StarTimes Media SA continues to create new jobs with dubbing of global telenovelas into South African languages on StarSat, says diverse slate of Zulu-dubbed series from several countries planned.

by Thinus Ferreira

StarTimes Media SA says it continues to create new jobs in South Africa's film and TV industry through the use of its Midrand-based dubbing studios to create new voiceover soundtracks in Zulu and other South African languages for global telenovelas on its StarSat satellite pay-TV service - and that several more Zulu-dubbed series are in the works.

eMedia was first to start dubbing international telenovelas for its set of e.tv-packaged TV channels in South Africa into Afrikaans, along with ZEE Africa also doing dubbing work into English and other languages.

This was followed by StarTimes Media SA which started to dub international telenovelas into Zulu. Lately MultiChoice is also using its Dolby Atmos equipped studio in Randburg to now dub Turkish telenovelas into Afrikaans for M-Net's Afrikaans-run kykNET channels on DStv.

"In 2021 StarSat launched its state-of-the-art dubbing studios in Midrand, South Africa. The main objective of its new initiative is to adapt its best-performing telenovelas to Zulu and other indigenous South African languages," says Debbie Wu, On Digital Media (ODM) CEO.

"We are very excited about the possibility of ensuring the widest accessibility of South African audiences to award-winning telenovelas dubbed into main indigenous languages."

"Our dubbing initiative continues to create many new jobs along the value chain. Since the launch of our dubbing studios, we have recruited and trained numerous South African youth as voice actors, directors, translators, editors, and sound engineers."

StarSat says that based on the recent success of the Zulu-dubbed version of the Philippine novella The Blood Sisters, StarSat has since launched a Zulu version of the popular Zee TV novella Waaris: Indlalifa.

StarSat says a diverse slate of more Zulu-dubbed telenovelas from Mexico, South Korea, Spain and India are in the works to be broadcast on StarSat's StarTimes RISE (StarSat 120) channel.

"Running parallel to our novella content adaption strategy is our focus on delivering the best English novellas to more South Africans," says Debbie Wu.

"We are proud to announce the broadcast of the Philippine novella La Vida Lena on the StarTimes Novella E Plus channel. Another novella 'must-see' is Zee Novella's My Left Side – the story of a powerful woman whose riches-to-rags experience puts her in direct conflict and interest with a man who has lived in the lap of luxury his whole life."

La Vida Lena is shown daily on ST Novella E Plus (StarTimes 128) at 20:40. My Left Side is shown daily on ST Novella E (StarSat 127) at 19:00. Love by Chance is shown daily on StarLife (StarSat 550) at 18:00.

kykNET follows e.tv and adds Afrikaans-dubbed Turkish telenovelas to the kykNET & Kie schedule from July 2022.

by Thinus Ferreira

Following the massive success of eMedia's Afrikaans-dubbed Turkish telenovelas on its e.tv and eExtra channels, M-Net is ramping up its own dubbing efforts and is adding a Turkish telenovela block to kykNET & Kie (DStv 145) from July. 

More work are coming for Afrikaans actors and Afrikaans voice-actors, with M-Net's Afrikaans division that is ramping up its dubbing efforts, starting with two Turkish telenovelas for kykNET & Kie from July: In die Ysterhand se Greep and Kind van die Noodlot.

In mid-2017 FOX Networks Group Africa - since folded into Disney - started adding English-dubbed Turkish telenovelas to the then FOX Life channel on DStv and StarSat. 

FOX Life found little success and viewers, but the genre exploded when e.tv took a swing later that same year and added Turkish telenovelas for its e.tv-packaged channels on eMedia's Openview free-to-air satellite service.

These Afrikaans-dubbed Turkish telenovelas have been so successful over the past five years that they've spawned a whole new cottage industry of Afrikaans-language dubbing with new work for South African actors and voice artists, and successfully lifted ratings for e.tv and its Openview channels.

In April, Droomverlore on e.tv lured 1.66 million viewers (4.3 ARs / 19.2 share) as the channel's 13th most-watched show of the month, a phenomenal achievement for a foreign dubbed show, and one dubbed into Afrikaans.

The ratings success of the Afrikaans-dubbed Turkish telenovelas is hard to ignore, with kykNET now also setting up its own content pipeline for this content.

"kykNET is very excited to bring two top international telenovelas in Afrikaans to kykNET & Kie," says Waldimar Pelser, M-Net director of kykNET channels.

"These two series, produced in Turkey and dubbed locally, are packed with gripping storylines. The dubbing of such big series also creates dozens of job opportunities in the Afrikaans TV industry for talent behind the screens and in front of the microphone."

"The addition of these two Turkish series is part of a bigger renewal for kykNET & Kie which will also include various exciting and new locally produced shows."

"We want to offer our viewers the best of both worlds – international glamour in Afrikaans, as well as local stories and entertainment anchored in Afrikaans communities," Waldimar Pelser says.

kykNET will start off with In die Ysterhand se Greep known as Asla Vazgeçmem in Turkey.

In the story, Yiğit is a successful businessman who doesn't believe in love and is responsible for an accident that leaves his wife, Iclal, in a coma for years. 

"Denying her existence is the only way he can cope, and their small son, Mert, believes his mother is in heaven. Then Yiğit meets Nur, and they fall in love. Unaware of Iclal, Nur agrees to marry him. But on the day of their wedding, Iclal wakes up," the show's logline reads.

The second Turkish telenovela of 148-episodes is Kind van die noodlot, known in Turkey as Belahan Jiwa Kahraman.

According to the official description, "Kahraman Yorukman are super rich, but they don't have any children. Their family rejects them because of this, and Defne starts looking for an alternative way to give her husband an heir. She decides to hire a surrogate mother to have a baby for them".

MultiChoice and M-Net adds African telenovela channel Novela Magic to DStv for Southern Africa with mostly Nigerian telenovelas.

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice and M-Net will be adding a new telenovela TV channel on its DStv service from today, 27 November, with Novela Magic (DStv 165) that will start at 18:00.

Novela Magic that will roll out in a phased approach and that will be broadcast in standard definition (SD) only, will start in South Africa and the rest of the Southern African region from today and will be available to DStv Premium, DStv Compact Plus, DStv Compact and DStv Family subscribers.

Novela Magic will daily but end at 21:30 and is described as an "African-focused telenovela channel" that will collect and showcase African telenovelas from across the continent. 

Series created in the language of the country of origin will be dubbed into English. 

Novela Magic will launch with 4 telenovelas: Unbroken, Zuba, Forbidden, and Battleground. Novela Magic will initially have predominantly Nigerian-produced content from West Africa with some content produced in Southern Africa.

"For over 30 years M-Net has been bringing to audiences across the African continent compelling stories that harness the imagination of our viewers while also showcasing the vast talent that is harboured on the continent," says Nkateko Mabaso, M-Net CEO.

"We want to continue this legacy of showcasing the best African stories with themes that resonate and engage our viewers, hence the launch of this new Novela Magic channel."

Unbroken from Nigeria tells a love story between Tivdo and Jesse who are madly in love. Tivdo plans to marry Jesse until tragedy strikes, leaving him disabled after a car accident where his beloved fiancée, Jesse, was on the wheel.

 

In Zuba, Zambia's first telenovela, an innocent, rural teenage girl must leave her family and education behind to do a maid’s job with a complex, wealthy urban family where she falls for the young son of the house.

M-Net says that although the telenovelas on Novela Magic would have been broadcast and seen on other TV channels before it is now collecting African telenovelas on this thematic channel.