Cape Town – From January 2015 all of the M-Net Movies channels on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform will move to starting movies immediately after each other instead of movies starting on the hour or the half hour.
A year ago M-Net simplified the M-Net Movies schedule. Every movie starts at the earliest quarter of an hour. M-Net then said the change was to help viewers know outright when to expect the start of a new film on any of the nine M-Net Movies channels on DStv.
In January there will be a schedule format change. It will be introduced to all of the M-Net
Movies channels on DStv, with a new film starting after each other with a
break of maximum five minutes between them for promos and commercials.
"The ad break or promo break between movies on M-Net Movies will only be five minutes max," M-Net tells Channel24. "If a movie for instance starts at 20:00, when it ends, whatever time it might be, there will only be 5 minutes before the next movie starts."
While the M-Net Series channels have been struggling with ratings, prompting the relaunch of M-Net Series Showcase as M-Net Edge and M-Net Series Reality changing to VUZU AMP, the M-Net Movies channels have seen a ratings surge, especially during the previous four months to September which saw a viewership spike for the M-Net Movies channels.
M-Net says that after viewership feedback and viewer research, it tweaked the schedules, now broadcasting and starting movies across the M-Net Movies channels at times where viewers indicated that they are most likely to want to watch specifically themed movies. The strategy has seen a major ratings surge so far for the M-Net Movies channels.