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Cape Town – DStv is adding Nicktoons as a new TV channel from 30 September and also adding Nick Jr. and BET to DStv.
All three TV channels are supplied by Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa) as part of new carriage agreements with MultiChoice.
VIMN Africa already supplies channels like MTV, MTV Base, Nickelodeon, VH1 Classic and Comedy Central Africa to MultiChoice's DStv.
BET's spin-off channel BET on Jazz was available on DStv in South Africa for a period in the past but was discontinued.
BET has been available on On Digital Media's (ODM) StarSat satellite pay-TV platform the past four years and will remain available as a TV channel on this platform according to VIMN Africa.
In 2008 BET was added on DStv in West African countries. In 2010 MultiChoice said BET didn’t test very well with South African viewers, but in 2013 MultiChoice tested BET again, yet cautioned that it didn’t mean the channel would be added to DStv.
BET on DStv channel 135 will be available on DStv Premium, DStv Compact, DStv Family and DStv Extra and broadcast programming like talk show The Wendy Williams Show, reality like Real Husbands of Hollywood and dramas like Being Mary Jane and 106 & Park.
Nicktoons on DStv channel 308 will be available on DStv Premium, DStv Compact and DStv Extra and is aimed at children between 4 to 9 – a younger skewing channel than the existing Nickelodeon channel also from VIMN Africa.
Nicktoons programming include The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, T.U.F.F. Puppy, Back to the Barnyard, Avatar and Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys.
Nick Jr. on DStv channel 307 will only be available to DStv Premium subscribers as a youth channel targeting pre-school viewers between the ages of 3 to 5 with programmes like Dora the Explorer, Bubble Guppies and Paw Patrol.
New programming will start in 2015 on Nick Jr. including Dora & Friends, Blaze and the Monster Machines and Shimmer & Shine.
"We are delighted to partner with MultiChoice to strengthen our kids and family, and general entertainment offering in Africa," says Alex Okosi, the senior vice president and managing director for VIMN Africa in a statement.
"Our DStv customers will no doubt be delighted that BET is finally available on their screens," says Aletta Alberts, MultiChoice's general manager for content in the statement. "Kids will be entertained for hours with the great shows on Nick Jr. and Nicktoons. We want to add channels that fill a gap in our entertainment offering".
