South Africa's Fairy Godmother of Entertainment bids goodbye: Irreplaceable Disney Africa boss Christine Service to exit after 23 years

by Thinus Ferreira

The true ending of an epoch: the absolutely beloved Christine Service, general manager of direct-to-consumer (DTC) and country manager for sub-Saharan Africa at The Walt Disney Company, is exiting after 27 years at Disney, 23 of which she spent at Disney in Africa.

The illustrious, highly respected and extraordinary Mouse House maestro built out Disney in Africa and all its brands over two decades into a highly desirable want-to-have under consumers of all ages - from TV to film, and retail to corporate social responsibility and DTC like Disney+ - ever since she first moved to South Africa in 2003.

The highly regarded Christine Service - essentially South Africa's Fairy Godmother of Entertainment - will exit Disney in the spring.

If Disney in South Africa were a highly desirable private school where everything was just better, brilliant, ran perfectly and seemed absolutely immaculate down to the finest details, Christine Service was the efficient, respected, highly capable, friendly and trusted principal managing all the magic with the sway of a hand.

"It has been the privilege of a lifetime to be part of the exceptional EMEA Disney team and to lead the company's business on the African continent," says Christine Service.

"I have decided that it is now time to pass the baton to a new leader of The Walt Disney Company in Africa. Disney Africa is a dynamic, successful, and growing business, and I am excited to see my successor, together with the phenomenal Africa team, continue to take it from strength to strength."

Tony Chambers, The Walt Disney Company EMEA president, says "Christine has been an invaluable part of our leadership team".

"After 27 years at The Walt Disney Company, most recently as general manager, DTC & Networks and country manager sub-Saharan Africa, she has decided to embark on new adventures. Under Christine's leadership, Disney in Africa grew into the dynamic business that it is today; well-positioned for long-term growth. I wish her nothing but continued success in her exciting new chapter."

Over decades in South Africa, Christine Service has been an immutable, ever-present presence wherever Disney brought its dazzle.

Disney launching its multiplex of linear TV channels on MultiChoice's DStv? There's Christine Service. 

Disney launching Disney+ in 2022 in South Africa? There's Christine Service. 

Disney doing unrivalled upfronts presentations showcasing upcoming TV and film to the media, advertisers and retail partners? There's Christine Service, perpetually behind the podium doling out pure magic like Mickey Mouse in Fantasia.

Christine Service joined Disney in 1998 and served as vice-president of ventures and business development in WDI Television in London.

Then, bravely, she moved to South Africa in 2003 and set about establishing what is now referred to as the Disney Entertainment business in Johannesburg -  aligning with the already-established Cape Town DCP (Disney Consumer Products) office, to create a fully integrated Disney business serving Sub-Saharan Africa.

The expansion of Disney's pan-African multiplex of linear TV channels followed, with channels like Fox, National Geographic and ESPN and she was part of the team that launched the first run of The Lion King stage show in South Africa (which remains the greatest-attended theatrical production in South African history).

Christine Service then oversaw the integration of the Fox TV Networks business locally into Disney Africa in 2019, launched Disney+ in 2022, and expanded Disney's footprint across East, West and Southern Africa.

She also oversaw local programming initiatives that includes the first-ever National Geographic long-form TV series for kids on the continent (Team Sayari) as well as various short and long-form shows for Disney Channel – as well as local language-dubbed versions of Doc McStuffins (Sotho) and The Lion Guard (Zulu).

Besides all this, the truly indefatigable Christine Service oversaw the establishment of the formal CSR business in South Africa, including the 10-year Disney Healthy Happy Play Program, that will reach a milestone of impacting 200 000 children in 2025.

Christine Service also led the team in obtaining a remarkable run at the African box offices that includes 4 of the top 5 films of all time in Southern Africa - as well as 4 of the top 10 and 4 of the top 5 films of all time in East and West Africa.

Disney in South Africa has 60 employees and 2 offices based in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

The Walt Disney Company Africa distributes six linear TV channels across Africa through affiliate broadcasters such as MultiChoice Group, StarTimes, Azam and Wananchi, reaching millions of viewers each day.

Christine Service's work ethic, approach, impact and the way she truly knew everything and engaged with everyone set her miles apart and ahead of her contemporaries in the business. South Africa's TV and film biz will never see someone like her again.

On a personal note:

When I think of Christine Service, I think of someone - in what is such a transient and fickle industry - who is truly the embodiment and personification of a highly self-actualised leader and high EQ individual with the power to inspire. 

In a sense, Christine Service is the very real-world embodiment of when you think back on who your "most favourite teacher" was at school, with the perfect mix of always speaking with knowledge and authority, insight and inspiration.

Christine Service didn't "sell" anything ever - she didn't have to. 

Like an inspiring teacher, she simply kept opening up the world of Disney to an ever-growing consumer audience and trade - not making a case but simply showcasing why Disney and its multiple brands deserve attention and time.

I've travelled with Christine Service across Africa once and had many conversations and many laughs over many years at events and red carpets and media launch events, where she somehow finds real time to really talk to everyone.

The person she is when she tells a crowd about Marvel and Star Wars and Sofia the First during a presentation is exactly the same person when you're sitting next to her, waiting for your next flight, to the next place together.

Christine Service knows everybody and over the years fully ascended to true A-lister status among South African showbiz cognoscenti. And yet, you'd almost have to drag Christine into the limelight where she rightly belongs.

Once, at one of the numerous A-lister Disney media events, standing behind the red velvet rope as a journalist who forever tries to capture it all, I was focused on the red carpet and the step-and-repeat banner in front of me, when who I spotted walking up behind me, who decided to take the non-celebrity, non pose-and-smile route to a venue's entrance?

"No Christine," I said. "Please. You belong on this side. Very please can you go around and walk on the red carpet because we need some photos?"

And indeed she did and then got to me again. And quipped: "I'm not really one of the famous ones here."

And again her arm went out as she swayed it like Yen Sid (Disney spelled backwards) in Fantasia - that powerful sorcerer and mentor, with a lot of patience, who always shows up and who you just know will always fix everything.

"It's really for them all," she said as she motioned to the glitterati alongside her, "to experience what we do at Disney". 

Content boss Tracy-Ann van Rooyen jumps from Disney Africa to head up MultiChoice's Showmax content strategy

by Thinus Ferreira

It's a homecoming of sorts for the South African content topper Tracy-Ann van Rooyen who has jumped from her programming perch at The Walt Disney Company Africa to MultiChoice's Showmax where she is now the the new executive head of of content strategy for the streamer since February.

The watch-a-lot programming executive spent years at M-Net and MultiChoice before she jumped to The Walt Disney Company Africa in July 2021 and took up the role of senior manager for programming and scheduling.

After three and a half years she is back at MultiChoice but will now oversee MultiChoice's content strategy for its Showmax streamer.

Previously at M-Net - first as head of programming for M-Net's set of local entertainment channels and then as head of acquisition and scheduling for M-Net series - the influential and tele-friendly exec amassed vast experience and a deep contact list of connections across content distribution and scheduling, formats, as well as local and international production.

Tracy-Ann van Rooyen now permanently fills the Showmax head of content position in which M-Net premium exec Nicola van Niekerk held the fort in an acting capacity since the middle of last year.

Nicola van Niekerk was the acting Showmax content boss in the wake of Allan Sperling's exit at the end of April 2024 to become the programming boss for Warner Bros. Discovery for the Nordics region in Europe since November.

At The Walt Disney Company Africa the programming and scheduling department is for the time being managed by the current internal team.

In response to a media query about Tracy-Ann van Rooyen's appointment, MultiChoice tells TVwithThinus "Tracy-Ann van Rooyen has been appointed executive head of content for Showmax, a role centred on strategic content development".

"This position expands upon the foundation laid by Nicola van Niekerk, who previously served as acting head of content. Nicola has since transitioned to acting executive head of programming for general entertainment."

"With over two decades of experience in the television industry, Tracy-Ann has a proven track record in creating, producing, acquiring, and curating content for diverse audiences across the African continent. In her new role, she'll assist the team to continue delivering top-tier content experiences for our customers."

"Her appointment, which commenced on 1 February 2025, reflects MultiChoice's strategic emphasis on strengthening its content leadership with great expertise, ensuring the delivery of high-quality and well curated content."

Next week at 2025's 7th Joburg Film Festival in Sandton, Tracy-Ann van Rooyen is set to be one of the speakers at the 3rd JBX content market running concurrently.

She will be a panellist on Wednesday morning for a session looking at Showmax's subscriber growth and talk about the streamer's content strategy, sharing various learnings on how audiences consume content on video streaming platforms.

PICTORIAL. See Disney South Africa's 10 Christmas trees for 2021.

by Thinus Ferreira

If 2021 felt awful, and you have a minute, have a look at the 10 Christmas trees for 2021 that Disney has put up all across South Africa and you are guaranteed to feel better.

The Walt Disney Company Africa placed 10 incredible Disney-themed Christmas trees in malls across South Africa as part of the Mouse House's "From Our Family to Yours' campaign this year.

The Walt Disney Company Africa started with the Disney plush/soft toy tree project 6 years ago in 2016, with the first Disney soft toy tree at Cresta Mall in Johannesburg, the company tells TVwithThinus.

The following two years there was a tree at the Menlyn Shopping Centre, followed by Canal Walk in Cape Town in 2019 in.

Last year Disney partnered with 5 shopping malls across South Africa – with Frozen-themed trees at Gateway Theatre of Shopping (Durban), Canal Walk (Cape Town), Clearwater Mall and Sandton City (both in Johannesburg) and Woodlands Mall (Pretoria).

This year, Disney Africa went for a record of new record of 10 Christmas trees: Gateway Theatre of Shopping (Durban), Midlands Mall (Pietermaritzburg), Canal Walk, Somerset Mall and Cape Gate (all in Cape Town), Sandton City, Clearwater Mall, Rosebank Mall and The Glen (all in Johannesburg) and Woodlands Mall (Pretoria).

"Disney usually partners with just the malls on this project but this year it is a partnership with Nedbank4Me PennyPower. This year the charity beneficiary is Smile Foundation with all donations received at the donation stations around the trees in addition to the Minnie and Mickey plush toys going towards this organisation," Disney says.

Asked about what it takes to pull of 10 Christmas trees in 10 malls across South Africa is a very short space of time, Disney says that "The logistics around the trees is a challenge - this year especially with a global shipping crisis delaying the delivery of plush toys from abroad".

"The trees were meant to have gone up mid-November but there has been a delay," Disney admits but the trees were all up by the first week of December - just in time for the school holidays and the festive holiday period.

"It is also a challenge dealing with different malls as each mall has their own décor installation agency who they use for their Christmas décor and trees."

"So, with 10 malls, there are various teams to keep track of," Disney says.

"But they are all extremely professional and experts when it comes to Christmas tree building.  The Disney team worked directly with the décor agencies and assist them by coordinating the plush toy and Disney specific décor deliveries and timings and creative designs."

"Disney also works closely with the marketing managers of the various malls and property groups in terms of branding and messaging around the tree. Disney also liaises with the chosen charity and facilitates the dealings between the malls and the charity. This year Disney also served as the facilitator between Nedbank and the different malls."

Canal Walk

Cape Gate

Clearwater

Gateway

Midlands

Rosebank

Sandton

Somerset

The Glen

Woodlands

ESPN to show African boxing in 2022; 12 boxing events planned for the year with one shown on the last Thursday of every month.

by Thinus Ferreira

ESPN (DStv 218 / StarSat 248) will show African boxing in 2022 on the American sports channel, with 12 boxing events during 2022 that are planned and with one boxing event that will be shown on the last Thursday of every month next year.

ESPN plans to African boxing events live on the channel, which will also be shown on broadcast partners with the first African boxing event that will take place in Johannesburg on Thursday 27 January at 19:00.

Each boxing event will include 5 fights per event and two "undercard bouts", with ESPN that also plans to include one "all-female" fight per event to give young female boxers a platform.

Boxing analyses and running commentary will be done on ESPN shows like Sports Center.

"ESPN is known for bringing the most exciting sporting moments to sports fans across the continent and the return of African boxing takes that further," says Kyle De Klerk, director for sports commercial and business at The Walt Disney Company Africa, in a statement.

"Knowing Africa's rich history of developing boxing champions, ESPN will showcase some of our continent's best talent to a global audience which will hopefully give them a platform to progress and challenge for world titles in the near future."

Disney appoints Evert van der Veer as Disney+ vice president for programming for the EMEA region.

by Thinus Ferreira

Evert van der Veer who was vice president, media networks at The Walt Disney Company Africa has been appointed as Disney+ vice president for programming for the EMEA region that is Europe, the Middle East and Africa region.

Evert van der Veer was general manager for FOX Networks Group for sub-Saharan Africa before Disney's takeover of 21st Century Fox after which he became vice president, media networks at The Walt Disney Company Africa and oversaw the repositioned and combined portfolio of the FOX Networks Group Africa portfolio and Disney's channels in Africa.

After being based in Johannesburg, South Africa for the past few years, Evert van der Veer will now be based in Amsterdam in the Netherlands and travel regularly to London and other EMEA markets for his new job that he started from October.

Evert van der Veer will be responsible for Disney+'s programming strategy as well as managing content planning, operations, and regulatory compliance.

Disney shut down the FOX channel at the end of September on MultiChoice's DStv and China's StarTimes and StarSat pay-TV services across the continent as it gets ready to launch its Disney+ video streaming service sometime from June 2022 in South Africa.

Tracy-Ann van Rooyen exited M-Net in June this year and jumped to Disney where she was appointed as Walt Disney Africa media networks' senior programming and scheduling manager.

ALSO READ: TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. An elegy to FOX - and the unavoidable decline of linear pay-TV as you knew it.

ALSO READ: What Disney+ could cost when it launches in South Africa from sometime after June 2022 and what South African Disney+ subscribers might pay.

ALSO READ: Top TV programmer Tracy-Ann van Rooyen exits M-Net and jumps to Walt Disney Africa's media networks as senior programming and scheduling manager.

ALSO READ: Disney+ to launch in South Africa in winter 2022.

ALSO READ: Disney ends the FOX channel in Africa after 11 years, rips away 11th and final season ending of The Walking Dead from pay-TV viewers.

Disney ends the FOX channel in Africa after 11 years, rips away 11th and final season ending of The Walking Dead from pay-TV viewers.

by Thinus Ferreira

The FOX channel in Africa has turned into the walking dead with the last of its programming turning into a zombie schedule after Disney decided to end the channel on DStv and StarSat after 11 and a half years at the end of September, ripping away the ending of The Walking Dead from pay-TV subscribers across the continent.

In response to a media query from TVwithThinus, The Walt Disney Company Africa confirms that its FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131) channel is ending on pay-TV services like MultiChoice's DStv, StarTimes and StarSat, as well as Zuku across sub-Saharan Africa at the end of September.

"On 30 September at 23:59 (CAT), the FOX channel across Africa will close," a South African spokesperson of The Walt Disney Company Africa says.

"As the television landscape and viewer consumption evolves, we continue to develop and review our products and services to ensure we are offering the best possible experience for consumers."

"We look forward to bringing consumers across Africa a vast array of factual, sports, and kids programming from our channels, including National Geographic, National Geographic Wild, ESPN, ESPN 2, Disney Channel and Disney Junior."

StarSat in response to a media query on Monday said that "the FOX channel will be offline as of 1 October, however FOX News will still air. This was a decision made by Disney to remove the channel". On StarSat the FOX channel has been available to Max and Super subscribers. 

MultiChoice in response to a media enquiry said that the "MultiChoice Group confirms that as of 30 September 2021 at 23:59, FOX will stop airing on DStv. The change is as a result of a review of various channels by The Walt Disney Company Africa, as the channel owner and ourselves". The FOX channel has been available to DStv Premium, DStv Compact Plus and DStv Compact subscribers.

Asked how pay-TV subscribers watching FOX will see series and their endings like the final season of The Walking Dead and whether that content would be made available on-demand somewhere else, Disney says that "all current premiere series will air their full seasons before the channel closes".

"While the channel will be closing, many titles that aired on FOX will be available on Star on Disney+ when the service launches in South Africa in 2022".

Asked if FOX will be replaced in time by another similar type of linear TV channel or whether it's not part of Disney's strategy to run a general entertainment channel anymore like FOX was, Disney has no definitive answer.

Disney says that "across the globe, we continue to invest in both direct-to-consumer (DTC) and linear businesses, with the goal being providing our fans with multiple entry points to our content and our brand. We have substantial linear businesses in several markets including across Africa".

"We take a market-by-market approach and continuously evaluate our media networks business on an ongoing basis but have nothing else to announce at this time."

"Our number one priority is to bring customers the stories they love and our linear channels continue to be a compelling destination – including our genre-defining factual entertainment channels National Geographic and Nat Geo WILD, our action-pack sports channels ESPN and ESPN2, as well as our popular kids and family channels Disney Channel and Disney Junior."

Disney axed the FOX Life channel at the end of September 2020 on DStv and StarSat, and terminated Disney XD in the same month after nine years on DStv.

FOX's zombie-hyped start - and zombie ending

The FOX Africa channel started its linear broadcast life in May 2010 in South Africa as FOX Entertainment when On Digital Media (ODM) launched its TopTV satellite service (now StarSat) with several Fox-supplied channels that came and went over the years like FX, FOX Retro, FOX Life and FOX Crime.

FOX Entertainment rebranded to FOX from April 2013 after MultiChoice signed a new carriage deal to also carry FOX.

FOX became a solid B+ general entertainment channel coming close to rivaling premium channels like M-Net and BBC Entertainment over the past decade with shows like Falling Skies, Da Vinci's Demons, Empire, The Resident, Deep State as its first original Europe and Africa commissioned drama series, War of the Worlds recently and even stealing The Simpsons away from M-Net.

The biggest content contributor to the desirability factor of FOX as a TV channel however came in the licensing coup of AMC Studios' global zombie series hit The Walking Dead that started in October 2010 just as FOX began as a channel in South Africa and that is ending just as FOX is ending, with its 11th season that started on Sunday 22 August.

Ironically, after multiple seasons of doing both live late-night simulcast airings at the same time as in America, as well as "Express from the US" episodes where viewers in Africa saw The Walking Dead episodes within a day of broadcast after the United States, Disney is now ripping the show and how the story ends away from pay-TV subscribers who have been following it for a decade on FOX Africa.

Viewers of DStv, StarTimes and StarSat will not see any of the new weekly episodes of the concluding 11th season of The Walking Dead in August or September before FOX shuts down, with the show's latest season conspicuously absent from the FOX schedule.

Why FOX is ending

The FOX News (StarSat 261) channel from Fox Corporation will remain on StarTimes and StarSat but the axing of FOX Africa on StarSat and DStv is the culmination of the Walt Disney Company's corporate takeover of 21st Century Fox in 2019.

In May, Bob Chapek, Walt Disney CEO, said that Disney planned to close 100 of its remaining international FOX, FOX Crime and FOX Life channels, as well as several Disney Channel, Disney Junior and even some iterations of the National Geographic channels in various markets before the end of this year, from the United Kingdom and New Zealand, to Australia and across Southeast Asia.

Disney is shutting down these channels for two reasons: It wants to get rid of the "FOX" name in all its channel branding and assets, similar to how it renamed its studios of 20th Century Fox to 20th Century Studios and 20th Century Fox Television as 20th Television. 

Secondly, Disney wants to take back its content tied up in linear TV channel distribution deals and consolidate its content to put it all on its own Disney+ video streaming service that it is rolling out globally, with Bob Chapek who earlier this month in its latest investors' conference call said that "our direct-to-consumer business is the company's top priority".

Disney plans to launch Disney+ in South Africa from any time around June 2022.

Viewers noticed FOX sliding out of  focus

In May, viewers became alarmed when they started noticing that the FOX schedule suddenly began to zombify with a lot more rebroadcasts and repeats and a dramatic decrease in new, first-run series on the channel than previously. 

Worried pay-TV subscribers feared and speculated that the visible lack of volume of new content meant that the less energy and focus given to FOX was possibly signaling that the TV channel is going to be discontinued.

Disney in response to a media enquiry in May then responded very much with the same statement it did now, saying: "We continue to invest in both direct-to-consumer (DTC) and linear businesses, with the goal being providing our fans with multiple entry points to our content and our brand. We take a market by market approach and continuously evaluate our media networks business on an ongoing basis but have nothing to announce at this time."

Impact on subscribers

The termination of FOX in Africa will hit StarTimes and StarSat and its subscribers, harder than MultiChoice and DStv subscribers since FOX has been the last remaining good general entertainment with American content left on StarTimes' channels line-up, whereas MultiChoice still has channels like M-Net and others to somewhat blunt the impact of FOX's loss.

StarTimes and StarSat subscribers, still angry after the loss of Discovery Family in late-January and the loss of more Discovery Inc. channels - StarTimes Real Time, Investigation Discovery, Investigation Discovery French, Discovery Science and Discovery Science French - since the beginning of this month, are upset about the end of FOX.

"I am so done with StarSat right now," said subscriber Loraine Ellis, echoing the sentiment of hundreds of StarSat subscribers on Facebook on Monday. "You have taken away multiple channels over the past year or so and replaced it with absolutely nothing. How are we going to watch The Walking Dead when the new season starts?"

Pay-TV customer Johan Kruger said that if FOX doen't show The Walking Dead "real soon everyone will resort back to piracy. We got all previous seasons at the exact same time as it aired in the US".

DStv subscribers in countries like Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania where price increases come into effect from September will likely wonder why they have to pay more but at the same time get less when the FOX channel is taken away.

Disney sublicenses ESPN content to the South African public broadcaster as SABC Sport channel builds out programming to challenge MultiChoice's SuperSport.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Walt Disney Company has sublicensed some of its ESPN sports content to the South African public broadcaster that continues to build out the programming of its SABC Sport channel on digital terrestrial television (DTT).

The new contract will bring ESPN content, until now limited to MultiChoice's DStv and China's StarTimes and StarSat pay-TV services in South Africa and across Africa, to free-to-air DTT viewers, as well as to eMedia's Openview free-to-air satellite service, and the TelkomONE subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) video streaming service.

As s customary, the SABC buried its news regarding a new contract with The Walt Disney Company and ESPN in a late Friday press release, limiting news media's ability and affinity to report on it.

On Friday after 17:00 the SABC and The Walt Disney Company Africa in a joint statement announced that they've signed a new distribution agreement for ESPN local and international sporting event, several of which will be broadcast live, news programming, as well as ESPN archive content that will get a free-to-air run.

"This agreement is going to add significant depth to our current offering on the SABC Sport channel," says Gary Rathbone, SABC Sport general manager.

"Our channel will now offer unrivalled content to our local sport fans seven days a week, thanks to ESPN's great boxing archive and film and documentary library."

"With the addition of long-awaited regular live boxing events, as well more live football, athletics and African basketball, it's clear that this partnership will deliver right across the board for our viewers."

"This partnership will not only give our viewers access to great sports content but will see the SABC Sport channel and our teams benefiting from the resources and experience that this collaboration with ESPN offers."

Kyle De Klerk, director of sports at The Walt Disney Company Africa, says "With this content agreement we are excited to not only be bringing ESPN's unprecedented and compelling sporting offering to new audiences, but to also be taking a great step in highlighting and celebrating some of the up and coming leagues and athletes from around this continent".

Christine Service, senior vice president and general manager of The Walt Disney Company Africa, says "We are delighted to be extending our relationship with the SABC to include ESPN, bringing another diversified and exciting brand from Disney's portfolio to local free-to-air audiences".

The ESPN content will be funneled immediately, from this weekend to SABC Sport, with two new ESPN-branded football slots that will be shown each Saturday and Sunday on SABC Sport at midday during the European football season.

This slot will offer viewers a live English Championship match on Saturdays at 13:30 and a Dutch Eredivisie game on Sundays at 12:15, as well as highlights from the United States' Major League Socer and premiere football news roundups from ESPN's magazine shows, including ESPN FC.

ESPN will show 4 live World Athletics events on SABC Sport, with the first that will be the U20 Championships in Nairobi, currently on air. 

Other events include the World Indoor Championships from Serbia (March 2022), World Race Walking Championships from Belarus (April 2022) and the World Championships from the USA (July 2022).

SABC Sport will also broadcast the second season of the Basketball Africa League (BAL), a partnership between the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA), with select BAL fixtures that will be shown on SABC Sport in 2022.

SABC Sport will also show live boxing events and programming in 2022, including over 150 hours of boxing content from ESPN's library, showcasing the greatest in boxing events, athletes and moments in the sport's history.

Disney+ to launch in South Africa in winter 2022.

by Thinus Ferreira

Disney's subscription video streaming service Disney+ will finally launch in South Africa in winter 2022 with viewers who will be able to legitimately watch new series like Star Wars: The Mandalorian, Loki and a vast collection of content from National Geographic, Marvel Studios, Pixar and Disney.

The Walt Disney Company released its third-quarter 2021 financial results on Thursday night with CEO Bob Chapek that told investors on the company's financial results conference call that the launch of Disney+ in Eastern Europe is being pushed back from this year to 2022.

The Mouse House is doing to this enable a broader launch in "summer 2022" that will definitely include parts of the Middle East and South Africa, but that will might exclude the rest of the African continent.

America's "summer 2022" means winter 2022 in Africa. Winter in South Africa starts from June.

Bob Chapek said that the "expanded Disney+ footprint will include parts of the Middle East and South Africa".

The Walt Disney Company Africa late on Thursday night told TVwithThinus in a statement that "As confirmed in The Walt Disney Company's Q3 earnings call, Disney+ will launch in South Africa in Winter 2022. We will share more details as we approach the launch next year".

South Africa, Africa's most sophisticated TV market on the continent, will likely be the only African country where Disney+ will be launched initially with Bob Chapek that reiterated in the conference call that "our direct-to-consumer business is the company's top priority".

A year and a half after its launch, Disney+ has now reached 116 million subscribers worldwide by 3 July, bundling a collection of library and brand-new original content from across multiple of its studios and brands under one stream-viewing umbrella, including Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic.

The first date fixture for a launch date of Disney+ for South Africa comes a week after a further two subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services launched in the country: ITV Studios and the BBC's BritBox SA, as well as eVOD from eMedia Holdings' e.tv.

BritBox SA and eVOD joined the existing Showmax from MultiChoice, Netflix SA, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, PCCW Media's VIU, Vodacom Video Play and TelkomONE. 

Meanwhile the SABC, far behind in the video streaming race, plans to launch its own video streamer, modelled after the BBC's iPlayer, before the end of its current financial year and South African consumers are still waiting for other global streamers like WarnerMedia's HBO Max, along with Paramount+, NBCUniversal's Peacock and Discovery+ to launch locally.

While Disney has started to shut down hundreds of its linear TV channels globally the expectation is that its existing group of pay-TV channels under its media networks division distributed into Africa and South Africa will remain on the air after Disney+ launches in Winter 2022 for two major reasons.

The first will be to use these linear powerhouse TV channels as marketing and promotion avenues to raise awareness of Disney+ and to drive consumers to sample and subscribe. Secondly, with low and expensive broadband penetration and cost in South Africa, while the traditional pay-TV market still grows, Disney has millions of traditional pay-TV viewers from kids to adults who won't immediately move to Disney+ and who can't be cut off.

While MultiChoice has not added any further global streaming apps besides Netflix and Amazon Prime to its DStv Explora Ultra, it's likely that the upcoming Winter 2022 launch of Disney+ in South Africa could coincide with the simultaneous addition and inclusion of the Disney+ app at that same time on the DStv Explora Ultra, similar to what Sky did with its pay-TV partnership agreement in the rollout of Disney+ in the United Kingdom.

The latest market research from Parrot Analytics has found that Disney+ has become the third most in-demand video streaming platform for original content in the United States and around the world, trailing just behind the more established Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

Disney+ has dominated the video streaming original content game, accounting for the top two shows by demand globally on streamers, and with four of the top five in America during the second quarter this year.

All three Marvel series released this year on Disney+ became the most in-demand shows in the world within two weeks of launching, and Disney+'s original flagship series The Mandalorian continues to draw exceptional worldwide and American demand under viewers despite not launching a new episode since December 2020.

Top TV programmer Tracy-Ann van Rooyen exits M-Net and jumps to Walt Disney Africa's media networks as senior programming and scheduling manager.

by Thinus Ferreira

TVwithThinus can reveal that the TV programmer Tracy-Ann van Rooyen has exited MultiChoice and M-Net and is jumping to The Walt Disney Company Africa where she is taking up the role of senior programmer and scheduler for the Mouse House's television networks in South Africa and across the African continent. from July.

As a respected and influential TV programming topper Tracy-Ann van Rooyen has been the head of acquisitions and scheduling for M-Net and related M-Net channels like VUZU and M-Net City across DStv for 4 years, before which she was the head of programming for M-Net's local entertainment channels since August 2013.

Before that Tracy-Ann van Rooyen worked at EndemolShine for 5 years as an assistant producer and then producer since November 2007, before which she was also a promo producer at Clearwater since 2003, and a producer and director at FremantleMedia since April 2005.

At M-Net, the highly-informed and jovial executive always struck a convivial tone with the media during upfronts and content presentations, often entertaining, informing, educating and regaling TV critics and the press covering television with witty comments and remarks about shows and sharing witty anecdotes and behind-the-scenes insider takes about American series. 

At Disney, Tracy-Ann van Rooyen will report directly in to Christine Service, senior vice president and general manager of The Walt Disney Company Africa.

In her new role, Tracy-Ann van Rooyen will oversee and contribute to the scheduling and programming - especially locally-produced content - for The Walt Disney Company Africa's collection of pay-TV channels available in South Africa and across Africa, namely The Disney Channel, Disney Junior, ESPN, FOX, National Geographic and Nat Geo WILD.  

With Disney's video streaming service, Disney+, that Disney has not yet decided to launch in South Africa or sub-Saharan Africa, Tracy-Ann van Rooyen will undoubtedly be tasked with shaping some of the longterm strategic direction in terms of how and which of the channels within the Disney networks fold to keep strong and vitalised as linear pay-TV channels within the Africa market, as Disney prepares to shutter over 100 of its channels internationally just this year.

Tracy-Ann van Rooyen will be taking up her new Disney television executive role from July 2021 with no word yet from M-Net as to who is replacing her role there or stepping in within an acting capacity in the scheduling and acquisition position.

"We can confirm that Tracy-Ann van Rooyen has been appointed as senior manager, programming and scheduling at The Walt Disney Company Africa," a Disney Africa spokesperson told TVwithThinus on Monday in response to a media enquiry.

Disney remains silent over why Africa remains ostracised from its Disney+ streaming service, touts its 'regional commitment' to the UK and Europe whilst ignoring the A in its EMEA region.

by Thinus Ferreira

You can buy a fast fashion T-shirt for R99.99 adorned with a Baby Yoda print from The Mandalorian on Disney+ from your local Pick n Pay Clothing store - just don't ask or expect Disney to actually answer why you can't get Disney+ in South Africa, or when its video streaming service that remains non-existent might launch in Africa. 

The Walt Disney Company on Wednesday chose to continue its self-imposed silence about why Africa remains conspicuously absent from the global rollout plans of its Disney+ and Star video streaming service that is now accessible by consumers in countries across the globe except for the African continent.

Neither The Walt Disney Company, Walt Disney Company Africa, or executives for The Walt Disney Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region have said a word or have felt the need to give any information or explanation as to the absence of Disney+ since its announcement and waves of regionalised launches of its streaming service.

While South African consumers and citizens across Africa have access to the internet, have access to smartphones and apps, and while Disney is aggressively and bizarrely pushing merchandise and branded clothing in Africa for Disney+ shows like The Mandalorian that people can't actually legally watch, Mouse House execs are continuing their stony silence on why the video streamer isn't available in Africa.

On Wednesday Disney execs once again chose to ignore the elephant marked "A" on the map and in the room when Africa wasn't mentioned once in Disney's virtual press event with journalists from the United Kingdom including Europe.

Disney executives - including Jan Koeppen, president of The Walt Disney Company EMEA; Liam Keelan, Disney EMEA's vice president of original productions; and Luke Bradley-Jones, senior vice president of direct-to-consumer and general manager for Disney+ EMEA - on Wednesday held an in-studio done, virtual presentation for the media. 

They touted the expanding Disney+ rollout across Europe, the tie-in rollout of Star from 23 February in Europe and further international territories, Disney's slate of Europe Disney+ Originals, as well as plans to announce British Disney+ Originals soon.

And Africa? They just get to wear the Baby Yoda branded T-shirts, Mando.

Jan Koeppen said that Star - as the 6th branded tile within the Disney+ service and essentially the global version of America's Hulu streamer - will make Disney+ even "bigger, bolder and even more exciting" when it gets added to the existing 5 tiles of Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic.

This "bigger, bolder and even more exciting" claim is, of course, irrelevant to consumers in South Africa and across the wider African continent who don't even have Disney+ and can't watch The Mandalorian but got the T-shirt.  

With the addition of Star to Disney+, Disney is hiking the subscription fee in Europe, and comparable TV markets to South Africa like the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand that all already have access to Disney+.

These countries are getting Star added in from 23 February with Latin America will get Star in June.

Star as the "adult" entertainment section of Disney+ is stacked with self-produced and owned content from Disney Television Studios, Touchstone, ABC and Searchlight Pictures, as well as the rebranded banner brands and their content from 20th Century Studios, 20th Television and FX after Disney bought 21st Century Fox in 2019.

Yesterday Disney announced the slate of its first 10 Disney+ Original commissions from out of Europe. Of course with Disney+ nowhere on the map in Africa, the idea of new productions commissioned out of Africa for the streamer is an even bigger hakuna matata.

Disney is set to announce Disney+ Originals done from the United Kingdom soon.

Liam Keelan said that Disney's European commissions for Disney+ "underscores Disney's regional commitment to outstanding and diverse talent, reflecting our desire to work with the very best storytellers in the industry". 

Absent on Wednesday was any utterances from Liam Keelan about any regional commitments in relation to anything to do with Africa where pay-TV subscribers recently lost the Disney XD and FOX Life TV channels.

Besides Disney+, global streaming services still to possibly launch in South Africa are Discovery Inc.'s Discovery+, WarnerMedia's HBO Max, ViacomCBS' Paramount+, NBCUniversal's Peacock and the BBC and ITV's BritBox that will launch within a few months in South Africa.

Already aggressively competing in South Africa are Netflix SA, Amazon Prime Video and MultiChoice's Showmax that are all available through MultiChoice's latest DStv Explora Ultra decoder, as well as Apple TV+.

ALSO READ: Here's the 80 biggest content announcements that The Walt Disney Company just made for its Disney+ video streaming service at its 2020 Disney Investor Day.

TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. The Walt Disney Company Africa's FOX Africa TV division continues to send general programming information to some media first - here's why the bad practice makes everyone a loser and ending up last.

by Thinus Ferreira

Sometimes it's not just those that are first who end up being last. Sometimes it's everybody.

Imagine something that's supposed to be received by everybody concurrently at the same time, but being parcelled out in a piecemeal approach over gaps in time.

That's been the case - and continuing - with general TV programming information from The Walt Disney Company Africa's FOX division.

Instead of the media in South Africa all being treated the same and receiving basic programming information about shows at the same time, FOX has decided to send certain media and journalists information first - and hours later to the rest.

To be clear: We're not talking about exclusive information, exclusive breaking news or a story that a journalist had put work and effort to source, or an exclusively arranged interview or story. It's basic, normal run-of-the-mill TV programming information press releases from Disney Africa's FOX Africa division about shows on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131).

Programming information and announcements from Killing Eve to The Walking Dead on FOX are deliberately sent to certain media first and then hours later to others. 

This is wrong.

It's also highly destructive. This PR practice is not just highly corrosive and damaging to FOX's existing media relationships within the South African media but also to the trust relationship with journalists who very well see what's going on, talk among each other about it, but stay quiet.

In Dante's great Inferno, he wrote that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who during a moral problem, maintain their neutrality. So here's TVwithThinus speaking out publicly.

It's bad when journalists and TV critics who are the media and who are in the media, (have to) read or hear about the news and programming of any TV channel, in this case FOX, not from FOX directly, but elsewhere - especially so if it's from any so-called "competition". 

Very little grates journalists and the media as much as having to read, hear or see information relevant to you and your readers and audiences, in or on a rival publication, platform or media outlet and then having to suddenly try and follow it up - wondering why you didn't get the email or basic press release.

It causes uncertainty, anxiety and resentment and makes the media wonder why publicists or people who are part of real-world publicity teams and who say they want to have a relationship with you, have apparently deliberately withheld that information and have not sent it to you.

When you can no longer trust that as a journalist, publication or media outlet that you're going to hear from and get the same fair, basic treatment and information from a company, for instance, TV channel A or B, because of perceived marketing and publicity favouritism, it not just stokes resentment under the press who perceive themselves to be placed as "less important" later in the queue but also actively makes them want to bother less using any of that information.

It's also damaging to FOX that is losing out on possible exposure when journalists, TV critics and media outlets decide to bin press releases, programming information and choice quotes from executives like Evert van der Veer, vice president, media networks, The Walt Disney Company Africa, that they otherwise would have used.

It also hurts the TV viewer who gets less access, negatively impacting the content discovery process.

With less possible stories and articles and with less platforms circulating the press release or parts of it because they are essentially forced to take an editorial decision not to run it to prevent being perceived as "also-ran", there is a dramatically smaller chance for a potential viewer or fan of a show to find, see and to read and engage with the information put out by, for instance, FOX.

The law of rapidly diminishing returns is at play here. 

Take online for instance: There's less and less incentive to use and copy-and-paste or rework what is essentially the basic same press release information without anything else to add hours after it's already been published somewhere on the internet - an eternity in the online news world.

It's ridiculous and non-sensical to have an expectation that a lot of media are suddenly going to put in the effort and time to work on information already "out there" hours ago from an "old" press release, simply because of the diminished return on the "investment" needed to do so.

Besides a lower click rate (information seekers already found it elsewhere), diminished monetisation of the news content, and having to give precious editorial space and time and effort to just "repeat" something, no journalists or media outlet really wants their story to show up on page 15 of a Google search simply because they only got the information hours later and already had to click and read the same information on page 1 of a Google search.

I first asked FOX in May this year what's going on and why it's sending basic TV programming press release information to some media, and hours later to the rest.

The response was that FOX sometimes makes an "agreement" with a particular media publication to announce something exclusively first, "to ensure that a show is announced in a big way, after which all other media receive it at the same time".

The big problem is that we're not talking about any exclusive information but basic programming information.

FOX's tiered media and staggered rollout approach turn everyone into losers - including FOX - when the media that FOX communicates with, perceives unfair treatment and journalists don't understand why it's happening.

In George Orwell's Animal Farm all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. 

It would serve all the animals better if the Fox farm went from "more equal" to just settling for plain old equal.