Fox Entertainment has so far only been available on rival On Digital Media's (ODM) TopTV platform for the past two and a half years but contains impressive, big-buzz and highly acclaimed TV series shown quickly such as Falling Skies, The Walking Dead and the soon-to-start Da Vinci's Demons and reality show Being Mandela.
Fox Entertainment will now become available as a new HD channel on the DStv Premium bouquet. DStv earlier hinted that Fox Entertainment is coming to the pay-TV platform as a channel.
TV with Thinus asked MultiChoice in separate media enquiries yesterday about Fox Entertainment and kykNET & kie. Separate media enquiries were also made to TopTV as well as Fox International Channels Africa (FIC Africa) which runs Fox Entertainment as a pay-TV TV channel in Africa, yesterday.
Fox International Channels Africa (FIC Africa) which runs a trio of Fox channels on TopTV - including Fox Entertainment - declined to comment on the Fox channel development and neither FIC Africa nor its PR agency responded with an answer to a media enquiry about whether Fox Entertainment is leaving the TopTV channel line-up.
Yesterday when asked if TopTV was aware that the Fox Entertainment channel is becoming dually available on DStv as well after April or whether Fox is leaving the TopTV platform, TopTV's response was that wasn't "aware of any moves in this regard".
Meanwhile M-Net created a "rerun" kykNET channel of sorts for DStv - a second-tier version of the original channel which will make a version of kykNET with mostly older library titles available on the kykNET & kie channel. With the DStv Family bouquet, Afrikaans DStv subscribers will now get access to kykNET TV content but in a time-lapse fashion after it has been on kykNET.
Fox Entertainment will only be available on the DStv Premium bouquet. kykNET & kie will be available on the DStv Premium and DStv Compact bouquets of MultiChoice, besides DStv Family.
The DStv Family bouquet will have 45 channels, 17 of which have not been available on what DStv refers to as "lower bouquets" before. DStv Family will have a monthly subscription fee of R175.
"We are very excited about DStv Family," says Collins Khumalo, the CEO of MultiChoice South Africa in a statement released today. "It will provide customers more variety and choice as well as enhance the overall value of the DStv offering."
"kykNET & kie is an expansion of kykNET's existing offering on DStv and will, for the first time, make Afrikaans content available to DStv customers in the lower-tier packs namely DStv Family and DStv Compact," says MultiChoice.
"kykNET & kie will give customers on DStv Compact and DStv Family access to some of the kykNET favourites such as Villa Rosa, Binneland, Toks en Tjops, eNuus and Dagbreek."
"It's been sad that several Afrikaans families due to financial pressure didn't have access to kykNET," says Karen Meiring, M-Net's director for Afrikaans channels in a separate statement. "With kykNET & kie it's all changing. We're looking forward to becoming a friend in the homes of more Afrikaans viewers."
"kykNET & kie is an exciting and important newcomer to the kykNET family," says Karen Meiring. "Since it forms part of several DStv bouquets, a large number of new viewers will be able to enjoy our programmes."
"At the same time a bit of nostalgia awaits on all of the existing kykNET viewers who regularly ask us to rebroadcast programmes from our starting days." Shows such as Agter Elke Man, kykNET's first own commissioned Afrikaans drama series Song vir Katryn and the comedy Alie Barber will be on kykNET & kie.
kykNET is also launching a new local magazine show Kollig on kykNET & kie.
ALSO READ: Fox Entertainment as a TV channel rebranded as FOX; FOX will remain available on TopTV after being added to DStv as a dually available channel.
