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Disney Junior's 'The Rocketeer,' Showcasing A Young Girl Taking On The Mantle Of The Beloved Flying Superhero, Premieres Monday, 28 September On Disney Junior

Disney Junior's "The Rocketeer," a new comedic, animated adventure series featuring a young girl named Kit Secord, who takes to the skies to protect her community after becoming the surprise recipient of a rocket-pack that gives her the ability to fly, will premiere Monday, 28 September on Disney Junior, DStv channel 309 at 17:00. Inspired by Dave Stevens' beloved superhero comic books and Walt Disney Pictures feature film, the series stars Kitana Turnbull ("A Series of Unfortunate Events") as Kit, and Billy Campbell and Kathy Najimy as her parents, Dave and Sareena Secord. Campbell is best-known for starring as Cliff Secord in "The Rocketeer" film.

Set in the idyllic small town of Hughesville, each episode of "The Rocketeer" is comprised of two 11-minute stories that follow Kit as she embarks on a high-flying adventure to help save her community and its residents from trouble -- usually brought on by the many comedic villains who will be featured throughout the series. As with most superheroes, Kit has a team to help her pull off her heroic adventures and keep her identity hidden from the masses. Her best friend, Tesh, serves as Ground Control when Kit takes to the skies and is also the inventor of the hi-tech gadgets and upgrades for her rocket-pack; and her grandfather, Ambrose Secord, works at the Hughesville Airport and serves as her mechanic. Also along for the ride is Kit's loyal bulldog, Butch.

In the premiere episode, Kit receives a surprise package on her birthday containing The Rocketeer's helmet, which Grandpa Ambrose immediately recognizes as belonging to the famed superhero. With that, he unveils the rocket-pack which he was told to hang on to until the next Rocketeer was chosen. As Kit learns the ropes of becoming a flying superhero, Grandpa Ambrose and Tesh help with her training. Upcoming guest stars include Tony® and NAACP Award-winning actress Phylicia Rashad (Disney•Pixar's upcoming "Soul") as May Songbird, a famed stunt pilot who Kit helps overcome a fear of flying after a fall from grace; Emmy, Golden Globe and Peabody Award winner Marlo Thomas ("That Girl") as Kit's grandmother, Sitti, who comes to visit for the town's annual food festival; Emmy® and Golden Globe® nominee Annie Potts (Disney•Pixar's "Toy Story") as Dave's younger sister and aviation test pilot, Scarlett; Rahul Kohli ("iZombie") as Tesh's dad and Hughesville Trailblazers troop leader, Mr. Cheena; and D'Arcy Carden ("The Good Place") as Ava, a self-flying airplane.

In addition to Turnbull, Campbell and Najimy, the series stars legendary voice actor Frank Welker ("Scooby-Doo") as Grandpa Ambrose and Butch the bulldog; Callan Farris (Disney Channel's "Gabby Duran & the Unsittables") as Kit's best friend, Tesh; and Navia Robinson (Disney Channel's "Raven's Home") as Kit's flight school classmate, Valerie Valkyrie. Voicing the recurring comedic villains in the series are Maria Bamford ("Arrested Development") and Kari Wahlgren ("DC Superhero Girls") as sister team, Laura and Harley; Maurice LaMarche ("Futurama") as Sylvester Slapdash; Charlie Adler ("The Transformers" franchise) and Parvesh Cheena (Disney Junior's upcoming "Mira, Royal Detective") as The Great Orsino and Deany, respectively; and celebrity chef Ted Allen ("Chopped") as Cast-Iron Chef.

"We are very excited to introduce our young, new superhero 'The Rocketeer' to our Disney Junior audience. It’s a great adventure series, that can be enjoyed by the whole family, while addressing themes of empowerment, critical thinking and problem solving,” says Evert van der Veer, Vice President, Media Networks, The Walt Disney Company Africa.

The series is developed and executive produced by seven-time Emmy Award nominee Nicole Dubuc (“Transformers: Rescue Bots”). Michael Kenny (Disney’s “Miles From Tomorrowland”) is supervising director. Emmy Award-nominated Beau Black (Disney’s “The Lion Guard”) is the songwriter, and Annie Award-nominated Dominic Lewis (Disney’s “DuckTales”) is the composer. The series is produced by Wild Canary in association with Disney Junior.

Court TV Expands Into UK, Will Africa Follow Soon(Including DStv And StarTimes)

The real-life dramas of criminal trials in the US now have an international audience as Court TV launches in the UK.

Court TV is now available on Sky channel 179, with more distribution agreements expected to be announced soon.

Building on its popularity with US audiences and advertisers, Court TV’s UK channel provides viewers access to, and expert analysis of true-life courtroom dramas taking place in the US today, from opening proceedings, gavel-to-gavel, all the way through to the verdict. Daytime trial coverage in the US will air in primetime in the UK given the time difference.

“There’s been nothing like Court TV in the United Kingdom until now,” said Jonathan Katz, president and CEO of Katz Networks, part of The EW Scripps Company, which owns Court TV. “American crime dramas have long been a staple on television worldwide, including the U.K., while global consumer interest in the real-life drama of true-crime programming has skyrocketed, with American reality crime content as the most-watched. Court TV is the only network covering these cases and these events live, as they happen, from start to finish. We anticipate viewers in the UK will embrace having a front-row seat to American criminal justice.”

The UK launch of Court TV coincides with the 25th anniversary of the O.J. Simpson murder trial verdict, which saw the former American football star and popular celebrity found not guilty of double murder. On October 3rd and 4th, Court TV will present a marathon of its 25-episode original docuseries OJ25, which looks back at the infamous case, encapsulating the courtroom action in chronological order.

Court TV launched July 1st 1991 and ran until the end of 2007. Katz Broadcasting, LLC (E.W. Scripps Company) revived the channel back in 2018 before it's demise WarnerMedia owned the brand for a short period of time.

Extreme E To Broadcast Across Africa Via Multi-Year Startimes Partnership

Extreme E, the pioneering electric off-road motor racing series, is set to be broadcast live across the African continent, with the series signing-off on a three-year agreement with digital television operator StarTimes.

The deal will see Extreme E’s five-race global odyssey from the Arctic to the Amazon Rainforest, air live to more than 30 African countries including Kenya, Nigeria, Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire in English, French, Portuguese and other local languages. Season 1 gets underway in early 2021.

The championship’s goal is to highlight the impact that climate change and human influences are having on the severely damaged locations in which it will race, whilst raising awareness, driving sustainability and inspiring action through world-class motorsport.

Ali Russell, Chief Marketing Officer at Extreme E, said: “Extreme E is a top-tier sporting product unlike anything else out there at the moment. Likened to Star Wars Pod Racing meets Dakar Rally, its mission is to drive awareness of climate change worldwide, whilst promoting battery electric vehicles and workable, sustainable solutions.

This broadcast partnership with StarTimes is really important for helping to share our messages across Africa, which is an integral location to the series as Senegal’s Lac Rose plays host to our Ocean stage.”

Kristen Miao, StarTimes Sports Director, said: “Motorsports are getting more and more popular in Africa and at the same time people are increasingly concerned about climate change issues. With Extreme E, they will see that sustainability can also mean excitement and adrenaline. We are delighted to bring this unique championship into million of homes across Africa.”

The agreement with StarTimes is the latest broadcast deal to be announced by Extreme E, with the championship also set to partner with BBC (UK), Discovery (Europe and North America), FOX Sports (United States, Canada and the Caribbean), FOX Sports Asia (Southeast Asia), FOX Sports Australia, Mediaset (Italy), Sony India (Indian subcontinent), TVNZ (New Zealand), RTM (Malaysia), Dubai Sports (Middle East), RDS (Canada), China Sports Zhibo.tv (China), RTL 7 (The Netherlands), ORF (Austria), ESPN Africa and BTRC (Belarus).

Further sporting, broadcast and partnership announcements will follow in the coming weeks(meaning there could be more partners within the African market).

ViacomCBS Will Be Launching A New Channel Carrying Content From BET And Showtime, Will This Perhaps Get Added On StarSat Or Serve As A Replacement To BET Africa On DStv?

ViacomCBS is to launch SHO*BET by the end of the year to do that it's taking up Showtime's Showcase channel in the United States.

The company is planning to relaunch the channel, which currently airs films, documentaries and comedy specials, with scripted series from both Showtime and BET.

It is the latest example of synergies between Viacom and CBS since its merger in December.

President and CEO Bob Bakish, speaking on the company’s investor call following its fourth-quarter financials, said, “We see an even bigger opportunity to grow Showtime subscribers by making better use of its plex channels, some of which are currently underutilized. To that end, we will be rebranding and relaunching Showcase as SHO*BET this summer featuring AA scripted series from Showtime and BET.”

He added, “We see this as a compelling value creation play that will allow us to benefit from the growing demand for premium, African American content across platforms.

Now in Africa, where the channel can be seen through MultiChoice's DStv platform. It's currently stuffed with movies leaving less space for all the crappy and decent programming.

BET Africa, has become a strong brand in the market with its local productions like Black Tax and iSono so the chances of them replacing it is very little at the same time these brands merged so anything is possible.

Genius Brands Launches Their Very Own Kiddies Channel Online, Will DStv Or StarSat Perhaps Get It?

Former Fox Kids Networks head Margaret Loesch and former Disney exec David Neuman are to be tasked with growing the soon-to-launch kids OTT.

Genius Brands International announced two new hires as it prepares to launch its upcoming digital channel. Former Fox Kids Networks Worldwide president and CEO Margaret Loesch was named executive chairman of the California-based company’s upcoming Kartoon Channel!, and former Disney Television president David Neuman takes the role of chief creative officer.

Loesch previously held roles with Marvel Productions and The Jim Henson Company. She has also served on Genius Brands’ board of directors since 2016. Neuman, meanwhile, joins Genius Brands from media company Happs, a live-streaming news app. He previously served as president of Walt Disney Television from 1996 to 1998.

In their new roles, Loesch and Neuman will be responsible for building viewership, market share and advertising demand for Kartoon Channel! as well as attracting creative content. Neuman will work closely with Caroline Tyre, who was hired by Genius Brands as SVP of international distribution in June 2019.

Kartoon Channel! will launch in the US on June 15 and target kids ages two to 11. More than 4,000 episodes from shows including Baby Genius, Shark Academy, Dino the Dinosaur and Super Geek Heroes will be available on the channel. The OTT channel will not require a subscription, and will be available through a number of platforms, including Amazon Prime, Apple TV and Roku, among others.

National Geographic Kids Plans For Disney+

National Geographic is going to be one of the main core brands of Disney+ and it’s “Nat Geo Kids” division is set to take advantage of its new audience. And with “Nat Geo Kids” getting its own “section” within the Children’s profile section, we can expect to see more new shows from the brand, which also makes a wide range of products including books and magazines.

Disney want the team at “Nat Geo Kids” to develop new content for Disney+, though there isn’t a set number of hours or content quota to fill.

“Nat Geo Kids” is looking to create long-form TV series that are aimed at kids aged from six to 12. This new content can be animated, live action, game shows, and competition series.

“The programming we’re looking for is going to be brainy, fun, fact-filled, inspiring and will really amplify and grow Nat Geo’s mission. It’s an opportunity for us to continue to ramp up across a number of our pillars like animals in nature, exploration and adventure, science and innovation, world culture—all grounded in the fact-based world we live in.” Said Geoff Daniels.

He also confirmed the second season of Weird But True will launch on Disney+ in November. The series consists of 13 x 30 minute episodes, which sees Charlie and Kirby explore the fun, strange and surprising ways the world works.

Other series in development include a Explorer Academy, which is based on the “Nat Geo Kids” Publishing book series of the same name. No details such as a launch date, episode length or run time, were confirmed.

“Explorer Academy is inspired by the work our explorers do, and all the new technologies coming online [that allow kids] to create a meaningful impact on the planet, rooted in conservation they can do. I think it really encapsulates the spirit of adventure and exploration that National Geographic stands for. We’re going to continue to mine that line.”

The new shows from “Nat Geo Kids” are going to be slightly different from the usual National Geographic content as they are looking at pitches and scripts for a variety of projects such as pure fantasy, science fiction and comedy series.

“Right now, Nat Geo Kids reaches 260 million kids globally. I think we’re looking at where those opportunities are, [so we can] continue to roll out Nat Geo Kids and the content we’re building around the world. We are looking to ramp that up over the long haul.”

National Geographic looks set to take advantage of its new opportunity and with full support from its new owners, Disney, it does look like we will have lots of exciting content to look forward to.