MultiChoice says Eva is being added to satisfy the ongoing demand for this type of television under South African and African viewers.
Eva will be added to the DStv Premium, DStv Extra, DStv Compact and DStv Family packages and start on 23 March.
"Telenovelas" - serialised soaps with a limited run of about a year or two and a set number of episodes - have become the new TV buzzword in South Africa the past two years, with local channels ranging from Mzansi Magic to SABC1, SABC2 and now e.tv all broadcasting and feverishly producing local tenovelas.
Since Univeral Networks International's Telemundo started on DStv, MultiChoice also added Zee World (DStv 166), an Indian and Bollywood type telenovela channel, at the beginning of this year.
Eva, a bespoke telenovela channel from AMC Networks International Zone (AMCNI Zone), will broadcast in English on DStv channel 141, and in Portuguese on DStv channel 508 in other African countries.
MultiChoice says Eva is only available in Latin American countries and that South Africa is the only English speaking country to get the channel which means truly brand-new and never-before-seen content outside of Latin America.
All programmes are fully dubbed into English for South Africa and Portuguese for Portuguese speaking communities in Mozambique and Angola.
The soapy telenovelas are acquired from Telemundo's rivals, like TV channels Azteca, Caracol Television and Venevision. AMCNI Zone already supplies MultiChoice with channels like CBS Reality, CBS Drama, CBS Action; AMC and JimJam to both MultiChoice and On Digital Media's (ODM) StarSat, and Extreme Sports Channel and Natura to StarSat.
"The launch of Eva will definitely satisfy the on-going viewer demand for more telenovelas," says Aletta Alberts, the general manager for content at MultiChoice South Africa. "Audiences love watching telenovelas - they simply can't get enough."
Aletta Alberts says DStv subscribers will be thrilled with the new telenovelas which will include at launch Prisoner of Love (Amor Cautivo) on Mondays at 18:00 (a saga about three families), and The Perfect Woman (La Mujer Perfecta) weekdays at 17:00 (6 women who try to be perfect).
"With the launch of Eva, we aim to satisfy the African audience's growing appetite for telenovelas," says Chris Sharp, the chief content officer at AMCNI Zone. "We have hand-picked high quality serial dramas, cooperating with some of the best Latin telenovela producers".
