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M-Net's new big-budget local weekday soap The Wild that will start on the channel on 4 April at 18:00 is not just being produced because of, but is also an indication of how the pay broadcaster's audience is changing. The same goes for the upcoming 7th season of Idols that will be show on M-Net but also for the first time on Mzansi Magic (DStv 107) and which will be visiting and doing auditions at the Peter Mokaba stadium in Polokwane, in Soweto, and at the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban.
M-Net is replacing the mostly white, mostly Afrikaans Binneland soap that will be moving to kykNET (DStv 111) on 1 April with The Wild, a luscious, lavishly shot on location production, that features indigenous African languages as well as a large multicultural cast. Preview scenes shown to the press yesterday contained only two white characters (although there are more) but features a largely black cast.
''M-Net's audience is changing,'' says Lani Lombard, M-Net's communications manager. ''The Wild is our first outdoor soap and its shot in high definition (HD) on a game farm. The Wild portrays an affluent community and it's very aspirational,'' she says. ''We do hope that with this great new show we will draw a new audience.'' But why is M-Net doing a new soap for the M-Net channel? ''It's because our audience have changed quite a lot,'' she says. ''This new soap should speak to the needs of our viewers.''
Could it also be that M-Net is trying to possibly find a black Idols-winner? Of course the pay broadcaster will never say that, but keep in mind that this year Idols will be show not only on the M-Net channel (DStv 101) but for the first time also on the brand-new Mzansi Magic. Idols has dropped both Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein from the national audition roadshow and has replaced it with the Peter Mokaba stadium in Polokwane, the Dobsonville stadium in Soweto and the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban.
Talking about Idols this year also being seen on the Mzansi Magic channel - a channel deemed to be DStv Compact's flagship channel while the bouquet itself is showing massive growth for MultiChoice - Lani Lombard says ''it will be very good for Mzansi Magic.'' ''It will also be very good for Idols because the show will be getting a much bigger audience.''
