"Analyzing Kuiertyd": Why e.tv's Kelders Van Geheime And Annekan Die Swa Kry Have Simultaneous Broadcasts On eExtra?
What eMedia Investments Might Have Looked Like Under The Ownership Of Warner Bros. Discovery?
Recap To The Past Decade: Warner Bros. Discovery (Formerly Time Warner) Was Looking To Acquire eMedia Investments
Saved Again: Netflix Acquires Rights To The 2019 Season Of The Bold And The Beautiful For Fans Across South Africa
Why eToonz Now Offers Shows Like MasterChef Junior?
Could Merit Street Media Also Be Eyeing International Expansion?
Afrikaans Voice Actors For Wie Laaste Lag
Dr. Phil To Launch Primetime TV Channel In The US By Early 2024
'Friends' Star Matthew Perry Dead At 54...After Apparent Drowning
Magnum Pi Cancelled On NBC
Recap To The Decade: 10 TV Channels You Probably Forgot Existed On Openview
Openview is a free-to-air platform operated by eMedia Investments that also manage brands such as e.tv, eReality and eExtra part of which are ranked the top 10 channels. For several years, they've been to be a worthy foe to pay-tv serving affordable entertainment.
It wasn't always like this initially the platform was more of an Easyview type platform and if we remember the DStv bouquet it was one of MultiChoice's crappiest products to exist and Openview at the time was basically that with the exception of eMovies and eToonz.
Now we look at 10 forgotten channels once seen on Openview.
1. English Club TV
English Club TV sets out to be one of the most least crappiest products on this list. If anything the channel was very promising as it featured documentaries, films, cartoons and music video all of which are illustrated for those who study English.
At the time this channel was around, eMedia Investments didn't have that much consumers. In some way, English Club TV was a victim of unfortunate circumstance which contributed to the cancellation.
2. Inspiration TV
Inspiration TV is a Christian themed channel operated by Inspiration Ministries that is home to the likes of Charles Stanley, TD Jakes and Joel Osteen. It was meant to form the initial offering of Openview when it launched in October 2013 but didn't unfortunately.
eMedia Investments had tried numerous times to get the channel onboard but due to some technologies those plans were halted.
3. BiCars
Bi-Cars TV was a reality street motorsport
lifestyle channel similar to Ignition TV on DStv. It showcased motorsport news, fashion, celebrity riders and real-life stories of street Moto-sport lifestyle, entertainment and music.
Some of the content featured on Bi-Cars TV included Mzansi Celebrities Bikers, Bi-Car Make Over, Battle Of Crews , BC League, Championships Of Speed and Sound, and Torque Talk.
Similar to most of the channels on the list, a vast majority weren't tuning in to the Ignition duplicate.
4. United Christian Broadcasting Network (UCBN)
United Christian Broadcasting Network (UCB Network TV) is a Christian based channel providing religious content. UCBN programming include shows such as Men of Honour, Women In Me, Pastor's Corner, Africa Talent Show, Nuggets of Wealth and Leadership, U Kids.
The channel was terminated due to low viewership.
5. Ekurhuleni TV
Ekurhuleni TV is a community TV station carrying local news, music, educational, health and religious programming.
The channel was terminated due to low viewership.
6. Relevant TV
Founded and run by Joshua McCauley, Relevant TV was intended to be a non-denominational Christian lifestyle TV channel that will look at the spiritual needs of Christians from all walks of life. The main target market of the channel is young adults, although it will cater for other groups as well.
The channel was removed due to unforeseen circumstances and without prior notice by eMedia Investments.
7. Alex TV (LXTV)
Alex TV, stylised as lx tv, was a community based channel with Lucky Siwela as chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder, revolves around covering and mirroring the life and issues of the vibrant, yet impoverished South African township and "suburb" of Alexandra.
The channel was yanked off Openview after its broadcasting licence had expired. Since then, rival company MultiChoice was able to fill the void with GauTV which caters to Sandton all the way to the Bekkersdal township.
8. ASTV (now MYtv)
ASTV was a lifestyle channel in which eMedia Investments had minority ownership broadcast a mix of actuality, outdoor, youth and teen content as well as Afrikaans music videos. Some of the content available on the channel included Vaskap, Eksieperfeksie, Kos Is Oppie Tafel, Ons Gesels Met... and Klankbaan.
Similar to OnseTV on StarSat, the channel wasn't watched by majority of the viewers and hasn't gained much traction as seen with kykNET's offering on DStv. Forming part of Openview's initial offering it went dark after 3 years of service (and 12 on StarSat).
9. Wild TV Africa
Wild TV Africa, developed by Dewald Visser, brought viewers outdoor and adventure programming focusing on camping, mountain-biking, fishing, 4X4 trails, scuba diving, conservation, mountain climbing, hunting, sport shooting, skydiving and big wave surfing.
Similar to most brands on the list, the channel was axed due to low viewership. Of course, similar content can be found on People's Weather and on DStv, WildEarth.
10. Shembe TV
Shembe Unyazi TV will show viewers programming around the African religion founded by Prophet Isaiah Mloyiswa Shembe, known as Bombela, in 1910 and which has 8 million followers in Southern Africa.
Basically a rival to the Nigerian based Emmanuel TV on DStv, it's currently unknown as to why the channel was removed but it was believed to be low viewership with the low rated channel currently seen on StarSat.
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.
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
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.
'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.
Why Openview Has Been Excluded From Delayed SABC Channel Expansion?
eMedia Investments and the SABC finalised their deal for 3 additional channels one of which were SABC Sport alongside 19 radio stations in 2021. As consumers wait over a year for the two channels which are set to carry a lot of existing content there's been some speculation one of which was cleared up is SABC Education.
SABC Education is a DTT channel currently seen on TelkomOne and soon on the likes of DStv and StarSat is based on the educational division formed by the SABC which is home to shows like Takalani Sesame, Matric Reloaded, Ispani, Uzalo, Geleza Nathi and 90 Plain Street.
The channel has remained active as of May 2020 and used as a catch-up channel to programs currently viewed on SABC 1-3 with plans to roll out the brand onto more platforms still underway.
As seen through several consumers on the Openview platform is SABC 1-3, SABC Sport alongside the 19 radio stations but SABC Education doesn't form part of the bouquet with SABC News being exclusive to DStv and DTT consumers.
So the question would have to be is eMedia Investments waiting on SABC Education like DStv?
Probably not as MultiChoice is waiting on two other channels to roll out on the DStv platform and SABC Education alongside SABC Sport and the 19 radio stations did form part of TelkomOne's initial offering when it launched in October 2020.
There could be a number of reasons SABC Education won't form part of the offering. The first has to do with costs, second would have to do with their rivalry perhaps they don't want to invest too much and last may have to do with the existing educational offering on Openview being DBE TV and Mindset.
10PM Will Never Be The Same Again As The Professionals Returns To e.tv
It's been 3 months since e.tv's viewers got much international shows from the channel as the brand boosts their local portfolio with the likes of The Black Door and Isono leaving 10pm as the only source for such content but as seen in the past months the quality has dropped.
I mean they've got decent programs in that slot at the moment L.A's Finest and The Blacklist but no one seems to care that much about them not even the channel as the content airs back to back and you're used to seeing fold one sheet over another but that's not the case.
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Questions have risen over the fate of 10pm slot as there hasn't much variety in a while and after 6 months we finally got some confirmation from the channel.
Apparently, the 2020 action series Professionals which was the last international series at 8:30pm in April before local dramas took over will replace L.A's Finest from 11 July.
Through a briefing, eMedia had mentioned that they've scrapped shows like S.W.A.T., New Amsterdam and Seal Team. Is it possible that some of this content will just resurface on a limited basis or could the channel be seeking more short form series for the 10pm timeslot.
Introducing The Renowned Graphic Designer For eMedia's eToonz Channel, Rayaan Cassiem + Several Designs For The Channel
Born and raised in Cape Town, Rayaan was never found without a crayon, paintbrush or pencil in hand scribbling, doodling and painting for hours at a time.
Being determined to study Graphic-Design at the Technical University, he sold his car and worked odd jobs, ranging from construction to shelf-packing. His hard work and dedication paid off and he received a bursary in his third year, completing his BTech in Graphic Design. Rayaan draws his inspiration from a myriad of avenues including graffiti and street art, album covers, comic books, animation, video games, fine art as well as graffiti and street art. ‘Being able to earn a living and supporting my family doing what I love is a blessing,’ he says.
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Rayaan’s artwork appeared alongside local and international artists as part in popular mixed-media group exhibitions in South Africa, Europe and the United Arab Emirates, where currently lives and works. His special interest in local African Mythology and Folk stories inspired Rayaan’s edition of 30 portraits of children from the Matchbox daycare centers in his unique graffiti-inspired style, all drawn on fine paper in A4 format.
eExtra Vs. Glow TV: The Best Source For Bollywood Series
eExtra is general entertainment channel from eMedia Investments home to primarily telenovelas particularly Indian and Turkish. Glow TV is a South African entertainment based channel from Nismedia that has content which resonate with the Indian community.
Both these channels have Openview and StarSat in common aside from that the owners of these brands have been beefing with each other following eMedia's failed attempt and today we compare the channels that started it all.
eExtra is currently one of the top channels on Openview for their selection in Turkish dramas which brought a spinoff ePlesier. Outside of that bubble, the channel offers a ton of Bollywood dramas which don't clash with the existing offering on Glow TV.
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Glow TV is SA's only Indian channel that promotes the Hindi community with not only telenovelas like eExtra but other entertainment like reality, lifestyle and local programming. It is actually one of the first channels to distribute dubbed Hindi content full-time.
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The setback for eExtra has to do with distribution as some fans already noticed the channel doesn't play fair in terms of catch-up. Some shows repeat once off while others need eVOD in order for you to catch-up on what you've missed.
Glow TV's issue revolves on a similar matter repeats compared to eExtra you don't get a lot of new content and what's even more depressing is how often they place a former program in the schedule.
In regard to best channel, eExtra is your #1 source for drama series and although Glow TV has been repetitive in this region. There is plenty of entertainment you won't find on eExtra such as reality, lifestyle and local content.
#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.