WarnerMedia gives its TNT Africa a channel refresh and adds American wrestling content from All Elite Wrestling to its new weekly schedule.

by Thinus Ferreira

WarnerMedia's TNT channel has refreshed the on-air look of its TNT Africa (DStv 137 / StarSat 186) TV channel on 1 February and is also adding American wrestling content from All Elite Wrestling that will compete with WWE on SuperSport.

TNT's channel refresh to bring the African version of the channel more in line with the brand's international look, with TNT Original Movies that will premiere on the channel on the first Thursday of every month.

WarnerMedia says that the TNT channel refresh and wrestling programming is geared towards delivering relevant and exciting programming to African viewers.

As part of the refresh, TNT Africa will debut AEW DYNAMITE, the weekly flagship show from All Elite Wrestling that is a new professional wrestling league.

This launch will kick off on Friday, 5 February, at 13:20 (CAT) with the first 5 episodes of the new season.

Then, every Friday night, during prime time at 20:00 (CAT), TNT will premiere the recent high-octane matches, 2 days after the premiere in the United States, and after that repeated twice throughout the week.

AEW offers an alternative to mainstream wrestling like the WWE, with a roster of talent that will provide TNT Africa viewers with a different, yet spectacularly action-packed weekly wrestling programme.

WarnerMedia says that "TNT Africa's exciting content line up and brand-new, refreshed look are a perfect fit for the channel’s move towards being more powerful and modern. This is aligned with the global look of the channel - that people from all over the globe can recognise".

TNT Africa will continue to launch its exclusive and brand-new, TNT Original Movies on the channel on the first Thursday of every month. 

These films include a wide range of mainstream entertainment genres, featuring renowned, and rising international stars. In February 2021 TNT will broadcast Straight Up, a romantic movie from writer, director and star James Sweeney.

TNT's line-up includes action films, romance movies and comedies including titles like Splash and the Best Man Holiday, Crank High Voltage and Point Break in February’s Adrenaline Rush stunt.

Malcolm X and Just Cause is scheduled for Human Rights Day in 2021; and in April TNT viewers will be able to watch Academy Award-winning titles such as E.T and Gladiator.

"TNT is excited to usher in a new era in entertainment that is attuned to our audience needs and appetite," says Guillermo Farré, head of WarnerMedia general entertainment channels across France, Iberia and Africa

"Despite how far we’ve come, we remain steadfastly dedicated to giving our African audience premium content, and the launch of AEW DYNAMITE and the channel refresh bear testament of this."

WarnerMedia sent over a press drop to the media to announce the channel refresh and the addition of the All Elite Wrestling content to the channel's schedule.

TNT on DStv celebrates 80 years of Batman with a September film festival.

The TNT channel (DStv 137) is celebrating the 80th anniversary of the creation of Batman with a film festival in September of all of the Batman movies starting today.

"With TNT’s programming being built on an action-driven, pulse-raising slate, we are proud to be part of this emblematic occasion where our African fans can immerse themselves in the epic Batman blockbusters as they celebrate the 80th anniversary of the greatest superhero of all time," says Guillermo Farré, the head of general entertainment channels at WarnerMedia Africa.

TNT will show two Batman films per Saturday, starting today, and ending with a marathon Bat-weekend.

Tim Burton’s iconic Batman film from 1989 with Michael Keaton as the Caped Crusader is up first on Saturday 7 September at 17:55 on TNT, featuring Jack Nicholson as the feared Joker.

Critics at the time praised the film although they said it might be too dark and that Nicholson might be overshadowing the lead character but viewers absolutely loved it.

The sequel, Batman Returns from 1992 will be shown on after it on Saturday 7 September at 20:00, again with Michael Keaton this time pitted against the disfigured Penguin (Danny DeVito) who wants to kills Gotham City’s firstborns and the city’s defender having a romance with Michelle Pfeiffer who dabbles as Catwoman.

On Saturday 14 September at 18:00 on TNT DStv subscribers will be able to watch Batman Forever, the 1995-film with Joel Schumacher in the director’s chair and with Val Kilmer who took over from Michael Keaton in the Batsuit after a salary dispute.

This time Batman is up against new adversaries in the form of Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones) and the Riddler (Jim Carrey) who discover his real identity through mind-control of Gotham’s inhabitants. 

Luckily Batman gets help in the form of his sidekick Robin (Chris O’Donnell). Nicole Kidman stars as well as the psychologist Dr Chase Meridian who Bruce reveals his darkest secrets to.

On Saturday 14 September at 20:00 on TNT it’s time to watch George Clooney and Chris O’Donnell in the body-hugging "nipple costumes" with 1997’s Batman & Robin, with Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl. George Clooney replaced Val Kilmer after another contract dispute and this time the threesome are pitted against Mr Freeze (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Poison Ivy (Uma Thurman).

On Saturday 21 September all four of these Batman films will be shown again starting with Batman (09:35), Batman Returns (11:40), Batman Forever (13:45) and Batman & Robin (15:45).

Thereafter will follow Chris Nolan’s Batman Begins (17:45), The Dark Knight (20:00) and The Dark Knight Rises (22:30) which together are known as "The Dark Knight Trilogy".

Christian Bale took over for The Dark Knight Trilogy donning the Batsuit as a reboot of the DC hero film franchise with Michael Caine as butler Alfred and Gary Oldmand and Morgan Freeman joining the trilogy-cast.

In Batman Begins from 2005 with Christoper Nolan as director, the Dark Knight battles Ra’s al Ghul (Liam Neeson) and the Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy).

In The Dark Knight (2008) he tries to outwit the Joker, now played by Heath Ledger, and in The Dark Knight Rises (2012) Batman might have met his match in Bane (Tom Hardy) as his adversary plotting a nuclear explosion, with Anne Hathaway in the role of Catwoman.

After 23 years on MultiChoice's DStv Turner Broadcasting switches the old TCM for the action-film channel TNT in South Africa and Africa.

Turner is dumping and replacing one of the last remaining original channels that DStv started with, with the old American films channel TCM from Turner Broadcasting that is being switched to the TNT channel from tomorrow, 21 September.

TCM has been available on MultiChoice for 23 years on DStv channel 137, as well as on Cell C's subscription video-on-demand streaming service, Cell C black, since late last year.

Tomorrow TCM, on DStv and Cell C black, that reaches 6.7 million monthly viewers across 49 English-speaking African countries, will switch to the blue-circled TNT.

TNT's programming is built on an action-driven, pulse-raising slate, mixed with some romantic films and comedies.

Despite a TCM brand fresh earlier this year and the addition of more recent films the past two years on the channel, DStv subscribers still saw TCM as old and outdated, prompting the final switch-out of the channel.

TCM - short for Turner Classic Movies - was one of the few original channels in 1995 that MultiChoice launched DStv with 23 years ago.

TNT that in the United States also carries drama and reality series, will be a film channel for South Africa and Africa and be a more contemporary film channel from Turner to be competition for channels like Studio Universal, SundanceTV, and M-Net's set of self-packed M-Net Movies channels.

"The TCM brand has had a strong classic association which doesn’t reflect the actual brand proposition, or deliver the right message, to our African audiences," says Guillermo Farré, head of general entertainment for Turner in Southern Europe & Africa, about TCM's demise and replacement with TNT.

"Even though we have listened to our viewers and worked hard towards modernizing the image of the channel, there was still a strong association of the TMC brand to 'classic Hollywood silver screen productions'. We therefore decided to switch TCM to TNT to fully reflect the new brand identity and perspective in line with our American blockbuster programming strategy," says Guillermo Farré.

Turner says TNT will offer a "young, fresh and entertainment-filled offering for the entire family" with "creative and relevant programming specially tailored for African fans".

TCM up until now was slightly male skewed with a growing number of viewers in the 25 to 49 age demo, particularly amongst black African viewers.

TNT will show films ranging from The Illusionist, The Green Mile, Crank, Robin Hood and Hellboy 2 to Doom, Tango and Cash and Gladiator.

Turner issued no September schedule for the mid-month TNT replacement.


Below is Turner's first teaser trailer promo for TNT.

While Turner says that TNT will be an "entertainment-filled offering for the entire family" Turner chose to deliberately include profanity like "Holy mother of Jesus!" in its official promo, something that will definitely be off-putting and be seen as blasphemous by certain families who are DStv or Cell C black subscribers who might choose to rather steer clear of TNT.

While TNT Africa is or African audiences, it doesn't seem as if Turner's marketing team for TNT knows Africa or audience sensitivities.

TCM celebrates Lauren Bacall; TCM in USA has marathon with every single movie of her; TCM on DStv has 3.

TCM (DStv 137) is celebrating the life and film legacy of Lauren Bacall who died on Tuesday at the age of 89.

TCM in the United States is showing a full 24 hour movie marathon with every single movie Lauren Bacall ever made.

TCM on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform is showing 3 movies - one every Saturday over the next three Saturdays.

TCM in America is actually celebrating what would have been Lauren Bacall's 90th birthday in September with the marathon taking place on 15 September.

TCM for South Africa and Africa is doing the same, and has been running a series of Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart movie titles to commemorate their on-screen success.

The two were married from 1945 until his death in 1957.

TCM is showing Key Largo (Saturday 16 Augst, 15:00), The Treasure of Sierra Madre (Saturday, 23 August, 15:00) and Designing Women (30 August, 15:00).

"This week we saw the loss of a true great of the movie industry, whose passing leaves behind a legacy for which she will always be fondly remembered," says Guillermo Farre, the head of general entertainment for Turner Africa in a statement.

"As part of TCM's ongoing commemoration of her and husband Humphrey Bogart's greatest on-screen endeavours, we hope that our upcoming titles will give South African viewers the opportunity to once again experience her unique on-screen presence".