MultiChoice to add ZEEL's Indian TV news channel WION to DStv in October.

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice will add the Indian TV news channel WION from October to its DStv satellite pay-TV service for South African subscribers, and likely also subscribers elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa.

ZEE Entertainment Enterprise Ltd. (ZEEL), that is merging with Sony Pictures Network India, announced in a video that WION will be added to MultiChoice's DStv in October, although a specific date isn't given.

ZEEL already runs channels on MultiChoice's DStv in South Africa and across Africa, as well as on other pay-TV operators like Zee TV, Zee World, Zee Magic, Zee Cinema and Zee Alem.

WION is an Indian multinational English language TV news channel that is headquartered in New Delhi and that started broadcasting in August 2016, and is part of the Essel Group's Zee Media network of TV channels.

WION that stands for "World Is One News" says that it is focused on "bringing the latest and breaking news from South Asia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the rest of the world".

WION says that "We provide much more than the news of the day. Our aim to empower people to explore their world. With our Global headquarters in New Delhi, we bring you news on the hour, by the hour."

WION states that it "delivers information that is not biased. We are journalists who are neutral to the core and non-partisan when it comes to the politics of the world. People are tired of biased reportage and we stand for a globalised united world. So for us the world is truly one."

WION's addition to MultiChoice's DStv isn't the first time that WION will be available and seen in Africa. 

WION was added to the now-shuttered and disastrous Kwese TV of Econet Media in mid-2017 when Econet Media Joseph Hundah had a party in Johannesburg with ZEE TV Africa and the African ZEE team for the launch of the Indian TV news channel on its pay-TV service.

With every channel number slot from 400 on DStv's channel number grid filled by TV news channels like BBC World News, CNN International, Sky News and local TV news channels like eNCA, SABC News and Newzroom Africa, WION will probably be placed on DStv channel number 415 which is the first open slot.

Otherwise WION might be placed on DStv channel number 418 in order to not be pushed in-between euronews at DStv channel 414 and its sister channel africanews on DStv channel 417.

MultiChoice hasn't made any announcement about the addition of WION to DStv in any statement yet by the time of publication of this report.

Linda Oliphant, Zee Africa marketing manager told TVwithThinus on Thursday in response to a media query asking for more information about WION and on what date it will be launching, that Zee Africa is awaiting the confirmation date for the WION channel's launch on DStv.

WION's rolling TV news coverage is divided into various daypart slots, and it also does branded shows like Gravitas as its primetime programming block, and with Speed News, The Diplomacy Show, WION World Order, WION Fineprint, WION Tech Out, WION Edge and others.

While every TV news channel on DStv is directly competing with each other for every DStv subscriber as a viewer, WION is joining the DStv news line-up where India's NDTV (DStv 413) already exists for a number of years.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 22 February 2021.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:      

 

■ How The Simpsons brought Mrs Krabappel back for a proper final goodbye.

■ MUST READ. "Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) members live for the events, rather than for the love of movies”.

- Did you know that the HFPA that votes on and hands out the Golden Globes have No black members?

■ The grand Vision behind the latest reveal on Wandavision on Disney+.

■ Criminal Minds is being revived for Paramount+.

■ Hong Kong's government wants to clamp down on its public broadcaster.

■ Belarus jails two journalists from the independent Belsat TV channel for simply live-streaming a public protest.

■ Are individual video streaming services going to get bundled up just like the traditional pay-TV channel bundle?

■ Like MultiChoice there's also a 2021 price hike coming for Sky subscribers in Britain.

■ As Media24's new HONEY TV channel launches on DStv, do we really need more Wives on TV?

■ The superrich MultiChoice Nigeria chairperson, Adewunmi Ogunsanyaon has a thing for luxury property investments and owns several lux addresses in Nigeria's most exclusive estates.

■ Apple TV+ is making gains with high-income millennials.

■ Covid-19 has made Americans a video streaming nation.

■ From a distance NBC broadcasters are trying to make the audience feel close to the action.

■ From WandaVision to The Mandalorian: The 14 best shows to watch on Disney+.

- WandaVision's biggest antagonist is the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

■ Zee TV: Running the show even after decades.

■ Disney+ is set to surpass Netflix's subscribers within 5 years with 294 million subscribers.

■ Apple TV+ has no excuse to be lagging behind the others in the video streaming race.

■ MultiChoice's legacy and TV money - and Big Brother Naija as MultiChoice's goldmine.

■ How M-Net's Tinsel emerged as Nigeria's top, longest-running show on DStv.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 19 April 2018.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ TV needs fewer commercials - but the math is going to be hard.

■ Netflix: On the brink of global domination?
Now so powerful it even snubbed the Cannes Film Festival, are broadcasters around the world right to fear for their future?


■ Ghana's trash-petty TV station TV3 still can't stand that its former news anchor Nana Aba Anamoah left them.
So when she appeared on stage at the 19th Vodafone Ghana Music Awards, broadcast simultaneously on TV3 and M-Net's Africa Magic Family (DStv 154) on MultiChoice's DStv, the shoddy TV3 awkwardly censored its own broadcast and did a blackout for the minute Nana Aba Anamoah appeared on stage to present an award.

■ India's ZEE has big plans for Nigerian audiences - and talks upcoming content.

■ Three people in Ghana selling illegal DStv decoders smuggled in from Nigeria, arrested following a Cyber Crime Unit raid.

■ Kwesé TV says its TV channel Kwesé Inc. will run so-called "success stories" of African entrepreneurs who have used Kwese's services.

■ Judge in Sierra Leone releases a man who sat in jail in custody for 2 years for allegedly stealing a Samsung plasma TV.

■ Britain's broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, announces 7 new investigations into Russia Today (RT) over its spy coverage).

■ The new Lost in Space reboot on Netflix looks an awful lot like a Mass Effect TV show.


■ When TV shows refuse to die and overstay their welcome: Why The Walking Dead on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131 / Cell C black 201) keeps going although it only frustrates viewers - just like the long-tired Homeland on M-Net (DStv 101).

■ MUST READ: The New York Times on what it means that Amazon Studios has arrived at Culver Studios on the lot where Gone with the Wind and E.T. were made.

Zee TV kicks off 2018 with 1 000th episode of Kumkum Bhagya, with 3 new drama series coming to the channel.

Zee TV (DStv 452) kicks off 2018 with the 1 000th episode of the romantic series Kumkum Bhagya that will be broadcast on 16 January, with 3 new drama series coming to the channel.

The 100th episode of Kumkum Bhagya willbe shown on 16 January at 17:30 and tells the story of the rock star musician Abhi who marries a lecturer, Pragya.

The first new show starting in 2018 on Zee TV is Aap Ke Aa Jane Se, starting on 16 January at 21:30 on weekdays.

Aap Ke Aa Jane Se (pictured), produced by Bodhi Tree Productions, deviates from the typical love story of boy-meets-girl and challenges the norm, revolving around Vedika, a 42-year old woman who falls for Sahil, a young, handsome and outgoing 24-year old man.

The story reflects how society treats a couple with a difference of 18 years, where the leading lady is a single mother with a daughter that is closer to the age of her spouse than she is. The series will show how the couple remain together despite society's view of how a "normal" couple should be.

“We start 2018 with Aap Ke Aa Jane Se, an unconventional love story that questions if people really need social sanction or a stamp of approval to fall in love," says Deepak Rajadhyaksha, Zee TV deputy business head.

"Beautifully in sync with our brand philosophy, the show asks us to pause and reassess our understanding of what makes a couple ‘suitable’ or ‘appropriate'".

Sukesh Motwani, Bodhi Tree Productions producer says “With Vedika and Sahil and their relationship with the considerable age gap comes with its fair share of opposition, drawing strong reactions from all quarters. The objective behind telling such a story is to stimulate viewers to look at love and life through a completely different lens."

Kalire is the second new show coming to Zee TV in 2018 and will start on 5 February at 22:30 with a repeat at 16:00.

It's set against the rustic backdrop of Punjab as a romantic drama with Arjit Taneja who is the character of Purab Khanna in Kumkum Bhagya.  

Kalire tells the story of Meera and her struggles to stay true to herself while trying to please her family. As a Punjabi girl she is confronted with all of the preconceived notions of what she is supposed to be and how she is supposed to behave.

Subhanallah (working title) is the third new show starting on Zee TV later in 2018.

It revolves around how the liberal and well-educated Zaara and the Islamic scholar, now a Maulavi, Kabeer who strictly follows the law written by the Shariat board, get married to each other.

When Zaara and Kabeer’s differences reach a point of no return, they come face to face with Islam’s most controversial marital ritual – “the triple talaaq”: This is when a man can recite the “triple talaaq” and their marriage is instantly dissolved.

ZEE Media celebrates 25 years by changing circular logo to 'ZEE Amethyst' purple; adds 'Extraordinary Together' slogan.

At the end of October, ZEE Entertainment Enterprise Ltd. (ZEEL) changed the logo of Zee TV and also rolled out a new slogan of "Extraordinary Together".

The Zee logo change also affects South Africa and Africa where several TV channels from ZEE is carried on multiple pay-TV platforms across the continent, managed by Harish Goyal, CEO of Zee TV Africa.

The logo and slogan change has been timed for the 25 anniversary of ZEEL.

ZEE's new design has been done by designer Martin Lambie-Nairn, creative director at ML-N.

ZEE says the new slogan "Extraordinary Together", represents the company's mission of celebrating the world and unifying it with entertainment.

The circular form of the new brand logo symbolises continuity and inclusiveness with the colour called "ZEE Amethyst", representing creativity and transformation.

In terms of the design the colourful explosion of creative energy makes ZEE the "fountainhead" that unleases "extraordinary potential".

"Zee's aim is to continue to provide extraordinary entertainment content across genres, languages and geograhies; delighting consumers across screens, platforms and devices," says Harish Goyal.

India's TV mogul, Zee Media's Subhash Chandra, releases his autobiography, The Z Factor, about how he launched Zee TV and changed the TV biz.

Another insider book about making and the business of television, The Z Factor - My Journey as the Wrong Man at the Right Time has been released - and is the story of Subhash Chandra (65), the chairperson of India's largest TV channel network Zee Media, Essel Group.

Some of Zee Media's TV channels are carried and seen in South Africa and Africa like Zee TV (DStv 166)

Published by HarperCollins India and written by Pranjal Sharma, The Z Factor is the fascinating memoir of Subhash Chandra, a self-made billionaire businessman who came to Delhi in India at 20 with only 17 rupees in his pocket and is today worth $6.3 billion.

His Zee TV, India's first private Indian TV channel, changed the rules of the TV game and he also started Zee News, India's first private news channel, Zee News.

The Z Factor tells Subhash Chandra's lifestory - from his journey starting in Hisar, a small town in Haryana where his family ran grain mills, to becoming the Indian media mogul of today and how he tried to make his entry into the cut-throat television business where he was considered an interloper and an outsider.

BREAKING. ANN7 - Africa News Network 7 - the new 24-hour South African news channel to be added to DStv towards the middle of 2013.

ANN7 - standing for Africa News Network 7 - is the name of the planned new 24-hour TV news channel from Infinity Media which MultiChoice will be adding to its DStv platform towards the middle of 2013.

MultiChoice will add ANN7 presumably around August, and presumably on the currently vacant channel number 404 where the SABC's new constantly delayed 24-hour TV channel was supposed to go.

Staffing of ANN7 and filling key positions of Africa News Network 7 will start soon.

Infinity Media - a joint venture between Essel Media, Oakbay Investments (Oakbay Investments is the majority shareholder in The New Age newspaper) and a black economic empowerment group - will set up and run ANN7 in South Africa.

Essel Media runs Zee TV, India's largest broadcaster.

Infinity Media will create ANN7's studio fascilities in Midrand from where the channel will create its news channel feed for South Africa and broadcast for 24 hours per day.


ALSO READ: A new 24-hour South African TV news channel launching on DStv later in the year.
ALSO READ: News Age? The planned new 24-hour TV news channel which was even news to me.
ALSO READ: As DStv lose the ill-conceived planned 24-hour news channel from the SABC in exchange for a new New Age 24-hour news channel, the SABC's plans remain but a dream.

Zee Entertainment planning to launch further general entertainment TV channels for African tastes.

Zee Entertainment,  which runs Zee TV (DStv 452) in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa through MultiChoice's DStv platform, plans to rapidly expand in 2013 with further TV channels.

Zee Entertainment wants to relay the magic of Bollywood as well as popular local African content to television households by launching further customised, general entertainment TV channels for African tastes.

Zee Entertainment says in a statement that until now Zee TV has been catering mainly to the Indian Diaspora in Africa, with the result that "spend has been limited".

Now Zee, which has been on MultiChoice's DStv since 1996, has expansion plans for Africa. Zee is one of India's leading television companies and counts among the largest producers and aggregators of Hindi programming in the world, with an extensive library housing over 100 000 hours of television content and with rights to more than 3 000 movie titles from studios leveraged to over 650 million viewers across 168 countries.

Popular Indian TV channel Zee TV changes its look with a new aqua blue logo and a new slogan.

Zee TV (DStv 452), Indian's biggest Hindi entertainment TV channel and the Indian TV channel with the highest viewership in South Africa changed its look with a new slogan, ''Umeed Se Saje Zindagi''.

ALSO READ: Zee TV leads in South Africa as the most popular Indian TV channel according to viewership.

"We believe the time is right to infuse renewed freshness into the brand and reflect an identity that truly articulates our spirit,'' says Punit Goenka, Zee TV managing director and CEO in a press release.

The new aqua blue Zee TV logo with a stylish font has been designed in-house. ''The new age design with its upward flourish signifies the upward movement of desires and wishes,'' says Zee TV. ''The abstract form of the 'Z' and vibrancy of aqua blue bring in modernity and freshness to the brand. The unshackling of the 'Z' from the box symbolizes today's woman's zest for life and confidence to go out in the world beyond her home. The overall design has a progressive feel and reflects the idea of looking into the future with hope and depicts a more dynamic and spirited outlook.''

Zee TV leads in South Africa as the most popular Indian TV channel according to viewership.

Zee TV (DStv 452) is the most popular Indian TV channel in South Africa based on viewership compared to similar channels like B4U Movies (DStv 451), Saffron TV (DStv 456), Sony Entertainment Television Asia (SET Asia) (DStv 450), Sony Max (DStv 457) or Sun TV (DStv 454).
According to latest TV audience research, Zee TV that started broadcasting in Africa in 1996, manages 106 000 viewers over a 7 day period. It thereby secures the number one position in viewership under the Indian TV channels available in South Africa. B4U Movies follows in second place with 87 000 viewers over a week, SET Asia with 64 000, Saffron TV with 61 000, Sun TV with 44 000 and Sony Max rounding out the top five with 30 000 viewers.

"It comes as no surprise that we have been ranked number one in South Africa,'' says Bharat Ranga, Zee international's chief operating officer. ''I am confident that we will continue to rule the roost given the immense support that we get from South Asians all over the world."

Zee TV launched a sister channel, Zee Cinema (TopTV 121) as part of On Digital Media's (ODM) initial channel line-up in May. No South African viewership figures are yet available for TopTV channels, although audience measurement of TopTV channels should start early in 2011.