Showmax orders isiZulu Superstore comedy adaptation for South Africa

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice's video streaming service Showmax has commissioned a South African adaptation of the American comedy series Superstore produced by Barkers Media which will be done in isiZulu.

While work continues on an Afrikaans version for Showmax and kykNET (DStv 144) of The Office produced by Rapid Blue and licensed from BBC Studios, MultiChoice and NBCUniversal Formats are teaming up to do a version of Superstore for Showmax in isiZulu.

Production on the South African version as a Showmax Original and produced by Barkers Media, will start this year.

The six seasons of the American version of Superstore starring America Ferrera and Ben Feldman whose characters work at the fictional Cloud 9 chain store, are carried on Showmax.

The South African version will be the second non-English version after Supertitlán which is the Latin adaptation of the format in Mexico. 

Barkers Media already produced Killer Front Page, the reality shows Shebeen Queens and The Bala Family, as well as How to Manifest a Man.

"We're on Cloud 9," says Nicola van Niekerk, MultiChoice's executive head of programming.

"I laughed my way through every episode of Superstore and can't wait to see how the funny and loveable characters are reimagined in our complex country."

Reneilwe Sema, Barkers Media co-executive producer, says "We are proud to be producing the first African version of Superstore for Showmax.

Mpho Lengane, Barkers Media co-executive producer, adds "The format is globally recognised and adored by audiences all over the world, so we're looking forward to adding that distinctive South African flavour to it".

Hannah Mabruk, NBCUniversal Formats vice president for format sales, says Superstore "is a format that resonates with audiences around the world because of its undeniable humour, heart, and universal themes of community and friendship flourishing in the workplace".

"Together with our longtime partners at Showmax and the team at Barkers Media, we look forward to bringing a uniquely South African spin to these lovable characters in a fresh and exciting new way."

MultiChoice developing Afrikaans version of The Office as a Showmax Original for 2025 with Rapid Blue.

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice is developing an Afrikaans version of the satirical comedy series The Office in South Africa, licensed from BBC Studios and produced by Rapid Blue, which will start filming and debut in 2025 as a Showmax Original and simultaneously broadcast on kykNET (DStv 144).

The Afrikaans version of The Office will be the 14th version of the mockumentary sitcom. MultiChoice has experience with the format with kykNET's long-running Hotel and the recent Pronk Primêr which is similar to Abbott Elementary. 

On Friday morning Showmax was asked but declined to say whether the title would be something like Die Kantoor, or what the initial episode order is, saying that more information about the production will only be made available later.

Nicola van Niekerk, M-Net's head of premium content and co-productions and now also Showmax's acting head of content, on Friday morning told media at kykNET's 2024 12th Silwerskerm film festival in a press briefing that South Africa will get the 14th adaptation of The Office on partnership with Ricky Gervais.

"We recently signed and we're developing in conjunction with Rapid Blue. We're extremely excited. We've started the process and will look at how is going to play the weird office boss," van Niekerk said.

"In Australia it's a woman. Will South Africa get a man or a woman? Will they be old or young? How will the office make-up look? This is one of the most exciting projects we've worked on in years," van Niekerk said.

"The reason you take a project like this is because of the expertise like the BBC comedy team and Ricky Gervais. But they don't have the writers internally for a South African adaptation. We're crewing up completely locally and we're going to get some of the best Afrikaans writers in the writers' room and make it as strong as possible."

"The thing that makes different versions of The Office so good is the adapted nuance of the writing. The cultural nuance and authenticity is critically important. You can't just take a script, translate it and think it will land. It won't land. So it will be a long development period."

Ziyanda Ngcaba, Rapid Blue managing director, says "We are proud to be producing the first African version of The Office for Showmax and kykNET".

The Office created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant made its debut over two decades ago as a British series and was successfully adapted in other territories like the United States and recently Australia.

M-Net premium content exec Nicola van Niekerk moves to MultiChoice's Showmax as acting content boss.

by Thinus Ferreira

Nicola van Niekerk, M-Net's executive responsible for premium content and co-productions, has now been made the acting executive overseeing content for MultiChoice's streamer Showmax.

The widely respected Nicola van Niekerk has been M-Net's head of premium content and co-productions for a year since July 2023, after she was upped from the position of senior manager for scripted content and factual entertainment that she held for the preceding five years since October 2018.

It's unclear when Nicola van Niekerk moved to acting head of content at Showmax but it happened very recently. Showmax didn't answer a media query made Tuesday asking when the move happened.

It's also unclear whether Nicola van Niekerk continues oversight of M-Net premium content and coprods or has relinquished this role, and if so, who is now in charge of this. 

Like Showmax, M-Net didn't answer a media query made Tuesday asking whether Nicola van Niekerk is still M-Net's head of premium and co-productions or who is now fulfilling this role.

Nicola van Niekerk started at M-Net in 2012 as a commissioning editor for kykNET (DStv 144) and quickly rose up the executive ladder at the Randburg-based pay-TV operator.

Nicola van Niekerk as Showmax acting content boss replaces Candice Fangueiro who left MultiChoice in October 2022 after seven years as Showmax's content boss.

Candice Fangueiro jumped to Amazon Studios and Amazon Prime Video two years ago to head up that global streamer's now-destroyed plans to ramp up local content creation and commissioning in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa which abruptly came to a halt earlier this year. 

MultiChoice's global co-productions for M-Net are in English, crime stories and in beautiful South African settings.

by Thinus Ferreira

When four upcoming drama series on DStv, all done as co-productions with international partners, unspool in the coming months on M-Net, they'll have three things in common: They're crime stories, they're in English and they're in beautiful South Africa settings.

These three factors are what's in vogue right now for South African co-productions, what works, what viewers in South Africa and worldwide want to see when they watch a South African series, and what MultiChoice and international partners are looking for when doing South African co-prods together.

Devil's Peak, launching on 29 October on M-Net (DStv 101), is a 5-episode crime thriller set in Cape Town - an international co-production from Lookout Point and Expanded Media Productions together with MultiChoice Studios and BBC Studios Distribution distributing it internationally.

Spinners - launching on 8 November on MultiChoice's streamer Showmax and 13 November on Canal+ in Africa - is an 8-episode drama set in the crime-infested Cape Flats resembling Paris' banlieue and Brazil's favelas where a 17-year-old gang getaway-driver dreams of escape through an eclectic motorsport subculture called spinning.

Spinners is a co-production between Showmax and Canal+ with SutdioCanal handling international sales.

Meanwhile filming is underway in KwaZulu-Natal on the second season of the crime drama series Reyka for M-Net - a co-production between Quizzical Pictures and Fremantle - and the two companies are also working together and are filming the crime thriller White Lies also done in scenic Cape Town.

Popular South African co-productions on M-Net and for DStv premium subscribers generally now have three things in common, Nicola van Niekerk, MultiChoice's head of content for premium channels and co-productions, says: "It's crime, it's English and it's in a beautiful setting. We can tell that those work the best".

Nicola van Niekerk was a panellist this week at a MIP Africa session in Cape Town about how TV and film producers in Africa can work with MultiChoice to unlock co-production opportunities with international companies interested in telling and showcasing South African and African stories.

Waldimar Pelser, channel director for premium channels at MultiChoice, was also a panellist and said "The most productive conversations we have are with producers that consume our content and on a visceral level know who our audience is. Our partners have to understand who they're making content for."

He mentioned that content that can only be made locally in South Africa - and that viewers would not be able to find elsewhere - reap the most success.

Tebogo Matlawa, head of scripted content for the middle and mass market for South Africa at MultiChoice, said "producers should also look outside the bubble of their own existence" when working on content but cautioned that while action and dramas have seen success "there isn't much of an appetite for violence".

"Always think, would you watch this with your grandmother?" he advised when considering pitches for scripted content for middle and mass markets.

Victor Sanchez Aghahowa, head of production for MultiChoice West Africa, said "Compelling characters in compelling situations that anybody can relate to – that's what we're looking for. Anything inauthentic will immediately be sniffed out by our younger audience".

Nicola van Niekerk's advice to production companies are for producers to have an in-depth understanding of both the local and the international audience before pitching a project.

"As a producer, you need to assess your story and say, 'Where will this story work?' Will it work in a very specific demographic hyper-locally in South Africa, but where else will it work? Which other broadcaster will like that? And to know that you need to understand all of the broadcaster's strategies on a global level."

Lerato Moruti, senior manager for reality and entertainment for the middle and mass market at M-Net, said that successful reality TV shows provide a sense of "tabloid voyeurism, with family-based reality shows that rate high with viewers".

"South Africans look for meaning in content, and respond well to 'help TV', like the Mzansi Magic reality show Abandoned about orphaned children that seek out family members later in life."

2023 Silwerskerm Film Festival | Day 1: How kykNET's pivot to include TV will support even more new voices.

by Thinus Ferreira

Ninety-nine years since The Rotunda in Camps Bay was built in 1904, the movers, shakers and moviemakers in South Africa's film biz will once again descend from today on the oldest single-story dome construction in Cape Town for kykNET's 11th Silwerskermfees film festival held in Cape Town.

The Bay Hotel's glass-lined azure pool, ensconced just beyond the palm-tree-lined Victoria Road, once again beckons the wide array of new and longtime film and TV industry professionals who are all coming together to network, pitch, watch new films and series, talk shop and take tentative steps towards possible dealmaking while the first spring rains sift from the Cape Town sky.

As the most visitors yet for this annual film festival - held under the aegis of MultiChoice and M-Net's Afrikaans content division - gather this week at the seaside resort suburb colloquially called "Cannes in Cape Town", a lot of the hubbub at the Silwerskermfees this year is around its pivot to broaden and include television.

While TV's wheelers and dealers have always been present at the Silwerskermfilmfees, kykNET is formally incorporating TV into its weeklong schedule for the first time this year, similar to how the Berlin International Film Festival and others globally have given a window at their festivals to the big and small screen alike.

In a first, festivalgoers and the media will get to attend screenings of three TV pilots of upcoming series on kykNET and MultiChoice's Showmax streamer: Die Brug, Juffrou X and Spinners.

Spinners for instance - a gritty Cape Flats set drama series about a teenager motor car racer trying to escape a culture of gang violence - as a Showmax Original co-production with Canal+, is the first such type of co-production of its kind in South Africa.

"Several of the big festivals have expanded to include TV," Nicola van Niekerk, MultiChoice's head of premium content and co-productions, tells TVwithThinus.

"Something like SXSW ("South by Southwest") in Austin, Texas is the idea and direction we want to take the Silwerskermfees and what we want to grow it into in the future."

"SXSW is for movies, documentaries, for TV, for digital content - it's a content creator market and that's what we're moving towards with Silwerskerm - for anything made and done in Afrikaans. For all of that kykNET is planting and raising the flag."

No film festival remains static, says Waldimar Pelser, M-Net director for premium channels, who tells TVwithThinus he's looking forward to seeing the reaction from festivalgoers to this year's expanded content slate.

"We remain committed to film but have expanded into including short documentary films. It's the first time we're moving beyond scripted at the fest and I'm looking forward to seeing whether there are local filmmakers seeing a future for themselves within this genre."

"The other expansion is to selectively include TV as part of the festival," he says.

"Our dream is - as has been the case with the film festival over the past decade - to look back a few years from now and be able to point to producers and other talent who will then be making shows for kykNET and other places, who were able to benefit from mentorship at the festival or got help to compile something like a pitch deck for their proposals."

Pitching support in big demand

At the year's film fest, a master class on directing, as well as multiple sessions and workshops - including specific "pitch to us" sessions for drama series, documentaries, as well as reality and entertainment - all offering help for how to properly do better pitches  - have all been fully booked for weeks before the start of the festival today.

"If I had a rand for every producer who's said to me 'We've submitted so many pitches and we constantly just get no upon no I would be a millionaire by now," says Nicola.

"Everybody wants to make television. We see about 2 000 submissions at M-Net per month. If your pitch document and how you're telling your story within those first few pages are not done correctly, you're lessening your chances tremendously to be successful."

"We just thought about these people submitting time and time after time and they're not successful - yet they have everything that's needed and required. But they don't know how a proper pitch document is supposed to look. They don't know how to talk during a pitch meeting and how to sell their idea."

"We thought: Let's start to help the wider industry with this as well because eventually it will help everyone. Otherwise you keep getting no, no, no from people and there's no growth."

Nicola says kykNET and the wider industry are looking for new talent.

"We thought: Let us help up-and-coming talent to enable them to communicate their ideas better to executives. It's exactly because it is so difficult that people are so interested in attending the Silwerskermfees to come and learn how to be better at it."

Nicola says the 11th Silwerskermfees will definitely be the biggest one yet in terms of attendees. 

"We've registered more people than ever before. That we're opening it up to television as well, is bringing even more people into the fold. In 10 years of this festival we've never had a waiting list before which we have this year for the first time." 

SA film biz is alive with possibilities

"That there are five new feature-length films in Afrikaans making their debut at this year's 11th Silwerskermfees is an absolute blessing for the industry and for viewers," says Nicola van Niekerk.

"With some, it was down to the line that some might not have been ready in time. I'm just so glad about the quality. We also tried to build and establish some new business models around these films so that it's worthwhile for everyone," she says.

"What people don't realise - and what remains challenging - is for Afrikaans films to get made in South Africa. Afrikaans consumers have always been very loyal, going to the cinema to go and watch and support Afrikaans film. But with the Covid pandemic that machine broke," she explains.

For her, kykNET's Silwerskermfees film festival continues to help create buzz and to build excitement around the intangible quality of perception that South Africa's industry remains vibrant and worthwhile. 

"The Silwerskerm film festival brings people together and focuses the excitement about making film and television, and how great it is to work in film and television in South Africa despite its many challenges," she says.

"Something like Silwerskerm helps to keep the local film biz alive - not just Afrikaans film but the entire spectrum of the value chain. It keeps it going."

"It's also a showcase for the global biz of what South Africa has and can do - to show the world that they can come here and film and do their projects here," she says.

"We have everything that's needed. We've built it. We've created it. We're not resting on our laurels. South Africa's film industry exists and the Silwerskermfees is the showcase that it's alive."

2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 2: Showcasing the tenacity of South Africa's film industry.

by Thinus Ferreira 

As 2022's 10th Silwerskermfees launched as a hybrid-event - the year's first major film festival of the calendar as South Africa starts to return to a semblance of what once was - there's a collective sigh of relief under attendees from across the local film and TV industry who had to survive the past two years under unimaginable circumstances.

With both in-person screenings and panels, as well as virtual streaming taking place, the individually QR-coded, proven double-vaxxed and lanyard-clad crowd - smaller and more subdued than in previous years - are darting since Wednesday from Rotunda sessions and short films screenings to feature film discussions and breakaway catch-up coffee dates. 

A sense of relief permeates The Bay Hotel as attendees - ranging from the country's top TV and film execs to producers, directors, actors, distributors, film commissions and industry bodies are allowing themselves to slowly exhale. 

Waldimar Pelser, M-Net director for kykNET channels, says he's immensely looking forward to "what the lockdown period released in filmmakers".

"I'm also looking forward to take a guess as to which of the short film filmmakers within a few years will end up as the producers of big feature films and which of them will achieve success in television".

"The Silwerskermfees film festival remains an incubator of new talent and people who go on to achieve breakthroughs on the small screen on kykNET, and on the big screen- and you never know who they'll be."

The 10th Silwerskermfees is also the first time that Nomsa Philiso, the MultiChoice Group's new executive head of programming is attending.

"For me, as long as I've been in the industry I have been, I've not been to the Silwerskermfees - my first interaction with it was during Covid, it was remote; so I'm really looking forward to be interacting with everybody, and from a partnership point of view to reassure our providers that we're here and we're looking forward to working with them."

She says local South African film festivals like the Silwerskermfees are crucial to grow and maintain the country's film and TV industry. "It's part of our industry development because it's a platform to showcase some of the content that we would ordinarily not see".

"As a broadcaster you're often focused on certain things and sometimes you might miss the gems. Forums like these allow you to tap into spaces where you wouldn't ordinarily. And it's also the interaction with people and networking and building our industry."

'Boere-Cannes'

The veteran South African film critic Leon van Nierop who has been part of the Silwerskermfees since the very first edition with just 18 people that started in Prins Albert screening 6 older films in the Jan Rautenbach Schouburg, says the Silwerskermfees has morphed in the "Boere-Cannes", taking place the past few years at The Bay Hotel in Camps Bay, Cape Town a bit like the Cannes Film Festival.

"It's for Afrikaans people but also South African people and Karen Meiring [former kykNET director] had the insight and vision to bring the Silwerskermfees to this fantastic setting. The short film initiative is also fantastic: You first learn, and you're mentored. And some of those short films then become feature films."

"That's why the festival is important because it's also a learning school - with all different kinds of conference sessions and workshops."

Leon says he's looking forward to watch a movie with a cinema audience. 

"Not a lot of films have been produced the past two years. So, to suddenly see what was made like Gaia, made in 2020 for the big screen and waiting since then for a release date - I'm looking forward to seeing that."

"And just the atmosphere that is here - it's a networking atmosphere, so you can network with the people who you couldn't see and was impossible to do the past two years. It's great to see all of the familiar faces."

Seeing people in person

Paul Venter, manager director and producer at Homebrew Films, says "I think what we're all looking forward to the most is seeing people in person".

" It's about sitting down and making connections because you can Zoom and you can email and you can do what you want, but there's no substitute for grabbing someone by the shoulder after a film and saying 'Let's quickly catch up' and the next minute you're going to make another film."

"So it's that kind of energy and dynamics that we miss and which is the advantage of a film festival".

He says it's important for something like the Silwerskermfees to exist because "it's a decade later and they've done 50 feature films, they've done more than 100 short films - it's just a boon for the industry as whole; it gives jobs, it helps develop new talent, it makes people excited, especially if you look around you and see the diversity and age: The young people coming in - that's why film festivals happen." 

SA's film industry is stronger together

Kaye Ann Williams, M-Net's head of local content and independent films, says she's also looking forward to seeing everyone in person and "connecting with people and chatting with them. It's been sorely missed".

"Why something like the Silwerskermfees is important is the networking - this is how people make deals and form partnerships and build relationships and think of their next big story. We've all missed this. You don't get the same vibe with a virtual event."

Nicola van Niekerk, M-Net senior manager for scripted content and factual entertainment at kykNET, says "the most important thing about this year's Silwerskermfees is that it really showcases the tenacity of the South African film industry".

"While many other countries saw their film industries shut down completely for Covid our producers did not and our crews worked and we all invested in getting these films out. The films here - while they are slightly smaller and filmed under very difficult conditions - show just the absolute willpower and the growth of our industry and how strong we are together".

She says she's looking forward to seeing the audience reaction to Indemnity, the Travis Taute Gambit-produced film starring Jarrid Geduld as a proudly South African action film, as well as Stiekyt set in the world of drag artists and produced by Homebrew Films.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees - Day 1: Programme director Ricky Human on the growing need to tell authentic local stories.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 2: With South Africa's global co-productions still in infancy, MultiChoice to announce Afrikaans series with Canal+.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 2: Not a white napkin to be found - how South Africa's event industry is starting to bounce back.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 3: 'You're not going to work with that hair' - South African women in film share their stories.

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 4: M-Net boss Jan du Plessis: 'We're fully committed to growing local film.'

ALSO READ: 2022 10th Silwerskermfees Film Festival - Day 4: Number of South Africa's cinema screens to remain flat post-Covid.

ALSO READ: 2022's 10th Silwerskermfees awards: Barakat and Gaia the big winners.  

kykNET and its Getroud met Rugby soap respond after complaints over language and its unfolding rape story line: 'Although the content upsets some viewers, it wasn't handled in a sensationalistic manner'.

Since kykNET moved its Afrikaans language soap Getroud met Rugby back to 18:00, complaints from upset DStv subscribers have been mounting over the course language that they feel is inappropriate for the early primetime family viewing timeslot and a rape storyline, with kykNET that says the unfolding story has not been handled in a sensationalistic manner. 

The Overberg Productions soap from Deon Opperman filmed at Atlas Studios follows the lives of the fictional Stryders rugby team and surrounding community.

In July 2017 Getroud met Rugby that was at 18:30 on the kykNET (DStv 144) schedule was moved to the 21:00 timeslot, but following weak ratings, kykNET moved the soap back since July 2019 where the weekday soap now serves at 18:00 as the lead-in for sister-soap Suidooster. 

Since the move back to an earlier timeslot, complaints from DStv subscribers and kykNET viewers have increased about the foul language that they feel are not appropriate during family time TV viewing.

Viewers are also unhappy about the depiction of the disturbing rape of Anna Redelinghuys (Kate Roothman) by Jacques Kotze (Armand Aucamp) as part of an ongoing story line. 

In response to a media enquiry, Sonè Combrinck, executive producer of Getroud met Rugby, told TVwithThinus that "the story line of Anna Redelinghuys getting raped was not explored by the producers as a controversial theme".

"Rape and forced sex is a topical theme. It's an important theme to approach, given the high numbers of abuse, violence and rape in South Africa. Soaps have a responsibility to comment on social and public welfare issues. August is Women's Month and thus the producers had a golden opportunity to address a serious issue like rape."

"No deliberate shock technique was used in the rape scene," says Sonè Combrinck. "The scene was filmed with sensitivity and integrity, while the specific character's trauma and helplessness had to be portrayed".

"Unfortunately these type of events are a reality. Soaps speak to a mass audience and are in fact created to depict the stories of ordinary people and their daily challenges and experiences."

"The producers constantly try and keep Getroud met Rugby honest and relevant, with a balance of stories ranging from very dramatic to lighthearted, sad and happy, love and hate, violence and reconciliation."

Nicola van Niekerk, kykNET's executive for scripted productions, says that "soaps can't shy away from stories addressing difficult themes - all soaps cover relevant issues ranging from drug-abuse, bullying and medical issues".

"The rape story line in Getroud met Rugby is of topical importance in Women's Month. Statistics show that most rape in South Africa happens by someone who is known to the victim. It's important that any story in any soap is first well-researched and then depicted in a responsible way."

"Although the content upsets some viewers, it wasn't handled in a sensationalistic manner. Soaps can't shy away from telling relevant stories but can handle every story in a respectful manner," says Nicola van Niekerk.

kykNET promises more shirtless men in soaps: 'Actors ordered to take off their shirts as often as possible' as kykNET ramps up drama and comedy output.

kykNET has ordered the guys to ditch the shirts and is ordering a lot more male shirtless scenes for its weekday soaps as M-Net's Afrikaans channels division is also dramatically ramping up its drama and comedy content output.

Besides more Afrikaans male soap stars pushed to bare their six packs, kykNET is doubling its amount of drama content and tripling the amount of comedy produced for its channels on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform in the upcoming months.

In Suidooster on kykNET & Kie (DStv 145) it took actor Eden Classens who just joined the Cape Town set soap just two scenes to bare his body.



"New actors have been ordered to take off their shirts and to go shirtless as often as possible to give kykNET good ratings," said Nicola van Niekerk, kykNET's head of production.

Making the remark about more male shirtlessness in kykNET soaps in jest, she spoke to the media about some of kykNET's upcoming content slate and its increased Afrikaans content plans over the next year.

And while the men might be losing the shirts off their backs, with kykNET - as far as content is concerned - the channel says things have never been better.

"In the next 12 months, kykNET will bring DStv subscribers double the amount of drama content and triple the amount of comedy than before," said Nicola van Niekerk. "Content wise, things have never gone as well with kykNET as now."

Coming up is a second season of the Afrikaans drama series Boekklub in July and in October is anther new series entitled Waterfront.

"We struggled between channels about whose going to produce this show. The story is unbelievable and kykNET won and is doing it in Afrikaans. Filming will start around July and August to be ready by October."

"Comedy wise we have Phil 101 starting in April. Phil 101, is set at a fictional university's philosophy department with Frank Opperman and Pierre van Pletzen who viewers for the first time in a long time will see as a character other than 7de Laan's Oubaas, and he is a hero, together will all the new talent"," said Nicola van Niekerk.

Sara se Geheim is starting on 11 April at 20:00, a new Afrikaans drama series with 26 episodes in which the past comes back to haunt the Cloete, Kiewiet and Vermeulen families and starring June van Merch, David Minnaar, Lee-Ann van Rooi, Brendon Daniels. Marlo Minnaar and Nicola Hanekom.

"Then in July on kykNET we have Elke Skewe Pot that we're currently busy filming. It's about four old spinsters struggling to find love and then they start a dating website."

"Soaps wise, I'm a big fan. In Binnelanders a lot of drama is waiting for a pregnant Pippa. She's been through rabies - everything - what else can possibly still happen with her? I hear ghosts are waiting to haunt her. Is doctor Tertius going to finally find love - whether in a nurse's embrace or another doctor?" said Nicola van Niekerk.

"In Getroud met Rugby Sasha is being confronted with an identity crisis. I love soaps because they provide us with characters that every viewer can relate to."

"You come home in the evening and watch your soaps and can relate to the people. It's in our soaps what's happening with South Africa's people and what the Afrikaans community experiences daily".

"But we're not just telling these stories. We also have actuality programming through which we try to give unbiased context to the news to help viewers form their own opinions about the world."

"Then there's our cornerstone programming like Kwêla and Bravo who boasts some of the most beautiful presenters on television. Kwêla in its 17th year covers stories and people that are incredibly special. You can't underestimate the value of a programme like Kwêla"," said Nicola van Niekerk.

The first season of the surprise hit, Varsity Sing, the a capella university choir competition series, will be repeated on kykNET & Kie (DStv 145) in April.


Exciting varsity experiment coming to kykNET NOU!
About kykNET NOU! (DStv 146), kykNET's channel that focuses on music shows and programming, Karen Meiring, the M-Net director for Afrikaans channels, said that the viewership on kykNET NOU! is surprisingly not just young people.

"kykNET NOU! has a large number of older viewers watching it. We also focus on a lot of lifestyle and entertainment shows on kykNET NOU! We're also very excited- we're doing an experiment with kykNET NOU! with universities, that we will be talking more about soon, but it's hugely exciting."

"Our core business is to tell stories, and through our stories we want to make an impact on the wide Afrikaans community that we serve," said Karen Meiring.