash through their newly launched streaming service, SABC+. R6 million in one quarter alongside R31.5 million in the next quarter.
* The revenue for their 3 channels has been negatively impacted following the cancellation of analogue signals.
* SABC+ has about 15000 signups on a daily basis can't say it's surprising considering that they have the most accessible channels in South Africa.
* A new loyalty programme might be in works the aim is to boost the number of TV Licence payers.
* Still bickering want MultiChoice to pay for their 3 channels although other outlets like Openview view them freely.
* A budget for their channels had been shared with the media. From what's known R468 million had been budgeted for which 218 million is spent and R665 million is earned on SABC 1, R141 million is spent and R199 million earned on SABC 2 and lastly R69 million is spent and R79 million is earned on SABC 1.
* SABC 1 will focus more on sourcing youth based content while SABC 2 transitions to current affairs and news.
* They'll be cutting back on the amount of social media handles we assume that they are also referring to shows like The Epic Hangout which too has a social page.
* A cutback on repeats especially on primetime with the axing of non-performing content. We assume The Estate will be saved despite primetime not being one of the top 20 shows on SABC 3.
* Uzalo remains on SABC 1 and Muvhango remains on SABC 2 - remember how the public broadcaster repeated shows on multiple channels well they'll put a stop to that meaning each primary show will air on their primary channel with SABC+ also filling that gap.
* The public broadcaster in partnership with SABC News is trying to find alternatives to the cancelled Special Assignment on SABC 3.

Disturbing Facts About Controversial News Station Afro Worldview (Formerly ANN7)

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8 years ago, MultiChoice operated Afro Worldview (known as ANN7 at the time) which was a Gupta owned news station which gained attention mainly for its technical setbacks, untrained staff and behind the scenes antics.

Today, we explore some various aspects of the former DStv channel some much worse than others but after reviewing this you'd understand why MultiChoice opted to cut ties and source Newsroom Afrika as an alternative to Afro Worldview.

Here are the disturbing facts about Afro Worldview part of which were highlighted in the book Indentured - Behind The Scenes At Gupta TV

 

"Rajesh, I want you to prepare for our first meeting with DStv, our enemies at MultiChoice. Arun and you will go to the meeting tomorrow and I want you to give them a copy of the EPG and make sure that channel 404 on DStv is allocated to us. But I want to warn you, they are our enemies. They will try everything to see us fail," writes Rajesh Sundaram. Mentioned on page 62 of Indentured.

1. Afro Worldview wanted to be on channel 404 currently occupied by SABC News and went as far as getting Jacob Zuma involved.
2. MultiChoice was a big enemy of Gupta owned channel.

"It was clear that the team from MultiChoice did not believe we were technically or editorially prepared to launch a news channel by the end of July. The tension in the room was palpable. They were visibly upset with the political pressure that was being brought to bear on them to launch the channel quickly and on the terms directed by the Guptas." Mentioned on page 63 on Indentured.

 

"We did not have the people, the studio was not complete, and much of the broadcasting equipment had not even been ordered at this time. The team did not even have newsgathering and studio cameras." Mentioned on page 63 on Indentured.

3. MultiChoice was seemingly aware that the channel was not ready to launch at the time.

"DStv suddenly gave in. Even as ANN7 was offering three bulletins a day produced on primitive systems and equipment nowhere near the quality standards prescribed by DStv, it was announced internally that DStv had been 'pressured' through president Jacob Zuma 's office to oust Russia Today from the 405 slot and give it to us." Mentioned on page 126 on Indentured.

4. Russia Today moved from channel 405 to 408 due to pressure from Jacob Zuma to occupy ANN7 on a higher channel number but MultiChoice has denied it and claimed the change was a way of getting local channels closer.

"His plan saved the company thousands of rands, but it cost the company millions in lost reputation, as we found out post-launch."
"Atul wanted Gerry Rantseli-Elsdon to train the models. Gerry was hired to present the breakfast show, which had been branded Vuka Africa."
"Gerry was given a table and chair, a white board and a training room. Some days she had a camera at her disposal. She had no teleprompter, professional monitors or audio equipment in the initial weeks." Mentioned on page 107 on Indentured.

 

5. Afro Worldview used models as news anchors.

"The bulletins we had produced at that time were, unsurprisingly, fullof technical glitches and were anchored by a group of models hired by Atul and trained by Gerry Rantseli-Elsdon . The young women were very raw, clueless about the news they were reading and very unfamiliar with a studio setting." Mentioned on page 130 on Indentured.

6. Afro Worldview always had glitches with their bulletins even before launch.

"We are nowhere near the quality of CNN International or BBC. He had very little understanding of television or the primitive conditions under which the bulletins were being produced." Mentioned on page 114 on Indentured.

7. Channel boss had little experience with television.

"The archival footage at the SABC was indeed of a very high quality and in my view worth millions of rands," writes Rajesh Sundaram. "Nazeem, Laxmi and Atul repeatedly told me that the contract with the SABC for this sale favoured ANN7, was drafted by Gupta lawyers and that the price of the footage was 'peanuts' compared to its real value."

 

8. "Stupid SABC" - Before MultiChoice, SABC sold their archives to Afro Worldview.

He told Biznews that Indian staffers, brought to South Africa on tourist visas and who worked in the country illegally, had to live on the ANN7 Midrand construction site "in sub-human conditions".
"There were staff that Atul Gupta would slap; and physically abuse us; scream verbal abuse at people. For instance say the playout system crashes, Atul Gupta would come into the production control room and start beating up the audio console person".

9. Channel boss was abusive to staff by slapping and calling them names.

"My relationship with ANN7 started when I was approached to produce a show for the station. It was supposed to start on Sunday but there were issues I wasn't happy with since I discovered its history with the Guptas."

10. Controversial pastor Paseka "Mboro" Motsoeneng pulled his gospel show due to ties with Guptas.

Roundups #28: M-Net Working On More Short Form Series As Lingashoni And The Queen Are Axed On 1Magic And Mzansi Magic, SABC Planning To Restructure Their Offering Ahead Of The Launch Of Its Unnamed OTT Service And, The Triplets Alongside New Episodes Of Roary The Racing Car Launches This April On JimJam Africa

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M-Net calls it quits for these two series

“The Queen’s producers, Ferguson Films, will shoot Season 7 of the show, which will premiere in July 2022 and viewers will continue to enjoy the telenovela on their screens until its final episode airs on 13 January 2023,”.

“The 1Magic telenovela Lingashoni, produced by Stained Glass TV, will come to an end after its second season concludes on 16 March 2023. This follows the season’s premiere on 21 March 2022.”

A new telenovela will plug the gap on the weekday 9pm slot, replacing The Queen from January 2023. The new content, which is under development, will be announced in due course.

Meanwhile The River, a multi-award winning production, has been renewed for Season 5.

“Our replacement for Lingashoni will be announced in due course. The business has reviewed our approach to focus on stabilising the channel slate with limited high-end series and realities.”

Also read:
- The Scent Of Passion coming soon to Telemundo
- April on Honey
- March on TNT
- 7 Year Stitch coming soon to E!
- March on Curiosity
- March on Universal TV
- March on Studio Universal
- Simply Maria has a release date on TLNovelas
- Second batch of rumoured series coming to M-Net, 1Magic, Me and Showmax
- March on E!
- March on CBS Reality and CBS Justice
- March on History

Potential lineup changes coming to the SABC channels

As reported in the past week, the public broadcaster has pushed the launch for its new channels and OTT service to the next financial year which will end by March 2023.

These new channels are said to be made available on the untitled OTT service as predicted and plans are underway to redevelop the offering across all their television channels and radio stations ahead of the launch.

The public broadcaster wants to have a multi-OTT presence and just like Discovery Inc's Discovery+ they're not setting out to surpass Netflix or Showmax but to be sustainable for the years to come.

As mentioned a couple of times, the rumoured SABC Encore could be different to the one formerly seen on DStv and this info kind of proves my suspicions were pretty accurate.

Also read:
- SABC wants to launch a second sports channel
- Trollstopia coming soon to e.tv
- eExtra, eMovies, eMovies Extra and eToonz to stop airing on DStv
- Dokter Ali S2 coming in April to eExtra
- SABC will launch more HD channels and streaming service
- What to possibly expect on SABC's streaming service?
- Should eReality merge with News And Sport?
- Racing240 expands to Openview this April
- Doodsondes returning for a fourth season on eExtra
- Saloni and East Meets West coming soon to SABC 2

More kids entertainment for Easyview customers

PBS Kids which was available to DStv Premium, Compact+, Compact, Family and Access package will also be available on Easyview when eToonz goes off air from April meaning viewers get hours of Arthur, Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Wild Kratts and more.

JimJam is also available on channel 310 and kids can look forward to the following titles in April:
• The Triplets S1
• Roary the Racing Car (new episodes)

Also read:
- Press release of DreamWorks Channel on DStv
- March on Disney Channel and Disney Junior
- March on Cartoon Network
- We Bare Bears coming to Cartoon Network in April
- Da Vinci Kids acquired rights to The Deep
- March on Da Vinci Kids
- Drafted results for Cartoon Network in March include Lego Batman
- March on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons
- Cartoonito expected to return to EMEA by mid 2022

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) And 4Racing Have Signed A Major Agreement To Ensure The Sport Of Horseracing Is Again Accessible And Available To The Broader South African Public On Free-To-Air Television

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The agreement will see 4Racing produce and broadcast a daily 30-minute horse racing talk show called ‘Racing Today’ on SABC Sport from Monday to Friday over a three-year period for 50 weeks a year.

It will also see 10 of the country’s top showpiece horse racing events being broadcast live in prime time on SABC 3.

‘Racing Today’ will from April 2022 be available on the 24-hour SABC Sports Channel on the SABC’s Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) service, on the Open View HD Channel 124 and on the TelkomONE streaming service.

“We are delighted to partner SABC in this multi-year deal to ensure the sport of horse racing returns as a regular addition to SABC’s premier sports programming. Having the country’s largest free-to-air broadcaster, with an audience reach of over 32 million across the country, helps us to fulfil our mandate to reach new audiences, grow participation in and knowledge of the sport, and make horse racing more accessible. Through the SABC’s coverage over the years of legendary South African horses like Wolf Power, Horse Chestnut, Jet Master, Sea Cottage and Pocket Power, and jockeys like Felix Coetzee, Michael ‘Muis’ Roberts, Pierre Strydom and Jeff Lloyd, horse racing became a premier sport and those horses and jockeys household names across the country. We’re looking to recreate that with the fantastic horses such as Kommetdieding, Jet Dark, Flying Carpet and Captain’s Ransom, and rock star jockeys such as S’manga Khumalo, Gavin Lerena, Muzi Yeni, Grant van Niekerk, Rachel Venniker, Craig Zackey and many others who are fantastic current participants in the exciting sport of horseracing, so the SABC partnership is a major and very important one for us,” says Fundi Sithebe, Chief Executive Officer of 4Racing.

Also read:
- SABC will launch more HD channels and streaming service
- SABC Encore and SABC Children channel might be in development for Openview
- Could e.tv News merge with eNCA?
- Should eReality merge with News And Sport?
- The Estate cancelled only on SABC 1 for new drama series
- Warner Bros. Discovery potential channel closures
- A list of Afrikaans voice actors for Die Put and Droomvelore
- Why VH1 Classic was terminated on DStv?
- Saloni and East Meets West coming soon to SABC 2
- Dokter Ali S2 coming in April to eExtra

The new daily talk show ‘Racing Today’ on SABC Sport will cover everything horse racing related, while live coverage of the best local and international races will deliver the exhilaration, drama and prestige that are synonymous with racing to SABC’s viewers.

Head of Sport for SABC, Gary Rathbone, said that “horse racing has long been a major part of the SABC Sport offering and after a long absence from our platforms, it’s great to have the sport of kings back on air on the Public Broadcaster”.

“Being able to feature South Africa’s best thoroughbreds and champions jockeys fighting it out in these iconic races on the annual calendar is something I’m sure will excite millions of South Africans who will now be able to access the best racing on offer live and free on the SABC,” Rathbone added.

Stephen Watson, Head of 4Racing TV and Executive Director of Discover Digital, said “this deal with SABC is a significant one for us at 4Racing and for all current and prospective punters and racegoers who love the sport”.

“We have been working with SABC over the last year and this partnership has already seen live coverage of major race days such as the World Sports Betting Cape Town Met and Summer Cup and the L’Ormarins Queens Plate, while we’ve also assisted Gold Circle to get one of the country’s biggest and most important race days, the Gold Cup, broadcast live on SABC 3. So we are excited with this long-term partnership with the SABC, which will add more value to punters, sponsors and stakeholders. The deal also bolsters our multi channel strategy through the SABC’s channel carriage deals with Open View HD and TelkomONE’s streaming service,” Watson added.

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SABC To Launch More HD Channels And Delayed Their Streaming Service To The Next Financial Year + Possible Outcomes For eMedia Investments Agreement With MultiChoice For eNCA (Still Involves Openview)

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Upcoming developments for the SABC

In 2018, SABC had announced plans to launch a streaming service and since then it's been delayed likely due to their contract agreement with the Asian streaming service, VIU which bundles several shows from eMedia Investments such as Scandal and Imbewu.

Perhaps it will be called: SABC VOD, SABC Streaming, SABC On Demand, SABC iPlayer or SABC Plus/SABC+.

According to Madoda Mxakwe on CxO Series, the public broadcaster is expected to launch some HD channels likely the two long awaited channels on Openview one of which were rumoured to be SABC Encore while upgrading SABC Education to HD in the next financial year accompanied by an OTT service.

The public broadcaster stated in some documents that the streaming service will be available before the end of current financial year which is March 31st, 2022 and is anyone surprised that they've never reached the deadline.

For almost a year, Openview consumers have been waiting on the two channels promised to them by both eMedia Investments and the SABC in mid 2021. Since then several names pop-up part of which were part of their DTT plans and still need to be addressed: SABC Encore (as mentioned), SABC Parliament and SABC Children.

The future of eNCA and e.tv News

Every year, eMedia Investments and MultiChoice enter negotiations regarding the carriage agreement of eNCA alongside several other channels packaged by the eBrand.

For several years, eMedia Investments had expressed their frustration with MultiChoice as other brands such as Newsroom Afrika and SABC News make more money than them despite having the most watched news channel on their platform.

Also read:
- SABC Encore and SABC Children channel might be in development for Openview
- DreamWorks Channel will be added to MultiChoice's DStv
- Should eReality merge with News And Sport?
- The Estate cancelled only on SABC 1 for new drama series
- Warner Bros. Discovery potential channel closures
- A list of Afrikaans voice actors for Die Put and Droomvelore
- Why VH1 Classic was terminated on DStv?
- Lifetime could be on the chopping block on DStv
- Saloni and East Meets West coming soon to SABC 2
- Dokter Ali S2 coming in April to eExtra

News And Sport is set to go off air by the end of March on Openview and the retrenchments following onto eMedia Investments kind of lead to the question over the fate of e.tv News segments.

The NewsLink Block on eNCA is changing headquarters which was held in the same spot as e.tv News is moving to the spot renovated by eNCA on DStv with new anchors.

eNCA launching on Openview to some extent???

Regarding the upcoming agreement, is it possible that e.tv News and eNCA will be unified under one brand just like SABC News segments on SABC 1-3 with the linear channel on DStv.

SABC News is available on SABC's DTT but the likely reason is the limitations as the public broadcaster isn't selling them like hot cakes but putting up a fence requiring households with an income of less than R3200 to obtain them at their nearest post office.

Adding eNCA onto Openview was seen as a get out of jail free card for DStv customers who are fed up with the yearly increases and never ending repeats and MultiChoice didn't want any of that but how about a portion of the brand?

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Roundups #10: Agent Binky: Pets Of The Universe Returning For A Third Season, Telemundo Working With RCN Once Again On New Series Until The Money Do Us Apart, Cheaper By The Dozen Streaming March 15th On Disney+ And SABC Acquires CAF Champions League

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Anyone remembers this I know I didn't

A week ago, Nelvana and Discovery greenlight season 3 of Agent Binky: Pets Of The Universe formerly seen on Cartoon Network and Boomerang across Europe back in 2019.

The series follows the adventures of Binky, a space cat who is on a mission to protect his human family (Big Human and Small Human) from any interstellar threats, with assistance from four pets in the P.U.R.S.T. (Pets of the Universe Ready for Space Travel) agency.

Season 2 is scheduled to released in 2022 and seeing that Cartoonito is rolling out in more regions. What are the chances that WarnerMedia won't just pick it up for Cartoonito this time around?

Source: Worldscreen

Also read:
- February on Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and more
- Could Moonbug Kids replace Disney Junior on DStv and Baby TV on StarSat?
- More Big City Greens coming to Disney Channel and Disney+
- Mr. Bones 3 coming to Cinemas in April
- Nurses March 2022 teasers
- February on Cartoon Network and Boomerang
- Thomas And Friends: All Engines Go might launch on Boomerang
- 2022 on HBO Max including Peacemaker and a Batman Christmas special

Telemundo is at it again with RCN Television

The two television networks are once again coming together for another remarkable production, after Cafe con Aroma de Mujer (Coffee with a Woman's Scent) with a new version of the 2006 Colombian telenovela, Hasta Que La Plata Nos Separe (Until The Money Do Us Apart).

Rafael Méndez and Alejandra Maldonado are salesmen from opposite sides of life. While Méndez depends on informal sales, and that without any higher education. Alejandra carries her duty as the commercial manager of a car dealership with an MBA and a hard attitude up her sleeve. An unfortunate car accident will bring them together and they will have to get the best of each other in order to survive their respective realities.

According to sources, several cast members from The Way To Paradise are set to join the remake including Fabian Rios, Gregorio Pernia and Stephania Duque with Carmen Villalobos and Sebastián Martínez as the lead characters.

Also read:
- Upcoming programming for Telemundo Africa
- Cartoonito launches on Boomerang across Europe possibly as a trial run before scrapping the channel
- Could Malverde: The Patron Saint replace The Search For Frida?
- BBC Kids launches in the United States, could Africa be next?
- Rookie Season, Supa Strikas spinoff currently streaming on YouTube
- Saloni and East Meets West coming soon to SABC 2
- Why the outdated music brand VH1 Classic was terminated on DStv?

Cheaper By The Dozen is back with a new family

The Disney+ Original movie Cheaper by the Dozen, which is a fresh take on the 2003 hit family comedy starring Gabrielle Union and Zach Braff, will premiere March 18, 2022, exclusively on Disney+.

In this modern take, Disney+ is mixing up the concept behind 2003's 'Cheaper by the Dozen,' which was a remake of the 1950 film of the same name, which in turn was adapted from a book of the same name from 1948.

Source: ScreenCrush

SABC picks up CAF Champions League

The CAF Champions League kicks off on 11 February 2022 – 29 May 2022 and viewers can look forward to seeing South African teams Mamelodi Sundowns and Amazulu in key fixtures broadcasted on SABC Sport. The giants of African football including Al Ahly (10-times champions), Zamalek (5-times champions), TP Mazembe (5-times champions) and Raja Blanca (3-times champions) will also be kitted and ready for battle. While the CAF Confederations Cup kicks off on 13 February 2022 – 3 April 2022 which also includes South African giants, Orlando Pirates.

Source: IOL

Also read:
- SABC 1-3 now available in high definition on Openview
- Could M-Net pick up Ray Donovan: The Movie and Betty White documentary?
- The Search For Frida March 2022 teasers
- Baby TV block could end on SABC
- Simply Maria alongside two other telenovelas launching soon on TLNovelas
- SABC registered three channels: SABC Parliament, SABC Children and SABC Encore
- What we might get from SABC's streaming service?

With these key CAF acquisitions by SABC Sport, it is evident to see the levelling of the playing field by giving South African viewers access to world-class content without subscription fees. SABC Sport is set to include all matches for the above stated CAF tournaments and include the CAF Super Cup, CAF Women’s AFCON and CAF Women’s Champions League to its content schedule.

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SABC And eMedia Investments Expand Partnership, Will MultiChoice And StarTimes Follow?

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eMedia Investments, owners of free-to-air satellite service Openview, and the SABC have reached a business agreement that sees Openview continue to broadcast high-definition channels SABC 1, 2 and 3, as well as 3 additional television channels from the public broadcaster, as well as all 19 radio stations owned by the SABC.

The business agreement means that the SABC is officially entering the free-to-air satellite market, with SABC Sports Channel the first of the 3 additional SABC channels bring added to the Openview service.

SABC radio brands Ukhozi FM, Metro FM, Lesedi and Umhlobo Wenene are among the radio stations now also available on Openview, transmitted via digital broadcasting on a free-to-air basis.

Commenting on the new multi-year signal distribution and channel carriage agreement, eMedia Investments COO, Antonio Lee, says, "This is an exciting development for both the SABC and ourselves. The agreement ushers in a new level of collaboration between a private free-to-air satellite platform and public free-to-air broadcast services. There is no doubt it will boost the offering of Openview and will extend the SABC’s audience reach. We can now offer our Openview audience additional quality content and access to digital broadcast radio in the widest variety of languages possible in South Africa. We hope this is the start of a stronger and more fruitful relationship between Openview and the SABC".

SABC’s COO, Ian Plaatjes, adds, “This agreement enables the SABC to grow its channel offering and reach into the digital broadcasting space with three additional HD television channels. The first channel to be launched will be an SABC Sport Channel and will be distributed simultaneously across Openview, DTT, Telkom One and other streaming platforms. This collaboration will enable the SABC to optimally exploit its rich sport content rights and leverage the Openview reach to provide an improved integrated sport value proposition for our advertising clients across platforms. The agreement also enhances the distribution of SABC radio stations to create an increased value proposition for our radio advertising inventory. The other two TV channels, to be announced within the next 3 months, will leverage extensive SABC content and archived material.”

"The other two TV channels" "leverage extensive content and archived material" - SABC Education being the first with the other possibly being SABC Encore maybe it will launch under another new name perhaps or with an updated look. It would be shocking if it was SABC News.

Openview and the SABC believe that this agreement will expedite digital migration from analogue-only households to digital broadcasting platforms with more compelling free-to-air channels and content. Together with the DTT platform, Openview provides audiences with a free HD alternative to both analogue terrestrial and pay satellite options.

According to a source, this development was in talks with pay-tv platforms as well. SABC Education has been showing signs of launching and my guess was May which is the same time the channel launched.

Not long ago, even eMedia Investments entire set of channels were rumoured to be added onto DStv so far only 4 reside on that platform.

Read Also:
- New Turkish drama coming to SABC 3
- BBC recognises African animation
- Soon viewers will need a decoder or smart TV to continue watching SABC 1-3 and e.tv as well as recieve additional channels
- New Turkish drama coming to eExtra in April
- SABC and e.tv ratings for February 2021
- Is a rebrand under way for the eMedia set of channels?
- Will e.tv pick up the rights to the Turkish drama Kuzgun which is currently airing on TDC (DStv 123) as Raven?
- SABC planning to reduce Muvhango and 7de Laan
- When will Star Plus and Star Life on DStv, Openview and StarTimes (Starsat) adapt to the Utsav branding?
- PremiumFree launching as an alternative to OpenView 
- SABC to launch a streaming service
- Current status of TV licence
- Government enforcing local quota on streaming platforms

Blue Socks Is Bringing Nelvana To Africa

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Corus-owned Nelvana has appointed North Carolina-based Blue Socks Media as its distributor in Africa. Blue Socks plans to build on the success it’s had selling its own content in the region, and is confident it will be able to penetrate the market with Nelvana’s IPs, says EVP of distribution of licensing Neill Warren.

Under the deal, Blue Socks will be responsible for distributing more than 4,400 episodes of Nelvana’s shows in the region, including Babar, Franklin, Ranger Rob, The Dog & Pony Show and Agent Binky: Pets of the Universe.

Blue Socks has been shopping the library around the continent for the last month, and has lined up six deals with local broadcasters. The unnamed series will start airing in Q4 2020 and Q1 2021, says Warren.

Africa is a giant and diverse continent with 54 countries, all of which have a different state-owned broadcaster with varying reach. Sub-Saharan Africa alone has developed into a big market, with broadcasters expected to reach more than 75 million homes in the region by 2021, according to satellite operator Eutelsat. There’s a growing demand for locally made kids content, which has historically not been a big focus for broadcasters, says Warren. This makes breaking into any single country with foreign shows difficult, though Blue Socks is hoping to replicate it’s own success for Nelvana.

Blue Socks previously sold its flagship preschool series Raggs to South African broadcaster SABC 2, Mango Airlines and Namibia’s One Africa TV. The musical series resonated with local audiences because of its educational value and catchy songs, Warren says. And while Africa is diverse, educational content, having pride in yourself and positive messages about kindness tend to resonate across the continent.

English-language content is accepted broadly, but to make the strongest impression, producers and distributors have to swallow the cost of dubbing, adds Warren. Languages can vary depending on the specific platform, but it’s useful to know that the majority of Sub-Saharan African countries recognize English as a major language, he says, cautioning that while English is widely acceptable in many countries, others prefer French or Portuguese content, and Northern Africa wants shows dubbed into Arabic. South Africa, for example, has 11 official languages—English being one of them.

Patience is also important. “This is an emerging market, and deals can take longer,” says Warren. “But more and more players, including Netflix, are here. And the need for kids content is only going to grow.”

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