M-Net on Koowee as a kids channel getting canned: 'The much-loved Koowee programming will not disappear from pay-television.'

Koowee, the children's channel aimed at preschool kids and which was supplied by M-Net as a kids channel to MultiChoice's DStv seized to exist as a separate channel since yesterday and is henceforth only available as a programming block on the kykNET channels such as kykNET and the new kykNET & kie.

I asked M-Net about the decision to discontinue Koowee, in effect canning it as a channel and continuing it as a branded programming block which ended 4 years after it was launched as a channel on 6 April 2009.


Why was the Koowee channel discontinued?
Even though the Koowee channel no longer exist as from Tuesday 9 April, the much-loved Koowee programming will not disappear from pay-television. In future, shows that used to be on the Koowee channel  will be available in Koowee blocks on general entertainment M-Net channels such as kykNET, the new channel kykNET & kie and MagicWorld.

Why this change? As a company, M-Net continuously reviews and researches viewer habits and the consumption of all of our channels. We found that Koowee was mostly watched during the times that will be the future Koowee blocks on the general entertainment channels mentioned, and that having these shows as part of these channels, instead of running a separate TV channel, would still suit the majority of viewers.

While we will be able to give our existing young Koowee viewers aged 0 to 6 their daily dose of kids TV, these wonderful shows will now also be available to a broader audience on different DStv bouquets.

Furthermore, the budget that was allocated to the running of an entire TV channel could now be spent on creating more original productions.


Koowee as a channel is ending exactly 4 years after it started. How would M-Net describe the performance of the channel, did it not grow as the expectation was, or what aspects attributed to the decision to no longer have it remain a stand-alone channel?
M-Net is very proud of the Koowee brand. The Koowee channel was launched 4 years ago with new shows in Afrikaans for preschool audiences, filling a huge content gap.
From there, the shows were dubbed into vernacular, isiZulu and Setswana. We now have a library of previously non-existent kiddies content which can be broadcast on several of our channels.

Koowee as a channel did very well from a content-generating aspect in providing work and being a creative outlet for homegrown local children's stories, puppet work, animation and to an extent even translation work as doing literally more than lip service by making content available through multi-language translating work.

To what level would this be continuing? The press release mentions Heidi will now be in the Koowee programming block, so it's clear that the Koowee slot will not just be locally generated preschool content anymore. But how much focus and impetus will there still be or remain to create local content for this programming block?
The Koowee block will have different content on different channels - always carefully selected to ensure maximum engagement with the audience.

The duration on the block is longer on kykNET & kie, and that is where you could find content such as Heidi, which has played on kykNET before, but will be new to many kykNET & kie viewers.

Content generation is extremely important to M-Net, a company with 40 plus channels across Africa and our total number of original productions increases substantially year on year.

The content focus sometimes has to shift, however, and in the near future we will be investing more in other original content areas.

For example, in the next year viewers will see many more authentic local television stories that can be enjoyed by different, but broader family audiences.

Koowee on DStv getting canned as a TV channel; name will continue to exist as a programming block on a set of DStv channels.

M-Net's Koowee (DStv 307) is getting canned as a kids TV channel on DStv with the M-Net produced channel which will no longer be supplied to MultiChoice's DStv, and DStv which will no longer be having Koowee as a separate TV channel on it's channel line-up.

Koowee as an M-Net kids channel targeting preschool kids with both an Afrikaans and Zulu sound track will be gone by 9 April.

"Koowee will no longer exist as a separate channel on DStv from 9 April onwards," said MultiChoice at the end of the press statement which announced earlier this week that FOX (DStv 125) and kykNET & Kie (DStv 145) are added as new TV channels to DStv.

No reason for the discontinuation of Koowee was given and why Koowee as a channel is getting closed down.

Koowee becomes the second kids TV channel which was compiled by M-Net for DStv which is ending, after DStv and M-Net ended K All Day (originally called KTV World, then K-World) on 31 March 2009.

Now Koowee as a TV channel is ending after 4 years - it was launched on 6 April 2009. It has since simulcast programming blocks on other channels like two daily blocks which was added on kykNET (DStv 144).

Koowee will now be folded into some other channels where the brand-name will exist only as a programming block.

M-Net didn't made specific mention of Koowee closing down but alluded to it in the pay-TV broadcaster's own announcement about the new kykNET & kie (DStv 145) TV channel.

"As from Tuesday 9 April the current Afrikaans children's shows on Koowee will move onto Koowee blocks on kykNET and kykNET & kie, with the latter having longer slots."

"In the mornings, the little ones can enjoy the antics of the cuddly Koowee characters on kykNET & kie between 07:30 and 09:30, with more to follow between 17:00 and 18:00 in the early evening. While Koowee personalities like Tjiff and Tjaff and Pikin will be regulars on the channel, moms should be glad to hear that familiar faces from their own childhood like Heidi will join in the fun too."

Besides the existing programming block on kykNET, Koowee will be available on kykNET & kie as a programming block, and will also be on Magic World (DStv 162) as a programming block with Zulu and Tswana language options.

MultiChoice to make local toddler channel Koowee available to DStv Compact subscribers from Monday.

DStv Compact viewers will get access to the local toddler channel Koowee (DStv 307) from this Monday, August 2, MultiChoice tells me.

I was first to break the news RIGHT HERE at the beginning of June that Koowee added a Zulu simulcast sound track option, which on DStv Compact will be the default language setting. On DStv Premium the default language is Afrikaans. DStv Compact subscribers however also have the choice of changing and alternating between the two languages by using the DStv remote control.

''Adding this channel to the DStv Compact bouquet means that more subscribers will have access to children's programming in two of our indigenous languages,'' says Aletta Alberts, MultiChoice's general manager for content.

BREAKING. DStv's Koowee preschool TV channel now also available in Zulu as a language option.

You're reading it here first.

I can be first to reveal that the local preschool TV channel Koowee (DStv 307) is now also available in Zulu as a language option.

Koowee that started out on DStv in April 2009 as an Afrikaans language channel and from the outset aimed to become available in other language options as well, now gives viewers the option of a Zulu sound track since the beginning of June. Viewers can press LANGUAGE on the DStv remote when on the Koowee channel, and can now choose between an Afrikaans or Zulu sound track.

''When Koowee started last year, we decided that it would be important to support the channel in the local languages in South Africa,'' Yolisa Phahle, M-Net channel director: special interests, tells me. ''You can now choose to either watch a programme in Afrikaans or Zulu. We're hoping that it will take off in Zulu because then we'll also consider other languages - not just for South Africa but also - because we're a continental broadcaster, also maybe Swahili speaking people for example.''

''Most mothers are keen for their children to receive an education in and to be able to communicate in their mother tongue – especially babies, because if they're not English speaking first language, you're going to be speaking to your child in either Afrikaans or Zulu or whatever language,'' says Yolisa Phahle. ''That is where we saw the need. We launched Koowee last year, primarily in Afrikaans, and it was very popular with the parents and grandparents. At the time we already decided that we would be following it up with other languages so from June 1 you now have a language option of Afrikaans and Zulu.''