DStv pulls the plug on [ED]

Get ready to be dumbed down. DStv has announced that they are not renewing the contract of South Africa's only locally ran and owned documentary channel, [ED].

The channel, which is available on channel 190 (just one flip away from DStv's most popular channel overall, SABC1, believe it or not), will cease broadcasting on December 1st.

DStv has no plans to replace [ED], which is now the fifth channel in DStv's channel cuts, following the culling of CBS Action, CBS Drama, True Movies and AMC. The latter channels were cut as a result of DStv being so concerned about subscribers that they wanted to reduce the amount of repeats subscribers are exposed to (DStv seriously has among the country's best spin doctors on hand). The reason for [ED] being cut is simply that the channel's contract wont  be renewed. That's it.

[ED], which was run by Urban Brew studios, featured a large slate of original domestic programming, mainly providing a platform for independent documentaries and self-produced informative chat shows. In addition, it featured a decent amount of quality foreign documentaries at a time when DStv's "documentary channels" prefers giving swamp people a platform.

This marks the first time that DStv has cut a channel with such a large amount of local content and, given how they are cutting costs and channels left and right (Please ignore the lavish and expensive party they hosted last week for M-Net's birthday), one has to wonder exactly how close ANN7 was to being cancelled when those rumours arose a few months back.

Roberto Carletti, the channel's station manager, says, "Thanks to our loyal [ED] viewers and advertisers for their continued support over the years. Through our content, our viewers have remained curious and have been inspired."

While DStv continues to cut channels in South Africa, they continue to lower prices and add channels in the rest of the continent. Think about that.

[Personally,  thnk one thing the channel could have done better is marketing. Its programming was good but it was not marketed very well to average viewers]

Channel [Ed] To Enter The Current Affairs Genre

 

As Channel [ED] (DStv 190) prepares to celebrate its upcoming first birthday, they will be launching a few locally-produced current affairs shows.

Highlights include:

Anchored by Danine Naidoo, Edge premieres on Wednesday, 10 December at 19:00 and takes viewers on a Science and Technology reality series set at the cutting edge of technological research and development. Get drawn into the world of hero geeks and their magnificent creations. It also seems to me like one of the more exciting of the shows being launched. the show's Hashtag is #EDEDGE. It seems like it will be competing with other tech shows like eNCA's Tech report and also the various incarnations of a technology show the guy from Stuff magazine and the guy from Tech Central keep launching and relaunching on CNBC Africa and Business Day TV (if  they can ever decide to settle on a slot, show and channel, I will be able to write what their show is called).

Current affairs take centre-stage with Behind the Headlines from Wednesday, 10 December at 19:30 – sight impaired radio and television journalist, Rhulani Baloyi, will unpack the headlines making news.

Contact is a first-person account, reality documentary series that goes off the beaten track to find human stories that are not in mainstream media [but ought to be] - premieres on Wednesday, 10 December at 21:00; while Criselda Kananda and her studio guests unpack sexual health matters on the talk show Sexual Health, which premieres Monday, 15 December at 21:00.

Other new and regular features include Corner Talks which premieres Wednesday, 10 December at 18:00 - an actuality and social commentary series (presented by Simphiwe 'Tofolux' Masoka and Ayanda Nhlapo), captured in the heart of Johannesburg’s townships. The series takes the average young person in the corner and puts them in the front row seat of social commentary.

There's also the entrepreneurial docu-series Earned (starts Thursday, 11 December at 19:00) that seems quite interesting if you into those shows that follow businesses around and Create, which starts Tuesday, 16 December at 19:00 and reveals a variety of career paths to help the viewer make informed decisions about their future careers, and seems to boast a few scripted elements as well.

Thursday, 11 December at 16:00 sees the launch of the talk show Share with Hannah Viviers, as she engages with the youth about living in the twenty-first century and GIBS (Gordon Institute of Business Science) starts Monday, 15 December at 20:00 and covers various business issues affecting the African continent as well as tips on how to maneuver your venture into a successful business.

Overall this aggessive push into local content is something great as i always love it when the local industry grows and more South African stories get told.

My only worry is now that these shows are added to the schedule, what gets cut?The answer to this question seems like the international documentaries, which after a scan over their schedule does indeed seem to be the case. This is sad as it now means no international documentaries that are not produced by the big name documentary channels will be seen on local tv anymore. Think about whether the likes of National Geographic, Discovery or the BBC allows documentaries not produced by themselves to be shown on their channels.

Below is the channel's new showreel:

Post by ED318.