Luis Silberwasser the new president of Telemundo after leaving Discovery Networks International.

Luis Silberwasser who left Discovery Networks International (DNI) in April as chief content chief has been appointed as the new president of Telemundo Network.

Telemundo (DStv 118) is supplied by Universal Networks International (UNI) to MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform in South Africa and the rest of Africa.

Luis Silberwasser who was with Discovery since 1998, will start as president of Telemundo Network in August and is therefore moving from London in the United Kingdom to Miami in the United States who where he will oversee Telemundo and Telemundo Studios.

Luis Silberwasser will report to Joe Uva, the chairman of NBCUniversal's Hispanic Enterprises and Content.

"Luis is a world-class operating executive with exceptional management, content and leadership experience," says Joe Uva said in a statement.

"His deep understanding of the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American markets, coupled with his strong track record in successfully building global brands and developing and producing high quality content make him the ideal leader to fulfill the growth potential of Telemundo Network".

"I am extremely proud and honored to join the NBCUniversal family. Leading the Telemundo Network is a dream opportunity and I am incredibly excited about its future," says Luis Silberwasser in the statement.

"Telemundo has a robust legacy as a content producer and with NBCUniversal's support, the network is well positioned to grow.  I look forward to working with Telemundo's great creative team to take the network to the next level".

Discovery Networks International creates a new development fund to kickstart brand-new global TV series and events.

Discovery Networks International (DNI) and Discovery Channel in the United States is starting a new global development fund of $500 000 to help kickstart brand-new TV series and landmark events.

"In its continued commitment to developing and producing the world’s most ambitious, highest quality programming, Discovery Channel and Discovery Networks International are working in partnership to kickstart the creation of the next big breakthrough programs in science, adventure, history, engineering, natural history and more," says the factual entertainment company in a statement.

The Global Landmark Development Fund will invest in the most impressive and daring ideas from the production community around the world.

"Discovery Channel is as committed as ever to pushing the boundaries of traditional genres and breaking new grounds in the non-fiction space," says Eileen O’Neill, the group president for Discovery Channel and TLC Networksin the United States.

"With a strong focus on our roots in natural history to new explorations of the unknown — like live events including Skywire Live with Nik Wallenda and Space Jump Live – we will continue to provide the unprecedented access to extraordinary people and places that sets us apart from our competition."

"This is an exciting challenge for producers to bring us ideas as ambitious and innovative as Planet Earth and North America," says Luis Silberwasser, the executive vice president and chief content officer for Discovery Networks International.

"By working on a global scale, we have a unique opportunity to enlist the world's best production companies to make their most ambitious ideas a reality. Discovery programming is renowned worldwide for its excellence and this fund will ensure we continue to reinvent in the masterpieces of which we are so proud."

Production companies around the world can now submit their  best and most innovative ideas to Andrew Jackson, the executive vice president of production and development for landmark series and specials, Discovery Channel, and Julian Bellamy, the creative director and head of production and development at Discovery Networks International.

Oprah and Discovery Networks International continue to snub South African viewers as Oprah shows are added in Australia following the UK.

Oprah Winfrey and Discovery Networks International (DNI) continue to snub South African TV viewers with TV shows from Oprah Winfrey's OWN TV network in the United States - including her ratings grabbing new talk show Oprah's Next Chapter - which will become available on one of Discovery's TV channels in Australia from August, after it also started in the United Kingdom on a Discovery channel since May.

OWN is a partnership between Discovery and Oprah Winfrey. While South Africa is the only country where Oprah Winfrey's O Magazine has a bespoke and unique magazine version and is also the place where she built and runs her private girls' school - the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls - the country has not seen regular new Oprah Winfrey OWN programming since the end of her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show.

A few OWN series, Your OWN Show on Mzansi Magic and Welcome to Sweetie Pies shown in South Africa as Soul Food Family on TLC were seen here already but there's been no steady stream of Oprah Winfrey talk or Oprah Winfrey TV channel content since her Oprah Winfrey Show went off the air.

A few once-off episodes of Oprah's Next Chapter shown on Discovery Networks International's TLC channel in South Africa with Justin Bieber and Lance Armstrong drew record ratings and created big buzz for the TLC channel. Her documentary about her girls' school was also shown internationally first in South Africa, also on TLC.

Since May an OWN block of programming was added to TLC in the United Kingdom.

Now another Discovery channel in Australia will starting showing a block of programming from OWN from August, including Oprah's Next Chapter, Super Soul Sunday, America with Lisa Ling and Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes - the revealing reality show which documented the final year of the popular talk show behind the scenes.

"OWN programming is the perfect complement to the lifestyle and entertainment shows airing on Discovery Networks International's popular female flagship brands," says Luis Silberwasser, the executive vice president and chief content officer at Discovery Networks International in a press statement about the OWN programming block being added in Australia.

"With the block's successful launch in the United Kingdom now under our belts, we are primed to bring this robust offering to Australian audiences."

It's not clear why Luis Silberwasser would make this statement but DNI not do a similar OWN block for TLC in South Africa and Africa where Oprah Winfrey is and has been a much bigger star than in the United Kingdom and Australia.

In April, before the OWN block started on TLC in the United Kingdom from May, TV with Thinus asked through DNI's South African PR agency whether it the OWN programming will also be coming to TLC in South Africa, but was told then that there's no such plans.

BREAKING. Adventurer Bear Grylls returns to television and The Discovery Channel after a contract dispute, will debut new show, Ultimate Survivors.

The adventurer and survivalist Bear Grylls is returning to television and The Discovery Channel (DStv 121), a year after Bear Grylls and Discovery Networks International (DNI) went their separate ways because of a major contract dispute and brought to an abrupt end the biggest TV show and franchise of Discovery.

Discovery Networks International has now commissioned a brand-new show from Bear Grylls, Bear Grylls: Ultimate Survivors. The first season of Bear Grylls: Ultimate Survivors will have 6 hour long episodes and will be shown on The Discovery Channel in 217 markets worldwide including South Africa.

In Bear Grylls: Ultimate Survivors, he will tell the incredible stories of survival of ordinary people stranded in dire situations, by using archive footage and interviews. Bear Grylls will then place himself in their same position and circumstances to show how survival was possible.

Bear Grylls says he is "super excited to be working with Discovery again".

"Ultimate Survivors, and any future endeavors, will be intense — but that's where the fun is! Ultimate Survival took me to some of the toughest climates and terrains out there, and this new series is an exciting evolution of that. The aim is to follow incredible real-life survival stories and demonstrate dynamic life-saving know-how along the way," says Bear Grylls.

Bear Grylls: Ultimate Survivors is produced by Discovery's production company Betty TV.

"We are thrilled to welcome Bear back to the Discovery fold," says Luis Silberwasser, the chief content officer and executive vice president of Discovery Networks International. "He is a true game-changer in the survival genre, integral in shaping it into the programming powerhouse that it is todat. We are now poised to push the limits even further for our international audience."