Trace has a channel rebrand event for Trace Ngoma TV channel on DStv, MultiChoice CEO notes 'the evolution of a brand'

by Thinus Ferreira

On Wednesday night, TRACe held some type of launch event for its rebranded Trace Ngoma (DStv 326) TV channel on Canal+'s MultiChoice DStv platform, although it failed to tell media and journalists covering TV anything about it or that it would take place.

Trace rebranded Trace Africa to Trace Ngoma in December 2025, and now, three months later, decided to have some type of a rebranding launch event for it.

In December, Olivier Laouchez, co-founder and Trace CEO, in a statement, said "Trace Ngoma is where music meets identity. It amplifies the rhythms and stories that define South African culture and gives young people a space to connect and feel seen".

On Wednesday, Trace Southern Africa had the cheek to ask on its social media account on X, formerly known as Twitter, to ask "If you are not here where are you?!" - apparently too stupid to realise that media trying to cover TRACE and not aware of, and not told beforehand that something would happen, will be even more put off and care less about the channel in response to TRACE's basically non-existent media liaison efforts.

Somebody who was invited and who was told about the Trace Ngoma event was Willington Ngwepe, MultiChoice South Africa CEO and DStv Media Sales.

In a video recorded on Wednesday night by someone who attended, Willington Ngwepe is seen saying "It's a very special evening for us. Today we're celebrating the evolution of a brand. This brand has been a very stable offering on our linear broadcasting offering on DStv".

Willington Ngwepe noted "a partnership of over 23 years" that he sees "getting stronger and stronger for another 23 years" and said Trace is becoming "an anchor of the creative digital economy".

Olivier Laouchez, likely also spoke but it's not known what he said.

At the event, Trace apparently also talked about some type of app it has, but information about what was said about it wasn't shared.

Three months in, industry observers and advertisers have said they're still unsure of what Trace Ngoma is now and why the rebrand happened, with very little reporting industry reporting about it.

ALSO READ: Trace renames Trace Africa music channel to Trace Ngoma

TRACE Southern Africa ups Valentine Gaudin-Muteba to managing director to replace Leo Manne joining Net#work BBDO.

TRACE has upped Valentine Gaudin-Muteba who has been appointed as managing director for media, sales and operations at TRACE Southern Africa.

Her promotion follows Leo Manne's exit who quit to head up the creative ad agency Net#work BBDO as its new managing director.

Leo Manne, a former SABC executive, joined TRACE in May 2015 where he's been the past three years.

TRACE's channels are available on MultiChoice's DStv, Cell C's black subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service, and eMedia Investment's Openview that carries Trace Sport Stars.

Valentine Gaudin-Muteba was TRACE Southern Africa's managing director in its Johannesburg office between September 2014 and July 2016 and was then promoted to vice president of channels and operations the past two years. 

From France, she's been living in South Africa the past 11 years.

TRACE says in her new role Valentine Gaudin-Muteba will be "responsible for ensuring that TRACE remains a relevant mouthpiece for the expression of Afro Urban talent across its many business verticals".

Olivier Laouchez, TRACE group executive chairperson, will continue as the Southern Africa CEO, based in South Africa.

Cell C's black has added 3 of the TRACE channels - TRACE Africa, Trace Gospel and TRACE Sports Stars - to its streaming platform.

Cell C's black streaming platform has added three of the TRACE channels to its subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platform in South Africa: TRACE Africa (604), TRACE Gospel (603) and TRACE Sports Stars HD (410).

Cell C recently launched black in South Africa, offering several linear TV channels that are streamed, including through its blackBOX set-top box.

TRACE Sports Stars was carried on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform for 4 years before it was dumped, and was carried on StarSat from China's StarTimes Media SA and On Digital Media (ODM) before it was dumped from there too.

Trace Sports Stars has since been picked up by eMedia Investments' free-to-air satellite service OpenView HD (OVHD) from Platco Digital and profiles international sports personalities with a lifestyle and entertainment angle.

TRACE Sports Stars is streamed as a high definition (HD) channel on Cell C black.

TRACE Africa (StarSat 334 /  DStv 326) is already carried on both DStv and StarSat.

Cell C black is the first platform to carry and make TRACE Gospel available in South Africa.

TRACE Gospel shows videos of Contemporary Gospel, Urban Gospel, Worship Gospel and Traditional Gospel, as well as interviews with upcoming and established artists and features and concerts.

TRACE Gospel shows urban African music with music videos from various genres ranging from Afro-pop and Coupé-décalé, to Kwaito-house, Afro-trap, Makossa and N’dombolo.

The channel focuses on African music and culture by showcasing concerts and features related to African artists and urban African lifestyle content.

"TRACE is dedicated to being ahead of the curve and making its content available on all
platforms that will make viewing more convenient for our audience," says Leo Manne, TRACE Southern Africa senior vice president.

"The partnership with Cell C was therefore, a natural and well-fitting one".

Surie Ramasary, Cell C's chief executive of content, says "South Africans love TRACE as a brand and as black we needed to ensure that the content we made available to our customers would be both relevant and enjoyable".

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".

Former suspended SABC TV boss Leo Manne resurfaces at Trace as the TV group's new senior vice president for Southern Africa.

The former and suspended SABC TV boss Leo Manne who resigned last month at the public broadcaster, has suddenly resurfaced at Trace where he has just been appointed in a new position to look after the TV entertainment group's Southern Africa region.

Leo Manne is the newly appointed senior vice president for the Southern African region for Trace which runs TV channels like Trace Sport Stars (DStv 188) and Trace Urban (DStv 325) on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

Leo Manne left the SABC under a cloud at the end of April after he resigned, following a protracted 7 months suspension and investigation since the end of September last year for a possible disciplinary hearing.

Leo Manne, previously the longtime SABC1 channel head who was then promoted to general manager for TV channels over SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 at the SABC, was suspended by the SABC on 25 September 2014, "pending investigations".

The suspension followed over allegations that he was listed as a director of Siyaya TV, one of the new pay-TV operators who received a licence in 2014 from the broadcasting regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) to start a new subscription television service.

Siyaya Free to Air TV will be a new competitor for not just MultiChoice's DStv, On Digital Media's (ODM) StarSat and Platco Digital's OpenView HD (OVHD) but also terrestrial broadcasters like the SABC and e.tv.

Siyaya Free to Air TV for instance snagged the exclusive TV broadcasting and radio rights to Bafana Bafana games last year in a 6-year deal reportedly worth more than R1 billion, taking it away from the SABC which used to have it and show these soccer games on SABC1.

After months of being suspended, Leo Manne took his case to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), demanding to be reinstated as the general manager for TV channels at the SABC.

In April however, the CCMA ruled in favour of the SABC. The CCMA says "in the matter between the SABC and Leonard Moeranne Manne an arbitration award was issued on 21 April 2015 with the arbitrator ruling in favour of the employer of the employer".

Leo Manne tendered his official resignation from his SABC position after the CCMA ruling, which also brought to an end to the SABC's investigation which dragged along.

Trace has now hired Leo Manne, saying in a statement he will now oversee all broadcast media related operations within the Southern Africa region as Trace's new senior vice president after he's meandered through South Africa's media industry.

"I have always embraced any opportunity in my career that has allowed me to work with and create great media brands, especially in the context of a rapidly changing television and entertainment environment," says Leo Manne.

Leo Manne says he is looking forward to delivering "compelling and engaging localised content" for Trace.

"Leo Manne's specialised skills in broadcast media will prove to be a valuable asset to Trace moving forward and we welcome his unquestionable talents," says Olivier Laouchez, Trace CEO.

Trace CEO Olivier Laouchez jetting into South Africa again next week; now visiting SA monthly.

You're reading it here first. 

I can reveal that Olivier Laouchez, the chairman and CEO, of Trace is once again jetting into South Africa next week.

Trace runs the channels Trace Urban (DStv 325) and Trace Sports (DStv 188) on MultiChoice's DStv pay-TV platform.

Olivier Laouchez will have some meetings, as well as do an industry presentation next week of Trace's innovations within the music, sports and mobile industries in Africa.

Insiders tell me that Olivier Laouchez now regularly visits South Africa.

"He travels a lot around Africa as well but I would say he spends about two weeks every month at the South African offices," I'm told.

Olivier Laouchez is of course a very busy man and clocking up the frequent flyer miles.

The highly-successful Trace Sports channel keeps signing carriage agreements around the world on an extremely fast growing list of pay-TV providers.