MTV Hits Vs. Qwest TV: MultiChoice's Transition From Pop To Jazz

During the week, it was reported that MTV Hits will be the next channel to exit the DStv platform this comes after the close demise of Da Vinci Kids. On top of that, another channel Qwest TV is set to take its place within the following month.

MTV Hits was an international music brand operated by Paramount Global which also supplies channels like BET, MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. Qwest TV another foreigner was founded by American producer, musician and multi Grammy Award winner Quincy Jones.

MTV Hits dwells in the world of pop featuring hits from the likes of Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Drake. Qwest TV very much like the defunct Soul Music channel on the Openview platform is a jazz infused channel home to the likes of Herbie Hancock, Andersen Paak and Aretha Franklin.

MTV Hits seperated themselves from the rest of the pack's overrepetitive lifestyle but it too came with a lot of repetition. Just like it's predecessor, MTV Music24 all its content played in a particular order and would often restart within the day.

Basically, the channel was less productive which could have been the result to its demise.

Qwest TV seeks to undo the wrong which was set by MTV Hits as the brand on top of being a multimedia platform offers concerts, live performances, countdowns and documentaries. The only setback comes from it being a jazz channel.

MTV Hits was more of a youth based brand as the offering resonates with audiences between the ages of 13-18 or 18-34 years while Qwest TV is for a whole new audience or in this case 25-49+ years. The only thing these two have very much in common at this point is their focus on international shores.

Most people between the age range for MTV Hits are using Spotify or iTunes to stream their favourite tunes but to those who are unable to afford such luxury will now have to direct themselves to the audio section of DStv for a similar offering.

Qwest TV is gearing up for a November debut as MTV Hits gets wiped off the airwaves. MultiChoice hasn't launched Moonbug Kids as promised on the 13th of October.

#BoycottMoonbugKids: The Possible Outcome To The Demise Of Da Vinci Kids On The DStv And GOtv Platform

With only a few days left on the DStv and GOtv platforms, MultiChoice has decided to axe the educational channel, Da Vinci Kids and this comes after unveiling a new preschool channel, Moonbug Kids. Thanks to our sources we were able to get an official statement.

MultiChoice constantly reviews its channel offering to ensure we continue to bring our customers the best quality local and international content that adds value to our customer's viewing experience. As such, Da Vinci (DStv channel 318 and GOtv channel 66/157/359) will no longer be available to DStv packages, effective 15 October 2022. We continue to look for fresh content that resonates with our viewers. Customers can look forward to more exciting content announcements such Moonbug Kids channel launching soon - and we've launched another kids channel, DreamWorks Channel earlier this year.

As mentioned in a previous post, Moonbug Kids will be added as a replacement to Da Vinci Kids and with MultiChoice battling transponder constraints it's led the brand to scrap a couple of channels in order to allocate more channels.

Unlike most replacements, Moonbug Kids is like when you slide BET with Travel Channel - random. As the two don't have much in common aside from the demographic with a bit of variation.

Da Vinci Kids audience range from 8-12 years with shows like Siesta Z, Operation Ouch, Horrible Histories and Wild Kratts. Accompanying the lineup is a dedicated family block filled with mostly documentaries and other factual content.

I mean after its acquisition the channel has become less of a Discovery Channel but more like a CBeebies and PBS Kids I mean there's more animation and the live-action puts it in a competitive spot with Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.

But that's the thing, not a lot of people are familiar with this version of the channel as amazing as the improvements have been we have to face the facts. Not everyone is familiar with this version as opposed to the one from few years back.

The same can be said about its replacement Moonbug Kids as its audiences is further limited from Da Vinci Kids while the channel catered to 8-12 years then 6-12 years with Moonbug Kids it's like mixing Baby TV and JimJam to form this fresh smoothie.

Moonbug Kids has managed to redeem themselves and I have no doubt about that but the audience doesn't match up to Da Vinci Kids I mean the channel carried preschool just like Boomerang it doesn't come full-time as seen here.

Moonbug Kids is home to CoComelon a show featuring music, dance and nursery rhymes again something you'll typically see on Baby TV and the only thing that's less Baby TV about the channel is Supa Strikas and beside the point it's not something you'd expect on Da Vinci Kids.

But Supa Strikas being on a brand that is dedicated to preschoolers has me wondering how such a franchise can be reduced to preschool even that of Baby TV. I mean most of the company's property is preschool just kind of curious how Supa Strikas ended up in that predicament.

And even more curious on who still has the energy for this soccer legend I mean I believe everyone needs a break every now and then but Supa Strikas has been all over the place SABC, e.tv, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel and now Moonbug Kids.

Da Vinci Kids doesn't have much alternatives aside from National Geographic and Curiosity but they aren't kid based and the channel kind of set up its offering in a way that would appease their target audience and those accompanying them and these brands cater for a much wider spectrum.

 

[Missed Opportunity]: Expanding The Reach Of Novela Magic Or Telemundo To DStv Easyview

eExtra was ripped off from the DStv platform for at least a month and was reinstated shortly after alongside eToonz, eMovies and eMovies Extra on the DStv platform following pending investigation by the Competition Tribunal which will take at least 6 months to resolve.

MultiChoice appears to have moved on although they don't put it in writing recent additions like DreamWorks and Movie Room has led me to believe that the pay-tv company has no plans to keep these channels past 6 months or at least a portion of channels.

As outlined by MultiChoice, eMedia Investments bulk of content doesn't fit into their 5 year content strategy for which the brand had stated consumers are viewing more DStv content than actual original programs although 2 appear to fit that description.

On top of that, they had mentioned that they won't be able to launch as much channels as they used to in the past year due to transponder constraints so whenever a new channel comes it usually has to occupy the space taken away from another channel.

In court, MultiChoice stated 3 SABC channels would accommodate for the 4 e.tv channels in the coming future but that's the thing. If anyone is similar with the SABC then you can already imagine how the content would differ.

Instead of Postman Pat you get Words And Numbers and Die Put is supplemented by past episodes of 90 Plein Street and although some of this content can benefit some audiences it's completely different.

The package I'm targeting for this article had to be Easyview cause as seen by several consumers it's one of the least valuable packages in the market with few exceptions being wrestling on TNT alongside the lifestyle and factual entertainment viewed on Real Time.

On top of that, the package isn't fortunate with additions and at times replacements for whenever a channel is removed from the DStv platform which was the case with eMedia's 4 channels of which the package inherited just 2 channels.

When they were unexpectedly scrapped from the DStv platform. Multichoice rather just add 1 channel to supplement for 2 worse is when the channel doesn't cater to a lot of viewers, PBS Kids.

MultiChoice could have done a lot for the package especially since they lost another notable brand in 2020, SABC Encore which was one of the few watchable channels on the platform and although there's plenty of channels for adults than kids as outlined only a few are worth the value.

Novela Magic or Telemundo would have done better to fill the void MultiChoice left for fans of Kuiertyd. Although, they wouldn't be better Elif, Doodsondes or Stiletto Vendetta these channels have something in common character driven content.

Aside from the content, these channels have a high level of repeats although NBCUniversal doesn't see it the channel has fallen in terms of quantity while as Novela Magic repeats from other M-Net local channels would have given them some outlet to view the bulk of local content.

From Lifetime To fliekNET: A Look At Various Channel Changes On MultiChoice's DStv + Possible Future Channel Closures

2022 has proven to be a dramatic year on cable as MultiChoice has seen a shed of various channels from Russia Today's blackout to the carriage feud with eMedia Investments over their 4 TV channels we look at the list of channels that went off air during the year.

Terminations

Tellytrack - February 2022

Supplemented with Racing240

Russia Today - March 2022

eAfrica - March 2022

Lifetime - May 2022

ITV Networks - June 2022

Supplemented with Hilaal TV

fliekNET - July 2022

Supplemented with kykNET

Zhejiang TV - July 2022

Supplemented with CCTV-4 and KIX

CMC TV - July 2022

Supplemented with CCTV-4 and KIX

New channels

Racing240 - January 2022

Replacement for Tellytrack

DreamWorks - March 2022

Replacement for eToonz supposedly

Hilaal TV - June 2022

Replacement for ITV Networks

NHK World-Japan - July 2022

INX Prime - August 2022

Movie Room - August 2022

Replacement for eMovies and eMovies Extra supposedly

Possible/rumoured terminations with estimations

CBS Reality - Fall 2022

CBS Justice - Fall 2022

JimJam - Fall 2022

Nicktoons - Fall 2022

eMovies - Early 2023

eMovies Extra - Early 2023

eExtra - Early 2023

eToonz - Early 2023

Discovery Family - TBC

Travel Channel - TBC

Possible new channels including scrapped batches

SABC Education

Two SABC channels

Untitled Via duplicate channel

The Racing Partnership (TRP)

Possible Outcome To The Demise Of CBS Justice And Nicktoons On DStv

During the year, MultiChoice had been monitoring stock which led to the cancellation of Tellytrack, fliekNET and ITV Networks and there's also been those unexpected developments from e.tv's 4 channels, RT and Lifetime with CBS Justice and Nicktoons likely joining the trio.

CBS Justice was shuttered in the UK in July by the same people that manage the one seen on the DStv platform which was subsequently supplemented by an action skewed channel Legend which appears to be applicable to viewers of that region.

After seeing a promo, it doesn't feel like something AMC International would want to build in other regions and the fact that these channels aren't seen with the CBS brand has led me to believe that maybe these channels will involve CBS Reality.

CBS Reality remains intact as sources believe it has to do with another channel almost resembling the "Reality" look and feel.

But seeing as CBS Reality and CBS Justice are factual it makes more sense to merge them perhaps under another brand name like RealityXtra I mean both channels have seen a high level in repetition and this merger would kind of help boost the offering.

Honestly, CBS Reality kind of seems out of touch that the idea of both channels likely exiting the region wouldn't be far fetched a stretch.

Onto their partners Paramount, I noticed that Nicktoons has become lifeless as the only current shows are NickMusic and something I can see Nickelodeon boot after a season 2/3 is Middlemost Post. I know the brand was always catered to Nickelodeon's scraps but this time it's different.

Paramount had always wanted to make Nicktoons feel independent and there's been less of that. I noticed they put up adverts for Kamp Koral and Rugrats on Nicktoons despite not airing as the channel might be aligned to the global Nicktoons feed to some extent.

On top of that, Nicktoons has an outdated programme guide if Horrid Henry ain't called Program To Be Confirmed then you get an old schedule which is usually updated the following day with the rest of the week remaining very much outdated.

This habit makes it seem as if Paramount is ready to retire the channel soon as they gear up for the rollout of Paramount+ which is scheduled to rollout in Africa by 2023 and would it be shocking if Nicktoons closed prior to its launch with Nickelodeon filling up its shoes.

Paramount often refers Nicktoons audiences to upcoming attractions from Nickelodeon which can be chaotic considering the geography. In South Africa, Nickelodeon is a premium channel and viewers should be compensated should Nicktoons be discontinued.

Honestly, the world is evolving and these channels in general are becoming a thing of the past I have some fond memories and I believe that's the only thing to keep a channel alive in spirit.

 

Why Fan-Favourite Sports Channel Is Not Available On Pay Platforms

In 2021, the isolated SABC Sport channel on the DTT platform was made available to Openview consumers as part of a deal made by the public broadcaster and eMedia Investments which included two more channels and 19 radio stations.

Years prior, SABC Sport made its OTT debut on Telkom's streaming service TelkomOne under a similar agreement with the public broadcaster within it included the 19 radio stations, SABC Education and likely any upcoming channel(s).

Since it's availability to free-to-air consumers, SABC Sport has become the top 10 watched channels on Openview and since then sourced several content outside of SABC 1-3 which includes the best of ESPN and Racing240 and all of that just triggered a certain pay-tv brand, SuperSport.

SuperSport is a sports division of M-Net which houses the biggest sports brands like Premier League, La Liga, UEFA Champions League, Moto GP, WWE, Wimbledon, PGA Tour. Point is they are the biggest sports brands in Africa.

Unfortunately, due to all these prestige over the brand only a handful of matches are accessible to lower masses and those excluded rely on the SABC for some of these matches.

In the beginning, consumers no matter the platform would have access to these matches but following the official launch of SABC Sport that all changed as SuperSport exclusive matches would only be screened on the DStv and DTT platform with TelkomOne and Openview blocked from seeing any of these matches.

If you look at the tactic here, they're basically trying to boost the consumer numbers on their platforms as they experience a decline in DStv Premium and Compact consumers and also with streaming taking over they want to level the playing field.

Since then the public broadcaster had filed an application accusing SuperSport of being anti-competitive in a similar stature to eMedia Investments when their channels where pulled from the DStv platform.

Taking that to account, why would MultiChoice want a channel that rebroadcast SuperSport content especially if it means more consumers will likely downgrade if it means paying less for premium content.

Some of the content that was restricted to TelkomOne and Openview were also excluded from SABC Sport imagine if the channel was already on DStv with those restrictions attached when consumers who missed out would hope to catch-up or rehash some past content.

[Missed Opportunity]: Expanding The Reach Of Zee World To DStv Access

eExtra was ripped off from the DStv platform for at least a month and was reinstated shortly after alongside eToonz, eMovies and eMovies Extra on the DStv platform following pending investigation by the Competition Tribunal which will take at least 6 months to resolve.

MultiChoice appears to have moved on although they don't put it in writing recent additions like DreamWorks and Movie Room has led me to believe that the pay-tv company has no plans to keep these channels past 6 months or at least a portion of channels.

As outlined by MultiChoice, eMedia Investments bulk of content doesn't fit into their 5 year content strategy for which the brand had stated consumers are viewing more DStv content than actual original programs although 2 appear to fit that description.

On top of that, they had mentioned that they won't be able to launch as much channels as they used to in the past year due to transponder constraints so whenever a new channel comes it usually has to occupy the space taken away from another channel.

In court, MultiChoice stated 3 SABC channels would accommodate for the 4 e.tv channels in the coming future but that's the thing. If anyone is similar with the SABC then you can already imagine how the content would differ.

Instead of Postman Pat you get Words And Numbers and Die Put is supplemented by past episodes of 90 Plein Street and although some of this content can benefit some audiences it's completely different.

The package I'm targeting for this article had to be Easyview cause as seen by several consumers it's one of the least valuable packages in the market with few exceptions being wrestling on TNT alongside the lifestyle and factual entertainment viewed on Real Time.

On top of that, the package isn't fortunate with additions and at times replacements for whenever a channel is removed from the DStv platform which was the case with eMedia's 4 channels.

When they were unexpectedly scrapped from the DStv platform. Multichoice rather just add 1 channel to supplement for 4 worse is when the channel has nothing remotely similar to any of the channels, KIX.

MultiChoice should have done a better job reviewing the aspects of each channel cause it's clear by some readers that this wasn't the case at all for eMedia's stations as the brand made it seem as if nothing new appeared on those stations.

eToonz was mostly preschool and that changed over the years regardless MultiChoice directed viewers to Disney Junior and JimJam with Cartoon Network being the only brand for older children and eExtra came off as a local channel.

Interesting to note is how they were able to keep up with the offering but didn't bother to just view every aspect of the channel as there was more to the channel than the supposed local offering which was compared to kykNET and Mzansi Wethu.

There was more to eExtra than just Kuiertyd there was that chunk of Korea and Zee TV offering which surprise surprise comes with a 24 hour linear channel that is seen on DStv Access everywhere else except South Africa but MultiChoice just opts for more MTV Base.

Viewers on DStv Access get to view this offering for only 6 months but what happens that duration passes those who are paying more can view this content on Zee World while those paying less being these consumers even Easyview are left in the dark for the foreseeable future.

eVOD Has Been Credited In Latest Annual Results From MultiChoice Group

MultiChoice and eMedia Investments have been in an on/off relationship following the dispute in regard to the 4 e.tv channels. As seen in May, the channels went dark on DStv without notice only for the Competition Tribunal to look back on their final notion following pending investigation.

During that time, MultiChoice had managed to find the necessary alternatives with kykNET's Turkish offering on kykNET & Kie, DreamWorks, KIX and Movie Room all of which have managed to perform at their best capacity but not enough to fill the void left by the e.tv channels.

For those who've been following eMedia's stations for a while may have heard of eVOD I mean who wouldn't have heard of it as it is the only known outlet to stream the bulk of content some of which haven't aired any of eMedia's channels.

It was speculated the only reason eVOD wasn't added onto the Explora Ultra had to do with the ongoing feud between eMedia Investments and MultiChoice in regard to DTT and the carriage fees for their channels as other brands like the SABC are said to be earning more with just SABC News.

But as MultiChoice outlined in their recent annual results, they plan to add more streaming services even crediting various entities that haven't been seen on the Explora Ultra like Acorn TV and eVOD.

Taking that to account, could you say that eVOD will likely be bundled under the Explora Ultra perhaps as a replacement to e.tv's 4 channels as the channels only returned as part of a technicality and aren't must carry channels like SABC 1-3.

Boomerang Vs. Toonami Vs. Boing: Most Likely To Get Chopped

Boomerang, Toonami and Boing are animation brands within Warner Bros. Discovery's portfolio that cater to kids and youth adults but to better understand them it's best to explain each of them individually in detail.

Boomerang is a children's brand that caters to viewers aged 4-7 with shows like Masha And The Bear, Grizzy And The Lemmings and The Happos Family while as carrying content for the whole family to enjoy like Looney Tunes Cartoons, Mr. Magoo and Zig & Sharko.

Toonami is an action driven channel for young adults featuring various animation from DC's superheroes like Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Justice League and Teen Titans. Accompanying the league of DC characters is anime like Hero Academia and Dragonball.

Boing is basically another Nicktoons as it features a classic set of content like Adventure Time, Regular Show, Johnny Bravo and Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends while as being used a brand for CN's forgotten or reject shows like Angelo Rules, Oswaldo and The Jungle Bunch.

In short, Boomerang is the best place for laughter while Toonami caters for comic book fans and people in the mood for some action and Boing travels back in time to the place where it all began with old favorites while blending to the modern society.

Unfortunately with all these traits come some minor flaws of which these 3 all have in common. Although each have a role to play, it's more transparent the more you watch but I feel it's best to bring it up.

On a year to year basis, Warner Bros. Discovery invests a certain amount of airtime on their channels with Boomerang and Cartoon Network getting the most Investment seeing as they're more acknowledged compared to Boing and Toonami.

In terms of content, Boomerang doesn't have a lot of noticable shows just gags which can help pass the time but that's as far as it goes. Just like Toonami, it can be irritating on how these shows rollout and how long it takes before you can get anything worthwhile.

Boing is just another repeats channel if anything it kind of rectifies the errors of Boomerang and Toonami. After all, the lineup adjusts constantly you don't have to wait several months or a year to find something worthwhile but that's just the perks of being a Nicktoons which can be substituted.

If there's any channel that would likely get chopped in this instance, it would have to be these three as it is Warner Bros. Discovery is cost cutting and I'm not saying they won't be much left on these stations or we'll see less content but 2/3 is a Nicktoons with the third being an odd triplet.

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.

Development Hell: The Pending The Third Season To Star Life's The Evil Eye

The Evil Eye was the first and one of the few attempts Africa got to supernatural on Star Life alongside A Magical Love Story which came amidst a pandemic with the second season was also filmed in such a climate.

Since its abrupt end, some viewers can't stop boasting about the show that it got to a point where they advertised fake repeats and even listed Bengali adaptation Nojor (pictured above) as The Evil Eye season 3.

Ever since A Magical Love Story ended, there hasn't been a site of venomous snake or anything supernatural on Star Life even on Zee World as regional stations are the closest to viewing them dubbed while others are distributed in their original language with subtitles.

 

Amidst the phasing out of these shows sources state that Star Life picked up Bold And Beautiful and The Evil Doom which were scheduled for a late 2021 to mid 2022 release which never came to pass.

Joining that trio was the fake third season of The Evil Eye which is now considered a new season but supposedly on a new Indian entertainment channel that was set to replace Star Life.

This supposed channel was said to focus on Bengali which is similar to Hindi in an attempt to "differentiate" the offering from StarPlus but hey some of the content from Bengali are remakes to the Hindi content and vice versa.

 

The thing about this was Disney Star the owners of these brands already operated a Bengali channel Star Jalsha which is niche I mean every market has their niche. In South Africa, it is Tsonga, Sepedi and Siswati as Zulu, Afrikaans and Ndebele dominate the region.

The question would have to be why trade one group for another if the plan was to replace wouldn't it be better to source areas like Telegu, Tamil and Malayalam as they also reside in the Bollywood community under the Disney Star.

Zee TV had every chance to launch such a channel but instead opted for reruns channel, Zee One.

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

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

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"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.

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"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.

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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."

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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.

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?

The History Of A Former DStv Channel, Carlton's SelecTV

Carlton Select was UK's leading entertainment channel owned by Carlton Television. It originally launched in June 1995 as SelecTV, by the independent production company of the same name, before being purchased by Carlton in 1997 who relaunched it as Carlton Select.

During 1985-1991, the channel was part of a bid for an ITV franchise after the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) prevented them from purchasing Thames Television and were only fortunate to provide a news service to the channel.

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Other aspects that occurred in that timeframe was the purchase of Ladbrokes (Central), the sports betting company owning up to 30% which finally gave them its first stake in a terrestrial broadcasting company.

During 1992-1994, Carlton launched a news station London News Network as part of a joint venture with London Weekend Television broadcasting news and other regional content and acquired full ownership of Ladbrokes.

They also faced some heavy backlash from the Independent Television Communication (ITC) for providing a wide range of "unimpressive and very disappointing" programmes for the ITV network which were "neither distinctive nor noticeable high quality".

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Between 1995 and 1996, Carlton launched its first channel Carlton Food Network and SelectTV was introduced broadcasting various content from their Food Network alongside other content like Airline, Birds Of A Feather, The Golden Girls and Yesterday's Dreams.

It also formed part of DStv's initial offering when it was introduced in 1995 and was eventually purchased by Pearson a year later.

SelecTV programming traced back to the 80s and Carlton Select was introduced in 1997 as part of an attempt to change the image of the channel of course there was not much difference from either one as the timelines were kind of close to each other.

Things were only moving up for Carlton as they were able to launch DTT platform British Digital Broadcasting as part of a joint venture with British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) before having full control as ITC forced BSkyB to retract and purchased a Racks Film Distributor which had  740 films in their collection.

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In 1998, The Guardian publishes a series of articles alleging the wholesale fabrication of a 1996 Carlton documentary, The Connection which had purported to film the route by which heroin was smuggled into the United Kingdom from Colombia. An internal inquiry at Carlton found that The Guardian's allegations were in large part correct and the ITC, fines Carlton £2million for multiple breaches of the UK's broadcasting codes.

Around that period, BSkyB launched their DTT service carrying their set of channels alongside Carlton Select, Carlton Food Network (another DStv channel) and new entries Carlton Kids, Carlton Cinema and Carlton World.

A year after the launch, Carlton began phasing out the company name from all their products and it wasn't until the 2000s that Carlton Select, Carlton World, Carlton Kids were eventually discontinued.

Carlton World followed shortly after and Carlton Food Network became a joint venture with Sainsbury to form Taste CFN which lasted a year leaving Carlton with a movie channel, Carlton Cinema.

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Carlton partnered up with BSkyB (now Granada PLC or Sky UK) to launch ITV Digital from existing brands and that lasted a few months as well. Granada PLC had various brands which were scrapped for ITV1.

Carlton Cinema ceased transmission and in 2003 the Carlton brand was no more as it merged with Granada PLC to form ITV PLC. All the products from Carlton were credited to ITV.

ITV PLC went on to form an international channel ITV Choice (formerly Granada UKTV, Granada TV and ITV Granada) which some may see as a reincarnation to SelecTV and various other entertainment channels from the two former brands.

Just like every other carnation, ITV Choice was eventually discontinued by 2020 in its last region Africa. There hasn't been a reason for the sudden dismal in various other markets but the local provider in Africa being MultiChoice opted to supply their content to various other channels.

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ITV Choice brought shows like Emmerdale, Coronation Street, Tipping Point, The Jonathon Ross Show, The Chase and Doc Martin. Modern and original programming that past counterparts had the misfortune of excluding.

In the end, ITV hasn't been successful in the linear space with the likes of BBC and regional providers. Of course, ITV provides various channels in the UK with Ginx TV also being British being the only linear channel available internationally.

But if you look at it the content can be viewed on multiple stations globally so that has to count for something.

What Really Happened To VH1 Classic On DStv And Where Is It Now?

The popular music brand VH1 Classic started out mainly consisting of niche genres which didn't appease the masses at the time which led to its downfall on DStv and the switch to VH1 Classic.

At the time this channel was still around, they were plenty of channels offering international hits mainly modern day music before localising their offering which welcomed a new rail of viewers while others resorted to other means like streaming to cater for their tastes.

In all those eras, VH1 Classic stood out from the rest with their selection of international classic hits while Mzansi Music dealt with the local spectrum.

It wasn't until 2019 that ViacomCBS announced the discontinuation of VH1 Classic and the launch of the European MTV Music24 which therefore killed all their classical tunes for more modernizing.

It wasn't until that period that most channels which had a stack of international hits reduced the lineup for more localised tunes therefore boosting the value of MTV Music24 which doesn't cater for that region as it adapting to a European feed.

MTV Music24 wasn't all rainbows and sunshine aside from not carrying any fragment of VH1 Classic. The offering was very repetitive and they'd repeat the same music in the same order it was arranged and this continued on until last year where it was replaced with the pop based brand MTV Hits.

When VH1 Classic was terminated people pointed the finger toward DStv and when MTV Hits dethroned MTV Music24 there was a lot of silence in the switch as well as the reception. What some don't realise was that there was more to the story.

Tracing back to VH1 Classic, the channel was handled by Europe which used it as an entertainment channel to repeat programs from MTV. Africa got a different feed for some apparent reason.

In 2016, the owners of VH1 being announced that VH1 Classic would rebrand to MTV Classic as it was suspected that VH1 was being terminated internationally seeing that it was a property of MTV. Of course, this switch wasn't applicable to viewers in South Africa.

VH1 Classic was initially discontinued in 2016 so the feed in South Africa was just on autopilot for the past 3 years as they tried sourcing out the major reject MTV Music24.

MTV Music24 vanished two years later and if you google the channel. It appears that the brand was phased out likely as part of the initiative for MTV Global formerly MTV Europe which is limiting the localised feeds probably due to the launch of Paramount+.

Disney plans to close 100 international channels in the near future following the successful launch of their streaming service Disney+. It had been speculated that other companies will likely follow at a given time.

About VH1 Classic, the channel is currently known as MTV Classic I presume the reason it wasn't picked up in Africa was that ViacomCBS was looking for something that appease the current masses and anything like MTV Classic didn't fit that description.

MTV Classic has become a dumpster fire with its stack of repeats pulling 16000 viewers a month in a market with a large amount of pay-tv households. ViacomCBS no longer shares details about the viewership and I wouldn't be shocked if the channel was discontinued with nothing left in place.

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Could A Big Brother Africa Revival Be In The Works As More African Markets Start Working On A Local Adaptation Of The Popular Game Show?

Big Brother Africa originally began in 2003 on M-Net featuring contestants from across Africa living in an isolated household to compete for a cash prize. The show was cancelled after one season and picked once again in 2007 before getting cancelled after seven seasons in 2014.

Even though, the popular game show was canned the legacy lived on as Big Brother Naija for the past 5 years as they've been the forefront entertainers not only for Nigeria but the rest of Africa.

Not long ago, Liberia announced plans to launch a localised version of the game show titled Housemates Liberia through AYVTV. With plans to have this game show available in more markets just like Big Brother Naija.

With that in mind, its possible that MultiChoice might be planning to seperate versions of Big Brother Africa just the other day viewers have come across an advert for Big Brother Mzansi which is slated for South Africa in 2022.

The question remains on what affect it will inflict on Big Brother Naija. Considering that there's more than two perhaps MultiChoice in some regions will cut ties with the Nigerian counterpart to divert their focus their own version or offer Big Brother Naija on a limited basis.

Either way, it wouldn't surprise me if MultiChoice were to launch a dedicated channel for this game show titled Big Brother Africa for future as well as past seasons of the game show.

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Could Nicktoons Eventually Be Discontinued In Africa?

Nicktoons has been available in Africa for almost 7 years offering repeats from ViacomCBS other kids brands such as Nickelodeon and Nick Jr alongside other programming that hasn't been viewed on any of those channels.

For a while now, some of the channel's new content such as 44 Cats, Atchoo!, ALVINNN!!! And The Chipmunks and Ollie's Pack have seemingly been transmitted onto Nickelodeon on a exclusive basis.

Even Nick Jr. assisted the main brand by adopting Peppa Pig.

Nickelodeon even reached a point where they'd bring back series that were cancelled ages ago such as The Fairly OddParents and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and last year the South African feed went as far as including the Nick Jr. block.

Besides Nickelodeon Africa being split into two counterparts, there's also a variation in accessibility.

The South African feed of Nickelodeon (and Nick Jr) can be only be found on DStv on the top tier packages with Nicktoons available on the lower bouquets while the African feed of Nickelodeon is lower bouquets on DStv alongside several pay-tv providers with Nicktoons (and Nick Jr) targeting the top tier packages on DStv.

If you look at it those situating in South Africa have more use for Nicktoons while those who are subscribed to DStv and have access to Nickelodeon are likely ignoring Nicktoons so adding some of the content onto the channel is not only about accessibility but their way of trying to get people to watch the channel.

Since last year, ViacomCBS International started operating a Nick Global feed at times for the African Nickelodeon and Nick Jr channels just not Nicktoons.

There's reasons why Nicktoons could stay onboard and this is due to the lack of kids entertainment out there and the reason it could part ways is pay-tv operators have been religning their offering with the rise in streaming.

A year ago, Disney took away Disney XD and MultiChoice reduced their M-Net Movies channels from 6 to just 4 channels and cut two British channels with further content moving onto other channels.

Nickelodeon could have serve as a placeholder for Nicktoons with certain content being transmitted to their preschool brand, Nick Jr.

MultiChoice could look into other brands such as BBC Kids and DreamWorks Channel.

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Could M-Net And MultiChoice Eventually Revive Big Brother Africa As A Permanent Channel?

Big Brother is famous reality show that features contestants who live together in a specially constructed house that is isolated from the outside world. The first show which is based in Dutch began in September 1999 and since then became a major franchise with 54 adaptations around the world.

In Africa, we got to see a Pan-African version of the game show from M-Net between 2003 - 2014 before becoming a Naija exclusive by Africa Magic from 2017 and onwards through DStv.

It was recently reported that Liberia would be making its own version of the game show which will launch on DStv channel 399 not sure what's wrong with 198 which begs the question on whether M-Net plans to revive Big Brother Africa with regional adaptations if so how would they able to cram all those shows in 1 year.

My guess would be that MultiChoice and M-Net will eventually operate Big Brother as a full-time brand not just in Nigeria but the rest of Africa as well. I can see some having a joint game show of course.

From what I've gathered, this franchise is all about welcoming talent and unlike Idols SA pop-up channel. This one is not reserved for only auditions.

Last year, MultiChoice's content boss (who died of COVID-19 complications may she R.I.P.) mentioned how popular the show has become and how the viewership has grown exponentially during the pandemic.

With that in mind, a permanent feed doesn't seem far off and I know it's a lot to process but my idea for this channel is to give at least 6 month coverage perhaps reduce the duration to get more markets onto that space and to air repeats for the rest of the year and often run a second channel when the content gets bigger.

While the pop-up ran across all packages or at the ones paying more than R100 this permanent one will be available to the family package (my opinion). Not saying Access customers will lose anything but they'll have open windows when it's live or repeats could work to better save up on costs.

There's other channels on DStv airing new episodes throughout the year which would actually affect the viewership that's why mentioned repeats. It wouldn't also be the best time to deploy such antics during the December holidays since some viewers won't be invested to their TV screens.

Big Brother Africa would join fliekNET which served as a yearly pop-up before becoming a full-time channel. MultiChoice has been Afrocentric and more focused on what they have as opposed to what's still available which is the reason for Honey, Wild Earth, Moja 9.9., Novela Magic, Maisha Magic Movies, kykNET Lekker, Abol TV and Pearl Magic Prime.

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