e.tv does Openview channel numbers change for BBC World News, Kwese Free Sports and Trace Sport Stars.

e.tv's Openview free-to-air satellite TV service is changing the channel numbers of three of the TV channels from Monday, 20 August on its platform.

BBC World News from the BBC, Kwesé Free Sports from Econet Media's Kwesé TV, and Trace Sport Stars from TRACE are all being shifted to new channel numbers from Monday.

BBC World News is moving from channel number 112 where it's been for 11 month since it was added in September 2017, and BBC World News will now be on Openview channel 121.

Kwese Free Sports will now be on Openview channel 115, and Trace Sport Stars will now be on Openview channel 116.

e.tv didn't bother to notify the media.

e.tv didn't give any explanation for the channel number shuffle but it's likely being done for the launch of OpenNews that will start on Openview sometime during October or November and that might take over BBC World News' spot on channel 112.

eMedia Investments is launching OpenNews as a new 24-hour TV news channel on Openview as a rival for its own eNCA (DStv 403) TV news channel that it is producing for MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

OpenNews will be direct competition for eNCA, as well as SABC News and whatever new local TV news channel MultiChoice chooses to replace Afro Worldview.

MultiChoice dumps the downgraded Trace Sport Stars channel from Trace Group after 4 years; replacing it with another music channel, TRACE Africa.

The downgraded Trace Sport Stars (DStv 188) from the Trace Group is getting dumped from MultiChoice's DStv at the end of the month just 4 years after it was added and will be replaced by the TRACE Africa channel in South Africa.

In West Africa, MultiChoice is adding the TRACE Naija channel on channel 325, and in East Africa MultiChoice is adding TRACE Mziki on channel 323 on DStv.

Trace Sport Stars - a type of E! Entertainment meets sports stars - was added to DStv in April 2012 as the Trace Sports channel but never really popped or got buzz and struggled to bring viewers enough new content.

Trying to lift the meagre viewership, MultiChoice and Trace downgraded Trace Sport Stars in October 2014 by lowering the channel's premium only status - which for two years was only for DStv Premium subscribers - making it available to DStv Extra, DStv Compact and DStv Family subscribers.

Trace Sport Stars was added to StarTimes Media SA and On Digital Media's (ODM) StarSat satellite pay-TV platform at the same time.

In 2014  pay-TV operator Sky in the United Kingdom dumped Trace Sport Stars after just 2 years.

Now the under-performing Trace Sport Stars is getting chucked out with not even a month's notice to DStv subscribers; subscribers were told today that Trace Sport Stars is getting dumped at the end of August.

The Trace Sport Stars channel will remain on StarSat and is only being removed from MultiChoice's DStv.

StarSat tells TVwithThinus that Trace Sport Stars will remain available on its platform.

The channel, also carried on Platco Digital's OpenView HD (from eMedia Investments) will remain and continue on this free-to-air satellite-TV platform as well.

MultiChoice is adding TRACE Africa (DStv 326) from the Trace Group from 1 September as yet another music channel, and will sit alongside the existing TRACE Urban (DStv 325) channel.

Like Trace Sport Stars, TRACE Africa won't be a premium channel and will be available to DStv Premium, DStv Extra, DStv Compact and DStv Family subscribers in South Africa.

TRACE Africa will show music videos and documentaries as "a localised music channel" from established and emerging South African artists with music genres like Afro-pop, kwaito, house, rumba and others.

TRACE CEO Olivier Laouchez had nothing to say about the South African restructuring and changes and the dumping of Trace Sport Stars channel from DStv and the creation of TRACE Africa in South Africa.

The separate press release issued in the rest of Africa, however contains a drop-in quote from Olivier Laouchez, commenting on TRACE Naija for West Africa and TRACE Mziki for East Africa, saying: "TRACE is already the leading music brand in Africa".

"These 2 new localized music channels will help promote more artists from the two biggest music hubs of Africa and they will better serve the strong need of the local audiences for great local content".

Platco Digital's OpenView HD adds the Trace Sport Stars channel from Trace from Friday 3 June; channel already available on DStv and StarSat.

The Trace Sport Stars that's available on MultiChoice's DStv (188) and on StarTimes Media SA and On Digital Media's (ODM) StarSat (250) hasn't been on my radar for a long while.

It isn't a channel I personally like for various reasons, but news to report is that Trace Sport Stars will be added to Platco Digital's OpenView HD from Friday 3 June.

Trace Sport Stars - a version of "E! meets sport celebrities" - will be carried on OpenView HD on channel 154 from 12:00 midday on Friday.

While as a non-premium channel Trace Sport Stars makes less sense on DStv and StarSat, its addition does make a difference on OpenView HD.

Put another way: its existence or absence doesn't enhance or detract from DStv or StarSat, but its existence on OpenView HD given its existing set of channels does make OpenView HD better.

"Trace Sport Stars will take a unique view on sport stars, giving our viewers access to content that is not currently available on the OpenView HD offering," says Ziyanda Mngomezulu, Platco Digital channel acquisitions executive.

Leo Manne, Trace senior vice president for Southern Africa says Trace is "delighted about the new partnership with OpenView HD. Viewers will get the opportunity to know the real stories behind the sport stars they admire".

Trace Sport Stars shows include Star Rated that rates sport stars, and Lisa Raleigh and Maps Maponyane presenting 101 World Cups and 101 Excercises to Do Before You Die.

Will Best presents The Ultimate Sport Survival Guide featuring home video clips of exercise enthusiasts.

On Digital Media's StarSat adds Trace Sport Stars and QYOU channels as MultiChoice lowers the premium value of Trace Sports Stars.

On Digital Media (ODM) is adding the new QYOU (StarSat 165) internet video clip linear TV channel and the sports lifestyle channel Trace Sports Stars (StarSat 250) already available on MultiChoice's DStv to its satellite pay-TV service in South Africa.

At the same time MultiChoice which had Trace Sports Stars since April 2012 when it launched as Trace Sports, has downgraded the channel which is no longer considered a premium TV channel.

Trace Sports Stars from Trace used to be for DStv Premium subscribers only but MultiChoice on 30 September lowered the channel's premium only status which has now been made available to DStv Extra, DStv Compact and DStv Family subscribers at the same time as it becomes available to StarSat subscribers as well in South Africa.

Neither On Digital Media, its PR company, nor the Trace group or its publicity department, nor the Los Angeles based QYOU, issued any announcement, press releases or statements to the press about Trace Sport Stars and QYOU starting today on StarSat.

While Trace Sport Stars' content is known, QYOU is a brand-new American-based linear channel showing short clips - mostly originating from the internet - very similar in style to what CurrentTV was when te United Kingdom version of that channel launched on TopTV when the platform launched in May 2010 in South Africa.

Trace Sport Stars quietly dumped from Sky in the UK; TRACE TV's channel a gonner exactly two years after it launched on DStv and Sky.

Trace Sport Stars (DStv 188) has quietly closed down and disappeared off of the pay-TV platform of Sky in the United Kingdom.

Is the TV channel from TRACE TV struggling?

Trace Sport Stars quietly went away on Friday (17 April) on Sky and with that out of the homes of the bulk of pay-TV viewers in Britain. There was no announcement.

Trace Sport Stars is a gonner on Sky after exactly two years since it launched on MultiChoice's DStv and on Sky UK on 17 and 16 April 2012.

Non-performance is the most common reason for a TV channel being dropped from a pay-TV operator's channel line-up. It's not clear however why Trace Sport Stars has gone dark on Sky.

Trace Sport Stars channel adds Battle of the Bling daily from October at 21:00, comparing the wealth and power of soccer players.

Trace Sport Stars (DStv 188) is adding Battle of the Bling from October with a new episode every night at 21:00.

Battle of the Bling will look at and compare the wealth, power and influence in humorous comparisons of the soccer world's biggest stars against those of the entertainment world.

In Battle of the Bling viewers will be able to find out whether David Beckham for instance is richer than P. Diddy or if Lil Wayne has more influence than Mario Balotelli. Are rappers or soccer players the real rulers of the world?

BREAKING. Trace Sports on DStv changing the channel's name to Trace Sport Stars; wants to lure more female viewers.

Trace Sports on DStv on channel 188, the general sports entertainment channel covering the celebrity aspect of international sport stars, has rebranding as Trace Sport Stars.

The Trace Sports to Trace Sport Stars name change which will be rolled out globally, was effected on 19 June on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform, although the Trace Group didn't talk about and communicated the name change of the brand or gave any advance warning to the press.

The Trace Group for the first time informed the press about the name change of Trace Sports to Trace Sport Stars in South Africa on Wednesday evening 3 July - exactly two weeks after it happened.

The Trace Sport Stars name change implemented by the Trace Group starts in South Africa and Africa on DStv and in the United Kingdom on Sky and will be staggered around the world for the rest of the 130 countries where Trace Sports has carriage agreements with pay-TV operators.

Besides the name change to Trace Sport Stars, the logo is also undergoing a modification with the addition of a gold star. The name and image change of the channel comes just over a year after Trace Sports launched on DStv on 17 April 2012.

"The brand evolution reflects the editorial move to give the channel a stronger focus on stars and sport celebrities," says Trace Sport Stars.

"Together with the new brand, Trace Sport Stars is also introducing new programmes made by international award-winning producers," says the channel.

"This brand evolution starts in two of our key markets, Africa and the United Kingdom," says Olivier Laouchez, the CEO of the Trace Group which also supplies channels such as the music channel Trace Urban to MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform in South Africa and Africa.

"The addition of the 'Stars' component in the channel branding and the launch of new programmes will give us access to a larger, younger and more female audience," says Olivier Laouchez.

"This move will help us maintain our unique competitive advantage in the pay-TV market, providing the very first and best sport entertainment network."