BREAKING. M-Net grabs brand-new drama Extant with Halle Berry, instantly slots it in to start on Wednesday at 21:30.

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M-Net has grabbed and secured the broadcasting rights to brand-new drama Extant with Halle Berry and will start broadcasting it instantly from Wednesday 23 July at 21:30 on M-Net (DStv 101) in line with the South African pay-TV broadcaster's excellent new turbo-charged roll-out strategy of acquiring and broadcasting not just premium foreign content, but also quicker.

With Extant moving into M-Net's Wednesday night slot of 21:30 immediately, everything after it will one hour later on the schedule.

CSI XIV will start at 22:30 with a new episode, Ray Donovan II will follow at 23:30 with a repeat episode, House of Cards II will follow with a repeat episode at 00:30, and The Leftovers I will follow with a repeat episode at 01:30.

Extant will repeat on M-Net on Thursdays at 15:15 and on Sundays at 16:00.

Extant was created by Steven Spielberg who is also the co-executive producer. The well-reviewed drama which did respectable numbers when it started last week in the United States follows Molly Woods (Halle Berry), an astronaut who returns to Earth after an "incident" in space.

Uh-oh ... Molly discovers she's pregnant. Clearly some form of alien presence or alien baby is growing inside her.

Extant is set in the future although the drama is vague about what year, her "son" on Earth for instance is an android, a bit like the movie A.I which Steven Spielberg also did.

New science fiction drama, Extant, from Steven Spielberg coming in 2014; bet on M-Net to grab it for South African viewers.

A new science fiction TV drama, Extant, a thriller executive producer by Steven Spielberg, will be coming to television in America in 2014 while South African viewers can expect M-Net to grab it similar to Under the Dome which is currently showing on the South African pay-TV broadcaster.

Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television and CBS Television Studios have received a straight-to-series order for a first season of 13 episodes of the futuristic show, exactly as what happened with Under the Dome which was just renewed for a second season itself.

CBS Studios International will distribute Extant internationally.

In Extant - called a "high concept" show, a female astronaut tries to reconnect with her family after a year in outer space and what follows are experiences which will alter the course of history. The couple has a human-like android son created by the dad. The mother is pregnant with another child, which is half human and half alien.

"Extant is a very original concept with layers of humanity, mystery and surprise that reveal itself throughout the script," says the American TV network CBS in a statement.

"Our partnership with Amblin for Under the Dome showed that viewers respond to high-quality event programming. We look forward to building on that with Extant."