Discovery launching the new ID Xtra channel in Africa, Middle East and parts of Europe; is ID Xtra also coming to South Africa?

Discovery Networks International (DNI) will be launching a brand-new Discovery channel, ID Extra, tomorrow (1 April) in the Africa, Middle East and parts of Europe region with at least 105 markets which will get and add ID Xtra during the course of 2014.

TV with Thinus enquired, but it is not yet clear whether ID Xtra - a spin-off from the existing ID: Investigation Discovery channel - will be added by MultiChoice's DStv and, or, On Digital Media's (ODM) StarSat in South Africa.

Both of the South African pay-TV platforms currently carry DNI's Investigation Discovery channel.

Similar to ID: Investigation Discovery, ID Xtra, will also be a channel with a female-skewed programming offering, and where it is added in Africa, the Middle East as well as Central and Eastern Europe, ID Xtra will sit along the existing ID: Investigation Discovery channel.

ID Xtra is available in standard definition (SD) and high definition (HD).

"After the successful roll-out of TLC, we are now expanding our proposition for female viewers with ID Xtra," says Kasia Kieli, the president and managing director for Discovery Networks for the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) region, in a statement.

"We believe the channel provides our distribution partners with truly unique content from the Mystery and Suspense genre and strengthens our portfolio, making it the best offer in pay-TV today".

"Mystery and Suspense is one of the fastest growing genres in pay-TV and Discovery is in pole position leading the category," says Paul Welling, the senior vice president and head of channels at Discovery Networks CEEMEA.

Meanwhile the Discovery Channel (DStv 120) was by now supposed to have switched to an HD channel on MultiChoice's DStv in South Africa.

 Discovery Networks International and MultiChoice promised subscribers and the industry in November 2013 that Discovery would become Discovery HD within the first quarter of 2014 - pegging it for sometime between January and March 2014.

It has not happened and DNI and MultiChoice have not announced a new date or a new official time frame for the Discovery channel's HD upgrade.

For the time being Discovery continues to be shown in SD. Discovery HD Showcase (DStv 172) which would have been discontinued as a TV channel, therefore continues to run on the DStv platform.

South Africa's TV executives in attendance - and talking - at the upcoming week's annual 16th AfricaCom 2013's AfricaCast TV

TV executives from South Africa and across the African continent will descend on Cape Town this upcoming week who will be in attendance - and talking - at the 16th annual AfricaCom 2013 event and its AfricaCast 2013 seminar series taking place from 12 to 14 November at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC).

AfricaCast - fast becoming a must-attend event on the annual calendar in already busy TV executives' diaries - is filled with television and technology executives giving keynote speeches, talking about, and engaging in discussions ranging across the entire spectrum and aspects of Africa's burgeoning satellite and television market.

Included on AfricaCast 2013's speaking roster is Alex Okosi, the executive vice president and managing director of Viacom Media International Networks (VIMN Africa) who will talk about multiplatform connectednesss and how VIMN Africa is leveraging social media to drive TV viewing.

VIMN Africa will also give a preview of Comedy Central's programming for the African version of the channel on MultiChoice's DStv.

Maxwell Nonge, the managing director of Platco Digital will be in attendance and speaking after the launch of OpenView HD last month in South Africa as e.tv's new push within the direct-to-home (DTH) satellite market. Maxwell Nonge will be talking about how e.tv is preparing to position the free-to-air commercial broadcaster as a "broadcaster for all devices".

Sivan Pillay, the managing director of production company Endemol South Africa will talk on Wednesday about unlocking  African television through digital transformation.

Olivier Laouchez, the founder and CEO of the Trace Group responsible for the Trace Sport Stars and Trace channels on MultiChoice's DStv will talk about Trace as an entertainment broadcaster in Africa.

SABC CEO Lulama Mokhobo will talk about how triple-play is impacting on African broadcasting revenues; and Christoph Limmer, a senior director for Africa at satellite company SES will talk about how satellite will shape future broadcasting in the African continent.

Richard Bell from the Wananchi Group which runs the Zuku pay-TV service in East Africa will talk about how fixed broadband networks and content represent the next leap forward for Africa

Kaisa Kieli, the president and managing director for Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region of Discovery Networks CEEMEA will talk on Thursday at AfricaCast 2013 about engaging target audiences with focused content.

Alessandro Tucci, the senior vice president and general manager for Africa for Fox International Channels (FIC Africa) and the FOX Networks which runs the FOX channels on DStv and TopTV will talk about developing pay-TV channels in emerging markets, creating balanced TV bouquets and share insight from emerging TV markets in Africa.

AfricaCast 2013 panel discussions include topics ranging from "How are broadcasters adapting to multiplatform engagement strategies?", Africa's preparations for the switch-over to digital terrestrial television (DTT) and how it's been going, to what the major challenges are of being a global broadcaster in Africa.

Other notable executives attending AfricaCom 2013 and AfricaCast 2013 include Rudolf Kogler, the head of IPTV at MultiChoice; Sid Wadhi, the CEO of ANB Digital which runs CNBC Africa; Mike Aldridge, the managing director of community TV station Cape Town TV (CTV); Solomon Mugera from the BBC, as well as executives from Neotel, Vodacom, MTN, Orange, Cell C, Telkom and Google.

James Gibbons appointed as the new country manager for Discovery Networks looking after Discovery's channels in South Africa and Africa.

James Gibbons has been appointed as the new country manager for emerging business for Discovery Networks' Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) region.

That means that James Gibbons becomes responsible for looking after Discovery's multiple TV channels available on MultiChoice's DStv and On Digital Media's (ODM) TopTV pay-TV platforms in South Africa and on DStv throughout Africa.

James Gibbons will be looking after TV channels such as TLC, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and ID Investigation Discovery in South Africa and across the African continent from London. He has been based in Japan the past five years managing Discovery's operations there. His new goal will be to grow and develop Discovery's business in South Africa and Africa as well as in the other CEEMEA regions.

"I am both excited at this new opportunity and confident that we will continue to focus on the expansion of Discovery Networks in South Africa, Turkey, the Middle East and across the African continent through broader distribution with a view to creating greater local relevance for our valued viewers and partners," says James Gibbons in a press statement.

"We continue to lead the factual entertainment space in these markets and I'm looking forward to working with our talented teams to further expand Discovery's footprint, while continuing to deliver the highest quality programmes in the region," says James Gibbons.

"I am delighted that James is joining our team," says Kaisa Kieli, the president and managing director for Discovery CEEMEA. "He is well-placed to springboard our business in markets where we believe there is potential for greater growth, such as Turkey, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East."

BREAKING. 'The Rise of the TV Everywhere Audience': Discovery Networks releases a massive and fascinating new TV behaviour report.

Discovery Networks just released in Johannesburg - and supplemented it with a fascinating and special panel discussion of TV industry leaders - a groundbreaking and massive new study in the form of a brand-new report entitled The Rise of the TV Everywhere Audience showing unprecedented growth, change and evolution within the TV markets in South Africa as well as 9 other TV markets across Central Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

The thick 60 page report was compiled from quantitative research carried out by Discovery Networks in the Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa region (known as CEEMEA) as part of its Discovery Insights series of special research reports.

ALSO READ: The Rise of the TV Everywhere Audience: Discovery Networks reveals major TV trends impacting South African viewing behaviour.

For the report TV viewers were interviewed between May and June this year in South Africa as well as the United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Russian Federation and Turkey. Included was also a panel of 10 TV and advertising experts from across these markets.

The research results are astounding, groundbreaking and fascinating and explores how television and TV viewers are adapting, evolving and growing to accomodate entirely new viewing behaviours in an increasingly connected, digital, social  media rich, time-precious and media fragmented world.

"It's an incredibly exciting time for the TV industry and TV viewers who are relishing the greater freedom they have to access and interact with content across multi-screens and social media," says Kaisa Kieli, the president and managing director at Discovery Networks CEEMEA who flew to Johannesburg, South Africa for the unveiling of the special report.

Jonathan Bennett, the director of communications for Discovery CEEMEA did the fascinating presentation this afternoon in front of a room of journalists, stakeholders and TV executives.

As part of the release of the report, Discovery Networks CEEMEA, which reaches more than 175 million subscribers with its channels across this region, presented a fascinating panel discussion with key industry players within South Africa from different spheres connecting to the television business: Aletta Alberts, the head of content at pay-TV platform MultiChoice; Ahmed Tilly, the executive creative director of ad agency Black River FC; and Chris Botha, the group managing director of The MediaShop.

"Young and early adopters show an increasing appetite for new TV services," says Kaisa Kieli. "These will complement existing viewing behaviours so that conventional linear television will continue to remain the central part of media consumption," she says.

The Rise of the TV Everywhere Audience found unprecedented development in the way in which TV viewers not only watch television but are interacting with it thanks to the growing influence of social media in a digital world. Viewers "multi-screen", are rapidly growing in their use of catch-up services, interact through social media with the help of other platforms with TV and content and watch more short-form content.

Not only is TV viewing rising, and continuing to rise in the amount of time spent watching on other screens; the "first TV screen" remains central to people's entertainment and watching experience and the "centre of the house".

ALSO READ: MultiChoice looking to launch a new "connected box" DStv decoder in the first quarter of 2013.

ALSO READ: The speed of broadband and the price of broadband the biggest challenge to TV everywhere in Africa - MultiChoice.