Country | South Africa |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Sub-Saharan Africa |
Network | e.tv |
Ownership | |
Owner | eMedia Investments |
Sister channels | e.tv eMovies eExtra eMovies Extra eReality eSERIES eNCA News and Sports ePlesier |
History | |
Launched | 16 October 2013 |
Replaced by | DreamWorks Channel (on DStv) PBS Kids (on DStv) |
Former names | eToonz+ (2013 - 2017) |
eToonz is a South African digital satellite television free-to-air children's channel created and owned by eMedia Investments's e.tv. [1] The channel broadcasts for a duration of 16 hours from Sunday to Friday, 17 hours on Saturday and 18 hours with movies during the school holidays.
eToonz started as a 30 to 60 minute segment on the defunct Little e block which featured animated programs such as The Adventures Of Lerato and Alex and Deep & Dylan's Curious Minds - South African produced content. [2]
e.tv as a broadcaster launched eKasi+, eToonz+, eMovies+ and eAfrica+ as new sister channels as the first of its planned set of TV channels for digital terrestrial television (DTT). e.tv, the SABC and M-Net plan to each roll out their own collections of additional TV channels in South Africa eventually.
Since government incompetence and industry infighting has long-delayed the digital switch-over process known as digital migration, e.tv launched its first 4 additional free-to-air TV channels on OpenView HD, although the channels will become publicly available to all viewers once DTT starts.
e.tv, tired, frustrated and becoming increasingly scared over its inability to grow its potential market share and possible diminishing returns on its existing market which could evaporate in the face of ongoing TV channel and audience fragmentation in South Africa, decided to no longer wait for DTT but to forge ahead and start launching its additional channels. [3] as eToonz+ along with eKasi+ (now eExtra), eAfrica+(now defunct) and eMovies+(now eMovies). [4]
At launch, StarSat entered talks with eMedia Investments over the potential of including their channels into their platform before things didn't work out.
In 2017, news leaked that about the channel's possible availability on DStv before being made official on May 17 alongside eMovies, eMovies Extra and eExtra. [5] Later that year, e.tv gave eMovies+ and eToonz+ a reimaging; with digital television established, the "+" symbol imagery was also dropped from those two networks. [6]
eToonz and three other e.tv services were going to be removed from DStv on 1 April 2022 [7] but the channel remained on DStv for another 2 months as the eMedia Investments filed an application to the Competition Tribunal regarding their carriage agreement with MultiChoice. [8]
By the end of May 2022, the channel ceased transmission on the DStv platform alongside eExtra, eMovies and eMovies Extra. The channel was supplemented by PBS Kids and DreamWorks Channel. [9]
In August 2022, eToonz alongside eMovies, eMovies Extra and eExtra were reinstated on the DStv platform for another 6 months following pending investigation. [10]
By the end of July 2023, the channel would eventually go dark on DStv. [11]
Most of the channel's content comes from the Craz-e block on e.tv. Certain shows that weren't added onto the channel were the blocks former live-action youth shows. eToonz broadcasts wide range of cartoons, from pre-school shows like In The Night Garden, Peppa Pig and Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures, with other cartoons from Dreamworks Animation like Boss Baby, Archibald's Next big thing, Friends:Girls on a mission; also anime like the Pokémon animated series and others such as Fireman Sam.
Programmes:
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations (AM/FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state-owned enterprises.
e.tv is the first and only privately owned free-to-air television station in South Africa. It is the fifth terrestrial television channel in the country, following three channels that are operated by the state-owned South African Broadcasting Corporation and the privately owned subscription-funded M-Net. In 1997, the e.tv channel bought the broadcasting rights to broadcast English Premier League (EPL) matches and, later on, they also bought the rights to broadcast UEFA Champions League matches.
Digital Satellite Television, abbreviated DStv, is a Sub-Saharan African direct broadcast satellite service owned by MultiChoice and based and with headquarters in Randburg, South Africa. DStv provides audio, radio and television channels and services to subscribers across 50 countries, mostly in South Africa, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.
MultiChoice is a South African company that operates DStv, a major satellite television service in Sub-Saharan Africa, and GOtv, a minor service operating in over nine countries of this area and Showmax service. MultiChoice was formed out of the subscriber-management branch of the M-Net terrestrial pay television company, and broadcasts the full range of M-Net channels on the DStv service. MultiChoice is owned by the media conglomerate of the same name. One of the subsidiaries of MultiChoice is DStv Stream, formally DStv Now then DStv App, a service that delivers television transmission to mobile devices such as laptops, smart phones and notebooks.
SABC News is the news division of the SABC, South Africa's public broadcaster. The division produces news content for the SABC's platforms, including bulletins for its television channels, radio stations, and digital properties, in English and other national languages.
Crime & Investigation is a pan-European television channel based in the United Kingdom, owned by A&E Networks UK. The channel primarily broadcasts true crime programming, and is a European version of the U.S. network of the same name.
The Pan-European Animal Planet is a feed of the U.S. channel of the same name, which broadcasts to several countries in Europe, UK, Africa and the Middle East.
BBC First is an entertainment subscription television channel featuring comedy, crime, drama and film programming, originating from UK and mostly from the BBC. The channel is wholly owned and operated by BBC Studios. The channel began rolling out internationally in 2014, launching first in Australia. It is supported by extended localised advertising breaks.
M-Net Movies is a group of South Africa-based film-only television channels launched as Movie Magic in 1995 and broadcast across Sub-Saharan Africa on pay TV satellite services DStv and GOtv. The channels broadcast films/movies based on genre as well as clips featuring behind-the-scenes looks at previous, current and future breakout box office hit films.
Sony Channel was a general entertainment channel that was part of the DStv bouquet of Sub-Saharan Africa satellite channels owned by MultiChoice.
OpenView is a free-to-view direct broadcast satellite television provider in South Africa which is run by Platco Digital. It launched on 15 October 2013.
DreamWorks Channel, commonly known as DreamWorks, is a pay television network owned and operated by the NBCUniversal International Networks division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. First launched in Southeast Asia on 1 August 2015, it expanded to the rest of Asia as well as Europe, Africa and Oceania. Its programming is mainly sourced from DreamWorks Animation.
eExtra is a South African digital satellite television channel owned by eMedia Holdings, offering a variety of lifestyle, dramas, telenovelas, court shows, sitcoms and movies.
eBella was a South African Digital satellite television channel created and owned by e.tv's eMedia Investment for Openview and DStv.
Mzansi Magic is a South African digital satellite and general entertainment channel created by Multichoice and run by M-Net's local interest division, and is broadcast on DStv.
SABC Encore was a 24-hour free-to-air digital satellite and digital terrestrial television retro rerun channel created and owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation, as a carriage deal between the SABC and Multichoice. This channel stopped airing at midnight on 1 June 2020 after MultiChoice's decision not to renew the channel once its contract had come to an end and was seemingly revived through DTT.
eMovies is a 24-hour South African digital satellite television free-to-air movie channel created and owned by eMedia Investment's e.tv for the Openview platform. eMovies Extra is a sister companion channel.
Newsroom Afrika is a South African 24-hour digital satellite television news channel broadcast across Africa on DStv. It is one of two channels on the platform that is 100% black-owned, and 50% female-owned. The channel comes after MultiChoice ended their contract with the now defunct and controversial Afro Worldview. The channel has a number of top journalists who have long been in the industry, the likes of Xoli Mngambi, Vuyo Mvoko and Thabo Mduli with established reporters as Linda Mnisi and Ziyanda Ngcobo.
SABC Education is a South African educational television channel owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).