BREAKING. New zombie drama, Fear The Walking Dead, a massive hit for AMC Networks International's AMC on DStv and StarSat.

New zombie drama and The Walking Dead spin-off, Fear the Walking Dead is a massive hit right out of the box for AMC (DStv 140 / StarSat 115) which now has instant must-watch, appointment television on Monday nights.

Fear the Walking Dead which made its monster debut on Sunday night in America on AMC and was shown on Monday morning at 03:10 on AMC in South Africa on MultiChoice's DStv and On Digital Media's StarSat and again in its regular primetime timeslot of 20:00, logged an astounding 10.1 million viewers in the United States.

The viewership - 6.3 million of them in the desired 18-49 adult demographic - instantly propelled Fear the Walking Dead to the number one drama series premiere in pay-TV history in America which is a new ratings record.

Fear the Walking Dead produced by AMC Studios now holds the record as the most watched series premiere of any TV drama in pay-TV in the United States.

It's also history-making and highly significant for South Africa's TV and pay-TV industry, and here's why.

Although Fear the Walking Dead received barely any marketing and publicity push before its debut in South Africa today, it means that South African viewers are getting a premium brand-new TV drama, which is instantly a primetime hit, virtually simultaneous with the United States, but accessible on several lower-tiered, non-premium satellite pay-TV bouquets.

StarSat subscribers get AMC - and therefore Fear the Walking Dead - included on the StarSat Smart package for R149 per month. DStv subscribers on all packages get access to AMC - down to the cheapest DStv EasyView for R39 per month.

It means that DStv, StarSat and AMC can market and promote the hit zombie drama to virtually the  entire existing pay-TV subscriber base in South Africa.

For AMC, run by AMC Networks International Zone (AMCI Zone), Fear the Walking Dead represents a massive upgrade and and opportunity in South Africa and Africa to elevate the channel's brand and awareness of it.

The channel changed and rebranded from the stale, library title filled MGM channel to AMC only from December 2014 and can now suddenly boast the year's latest biggest TV hit, eclipsing M-Net's Game of Thrones and FOX's Empire.

Fear the Walking Dead gives AMC not just buzzy appointment television in primetime over the next few weeks but dramatically elevates the channel proposition and the AMC brand.

With the new new premium drama hour AMCI Zone which will get the chance to showcase and perhaps expose new viewers to the channel for the first time who might not have channel hopped to AMC before.

Now having a premium, first-run drama express from the United States and the year's biggest pay-TV hit is somewhat ironic for AMC, given that MultiChoice, when it was added as the MGM channel just over a year and a half ago in November 2013, initially didn't want to give the channel to its top-tiered DStv Premium subscribers but soon relented following a public backlash.

MultiChoice said at the time that the repeat filled MGM wasn't intended for DStv Premium subscribers but realised that "Premium customers would like to have the full range of channels available on their package".

Imagine the outcry now if higher-tiered pay-TV subscribers like DStv Premium customers were blocked from seeing and following the start of the latest zombie apocalypse.

"Thank you and congratulations to Robert Kirkman, Dave Erickson, the brilliant executive producers and the entire cast and crew of Fear the Walking Dead," says Charlie Collier, president of AMC in a statement.

"Fear the Walking Dead delivered record-breaking numbers that are all the more special in this era of time-shifted viewing and audience fragmentation."

"To have a companion series to the number one show on television driving communal, urgent viewing, social activity and pop cultural relevance of this magnitude is truly differentiating. Of course none of it is possible without the fans, whose passion leads to these remarkable results," says Charlie Collier.

"It is extremely exciting that we are broadcasting such fresh and interesting shows," says Ian Woodrow, the head of content at StarSat in a statement about Fear the Walking Dead.  "We have a whole new line-up of content with Fear the Walking Dead leading the way."

Fear the Walking Dead is a spin-off prequel set in Los Angeles and will follow the start of the zombie outbreak with a first season of 6 episodes starring Kim Dickens, Cliff Curtis, Frank Dillane and Ruben Blades.

It will be followed by the 6th season of The Walking Dead starting on 11 October in America and shown very soon after on FOX International Channel's FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131).

CBS Reality on DStv looking to solve old cold cases in new crime mystery series, Donal MacIntyre: Unsolved, starting later in the year.

CBS Reality (DStv 132) is getting its first original series in the form of Donal MacIntyre: Unsolved which will be looking at infamous "cold crime cases" in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The first season of Donal MacIntyre: Unsolved will have 12 episodes and will be broadcast in primetime on CBS Reality on DStv later in the year.

Donal MacIntyre: Unsolved, produced by Circle Films, digs up old so-called "cold cases" - crimes never solved - to try and find the criminals and to bring about convictions.

Using interviews and access to case files, Donal MacIntyre and his expert team will analyse the evidence, speak to those who remember the mystery surrounding these unsolved cases and explore why they have remained enigmas despite modern detective methods.

Cases include the murder of a French film producer in 1996, the murder of a Leeds millionaire businessman in 2004, and the case of a missing school boy of 7 in 2003.

"I am delighted to be working with AMC Networks International - Zone (AMCNI - Zone), bringing some compelling stories and investigations to the screen with an exceptional team comprising of criminologists, forensic pathologists, ex Scotland Yard detectives and others as we try to shed new light on high profile modern murder mysteries," says Donal MacIntyre.

"Viewers' appetite for crime mysteries has grown exponentially in recent months and we look forward to bringing cold cases to CBS Reality," says Sam Rowden, the director of programming for CBS Reality.

"Donal is an internationally recognised investigative journalist with a really strong track-record and we're delighted to be partnering on what will be a highly watchable series," says David Harvey of Circle Films.

BREAKING. MultiChoice adds a 2nd telenovela TV channel, Eva, from AMC Networks International Zone to DStv from 23 March.

MultiChoice is adding a second Latin American telenovela TV channel, Eva (DStv 141) to DStv in Africa, following the introduction of Telemundo (DStv 118) in August 2013.

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".

TOLDJA! MGM channel on DStv and StarSat rebranding and changing to AMC from 1 December, launching AMC VOD and adding TV series.

The MGM (DStv 140 / StarSat 115) channel on MultiChoice's DStv and on On Digital Media (ODM) and StarTimes South Africa's StarSat satellite pay-TV platforms will rebrand on 1 December, AMC Networks International Zone just announced, as TV with Thinus reported early this morning.

AMC Networks International announced the global name-change for its MGM channel in August and said that MGM will rebrand globally in all the different territories before the end of the year.

The MGM to AMC change originally planned for November according to sources who spoke about it in August, was then moved to December.

After my story this morning, AMC Networks International Zone just issued a statement saying that it "will rebrand MGM channel as AMC from 1 December across sub-Saharan Africa".

Alongside the new AMC TV channel which will now carry TV series and no longer just movies like MGM, there will also be the launch of a video-on-demand (VOD) service called AMC VOD and "TV Everywhere" services to multiple devices.

South African TV viewers with DStv and StarSat will be able to watch TV series like the just-cancelled drama series The Divide, and the reality show Game of Arms about American arm wrestling, as well as movies from the film library of MGM. 

AMC will however start to expand the movie catalogue beyond just MGM's film valut, to include movies from Sony and the Paramount film libraries.

The Divide will start on AMC on 5 January 2015 at 20:00 with new episodes weekly.

Game of Arms will start on AMC on 2 December at 20:00 with new episodes until 16 December and then again with new episodes starting on 6 January 2015.

"With the introduction of AMC to the African market, our aim is to satisfy the local audience's growing appetite for high-quality international content including original series as well as a wide selection of popular Hollywood movies," says Louise Cottrell, the vice-president for affiliate sales for AMC Networks International Zone in a just issued statement.

BREAKING. CBS Drama on DStv removes 7th Heaven from the schedule in the wake of self-confessed child molester Stephen Collins.

You're reading it here first.

CBS Drama (DStv 134) on MultiChoice's DStv is removing the family drama 7th Heaven from its schedule following the self-confession of actor Stephen Collins who played pastor Eric Camden in the show, that he molested various underage girls.

CBS Drama, supplied by AMC Networks International Zone in London to MultiChoice, is dumping 7th Heaven, following the lead of American TV channels like UP TV and The TV Guide Network which immediately ended reruns of the show.

TMZ on Tuesday released the shocking audio of the former 7th Heaven star admitting to multiple cases of child molestation and his ex-wife calling him a pedophile.

CBS Drama has been showing the second season of 7th Heaven on weekdays.

Stephen Collins, seeking help for sex addiction from a therapist was secretly recorded making the admission of multiple instances of child molestation.

CBS Drama on DStv keeps 7th Heaven on the schedule as American channels pull the show with self-confessed child molester Stephen Collins.

CBS Drama (DStv 134), supplied by AMC Networks International Zone to MultiChoice's DStv is not pulling reruns of 7th Heaven with the self-confessed child molester Stephen Collins from the TV channel's schedule yet in the way that American TV channels are dumping reruns of the show.


UPDATE 09 October 2014 - CBS Drama is removing 7th Heaven from its schedule.

TMZ yesterday released the shocking audio of the former 7th Heaven star admitting to multiple cases of child molestation and his ex-wife calling him a pedophile.

After that the American TV channels - first UP TV, followed by the TV Guide Network - swiftly axed 7th Heaven from their schedules immediately following the child molestation confession. 

CBS Drama continues to broadcast the second season of 7th Heaven on DStv daily in which Stephen Collins, who sought hep for sex addiction from a therapist and was secretly recorded making the admission to multiple instances of child molestation, plays the wholesome pastor Eric Camden.

AMC Networks International Zone in London responding to a media enquiry from TV with Thinus says the channel distributor will respond with an answer as to whether 7th Heaven is being pulled from CBS Drama or not shortly.