Prime Video Loads Up On Batman Toons

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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

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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."

Jerry Springer Dead At 79

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Jerry Springer, one of the most influential and controversial figures in TV history, has died...sources has confirmed.

Jerry hosted the smash hit syndicated talk show "The Jerry Springer Show" for 27 years...and it was never a boring moment on the raucous and wild show -- which was known for its outrageous guests who usually got into crazy fights as the audience cheered, "Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, Jerry!"

A family spokesperson says Jerry had been diagnosed with cancer a few months ago, and this week he took a turn for the worse. He died at his home in the Chicago area.

Before TV, he was a politician who ran a failed campaign for U.S. Congress in 1970, got elected to Cincinnati's City Council in 1971...and became the city's mayor in 1977. He served one term.

But, Springer became a worldwide sensation with his show ... which debuted in 1991. Most people won't remember this, but when he started Jerry's show focused on political issues. Of course, it eventually became the exact opposite ... and a ratings smash.

Jerry's show was so popular in the late '90s, it even topped Oprah Winfrey's in several cities. 'Springer' finally went off the air in 2018.

He made one more run in TV, with his courtroom show, "Judge Jerry," which ran for 3 seasons.

Jerry's last TV appearance came last season on "The Masked Singer" ... where he performed as "The Beetle," singing a Frank Sinatra classic.

He's survived by his daughter Katie Springer and his sister Evelyn.

Three Ways To Watch tvN's K-Dramas In South Africa

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tvN is a South Korean entertainment channel owned by CJ ENM which broadcast a variety of content including reality shows, drama series and movies. It was added as a pop-up channel on MultiChoice's DStv attributing success with shows like Flower Of Evil and The K-2.

But MultiChoice went against the idea of launching a permanent channel thus leaving various households without shows like Another Miss Oh, Tail Of The Nine Tailed and The Tunnel so we turn through two simple methods of getting access to some of these shows.

1. eVOD

eVOD is a video on demand home to various local productions by eMedia Investments including Splintered Pieces, Housewives, Piet's Sake and Whatever It Takes. It's also home to various shows already viewed on eMedia Investments' e.tv and eExtra channel including Gebroke Harte, House Of Zwide and The Black Door.

As mentioned, eVOD is also home to Asian programming or in this case content seen on tvN including Ice Adonis, The K-2, Flower Of Evil and The Devil Judge. The best part all of this is free but the only downside is the limited offering.

2. Showmax

Showmax is a streaming service owned by DStv's parent company also known as the tvN hater MultiChoice. Just like eVOD, they're also home to various local productions including Blood Psalms, Recipe For Murder, Devilsdorp, St. Agnes and The Wife. It is also licences various content from NBCUniversal, CBS Studios, Sony Pictures Television and Disney Star.

The streamer is also home to the corporation that deprived DStv consumers of tvN as they rather keep the best shows on Showmax including Melting Me Softly, Cheese In The Trap, Encounter and Revolutionary Love. Unlike eVOD, you can browse a number of content but it comes with a fee.

3. VIU

VIU is an Asian based streaming service from VIU International Ltd. which distributes a number of drama series and movies from Indonesians, Malaysians and Burmese to audiences in the Middle East and Africa. They also offer a selection of content from Paramount, AMC International and A+E Networks.

Just like the previous two, they also offer Korean Programming such as L.U.C.A The Beginning and Mouse and some of this comes with a fee while others come at no charge.

SEGA To Acquire Angry Birds Company Rovio

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Sega, the Japanese-headquartered video game company best known in the West for its Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, is acquiring Angry Birds developer Rovio, the companies announced today. The Finnish headquartered mobile games developer will be acquired for €706 million (around $775 million), which The Wall Street Journal notes represents a roughly a 19 percent premium over its share price at close on Friday. The deal is expected to close by the end of September.

In a press release, Sega said it hopes to use “Rovio’s distinctive know-how in live service mobile game operation, to bring Sega’s current and new titles to the global mobile gaming market.” It sounds like a similar aim to what Sega’s rival Nintendo has been doing with its franchises, with smartphone releases like Mario Kart Tour, Pokémon Go, and Super Mario Run. Sega also wants to help Rovio “expand its platform outside of mobile gaming.”

“Among the rapidly growing global gaming market, the mobile gaming market has especially high potential, and it has been Sega’s long-term goal to accelerate its expansion in this field,” said Haruki Satomi, president and group CEO of Sega parent company Sega Sammy holdings. In a statement, Rovio CEO Alexandre Pelletier-Normand specifically called out the company’s Beacon platform, which is designed to help develop games-as-a-service products.

Rovio is best known for its work on the Angry Birds franchise, which launched in 2009 and is claimed to be the first mobile game series to have reached 1 billion downloads. In total, Rovio says its games have been downloaded over 5 billion times. Angry Birds has since been adapted for the big screen twice (once in 2016 and again in 2019), but more recent entries in the franchise have struggled to make a similar impact.

Sega isn’t the first company to have expressed an interest in acquiring Rovio. The mobile game developer had previously been in discussions to be acquired by Israel-based Playtika, but talks officially came to an end in March 2022. Rovio has been a publicly traded company since 2017. 

Rovio’s acquisition by Sega is the latest example of an independent mobile gaming titan being hoovered up by a more traditional games giant. Candy Crush developer King was acquired by Activision Blizzard in a $5.9 billion deal that completed in 2016 while Zynga, the company behind FarmVille, was bought by Take-Two for $12.7 billion last year.

Presenting The 12 TV Channels On DStv To Offer DStv Repeats

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Last year, eMedia Investments and MultiChoice got into a fist fight in regard to e.tv's 4 channels. According to MultiChoice, the channels don't fit their 5 year content plan and leverage of DStv content so we look at channels from the platform that air DStv content.

1. Televista

Not to be mistaken with Televisa, the channel is operated by Consolidated Media in Nigeria is home to brands like Trybe TV and SoundCity. Initially, the line-up featured the best of Mexico and Latin America with shows like Part Of Me and Without Breasts There's No Paradise. But over the years, the channel has gone as far as supplying Bollywood shows from Zee World.

2. TLNovelas

Despite being home to various original shows such as Head Over Heels, Secrets At The Hotel and Rubi. The TelevisaUnivision channel has been licensing content to various broadcasters across Africa so if there's a channel you want out then look no further than TLNovelas or likely the competition, Citizen TV.

3. Akilli Kids

Located in East Africa, Akilli Kids is a popular children's channel home to educational content in various languages including English aside from Akilli And Me. The channel supplies a stack of shows already viewed on DStv including various shows like Wild Kratts, Team Umizoomi, Splash And Bubbles and Elinor Wonders Why.

4. DreamWorks

International adaptation of eMedia Investments' eToonz so to speak as NBCUniversal had been licencing numerous content in a similar manner to TLNovelas to various broadcasters including the SABC. Basically, 90% of the channel consists of rehashed content for consumers in South Africa while eToonz gets with modern times.

5. Movie Room

Launched in 2022 as a replacement to eMovies and eMovies Extra, the channel is an M-Net Movies Zone or TCM tiered channel with Kagiso Media hoping to rollout original local films on the channel. The competitor to M-Net Movies has some type of uniqueness that can't be explored on other movie channels but when it comes to new movies there's only repeats of Step Up, Madea and Dragonball: Evolution.

6. TNT

Replaced TCM back in 2018, the channel currently ranks as the most popular movie channel in South Africa reaching 10 million households has something for action lovers with Venom, Poltergeist, Lethal Weapon, Suicide Squad and Justice League as if that hasn't been explored on M-Net Movies alongside TV's most talked about wrestling promotion, All Elite Wrestling.

7. Studio Universal

Basically an international version of eMovies or so what we almost believed at one point. The channel blew M-Net Movies out of the water after bringing out the latest films before any other channel on the Compact bouquet including Men In Black: International, Woody Woodpecker, Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle and Bad Boys For Life all of which had been seen on M-Net Movies 1 & 2.

8. Comedy Central

Being one of the few routes for international dramas (comedies) alongside BBC Brit and M-Net (or Me) the channel has garnered traction with the likes of South Park, The Daily Show, The Carbonaro Effect and Impractical Jokers. But what catches consumers attention is the endless reruns of M-Net's Two And A Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family and Friends.

9. Universal

Serving as one of the few competitors to M-Net and BBC Brit, the channel garnered traction for the likes of Rosewood, Law And Order: SVU, Transplant and Fantasy Island. But just like most channels on the list play second fiddle to DStv/M-Net repeat with shows like Chicago P.D., NCIS: Los Angeles, S.W.A.T., Rizzoli And Isles and Bones.

10. Real Time and Discovery Family

After axing Discovery World and Animal Planet, MultiChoice thought of a swell to duplicate the content seen on Discovery Channel, TLC, Food Network, HGTV and Investigation Discovery on two channels thus limiting the content seen on the successors for content selected consumers already have.

11. Nicktoons

Currently the only kids channel to play second fiddle to another DStv channel as Cartoonito graduated out of repeats prior to its rebrand but Nicktoons continues to build up their offering with a stack of content already viewed on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. including Dora The Explorer, Paw Patrol, The Casagrandes and Middlemost Post.

Conclusion:
This is Insidus giving you the 11 channels to offer DStv repeats but remain onboard while eMedia Investments 4 TV channels on DStv platform were being phased from existence for that exact same reason.

Breaking News From Across The World In The Last 7 Days Dated 16 April

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1. Palatin Media and Backbone’s joint-venture FAST Media is to launch the anime Fast Channel Yu-Gi-Oh! across Europe and Africa
2. HBO Max rebrands to Max in May, unveils pricing and further details
3. Warner Bros. Discovery announce new content for the Max streaming service
4. Amazon announce plans to develop new movies and TV shows for Legally Blonde, Stargate, RoboCop and Barbershop franchises
5. Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj unveil new single Princess Diana
6. Tupperware might be closing down due to poor sales
7. Nicki Minaj will lead a new animated project Lady Danger for Amazon and 50 Cent
8. Vice TV unveils Dark Side Of The Ring season 4
9. Paramount moving shows from VH1 to MTV
10. Buying Beverly Hills renewed for season 2 on Netflix
11. Diplo teams up with Stargull Simpson and Dove Cameron on new single, Use Me (Brutal Hearts)
12. Jack Black drops soundtrack for The Super Mario Movie, Peaches
13. Getroud Met Rugby actor murders his lover
14. Piet's Sake 2 release on eVOD

Getroud Met Rugby Actor Guns Down His Lover

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On Thursday, local actor Gregg Pettigrew, 51, allegedly shot and killed his 29-year-old lover in Kempton Park, Gauteng, before attempting to take his own life.

The shooting occurred in Pettigrew's home, a rental cottage in the area.

Police received an emergency call from the landlord and were on the scene shortly after. Norkem Park Police spokesperson Colonel Barbara-Anne Ferreira told sources they found a dead male on the scene.

"The other male was still in the bed, next to the male, and he had a firearm in his hand," she said. She said he was drowsy.

"We noticed that there were tablets. He drank an overdose of tablets."

Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi told sources earlier on Friday that the man was at the "local hospital under police guard".

Pettigrew played the character of Gé on the local soap, Getroud Met Rugby.

He's expected to appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court on Monday, 17 April.

Ferreira said he'd be charged with murder and possession of an unlicenced firearm. She said the family of the deceased was traumatised.

Palatin Media And Backbone’s Joint-Venture FAST Media Is To Launch The Anime Fast Channel Yu-Gi-Oh! Across Europe And Africa

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The joint-venture which is dedicated to FAST channels will launch Yu-Gi-Oh! in the UK, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Spain, Northern Europe and Africa. The new channel will be available in 5 languages — English, German, French, Spanish and Italian.

The new channel will commence rollout in May with the English and German language version on Frevee, LG, Rakuten, Rlaxx, Zeasn and Africa XP, followed by the French, Italian and Spanish version debuting in June.

The new structure, FAST Media is based in Munich and debuted in 2022, after Backbone’s founder Richard Maroko and Palatin Media’s founder Bernd Schloetterer joined forces.

FAST Media has since developed four channels in France and Switzerland: Enquêtes de choc devoted to investigative reports, Homicide, focused on true crime and two channels centered around iconic french TV IPs: the game show Motus and the cult talkshow Y A Que la Vérité qui Compte.

The channels are broadcasted on several platforms, including Samsung TV+ in France and Switzerland, Molotov, LG, Pluto TV, Rakuten, Xiaomi, Plex among others.

Other upcoming projects from FAST Media are scheduled for launch in Q2 2023 in France, Spain and Germany.