e.tv is ending its unsuccessful eBella channel it created a year after its launch and that was carried on its own Openview satellite platform and MultiChoice's DStv, with the existing, dubbed telenovelas that will be folded into the eExtra channel from April.
eBella launched in March 2018 on eMedia Investments' free-to-air satellite TV platform and MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform, targeting female viewers with a mixed of dubbed-into-English foreign telenovelas and reality shows.
etv and Openview however did little to promote and publicise any of the programming in the press over the past year with viewers and the media not knowing what was really shown on it after it launched, which in turn impacted on ratings.
At launch e.tv described eBella as "a strong addition to DStv and we know that our viewers will enjoy the channel’s mix of speciality shows and telenovelas that empower and celebrate the female market".
Now eBella is being axed from the end of March and its programming shunted to eExtra (Openview 109 / DStv 195 / StarSat 489) with the telenovelas that used to be on eBella that will create "a weekday guilty pleasure afternoon block" according to e.tv.
The Spanish telenovelas from Latin America, Indian and Turkey ranging from The Girl Named Feriha, Caribbean Flower and Naagin will now be seen on eExtra.
This will be followed by the court room reality series, Hot Bench; the Afrikaans programming block on eExtra consisting of dubbed-into-Afrikaans telenovelas Bittersoet, Nuusdag om 8 and Die Wiel Draai; followed by international series and comedies and local drama series like Umlilo and Traffic.
The daily Nuusdag Perspektief that followed after Nuusdag om 8 was quietly cancelled as a weekday show and will now be a weekly show with one episode on Sundays only, starting from this Sunday 17 March, with the kykNET Afrikaans drama series filmed in the Western Cape, Vallei van Sluiers that has also been added to eExtra on Sundays.
"eBella built a loyal following over the last year and gave us the opportunity to showcase and test new content that celebrates the lives of women around the world," says Marlon Davids, managing director of e.tv channels.
"Following the success of eBella, we are excited to incorporate our viewers' most-loved telenovelas and series into our main schedule on eExtra. This move will give us the opportunity to provide eExtra viewers with a bigger and bolder content offering throughout the day, with all their favourite shows in one place."
