You're reading it here first.
Let me be first to break the news that The Wild on M-Net is set to undergo a big timeslot change, moving from its current 18:00 timeslot to an hour later at 19:00 from Monday 16 January in a move that will possibly attract more viewers.
The change for the 10 month old soap that launched in April in the 18:00 timeslot and which can also be seen on sister channel Mzansi Magic, comes as Mzansi Magic (DStv 107) is readying its own new local soap for 2012 entitled Matchbox (working title) and a telenovella Desire (working title).
The latest week's (week 46) viewership pegs one episode of The Wild managing to grab the 9th place on M-Net's top 10 most watched shows for the week, much lower than Egoli which it replaced since April and was always 1st or 2nd.
Whether the timeslot move of The Wild to 19:00 from the middle of January will just be affecting the digital M-Net channel on DStv or the terrestrial analogue M-Net channel as well, is not know. The timeslot move to boost viewership for the soap should be helped by a concurrent soap wedding for The Wild as well, which is taking place over two days a few days after the move to 19:00.
Meanwhile M-Net's terrestrial analogue broadcast carries a simulcast of eNuus at 19:00 at the same time as eNuus on kykNET (DStv 111). That means that M-Net terrestrial analogue viewers will from 16 January - should The Wild move to 19:00 on that transmission as well - no longer see eNuus at 19:00 (and therefore no longer see eNuus live).
From 16 January The Wild will also be competing against news bulletins on SABC2, SABC3 and e.tv in its new 19:00 timeslot. Officially M-Net's not given any reasons for the timeslot move yet.
