DStv adds 2 new channels, new bouquet

Cape Town - MultiChoice has announced that it will be creating a new, cheaper DStv bouquet while simultaneously adding two new channels to its existing line-up.  

New bouquet DStv Family will be launched on 9 April, while new channels Fox Entertainment and kykNET & kie will be joining DStv's line-up.

The DStv Family bouquet will offer 45 channels, 17 of which have not been available on what DStv refers to as "lower bouquets" before. The price of the bouquet will cost R175 per month.

So far, Fox Entertainment has only been available on On Digital Media's (ODM) TopTV platform for the past two and a half years and offers highly acclaimed hit TV shows soon after the US airdate such as Falling Skies, The Walking Dead, as well as buzzworthy new series Da Vinci's Demons and reality show Being Mandela.

Fox Entertainment, which will be broadcast on DStv channel 125, will only be available on the DStv Premium bouquet and will be available as a new HD channel to Premium subscribers with an HD PVR decoder.

Fox Entertainment leaving TopTV?

Separate media enquiries were made to TopTV as well as Fox International Channels Africa (FIC Africa), which runs Fox Entertainment as a pay-TV TV channel in Africa to shed light on whether Fox Entertainment will still be available on the TopTV line-up.

FIC Africa, which runs a trio of Fox channels on TopTV – including Fox Entertainment – declined to comment on the Fox channel development.

When asked for comment on Fox now joining DStv too, TopTV told Channel24 that they were not "aware of any moves in this regard".

kykNET's branching out

Meanwhile it seems that M-Net has now created a "rerun" kykNET channel of sorts for DStv, a second-tier version of the original channel which will make a version of kykNET with older library titles available on the kykNET & kie channel.

With the DStv Family bouquet, Afrikaans DStv subscribers will now get access to kykNET TV content, but in a time-lapse fashion after it has been on kykNET.

kykNET & kie will become available on the new DStv Family bouquet to give subscribers on a cheaper bouquet access to kykNET content, and will also be added to the DStv Premium and DStv Compact bouquets.

The new channel will air kykNET's premium shows like Villa Rosa, Binneland, Toks en Tjops, eNuus and Dagbreek.

New magazine show

"It's been sad that several Afrikaans families due to financial pressure didn't have access to kykNET," Karen Meiring, M-Net's director for Afrikaans channels said in a separate statement.

"With kykNET & kie it's all changing. We're looking forward to becoming a friend in the homes of more Afrikaans viewers," Meiring continued to say.

Shows such as Agter Elke Man, kykNET's first commissioned Afrikaans drama series Song vir Katryn and the comedy Alie Barber will be aired on kykNET & kie.

kykNET will also be launching a new local magazine show Kollig on kykNET & kie.