MultiChoice expands access of NBCUniversal International Networks' E! Entertainment channel to DStv Compact subscribers in South Africa from 14 April 2020.

by Thinus Ferreira

NBCUniversal International Networks' E! Entertainment (DStv 124) channel is getting wider carriage with MultiChoice making the channel available to DStv Compact subscribers in South Africa from Tuesday 14 April 2020.

E! is currently available to DStv Premium and DStv Compact Plus subscribers. E! is already available to DStv subscribers on DStv Compact in the rest of Africa.

"We are delighted that E! will now be available to a broader audience in Africa," says Lee Raftery, the managing director, for the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region at NBCUniversal International and chief marketing officer.

"This is an exciting evolution in our partnership with DStv, and new viewers to the channel will be able to enjoy ever-popular series such as Keeping Up With the Kardashians and Botched. We remain committed to bringing African audiences local content, with brand-new episodes of the Safta-nominated Celebrity Game Night."

Thabisa Mkhwanazi, MultiChoice South Africa head of marketing, says "We’re thrilled that our Compact subscribers will now also have access to the wide range of content that the E! Entertainment channel has to offer".

"We continue to strive to bring our customers the best content available so they get the greatest viewing experience possible."

The new season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians just started on E! on Sundays at 20:00with Kourtney's recent revelation that she's no longer happy working with her sisters, while Kris gets creative to encourage a reluctant Khloe to start dating again, while Kylie undergoes a frightening medical procedure.

Meanwhile Anele Mdoda is back as the host of Celebrity Game Night from Sunday 19 April at 21:00 with team captains Jason Goliath and Ayanda Thabethe for brand-new episodes of Celebrity Game Night.

Based on the Primetime Emmy Award-winning series Hollywood Game Night, Anele Mdoda recently received a Safta nomination for Best TV Presenter for hosting the local version of this show, while the production for Celebrity Game Night is also up for an award in the category Best International Format Show.

The E! presenter Jason Kennedy takes E! viewers inside celebrity homes for in-depth interviews in the new series In The Room on Mondays at 21:00 from 11 May as he meets Kourtney Kardashian, Tom Brady and Chris Pratt to discuss their latest projects, products, passions and more.

E! also has new episodes of Botched on Mondays at 20:00 from 8 June revolving around the plastic surgeons Dr Paul Nassif and Dr Terry Dubrow, as well as the latest season of Total Bellas on Sundays at 20:00 from 10 May.

E! Entertainment stops cameras from rolling as production on Keeping Up with the Kardashians is abruptly shut down after Kim Kardashian Paris robbery.

E! Entertainment (DStv 124) has abruptly stopped filming Kim Kardashian and the other members of the K clan for the Keeping Up with the Kardashians reality show after the dramatic gunpoint robbery of Kim in Paris.

Viewers won't see any of the Kardashian family members react and how they cope in the aftermath of the reality star's traumatic experience as the cameras – unusual for the family living their lives in the spotlight of fame – were turned off and production suspended indefinitely.

On Sunday evening Kim Kardashian was held up in her Paris hotel room when armed men entered the l’Hotel de Pourtalès, "bound and gagged" Kim while she "begged them to spare her life, telling them she had babies at home", according to TMZ.

Kim was reportedly robbed of $10 million's jewelry, including a new engagement ring Kanye West gave her last month.

Now E! in a statement says "Kim’s well-being is our core focus right now. No decision has been made as to when production will resume".

It's not clear how the indefinite shutdown of Keeping Up with the Kardashians will affect the show that is supposed to return to E! Entertainment (DStv 124) with the second half of the 12th season before the end of this year.

The show, produced by Ryan Seacrest and Bunim/Murray Productions, has been renewed for a 13th, 14th and 15th season already in 2015, meaning it will remain on E! until at least 2018.

Future of Rob spin-off shaky

A second season of the one spin-off Rob & Chyna that just started on E! Entertainment for DStv subscribers in South Africa and elsewhere in Africa with episodes just weeks behind the American airdate, is meanwhile in jeopardy.

Production sources told TMZ that Rob, scared of fat shaming, is returning to his reclusive ways, making it difficult to film the show and that a second season of Rob & Chyna has not yet been ordered.

It's apparently difficult for producers to get the two together to film scenes since Rob's weight gain is making him "a hermit".

Rob hardly leaves the house, gained his lost weight back which is evident in episodes, and is according to sources, "slipping back into a dark place".

E! Entertainment's Keeping Up with the Kardashians not filming the comatosed Lamar Odom in Sunrise Hospital as the K clan rush to his bedside.

The reality show Keeping Up with the Kardashians is not filming the hospital drama of the comatosed Lamar Odom, says E! Entertainment (DStv 124) as Khloé Kardashian and the rest of TV's K clan rushed to his bedside at the Sunrise Hospital.

The basketball player married to the Kardashian sister has a 50/50 chance of survival after "all kinds of drugs" were found in his system after he was rushed to hospital where his heart, liver and kidneys started to shut down after spending days at a Nevada brothel.

TMZ reports that that its ironically Keeping Up with the Kardashians that led to Lamar Odom's drug overdose who spent drug fueled days at the brothel using dangerous herbal viagra sex pills and cocaine. He's suffered several strokes in hospital and brain damage is possible. He is now on dialysis for kidney failure.

Lamar is still technically married to Khloé since she filed for divorce back in December 2013.

TMZ report that according to a Love Ranch brothel insider who was with Lamar his behaviour changed when he saw how he was portrayed in Keeping Up with the Kardashians in an episode where Khloé talks about how she's worried that Lamar might self-destruct, as well as a scene in which Khloé flees from a nightclub after word that Lamar is there and is trying to get in.

"Keeping Up With the Kardashians is not currently shooting in Las Vegas," says E! Entertainment in a statement, although America's People magazine reports that according to sources the family did film as they prepared to travel to the Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas before they hopped on a private jet.

"Lamar Odom appeared on several seasons of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, as well as two seasons of his own series Khloé & Lamar. We are saddened to hear of his condition, and are sending out thoughts and prayers for his recovery," says E! Entertainment in the statement.

Today's interesting TV stories to read from TV with Thinus - 14 May 2015.

Keeping Up with the Kardashians on E! Entertainment (DStv 124) exposed.
A fan exposes the so-called reality show for the incredibly inconsistent and badly done continuity errors littering the false show.

The dying American Idol ...
and what the death of the biggest TV hit from before the #hashtag era means for television.

Concern about British TV drama at the BBC.
Outgoing head of drama at the BBC says the BBC's drama department is "at a tipping point" and that he's very concerned - "there will be less drama and fewer jobs".

CSI cancelled after 15 years.
There won't be another season to continue the cliffhanger, but there will be a 2-hour made-for-TV movie to give a final conclusion to what at a time was the most watched TV drama series in the world.

CNN orders Declassified and The Eighties as series.
Will undoubtedly end up being shown on CNN International (DStv 401) as well.

Two more seasons for the British drama series Ripper Street.
Amazon has renewed the drama series for 2 more series after picking it up for a 3rd season. Now there will be a 4th and a 5th Ripper Street which Amazon took over after it was cancelled.

McDeathly: a whopping 25 TV characters have died in American TV shows so fat this season.
Is this the deadliest TV season ever?

Harry Shearer cut from The Simpsons.
The voice of Principal Skinner, Mr Burns and Ned Flanders is gone following a contract dispute and he got fired. He wanted more money and changes to the back-end merchandising part of his contract. The Simpsons, renewed for another 2 seasons will now go on without him.

E! Entertainment is opened to DStv Compact subscribers from 5 to 7 September to watch the Kasdashian clan.

E! Entertainment (DStv 124) will be opened to all DStv Compact subscribers on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform TV with Thinus learnt last week.

"We're opening the channel to DStv Compact subscribers for the whole weekend," said Kaisa Kantalainen, the Universal Networks International head of marketing for the Benelux, Nordic and Africa region.

"We're running a Keeping Up with the Kardashians marathon, and then leading into the new 2nd half of the new season".

E! Entertainment which is a DStv Premium TV channel will be opened for DStv Compact subscribers from Friday 5 September at 16:00 until 23:59 on Sunday 7 September.

The opening of E! Entertainment to the lower-tiered DStv bouquet is to co-incide with the start of the second half of the 9th season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians starting on Sunday 7 September at 21:00.

Kardashians season 8, first season of The Wanted starting on E! Entertainment on 21, 22 July at 21:00.

The 8th season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians and The Wanted are starting as reality shows on E! Entertainment (DStv 124) on Sunday 21 July and Monday 22 July at 21:00, respectively.

There's 18 new episodes in the 8th season of Keeping Up with the Kardashians in which the younger Kardashian sisters Kendall and Kylie are growing up and striving for more independence, Bruce and his son Brody trying to spend more time together, Khloe facing startling feelings about Kendall and Kylie becoming adults and Kourtney drawing a line in the sand with Scott as everyone awaits the arrival of Kim's first child.

The Wanted follows the personal and professional lives of the United Kingdom pop group heading to California to record their third album. Max George, Siva Kaneswaran, Jay McGuinness, Tom Parker and Nathan Sykes are followed as they live together in the Hollywood Hills and take on all that Los Angeles has to offer.

Keeping Up With the Kasdashians on E! Entertainment becoming one-hour episodes from the 7th season.

E! Entertainment (DStv 124) is turning its reality show Keeping Up With the Kasdashians into an hour long show with one-hour episodes from the 7th season.

E! Entertainment is expanding the seventh season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians to 18 episodes of an hour each - the longest season order so far. The show is produced for E! Entertainment by Ryan Seacrest Productions and Bunim/Murray Productions.