Recap To The Year: Moonbug Kids To Fold Under The Moonbug Brand, Dumps Kids From The Name

Moonbug Kids (DStv 314) is a preschool channel owned by Moonbug Entertainment (a subsidiary of Candle Media). It supplies shows such as CoComelon (also seen on Cartoonito), Oddbods, Blippi, Little Baby Bum and Supa Strikas (also seen on Cartoon Network).

During the year, Moonbug Entertainment had unveiled their first ever refresh of the brand in 5 years following the increased popularity of their content which they've managed to licence to various broadcasters (as mentioned) alongside the Moonbug Kids channels.

As stated by Moonbug prior to the rebrand:

Moonbug was created on the basis of acquiring IPs and growing them into fully established franchises. This rebrand marks a shift that will see everything move under a cohesive Moonbug umbrella, elevating its brand positioning and encouraging industry recognition as the company behind the most beloved shows in kids’ entertainment.

DixonBaxi created a new strategy and creative platform which is says are inspired by Moonbug’s bold attitude.

At the heart of the new identity sits a bespoke animated logotype that ‘fizzes and pops with a playful personality’, hinting at the entertainment that makes Moonbug content unmissable. A flexible brand system with a fresh colour palette, super-sized art direction and activity-focused icons fill every space with the same bright, playful personality.

“It has been a unique challenge to create a new brand that captures the magic of the shows that billions of kids tune in to over and over again, but still feeling distinctly Moonbug,” said Harry Ead, creative director, DixonBaxi. “We feel that we have created a brand that will match Moonbug’s ambitious plans without losing what makes them so special.”

MultiChoice on top of providing various material acknowledging the rebrand they recently updated their EPG to commemorate the long-awaited rebrand of the Moonbug channel.

Moonbug Channel joins other existing brands Da Vinci, History, eNCA, Nickelodeon, Cartoonito (formerly Boomerang), Max and PBS Kids that have or are expected to rollout on air look later in the year.

Recap To The Past Decade: True African Was Ripped Away From Openview Consumers, Could eMedia Investments Finally Source Out A Replacement?

True African was a general entertainment channel that came in place of the defunct eNolly+ channel on the Openview platform. The channel served a purpose of promoting content from West Africa particularly Ghana and Nigeria through the form of movies and series.

As mentioned, the channel was ripped away from Openview consumers in an attempt to offer fresher entertainment for which channel didn't reflect even when it was operating as eAfrica+ before the switch to eNolly+ it still had a repetitive nature.

But unlike e.tv's News And Sport channel much less OpenNews, the channel was revived on PremiumFree TV which serves as freemium platform's first ever competitor offering a range of movies, drama series, reality shows, music and kiddies entertainment.

Fact of the matter is eMedia Investments hasn't replaced True African sure we have channels like Zee One, Star Life, The Home Channel+ and People's Weather but none of this can make up for the closure of the brand's last attempt in Nollywood entertainment.

As of 2023, eMedia Investments launched their pay-tv venture on the Openview platform which comes with 4 channels and plans to grow the lineup. But what was also outlined about this new pay-tv service was the focus on diversity and inclusion resulting in OUTtv.

The idea of eMedia Investments exploring something similar to True African TV possibly for Openview Ultra wouldn't be far fetched. It's not like consumers were familiar with the offering seen on OUTtv and yet there's plenty of households willingly to pay monthly.

The current offering (excluding OUTtv) kind of resembles the existing lineup seen on StarSat and DStv as well as the pricing for those wishing to view the offering.

Afrikaans Voice Actors For Om Elke Draai And Daai Crazy Somer Season 2

Om Elke Draai

Jaundre Kim Andersen as Selin Sever
Adriaan Havenga as Demir Erendil
Celeste Loots as Ayda Akman
Geon Nel as Burak Yangel
Emma Kotze as Eylül Gündüzeli
Anja Taljaard as Merve Mutlu
Rinaldo Felaar as Bora Durul
Chris Van Rensburg as Ferruh Özerdim
Morne Visser as Muharrem
Anoecha Kruger as Azmiye Bosgeçmez
Chine Van Aarde as Esen

Daai Crazy Somer Season 2

Staain Bruwer as Ahmet Tunali
Elzabe Zietsman as Emel Yaman
Adrian Steyn as Sancaktar
Kevin Smith as Selcuk Taskin
Markus Haywood as Akgun Gokalp Taskin
Steven Sterling as Arda Ates
Caidan Bouwer as Altay Kara
Rowlen Ethelbert Von Gericke as Kaan Gok
Jacques Gombault as Selim Kara
Francois Coertze as Metin Yaman
Natasja Jacobs as Serap Gok
Zetske Van Pietsen as Canan Kara
Izel Bezuidenhout as Yagmur Jasmine Kara
Rikus Strauss as Burak Sancaktar
Zack Hendriks as Eray
Maude Sandham as Naz
Mandle Baard as Cemre
Saanli Jooste as Sare
Lizelle Pike as Şevval
Richard Van Die Westhuizen as Yigit

Microids Announces Totally Spies! Game For Consoles, PC

Microids has announced a partnership with Banijay Kids and Family for a new video game based on the animated series Totally Spies! It will launch for consoles and PC in 2024.

Here is an overview of the game, via Microids:

The Totally Spies! video game will offer players the opportunity to step into the shoes of the three legendary secret agents, Sam, Clover and Alex. Together they must try and save the world from a new enemy, with a host of thrilling missions, offering innovative game mechanics.

“Microids is committed to faithfully and innovatively adapting well-known IP and it is a real honor for us to work on the Totally Spies! license,” said Microids CEO Stephane Longeard in a press release. “Thanks to the skills of our studios and in-house teams, we will do everything we can to offer the community a game that meets its expectations.”

Banijay Kids and Family new business and strategic alliances director Annick Bizet added, “We are seeing great momentum building for the Totally Spies! brand ahead of the much-anticipated return of the series next year. Microids’ expertise and passion for the world of video games, make it the perfect partner to recreate the universe for an authentic and captivating game for our fans.”

Prime Video Loads Up On Batman Toons

Amazon’s streaming service picked up 2D-animated movie Merry Little Batman, which was among the kids projects canceled at HBO Max last year. Continuing efforts to age down the Batman franchise (starting with the launch of preschool-skewing Batwheels on Cartoonito in 2022) this action-comedy pic stars Damian Wayne—a young boy who turns himself into “Little Batman” during Christmas Eve to stop Gotham City’s supervillains from ruining the holidays. Mike Roth (Regular Show) is directing, with Morgan Evans (Teen Titans Go!) writing the screenplay. Roth will also executive produce alongside Sam Register.

Spinoff series Bat-Family is also headed to Prime. Exploring the unique capers of being part of a superhero family, the toon centers around Batman, Alfred and Damian, who has now taken on the mantle of Little Batman full-time.

Finally, Amazon has confirmed a previously reported two-season order for Batman: Caped Crusader—a darker, noir-inspired series that will be similar to Batman: The Animated Series, which aired on Fox Kids from 1992 to 1995. Bruce Timm, J.J. Abrams  and Matt Reeves are executive producing this series, which was another casualty of the HBO Max cancellations last year that has now landed at Prime.

All three projects will premiere exclusively on Prime Video worldwide. And they reflect the streamer’s growing investment in comic book IPs. Last year, Sony Pictures Television signed a multi-title deal to produce live-action series based on Marvel characters for Amazon, with a Silk: Spider Society series already underway.

Meanwhile, DC Studios is also prepping multiple projects based on the Batman IP for the big screen. In addition to DCU installment The Brave and the Bold and Matt Reeves’ sequel to last year’s The Batman, the studio is bringing two incarnations of the iconic character together on screen in The Flash, which hits theaters this June.

Emmett Till: Woman Whose Accusation Led To Lynching Of Black Teenager Dies Aged 88

The woman at the centre of one of the most notorious episodes in US racial history, the lynching of black teenager Emmett Till, has died.

Carolyn Bryant Donham, 88, died in a hospice in Louisiana on Tuesday.

Her accusation that the 14-year-old Mr Till had whistled at her caused his death at the hands of two white men, but also became a catalyst for the civil rights movement.

In August 1955, Mr Till was visiting relatives in Mississippi. Ms Donham, then 21 and known as Carolyn Bryant, accused him of making improper advances on her at the store she worked at in the small community of Money.

One of Mr Till's cousins, Reverend Wheeler Parker, said that the boy whistled at the woman, an act that was contrary to the racist social codes of the era in the Deep South.

It is believed that Mr Till was identified to Ms Donham's then-husband Roy Bryant and his half-brother JW Milam, who abducted the teenager several nights after the incident.

They beat and mutilated Mr Till before shooting him in the head and leaving his body in the Tallahatchie river. It was discovered swollen and bloated three days later, and was returned to his mother Mamie Till Bradley in Chicago.

Mr Till's funeral captured international attention when Mrs Bradley insisted that her son be buried in an open casket, saying: "There was just no way I could describe what was in that box. No way. And I just wanted the world to see."

Pictures of the body shocked America, and pressure was brought to bear on the state of Mississippi to bring Mr Till's murderers to justice. Bryant and Milam were arrested and tried for the killing, but an all-white jury acquitted the two white men.

In an unpublished memoir titled I am More Than A Wolf Whistle, which was obtained by the Associated Press (AP) in 2022, Ms Donham said she was unaware of what would happen to the teenager.

Historian Timothy Tyson said he obtained a copy from Ms Donham while interviewing her in 2008, before passing it on to the AP.

Tyson said on Thursday that her precise role in the killing of Till remains murky, but it's clear she was involved.

"It has comforted America to see this as merely a story of monsters, her among them," Tyson said. "What this narrative keeps us from seeing is the monstrous social order that cared nothing for the life of Emmett Till nor thousands more like him.

"Neither the federal government nor the government of Mississippi did anything to prevent or punish this murder.

"Condemning what Donham did is easier than confronting what America was - and is."