Universal TV Vs. BBC Brit: The Home Of Premium Entertainment

Universal and BBC Brit are international general entertainment channel respectively owned by US based company NBCUniversal and UK based company BBC Studios. These happen to be one of the few premium entertainment channels left globally as streaming has taken a toll with how content is viewed.

Universal is an action, adventure and crime based channel which is home to cop dramas such as Chicago PD and NCIS: Los Angeles, medical shows like Transplant and Chicago Med and finally mystery and supernatural dramas like Departure and Fantasy Island.

BBC Brit adapts to a similar form as Universal as they too offer dramas such as EastEnders and William Shakespeare. But the channel doesn't consider itself Universal exclusive as there's other content like The Graham Norton Show, Total Wipeout and Top Gear.

One of the things I think most people won't like about Universal is the amount of rehashed content that various local providers air first-hand. I mean I don't mind a little nostalgia every now and then I mean they got Bones and Rizzoli And Isles but these rebroadcasts get a bit annoying.

When it comes to BBC Brit, I'd say a lot of channels need to be done. I mean it's more like Universal on the repetitive side but imagine watching the same season of Top Gear repeatedly on top of that having 3 shows take up most of the schedule.

Not long ago, BBC First was shelved with BBC Brit having to pull the muscle I mean come on 2 hours of primetime with 2 hours of repeats during the day but Top Gear gets more than that on a daily basis.

If you're looking for top notch entertainment head on down to Universal sure you won't get Graham Norton or Planet Earth but you sure won't have a lineup that is as repetitive as a certain kids brand I prefer leaving unnamed.

BBC Brit is a waste but the channel has its own perks that some have to grasp for the time being I mean there's BritBox or BBC iPlayer but to those without these services have to view the bulk of content on this channel which appears as an absolute disaster.

Phil Nelson Named Executive Vice President Of CNN International Commercial

CNN Worldwide has appointed Phil Nelson to lead the network’s international business operations and its work with commercial partners outside of the United States.

As Executive Vice President of CNN International Commercial (CNNIC), Nelson is responsible for all international Advertising Sales, Content Sales & Licensing and Commercial Distribution revenue, as well as related client solutions functions including the award-winning Create brand studio and world-class digital and data operations. In this role, Nelson also works with partners across the Warner Bros. Discovery business on areas such as CNN International’s distribution strategy and collaboration on digital operations and ad sales to provide more opportunities for brand partners to access news and other genres across the portfolio. Nelson becomes part of CNN Worldwide’s leadership team and reports to the network’s Group Executive Vice President of Business Operations & Strategy, Chris Marlin.

As CNNIC’s Chief Operating Officer since 2019, Nelson led operational and international growth initiatives while managing advertising sales support functions. In that time he put in place the framework for CNNIC’s Audience First ad sales strategy, took CNN content onto new platforms, and grew the portfolio of CNN’s international affiliate business with broadcasters and publishers around the world as well as its commercial distribution footprint with hotels and airlines. Major initiatives in Nelson’s time at CNNIC to date include the introduction of CNN International onto Connected TV platforms in Europe, the launch of the CNN Apparel business in Asia, licensing the rights to Great Big Story, and the expansion of the CNN branded channel portfolio with additions including CNN Brasil, CNN Prima News and CNN Portugal.

Prior to joining CNN, Nelson was Managing Director, Turner North Asia and South East Asia Pacific, overseeing all aspects of Turner’s business in these regions. He had previously held other business development and strategic planning roles at Turner since joining in 2010 and has significant digital experience from his time at AOL, where he was Managing Director for AOL Asia. In addition, Nelson holds an MBA from Harvard University and, prior to entering the corporate sector, was a commander in the US Navy.

CNN is making additional key changes to CNNIC’s executive leadership team as it evolves its client offering:

• Cathy Ibal is named Senior Vice President, Advertising Sales, to oversee all CNN’s international advertising sales. A proven commercial leader with 22 years’ experience at CNN, Ibal has a track record of leading global teams and developing innovative advertising and brand solutions for a wide range of clients – from major luxury and blue chip brands to travel and tourism and other private and public sector partners
• Rob Bradley is appointed Senior Vice President, Digital Revenue, Strategy & Operations, with a remit that includes everything related to the digital ecosystem for CNNIC – revenue, operations and commercial strategy. In addition to his CNNIC role, Rob is part of the CNN Digital leadership team and will lead CNNIC’s collaboration with WBD’s international business operations on digital projects and utilising best practice in advertising technology and solutions

CNNIC’s sophisticated capabilities in creative, data, revenue strategy and client services are all being brought into one unit under the leadership of James Hunt, Senior Vice President, Global Client Solutions. This will include a joined up offering for partners across CNNIC’s award-winning Create Studio and the Audiences & Data unit along with client servicing, events and strategy functions.

“For journalism to flourish, it’s imperative that we have a robust effective commercial operation to fund the work that CNN does around the world every single day,” said Chris Licht, Chairman and Chief Executive of CNN Worldwide. “To that end, I am delighted that Phil and his executive team are taking the reins at CNNIC to lead us into a new era of working with our commercial partners.”

“CNNIC has an incredible track record in unlocking value for both CNN and our commercial partners across a wide range of sectors,” said Phil Nelson. “As we look to the future, we are creating new ways for partners to work with CNN that enable advertisers to engage with our audiences wherever they consume CNN and for broadcasters, publishers, Out of Home partners and platforms to access and leverage our world-renowned content and journalism. In a fast-changing media landscape, we are combining the best of CNN’s content and commercial offering in an innovative way that reflects client and market needs as well as audience expectations.”

CNBC To Relaunch In Turkey As CNBC Turkiye By The End Of 2023

According to the statement made by İlbak Holding, CNBC Turkiye will evaluate the global developments in the business world from the perspective of Turkey with its objective and accurate news content. The channel, which will convey the developments in the global financial markets with comprehensive reports and exclusive interviews, will convey the local perspective to the global as well as how global events affect local markets.

CNBC Turkiye, headquartered in Istanbul, will include finance, economy and business news with live broadcast content of at least 10 hours a day. The channel's broadcast content will be supported by international broadcasts from CNBC offices around the world, including Abu Dhabi, London, New York and Singapore.

CNBC Turkiye, which is scheduled to be launched in October 2023, will offer widespread and easy access to viewers across the country through platforms that offer satellite, cable, terrestrial broadcasting networks, internet broadcasting platforms and broadband services.

John Casey, President and General Manager of CNBC International, who included his assessments on the subject in the statement, stated that as a global brand, they are aware of the importance of delivering business news, insights and analysis at the local level.

"We are very excited to herald CNBC Turkiye together with Ilbak Holding and to bring CNBC's unique and dynamic content back to the audience in Turkey," Casey said.

Murat İlbak, Chairman of the Board of Directors of İlbak Holding, stated that they are happy to bring CNBC back to Turkiye with its Turkish content and made the following evaluations:

"CNBC Turkiye will undoubtedly break new ground in the business markets in our country with the complete, impartial, accurate information and news content we have committed to. Turkey has a vibrant and versatile economy with a population of 85 million and a growing investor base. Our aim is to provide an advanced information flow that will facilitate decision-making processes and to reveal the full potential of the business world and markets in Turkey. CNBC Turkey will help its audience make informed decisions and seize opportunities in an ever-changing global business environment.”

Noting that the TV channel will also play an important role in the development of Turkey, which is among the top 20 economies in the world, İlbak emphasized that this strong partnership with CNBC International will also show the strength and dynamism of the Turkish economy.

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

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.

Getroud Met Rugby Actor Guns Down His Lover

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.

WildEarth Expands To India Through Jio

WildEarth’s mission is to make viewers feel present in nature by delivering a live and interactive channel where viewers can embark on remote safaris across Africa for 12 hours a day, 365 days a year which will now be available on the JioTV app.

With WildEarth’s channel, JioTV achieves the milestone of hosting and streaming 1000+ TV channels on their app, that is free for all Jio users.

“Now the fans in India can stream the best in nature and wildlife. WildEarth is all about sharing nature with everyone so we can all see why we must conserve our beautiful home. This partnership with leading online streaming app Jio TV is a major step in achieving this,” commented Emily Wallington

The company said that this partnership will amplify its footprint in India through JioTV’s customer base and the country’s rising demand for nature content.

New Channel Alert: DStv Compact Gets ESPN 2

DStv added ESPN 2 to its channel catalogue for Compact subscribers, increasing its sports offering for these customers to ten channels.

ESPN 2 is the home of basketball and American football in South Africa, with the channel airing National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL) content.

“This announcement is our way of rewarding our loyal customers with a wider catalogue of entertaining content to choose from,” says MultiChoice South Africa CEO Marc Jury.

Regarding content, MultiChoice said Compact customers could look forward to the NBA playoffs and NFL draft in the coming weeks.

“DStv Compact subscribers will] be able to watch, among others, the nail-biting NBA playoffs and soon, the highly-anticipated NFL draft,” the company said.

Despite the NFL’s biggest event of the year — the Super Bowl — concluding in February, NFL fans can look forward to the draft, which is scheduled to take place from 27 to 29 April 2023.

The draft is the primary player recruitment event for the tournament, and NFL said a schedule of games should follow in May.

“We are excited to be bringing ESPN’s compelling content and unique personality to new viewers across Africa,” says the Walt Disney Company Africa’s director of sports Kyle de Klerk.

“With our unparalleled portfolio of international, local and US leagues, together with live games, sports news, films and documentaries, audiences now have every opportunity to relive the greatest moments in sports history and see those moments being made.”

ESPN 2 is available to DStv Compact subscribers on channel 219 from Thursday, 6 April.

New Channel Alert: Ignition TV Expands To DStv Access

Ignition TV, South Africa’s leading TV channel for car fanatics and petrolheads, is shifting a gear. From this week, it is included in DStv’s Access platform, broadcasting on the DStv 189 channel.

Ignition TV promises some of the best motoring content from around the globe, as well as a compelling slate of local content, including tuning, car reviews, spinning, advice for buyers, biking, kasi culture, and 4 x 4.

“From supercars to spinning, bikes to bakkies, Kyalami to the Kasi – if it has wheels, we cover it,” says Ignition executive producer Brandon Maary. “And we have some great new shows lined up for our Access kick-off.”

Some of the shows are:

Richard Hammond’s Workshop – a new series featuring the ex-Top Gear star trying to start his own business.

Rhythm & Smoke – a local spinning show that tracks the lives of Mzansi legends DJ Maphorisa and Stacey Lee May.

Celeb Rides – DJ Sabby and Ney-the-Bae ride shotgun with local stars and get to know them a little better through their cars.

Kasi Car Culture – S’bu Skosana and Zee Masethe celebrate the passion behind SA’s vibrant local car culture.

Tuned in SA – Vic Pardal and Kriya Gangiah show some of the fastest, most tricked-out custom builds in the country.

The Fast Lane – puts the spotlight on the lifestyles, scandals and controversies of Formula 1 racers.

Ignition, owned by Arena Broadcast, started as a weekends-only channel in 2008 and, due to its popularity, expanded to a full 24/7 service in 2014.

“South Africans are car-crazy,” says Arena Broadcast head Vernon Matzopoulos. “We’d sooner upgrade our wheels than buy a home. Ignition taps into that passion, and we’re delighted to now be able to share this with Access viewers.”

The Whereabouts Of Sony Channel And Sony Max

Sony Channel (also known as Sony Entertainment Television) was a general entertainment channel based of the branding of the same name in India alongside defunct sister channel, Sony Max both of which were available in the African market in 2007 and 2011 respectively.

Some of the programming featured on these channels included The Amazing Race, Scrubs, Baywatch, Baggage, Drop Dead Diva, 1000 Ways To Die, Fear Factor, The Boondocks, Fatal Attraction, My Wife And Kids, Friends, Crossing Lines and Impractical Jokers.

The channel were seen as another alternative to brands like M-Net, Universal and BBC Brit and went as far as competing with the likes of Comedy Central and MTV. Sony Channel and Sony Max had everything going for themselves until that fateful show Gogglebox changed everything.

In 2015, Sony made their first attempt in producing local content with the launch of Gogglebox a series where random people watch various content particularly on DStv and you got to see their reactions to whatever was viewed on the platform.

It was this same show that caused a lot of scandal not only to the production crew but Sony in general. The crew of the show claimed to have viewed content that MultiChoice wasn't giving their consumers which led to the cancellation of the series.

Reruns were made available but from that point forward Sony had been alienating themselves from society offering less new content and often shuffling shows between channels despite their accessibility to the market.

In 2018, Sony Crime was introduced as a replacement to Sony Channel offering shows like Orange Is The New Black, Person Of Interest, CSI and Law And Order which kind of signalled the end of the brand in Africa of course most hoped that they would be saved.

But from what's been seen with several linear channels like Disney XD, FOX, FOX Life and EVA usually when a channel stops offering new content it usually means the channel is on the chopping which was the case with DStv as viewers had to resort to M-Net and Universal.

The Sony Channels were made available for another year until they were subsequently discontinued on another defunct platform Cell C's Black.

Sony Entertainment Television operated a number of linear channels like the kids channel POP and music channel KISS all of which were terminated as the company now opts to supply content to the market and not linear channels.

As of 2022, the only regions to supply a Sony linear channel are in Latin America and Germany while others like Turkey, Asia and the UK join Africa on their demise.

As mentioned, the names of the Sony Channels in Africa were derived from India which remain active but for different programming and audience while DStv uses the channel numbers for Sony Channel and Max for sports or as Vince McMahon calls it Sports Entertainment.

But that's the only thing Sony took from India the brand names as the channels were managed by the UK which has since then been acquired by Narrative Capital with the Sony branding removed from all assets.

Sony Max never existed in those regions and most if not all the Sony Channels are using the "Great!" branding and Sony Channel now Great TV! features shows like Castle, M*A*S*H and The Persuader and Hart To Hart basically old series.

Is Sony's linear offering in better hands I guess but with streaming taking the media by storm you never know if some restructuring will take place but all the best for the new management.

Afrikaans Voice Overs For In Die Ysterhand Se Greep And Kruispad + An Update On Die Put Voice Overs For Season 2

In Die Ysterhand Se Greep

Gustav Gerdener as Yigit

Sesethu Ntombela as Nur

Shemane Harris as Iciai

Karin Retief as Aytul

Sanli Jooste as Nazaan

Denver Vraagom as Cahit

Claudia Jones as Yaren

Susan Coetzer as Hafize

Mia Anne Kennedy as Elmas

Kruispad

Anton Dekker as Suleyman

Adrian Styen as Mert

Rika Senne as Kudret

Sue Pyler as Nehir

Marlee Van Der Merwe as Ilay

Cindy Swanepoel as Eda

Die Put replacements

Wilhelm Van Der Walt as Selim

Jaundre Kim as Karaca

Credits: Die Afrikaans Voice Page

'Days Of Our Lives': Could The Sand In The Hourglass Be Heading To A New Era In South Africa?

NBC’s long-running soap opera Days of Our Lives will be leaving broadcast television after 57 years to stream exclusively on Peacock, the network announced on Wednesday. The change means that fans who previously have been able to watch the show for free on broadcast will now have to pay for a streaming service to learn what happens next in the show’s fictional town of Salem.

“With a large percentage of the Days of Our Lives audience already watching digitally, this move enables us to build the show’s loyal fanbase on streaming while simultaneously bolstering the network daytime offering with an urgent, live programming opportunity for partners and consumers,” Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, said in a press release.

Earlier in the year, Days Of Our Lives was swept out of e.tv's primetime offering as eMedia tries to boost their original offering with eMedia Investments expected to invest R100 million in their streaming endeavours which has seen success as the company was able to obtain half a million registrations and record breaking ratings.

Of course, Days Of Our Lives' absence still haunts a lot of consumers as they've been following the soap for half a century when it began on the free-to-air SABC 3 channel which was known at the time as CCV channel and after the SABC's controversial COO at the time Hlaudi Motsoeneng put up a ban for international series forcing the drama to air close to midnight. 

As seen earlier in the year, the sand in the hourglass for e.tv has come to an end after almost 5 years of broadcast which has some feeling agitated over an outlet to this ongoing soap opera.

Peacock overseas decided to move Days away from cable as the ratings have been slipping on a year to year basis as direct-to-consumer becomes a top priority for international brands like The Walt Disney Company.

Before this news came into affect, Vodacom's defunct streaming service supplied Bold And The Beautiful another ongoing soap opera and rival to Days Of Our Lives after it was swept out of SABC's lineup due to the corrupt bold man thereafter MultiChoice's DStv as AMC International opt to not supply EVA channel which was the home of Bold on cable.

As it is a lot of long format or in other terms old timers like The Simpsons moved from cable to streaming for consumers in South Africa as The Walt Disney Company retracted the FOX channel as they plan to become a digital exclusive platform like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

Now Days Of Our Lives being a digital exclusive doesn't seem far fetched and on Peacock although not available in the region as yet wouldn't be far fetched a stretch as well seeing as Days Of Our Lives: Beyond Salem which is a spinoff to be the soap can be viewed on the platform.

Peacock on top of being a streaming service is owned by NBCUniversal the same people that own Days Of Our Lives and now the chances of it suffering the franchise getting swept on this platform is close to zero but questions amount to how this service will eventually rollout in South Africa

As it is, Peacock is just another Showmax holds a lot of third party content, limited original content and is not knowledgeable by a lot of consumers as seen with Netflix and Disney+. In some regions, the platform was able to fold under Paramount+ which is expected in Africa by early next year but that doesn't guarantee it will supply Peacock.

Peacock is a very complicated case as outlined there's not much to offer on the table that you would dump a hamburger for a salad while others found comfort on Paramount+ (also known to some as SkyShowcase). Others got it as standalone as seen overseas while others found comfort in a local provider to which I nominate Showmax.

Say what you want about their owners MultiChoice but NBCUniversal has a tight relationship to the company as they supply the only alternative to M-Net on the DStv platform as others were retracted due to content or management changes. On top of that, the movie offering on Studio Universal can come in handy when you're avoiding cartoons.

Conspiracy Theory: The Real Reason CBS Reality Remains In The UK

In the summer of 2019, AMC International and Paramount made a loss of £8,024,000 before tax £4,000 and a year later amidst the pandemic witnessed a small increase in an impairment charge of £8,643,000 with net assets worth £4,069,000.

Earlier in the month, CBS Reality remained onboard their stable while other CBS brands like CBS Justice, CBS Drama and Horror Channel were axed for Legend, Reality Xtra and Horror Xtra as rumours swirl about the dismemberment of their partnership.

As seen in their financial records in the summer of 2020, AMC International is in a loss making position with a net current liabilities of £7,178,641 (2019: £7,162,843) and negative equity of £7,178641 (2019: £905,317) with Paramount offering funding until for the rest of 2021 and discussing future prospects by the end of 2022.

Taking that to account, the name change could have something to do with the reported losses and the changes could spell the dismemberment of Paramount and AMC International after 10 years.

CBS Reality as mentioned is the only channel to not have been affected by the change but what if the reason behind that wasn't Warner Bros. Discovery's Really channel which has a similar coat of paint to the Reality portion of the name but something bigger.

Reality Xtra which is seen as a spin-off to CBS Reality even though that's not the case with the programming was once the name used on the main channel. Is it possible that CBS Reality will close and merge onto Reality Xtra? If so why not do it sooner?

CBS Reality has a lot of decent and mature content compared to MTV and E! on top of various cable providers so maybe they're fulfilling agreements with some suppliers before axing the channel with content moving over to Reality Xtra.

#BoycottKykNet: A Possible Outcome To The Demise Of eExtra

eMedia Investments got into a fist fight with MultiChoice when the pay-tv platform decided to scrap 4 of their e.tv channels before handling the matter with Competition Tribunal with outcomes to the agreement set to be unraveled.

As seen this past week, kykNET's duplicate channel kykNET & Kie will be adapting to the concept seen on eExtra's Kuiertyd block where they dub various telenovelas particularly Turkish in Afrikaans and giving the free-to-view brand some steady competition.

As mentioned in an early press release:

World-class TV has been dubbed into Afrikaans for decades. Over the past few years, South Africa's excellent reverberation skills have been used to bring Turkish telenovelas to local screens - in Afrikaans. The plot, action and romance in these telenovelas keep viewers glued.

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kykNET obviously got this entail from e.tv as series like Droomvelore can pull close to 2 million views while a show like 7de Laan has less than 900000 views monthly. Even eExtra despite not being as accessible as the main brand was fortunate enough to surpass 7de Laan.

As seen for the past 4 years, this content was exclusive to eExtra before being duplicated on more eMedia brands now DStv consumers will be getting more alternatives to but the decision to keep the e.tv channels is entirely up to DStv.

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Firstly, kykNET's attempt could be met with severe backlash not because of the cancellation of Tussen Ons or reduction in local content but MultiChoice's decision to not keep eExtra alongside the 3 other e.tv channels.

After that close scare in March, several consumers opted for Openview in case things don't work out between those parties and these shows are divided between platforms.

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eMedia was the main reason these stories went on to be as big as they are today. The only way most if not all consumers would view this content on DStv is to be assured that eExtra will remain unscathed throughout kykNET's introduction to the Turkish market.

Conspiracy Theory: Could Zee Bollymovies Be The Second Movie Channel MultiChoice Was Hyping About? And Could RT Global Be Added As A Replacement To Russia Today (RT)?

StarSat recently launched Zee Bollymovies and RT Global to their platform during the week as the platform is still trying to source out more content to make up for the hundred channels removed from their platform.

MultiChoice was set to cut the cord on e.tv's four channels in March but was delayed for another two months as they entered a court session with eMedia Investments regarding the agreement for these channels.

As mentioned, MultiChoice promised to launch a second movie channel while as expanding the reach of KIX to DStv Access customers while the terminations had been delayed the additions on the other hand have reportedly been finalized.

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I mean the rumour is not shocking as these developments are also being made available to the rest of Africa and I have a reason to believe it could be Zee Bollymovies.

During the court session with eMedia Investments, MultiChoice boasted about how repetitive their offering is implying that this movie channel could have less to none of that, second is KIX is launching on Access and the channel has nothing in common with eMovies and last is the timing for Zee Bollymovies.

StarTimes was the first to unveil Real Time and before you knew it the channel surfaced on DStv so what are the chances Zee Bollymovies won't just do the same.

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In other developments

Russia Today is now available on StarSat or at least as RT Global. From what was stated during the channel's blackout on DStv, MultiChoice had no intention of scrapping the channel so what are the chances that RT Global won't just take up the space of Russia Today.

If MultiChoice still has Russia Today it may not be due to the hope that EU restore the channel but possibly a contractual complication. Every deal can have a loophole, Russia Today's agreement with MultiChoice was to provide content.

Would it be shocking if these pair surface on DStv?

SABC Movies: A Scrapped Dream Journal For The SABC

In 2012, The SABC announced plans to launch their long awaited DTT platform to the market which would consist of 18 channels and some of the channels that were fortunate enough to materialize were SABC News, SABC Sport and SABC Education.

Although, the public broadcaster plans for their decoder fell through several brands have since then resurfaced. Aside from SABC Education and SABC Sport, the public broadcaster registered two other brands SABC Parliament and SABC Children.

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SABC 4, SABC 5 and SABC Movies are the only brands that haven't been picked up.

SABC 4 & 5 are likely dead at this point the two were going to be SABC's version of Cape Town and Soweto TV and such channel has been deemed expensive just not for pay-tv platforms but SABC Movies on the other hand is different.

SABC Movies just like eMovies was set to be a catch-up channel for films broadcast on SABC 1-3 which is the norm for the most free-to-air channels overtime the lineup would shift to appease the audience.

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If successful, the brand would have gotten a second movie channel to help boost the load of repeats.

At the moment, the public broadcaster is looking to source channels other platforms are willing to cover. SABC Movies has no room in the overcrowded field of movie channels or at least for DStv.

Not that they can't launch it but if the SABC wanted the brand on there it would have find its niche even with platforms like StarSat and Openview. It shouldn't duplicate what's already available or air content that is not suited for the modern demographic.