A new circle logo for Lifetime as A+E Networks UK once again updates the female-skewed channel's look to fit its American counterpart.

The Lifetime (DStv 131) channel supplied by A+E Networks UK, will again be changing its logo and its on-air look from Tuesday 6 February.

The Lifetime logo change for South Africa and Africa comes exactly a year after the change was introduced in America in February 2017 for the female-skewed channel.

During the past year public reaction to the new, more dull and plain circular logo and the word "LIFETIME" inside has been less than great; it remains to be seen what reaction DStv subscribers in South Africa and across the rest of the continent will have a reaction to it, if any.

With the new Lifetime logo also comes some new programming, and besides the logo, Lifetime's on-air look and feel will change, with new Lifetime channel idents.

"With busy schedules; juggling the demands of work, children and home, we know just how hectic life gets and that Lifetime viewers come to the channel to be entertained," says Naz Khan, A+E Networks Africa head of marketing.

"We are driven to ensure that the shows on Lifetime give our viewers that chance to unwind and to escape. It is important to us that viewers also see a reflection of themselves in the real life people portrayed on our channel and know that they are not going it alone."

The 4th season of The Rap Game will start on Wednesday 7 February in which rappers from all walks of life bust beats for the ultimate prize of a recording contract with the Grammy winner Jermaine Dupri.

The 4th season of Little Women Atlanta starts on Wednesday 14 February at 20:00.

Terra's Big House starts on Lifetime on 22 February at 20:00, following Terra and Joe from Little Women: LA as they embark on a new journey as parents.

Question of Love is a new show starting on Friday 23 February at 20:00 following 3 couples as they ask each other some of the toughest truths.

If you’ve ever wondered about the powerhouse behind fashion’s Gigi and Bella and their model brother Anwar, their mom Yolanda Hadid shares her secrets and sees if she can replicate that success for six aspiring models in Making a Model with Yolanda Hadid starting Thursday 1 March 20:50.

The former model guides models and their "momagers" though an intensive 8 week training program.

The 6th season of the American version of Married at First Sight will start on Lifetime on 30 Mach 20:50. Viewers will follow Boston singles paired up.

Lifetime will broadcast the Lifetime Original Movie that was just broadcast on Lifetime in America, Cocaine Godmother on 31 March at 20:00. Catherine Zeta-Jones stars in the true story of Griselda Blanco Restrepo, the most infamous woman in the drug world.  

It follows Griselda from the age of 17, when she made her way to America with a fake passport through to her ruthlessly running the cocaine trade in America until she was deported back to Colombia in 2012.

Lifetime will repeat the second season of UnReal from Monday 12 March at 20:00 and says it will show the 3rd season of UnReal "in coming months".

Lifetime’s new beauty competition Glam Masters will start in June and has Laverne Cox as presenter and Kim Kardashian West as executive producer. "I’m fascinated by how artists are able to transform someone’s look with makeup and couldn’t be more ecstatic for them to show what they can really do," says Laverne Cox.

History on DStv again doing an on-air refresh on 11 May; channel opened up to DStv Compact subscribers for almost a month from 29 May.

History (DStv 186) is again changing its on-air look this year with the channel that will get another complete refresh from 11 May and become accessible to DStv Compact subscribers for almost a month.

The channel, supplied by A+E Networks UK to MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform in South Africa and Africa, had its last on-air refresh happening just last year in March 2016.

To co-incide with the latest on-air imaging change, History will be opened to DStv Compact subscribers for an open-window period on DStv from 29 May until 23 June.

"The 'H' in History will be more prominent and becomes the hero during this exciting phase - it's not just about clinically relating heroic tales but it's taking it a step further and telling a story loaded with emotion and depth," says Naz Khan, A+E Networks Africa marketing manager.

"A connection is made with the viewer when the story resonates with their own life experiences. It's the humanity and history behind these stories that is the golden common thread."

The on-air imaging refresh of History comes two months after Crime+Investigation, one of A+E Networks UK's other channels, introduced its new on-air facelift.

Here's History's new programming in May and June:

∎ The Warfighters from 1 May, 19:20
The series chronicles recent US special operations forces missions in the global war on terrorism and gives viewers an inside and candid look at the realities of war. The show is largely made by war veterans with over 90 of them participating in the production.

∎ Alone III, 10 May, 21:10
The third season starts on 10 May and follow the self-documented day-to-day lives of 10 individuals as they attempt to survive in the wilderness for as long as possible. The participants are isolated from each other and all human contact with the one who lasts longest winning a cash prize.

∎ The King Who Tricked Hitler, 19 May, 19:20
A once-off documentary that tells the story of a Romanian monarch, King Michael, who stood against Hitler and decided to join the Allied forces. But there's a twist - he was forced into exile although his battle against both Hitler and Stalin brought about a key turning point in the Second World War.

∎ 101 People that Made the 20th Century, continuing
Continuing on Sundays at 20:15 in May and June is this series that profiles the great icons - from industrialists to adventurers and from politicians to entertainers who shaped the 20th century.

∎ JFK Declassified: Tracking Oswald, 2 June, 20:15
The former CIA agent Bob Baer launches a global investigation into the assassination of America's president John F Kennedy and tracks the movements of Kee Harvey Oswald. Baer discovers a CIA document revealing that Oswald met with Soviet officials in Mexico City.

∎ Forged in Fire IV, 5 June, 21:10
The 4th season of this competition series kicks off in which bladed weapon-makers go head-to-head building everything from Viking battle axes to Samurai swords to Indian claw daggers.
Every challenge centres around crafting a component of the overall weapon and the race to create the episode's weapon of choice.

∎ The Greeks, 14 June, 19:20
The Greeks established democracy, distilled logic and reason, wrote plays, explored the soul and captured the physical human form in athletics and art. This show features historians and archaeologists, actors and athletes, scientists and artists who launch a groundbreaking exploration into the ancient Greeks' journey - not just to better understand their past, but to discover how their legacy illuminates our present and will shape our future.

∎ The Liberators of Dachau I, 26 June, 19:15
The moving account of Jewish Holocaust survivors in a concentration camp near Munich and the Allied troops that saved their lives.
On 29 April, 1945 the prisoners of Dachau were liberated and History shows viewers first-hand accounts of a survivor meeting the US soldiers who rescued him.

Kagiso Media's loss-making Indian channel, Glow TV, abruptly shutting down on DStv, StarSat and OpenView HD on 30 June due to bad South African economy.

In a shocking move, Kagiso Media is abruptly shutting down its loss-making Glow TV channel for Indian viewers with Glow TV that will be snuffed out on midnight 30 June after failing to lure enough viewers and becoming a financially viable operation.

Glow TV says it is shutting down over the sharp fall of South Africa's rand and the negative impact it has on rising programming costs, as well as the bad South African economic climate that negatively impacted Glow TV.

Kagiso Media and Urban Brew Studios will not replace Glow TV with a new TV channel. 

Glow TV was Kagiso Media's first attempt at a free-to-air TV channel which it called "the logical next step for Kagiso Media". 

Glow TV that catered to Indian viewers and launched with big fanfare in 2013 will go dark on MultiChoice's DStv channel 167, Platco Digital's OpenView HD (OVHD) channel 108, and On Digital Media (ODM) and StarTimes Media SA's StarSat channel 570.

Some Glow TV programming was also made available on PCCW Global's streaming service ONTAPtv.com in the form of a Glow TV package.

The unexpected shuttering of Glow TV after two and a half years comes just a few months after Times Media's struggling VIDI video-on demand (VOD) streaming service was closed down, both failed ventures belonging to Tiso Blackstar.

Glow TV broadcasting eastern-inspired Indian soaps and dramas, was packaged and supplied by Urban Brew Studios, also responsible for the [ED], Dumisa and One Gospel channels on DStv.

Urban Brew Studios says Glow TV, a collaboration between Kagiso Media and Nolava Television, is shutting down because of the bad economic climate in South Africa and the higher cost of programming. 

The closure comes after a big schedule shake-up that was introduced in August 2015 but didn't yield a big enough bump in viewers, including offering different audio tracks, a prime time soap block, and children's programming on afternoons.

Last month Glow TV suddenly stopped broadcasting new episodes of its flagship soap Saras. Glow TV suddenly began rebroadcasting Saras from the first episode with no explanation to its viewers why, which is now obvious - it won't be wasting more money on new content for a channel closing down.

"Glow TV viewers have been supportive, loyal and dedicated," said Trish Taylor, Urban Brew Studios CEO, in a statement. "They are the ones most affected by our decision".

There's nothing from Naz Khan, who used to be Glow TV's channel manager. 

Also nothing about what will be happening to local content like the Pick n Pay sponsored, advertiser funded show Food for Living and whether that's getting repurposed to Urban Brew's other channels like [ED].

Glow TV says the channel "would like to thank its valued viewers, advertisers and the satellite platforms for their support since its inception".

Glow TV launched in October 2013, was added a a year later in October 2014 to MultiChoice's DStv and added to StarSat in January this year.

Mark Harris, Kagiso Media group CEO says shutting down the loss-making Glow TV is in the best interest of the group.

"We are in the business of making great television but we also have to make sure that the business models associated with channels and programming work for the broader group".

"We will continue to produce and supply our viewers and media partners with the best content and formats available," says Omar Essack, Kagiso Media deputy group CEO.

Editor's note: It's shocking and bad for Glow TV viewers losing their channel, and sad that Kagiso Media is dumping Glow TV.

It's content definitely had an audience, and a potentially even bigger audience.

Looking back, one thing I remember is that Glow TV was also one of those TV channels that never bothered to invite TV critics to its media launch event, or to even tell the relevant media beforehand, or even afterwards that it actually launched. 

After that, Glow TV never regularly bothered, or knew how, to properly keep media and TV critics informed of its programming. I never met anybody from Glow TV in over two and a half years of the channel's existence even once; never got a call once.

One has to wonder if Glow TV would have, could have, performed better or could have had a higher awareness under viewers if it actually made more effort and communicated better and more, and more regularly, about its actual programming.

If viewers and the media - for instance TV critics who write and talk and whose job it is to inform people about it - don't know about your channel and what's on it, where does a TV channel think its ratings and awareness and viewership is going to come from?

Everybody wants to launch a TV channel these days; few sustain it. And even fewer bother to actually involve the press, know the right relevant media, and use them to help create ongoing awareness.

You never bothered to get us to really care. Goodbye, Glow.

Indian channel, Glow TV, from Kagiso Media added to StarSat from 14 January; follows addition of Glow TV content package to ONTAPtv.com.

The Indian channel, Glow TV is being added to StarSat's satellite pay-TV platform from Thursday 14 January on channel 570 to all subscribers.

Glow TV, packaged by Urban Brew Studios, a division of Kagiso Media, also saw a lot of its content in the form of a Glow TV package added to PCCW Global's streaming service ONTAPtv.com for R68 per month.

It means that Glow TV is now available on the satellite TV services of MultiChoice's DStv on channel 167, Platco Digital's OpenView HD on channel 108, On Digital Media (ODM) and China's StarTimes Media SA's StarSat, as well as on ONTAPtv.com.

The addition of Glow TV makes up for the loss of the Indian channels Star Plus and Star Vijay in December 2015 that jumped to DStv in a new carriage agreement.

"We're excited that through this move, Glow TV will be accessible to an even wider audience," says Naz Khan, Glow TV channel manager.

"South Africans, from all backgrounds, are becoming more enthusiastic about 'eastern' content. We believe the vibrancy, passion and family-centric nature of Glow TV's shows are alluring".

Ian Woodrow, StarSat head of content, says "Glow TV with its broad appeal and exciting line-up is bound to be a hit with StarSat audiences".

"Glow TV is an interesting addition to our platform and we believe many of our subscribers will make it part of their regular viewing. Much of its programming line-up has never been seen before in South Africa and the appeal of the channel is across general, rather than specific audiences," says Ian Woodrow.

Glow TV now broadcast soaps between 17:30 and 22:00 on weekdays and this month will see the start of the new soap, Saras, in which a young man falls in love with a girl while his domineering father and manipulative stepmother threaten to ruin the relationship.

Glow TV's programming is in Hindi (with subtitles) and in Englosh across various genres including food, comedy, travel, crime, drama, movies and cartoons. The soaps in prime time carry a dual soundtrack option for subscribers of Hindi or English.

Glow TV, a collaboration between Kagiso Media and Nolava Television, launched in October 2013 on OpenView HD. Glow TV was added a year later in October 2014 to MultiChoice's platform as well following a distribution agreement.

Glow TV on DStv and OpenView HD shaking up its channel line-up and giving viewers a choice of audio listening options from 3 August.

The Indian Glow TV channel (DStv 167 / OVHD 108) is shaking up its channel line-up and giving viewers the opportunity of choosing different audio language tracks from Monday.

On Monday, 3 August, the channel from Kagiso Media carried on MultiChoice's DStv and Platco Digital's OpenView HD satellite platforms in South Africa will run soaps back-to-back between 17:30 until 22:00 at night on weekdays.

Viewers will also be able to flick between listening to their soaps in either English or the original Hindi on both DStv and OpenView HD. Glow TV says the line-up changes and language toggle are viewer-driven changes.

Glow TV is also starting children's programming on weekday afternoons and introducing what it calls premium lifestyle content on Saturday mornings and "family viewing" on weekend evenings.

The soap Sadda Haq at 17:30 will now be followed by an hour of Bade Ache Lagte Hai and the new soap Young Love will start at 19:30 until 20:30. Parichay follows at 20:30 and Office at 21:30.

"In the feedback that we've received, across all demographics, our soaps are some of the most loved shows. It made sense for us to dedicate a chunk of the weekday evenings to this genre of entertainment," says Naz Khan, Glow TV channel head.

Glow TV is starting children's programming from Monday on weekdays at 16:00, with programming like Mighty Raju, Little Bheem and Cops and Robbers.

On Saturday mornings Glow TV will have food programmes Mummy Ka Magic at 08:00 and Health Mange More at 09:00. This is followed by the wedding makeover show Band Baaja Bride in which brides are given five star treatment in the build-up to their big day.

On Saturday evenings Glow TV will show How to be Indie at 19:00 with Citizen Khan at 19:30 and a movie at 20:00.

Sunday evenings will now be dedicated to reality programming, with the dance show India's Dancing Superstar at 19:00, followed by the magazine style talk show Up Close and Personal at 20:30 and MTV Roadies at 21:30.

Glow TV, a collaboration between Kagiso Media and Nolava Television, launched in October 2013 on OpenView HD and was added a year later in October 2014 to MultiChoice's platform as well following a distribution agreement.