Insidus Plus: M-Net

Showing posts with label M-Net. Show all posts

Former DStv Channel: What Happened To The Afrikaans Music Sensation MK?

Musiek Kanaal (MK) was a youth oriented music channel with similar styling to the early 2000s MTV and Channel O. It was distributed by M-Net on DStv channel 324 when it launched by mid-2005 as MK89 with the 89 being its original frequency on the platform.

As mentioned, MK had the MTV influence and prestige with reality shows like Jol24, Hoeneer and Petrolkop with music from Hoordoosis, Ondergrond and Kraakvars. Aside from catering to a much younger audience it was well known for infusing music genres.

By 2013, it was announced that MK would be exiting the DStv platform after 8 years with audio version launched in place. M-Net and MultiChoice noticed its strong online presence so kept various social accounts on air in an attempt to build its streaming base.

Prior to its discontinuation, KykNET launched its third spinoff channel KykNET NOU (formerly KykNET Musiek) which is described as a variety channel incorporating music and other programming into the mix.

Although, MultiChoice had the intention of retaining MK through an international service with other content viewed on the audio bouquet. This proved to be unsuccessful as MK barely had much content in the pipeline that it wasn't long till it got discontinued to its entirety.

To date, MK's content is still accessible on YouTube although owners Google were looking to deactivate millions of inactive accounts. With thousand hours of MK content on the platform one has to wonder how long the brand would continue to be accessible.

Understanding the downfall of MK

According to MultiChoice, most of its consumers preferred using online platforms than watching outdated television which contributed to its low figures. But that couldn't be any further from reality as a various scenarios could have formed the exiting of MK.

KykNET NOU was introduced as the new kid in the block a year before MK was shut down. Unlike MK, KykNET NOU was grouped alongside KykNET's other linear channels despite offering similar content to MK which was grouped with MTV Base and Trace Urban.

MK was a premium channel while KykNET NOU was available all the way down to Family. KykNET NOU had the figures and combining that with MK put it at a disadvantage so if the problem was viewership they could have restructured the content as opposed to closing.

What If The M-Net Series Trademark Were Revived Perhaps In Place Of M-Net 101?

With MultiChoice and M-Net set to axe secondary networks M-Net Essentials (Me) and 1Magic in the coming weeks. It kind of leads one to wonder if the main M-Net channel which had been exclusive to premium consumers since it's inception will get purged.

Unlike Me and 1Magic, M-Net hadn't undergone any rebranding, name change or drastic reshuffling to programming if anything it has seen a decline in audiences. Similar to the United States were brands like HBO and NBC had lost at least 10% of their audience yearly.

M-Net has hit rough patch so much so that neither them or MultiChoice are ever public about the viewing numbers of their programs. When 1Magic debuted, their lowest rated show V-Entertainment had at least 10,000 viewers so M-Net would need to have something around that range.

Not that the channel has become irrelevant, but it's basically how SABC would view SABC 3 - niche. It's still dominant in the field it caters for or at least on linear platforms offering latest seasons to shows alongside films.

But with the downfall of the secondary networks and decline in viewership on M-Net, MultiChoice should consider unifying these brands under one name. I get that Me still had that M-Net trademark but by styling it's more like SABC 3 (S3) making it more alienated.

A brand that comes to mind would be M-Net Series, one of M-Net's most iconic trademarks was basically M-Net Movies but for drama series and reality shows. M-Net has been causing conflict with its premium movie channels airing select content before them.

M-Net Series would help reduce the rift between M-Net and M-Net Movies and if anything could help M-Net lure in viewers. M-Net (better yet M-Net Series 1) could add just add series like RuPaul's Drag Race and Power Book 4 Force in the timeslots allocated to movies.

The other two channels would serve as secondary brands rehashing content viewed on M-Net Series 1 and similar to 1Magic recieve first run programs. The second channel would tailor toward reality and lifestyle and the last would revive the M-Net City/Edge concept.

From my understanding, this concept was used several years back as M-Net Series Showcase, Reality and Zone. Only one out of the three garnered relevance but was partially due to the other two being folded under premium alongside the downsizing of content.

Again, I don't think the M-Net Series concept failed but how MultiChoice executed it was what led to its downfall. If anything, VUZU was more like how one would interpret M-Net Series Reality while Showcase was more like a rival brand to M-Net with content sharing between channels.

Magnum Pi Cancelled On NBC

The Jay Hernandez-led reboot of the 1980s procedural will wrap its run with its upcoming 10 episodes on NBC. The news comes as the options on the cast were due to expire June 30, forcing NBC — whose studio sibling Universal TV co-produces the series alongside CBS Studios — to make a decision on either extending those deals or wrapping up the show. The network, which has recently passed on a number of pilots and canceled nearly all of its bubble shows, opted to let the show conclude with its remaining 10 episodes rather than to spend the money to extend the show’s stars as it’s unclear when production will resume amid the ongoing Writers Guild strike.

Magnum P.I. was canceled in May 2022 after four seasons on CBS. The series ranked as one of the highest shows on broadcast television at the time of its cancellation, prompting NBC to step in and save the show from cancellation with a two-season, 20-episode pickup less than two months later.

NBC is calling the 20-episode order a split season, a loophole that allows networks, studios and streamers to avoid giving cast, creators and crew annual salary increases in a practice that has been widely used by basic cable networks and streamers.

Eric Guggenheim serves as showrunner and exec produces alongside Justin Lin, John Davis and John Fox. Perdita Weeks, Zachary Knighton, Stephen Hill, Tim Kang and Amy Hill round out the cast of the series, which streams in-season on Showmax and otherwise on Paramount+.

Its eMovies And eMovies Extra Vs. TNT And CineMagic: Another Openview Vs. DStv Saga

Openview has been dominating the South African market for several years giving companies like MultiChoice a run for their money particularly for those residing on lower bouquets such as DStv Easyview as the once underachieving platform is about to go through some changes.

MultiChoice will be adding two new entertainment channels to the bouquet in the month of November, Magic Showcase and CineMagic which just helps build onto the number of alternatives in South Africa.

Openview offers less channels but they have managed to win a lot of audiences with the selection of sports, local dramas, international series, kids shows and movies. Now it appears as if MultiChoice has begun catching up to the free-to-view platform.

DStv Easyview only offered 1 movie channel TNT which has been having a bit of its ups and downs with the likes of Blade, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Final Destination, Anaconda and so forth. If it was for TNT Original Movies and All Elite Wrestling I don't how far the channel could have gotten.

Point is, TNT was at a disadvantage as Openview provided two movie channels eMovies and eMovies Extra which were able to juggle around a mix of emotions. eMovies had Pokémon, Mama Jack and Oh Schuks while eMovies Extra had Fast And Furious, Transporter and Rush Hour.

With the inclusion of CineMagic, I'm not expecting them to read each other's mind or become the sibling duo as these two fall under different grounds so the only thing that anyone should be excited about is the number of options available.

CineMagic is set to feature a mix of local and international films 18 hours a day leaving TNT to the remaining 6 hours. Although, a schedule hasn't been provided my guess would be the content is based from M-Net Movies and Mzansi Bioskop.

Over to the winners which there's none, you got to look at the benefits to the above brands to reach your conclusion. eMovies is very selective I guess that's what made them favourable on DStv, TNT has got All Elite Wrestling and CineMagic by my hunch has the local productions.

[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.

The Four Faces Of The Good Doctor

A while back, I did a story on Can Love Become Money's Turkish counterpart As Die Skoen Pas and the point I made in all of this it's not about hating a duplicate but more on awareness to one's surroundings and as mentioned not everyone will like the same things or at least in a certain structure.

On today's agenda we have Mucize Doctor (Miracle Doctor known to South Africans as Dokter Ali) is a 2019 medical drama that follows the antics of a doctor who suffers from autism. As a child, he was discovered to have a genius-level memory and keen spatial skills which gave him the title of Miracle Doctor.

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But the story was inspired by none other than KBS's The Good Doctor (Gut Dakteo) which won many accolades during its run in 2013 for Best Actor, Best Couple, Best Drama and even got plaque of recognition for creating awareness about autism and how socially challenged individuals can contribute to society.

The success lead to several regional adaptations including America's The Good Doctor from ABC which is one of the longest adaptations currently in its fifth season with a sixth scheduled for release in future. This version was produced by David Shore who went on to create the medical drama, House.

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Other adaptations include the one currently seen on eExtra, the Japanese adaptation Guddo Dokuta and most recent Hong Kong series, The People I Have Loved for the character Dr. Koo Hei-sun.

In the end, The Good Doctor's legacy lives on with these regional versions and it doesn't seem like the journey for this autistic doctor will be stopping anytime soon.

Until Further Notice

DStv customers have until the end of May to tune into Dokter Ali on eExtra thereafter they'll either have to get Openview or wait to view them on e.tv. As far as replacements go HONEY and Via duplicate channel could be added on Family and Access packages.

As mentioned earlier, eExtra's offering is regarded as local at this point if MultiChoice were to redirect audiences to kykNET and Mzansi Wethu for something "similar".

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.

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 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.