M-Net

The idea of a pay-TV network in South Africa came to life in the mid-1980s, when Nasionale Pers (Naspers) — headed by executive Koos Bekker — started to promote the idea to the country's other three largest media corporations: Times Media Ltd (now Avusa/BDFM), Argus (now the Independent Group) and Perskor (which is now defunct).[3]

The newspapers and magazines published by Naspers had lost a lot of advertising revenue to the SABC after the arrival of television and for this reason, according to some sources, the National Party government wanted Naspers to run its own television network.[3] Initially, the plan was for M-Net to be jointly owned by the four media corporations, with the Natal Witness also having a small share in the station. However, as time went on, the project became that of Naspers only.

In October 1986, they started broadcasting for 12 hours a day, to about 500 households who had bought decoders. (Their aim at that stage was to sell 9,000 decoders per month.)[3] The service used the Oak Orion scrambling system, and the decoders were manufactured in South Africa by the local affiliate of Matsushita Electric.[4]

Although it was subscription-based, the Broadcasting Authority granted them a one-hour time slot each day, in which the channel could broadcast unencrypted, free-to-air content, in order to promote itself and attract potential subscribers. In 1987, the Cabinet also approved an arrangement under which the SABC was required to make its TV4 channel available to M-Net between 6 and 7pm.[5] This time slot became known as Open Time, but was only meant to be temporary — M-Net was supposed to close Open Time immediately when it had 150,000 subscribers.

At the end of its first year, they recorded a loss of R37 million.[3] However, it pushed forward and eventually, the public started taking notice. After two years, the loss was turned into a R20 million profit.[3] In 1988, the channel launched Carte Blanche, a multi-award-winning actuality program hosted by Derek Watts and Ruda Landman. In only a few years, Carte Blanche became famous for its investigative journalism. In the process, the show also uncovered many of South Africa's most famous scandals of human rights abuse, corruption and consumer affairs.

1989 saw the launch of M-Net SuperSport, which went on to become South Africa's (and Sub-Saharan Africa's) first dedicated sports channel which spawned into sports-specific channels from 2003 onward.

1990 was the first year that they made a profit[6] and also the year that saw a few major changes for the channel. It launched K-TV, a daily time slot specialising in kids' entertainment, and Open Time was expanded from the initial one hour per day, to two. They applied for a licence to broadcast news and the application was granted in December 1990. (Former State President P.W. Botha once claimed that "M-Net would not broadcast news as long as he was State President."[7]) but during June 1991, they announced that they were putting their plans for news broadcasts aside and that, instead, more money would be invested in local productions, including South Africa's first local soap opera Egoli, which started in May 1992 and ended in April 2010. However, they began re-broadcasting BBC World Service Television (now BBC World News) that same year.

M-Net SuperSport changed its name in 1994 to SuperSport only, in order to create a more recognizable brand. During that year it broadcast live coverage of South Africa's test cricket series in Australia for the first time. At the same time, Hugh Bladen and Naas Botha — two of the channel's most colourful rugby commentators — joined SuperSport. By that time, its sports coverage became very impressive, including the US Masters, the FA Cup Finals, the Indy 500, the US PGA Championship, Wimbledon, the Tour de France, MotoGP and an ever-expanding rugby package. In 1995, SuperSport started broadcasting 24 hours per day on M-Net's spare channel, the Community Service Network, which paved the way for a 24-hour multi-channel sports network. When rugby became a full professional sport in 1995, most of the broadcasting rights in the Southern Hemisphere were sold to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. In response, they started negotiating with NewsCorp in August 1995 and in February the following year, SuperSport was granted sole broadcasting rights to both the Super 12 and Tri Nations rugby tournaments.[8] It was a major breakthrough for the channel as well as SuperSport, which had by then expanded to sports-and-leagues-specific TV channels on DStv and GOtv, MultiChoice's satellite TV services.

Delivery of high-definition content started with the launch of DStv's first high definition decoder the HD PVR, XtraView and the first HD channel, M-Net HD. M-Net began broadcasting a 720p high definition channel in 2010, which is available for HD-PVR subscribers; the standard definition channel for non-HD-PVR subscribers is merely downscaled at the provider from the HD feed rather than having a devoted analog channel. In 2012, the original film/movie channels were expanded to 6 channels which grouped films according to genre/preference.[9]

The original M-Net channel broadcasts general entertainment, as well as premiere movies, documentaries, music specials and first-run TV series. The channel has a timeshift service, a terrestrial service and a CSN in South Africa. In other African countries the channel broadcasts exclusively on the DStv Service with two different feeds, M-Net East for East Africa and M-Net West for West Africa. These feeds broadcasts nearly the same content, though the West African feed is 2 hours behind the East African feed as programmes are scheduled based on the local time zones of the regions (EAT and WAT respectively) except for some live programmes. Advertising on the East feed is targeted at Kenyan viewers while the West feed is targeted at Nigerian Viewers. Over the course of several years, M-Net has launched numerous sister channels. In 2016, It launched a new timeshift channel, M-Net +1, which broadcasts shows that are on M-Net delayed by an hour. In DStv , the channel is only available to the high tier package Premium as it contains expensive content. The time shift channel , M-Net +1 was launched also for DStv Premium customers on channel 901 and 902 (east Africa).

The original two movie channels, Movie Magic 1 and Movie Magic 2, launched in 1995 to coincide with the launch of DStv, were renamed M-Net Movies 1 and M-Net Movies 2, respectively, in 2005. Two additional movie channels, M-Net Movies Stars (previously M-Net Stars which launched in 2009) and actionX (which was renamed M-Net Action in 2008), were later launched. In October 2012, the channels were expanded to six which grouped films according to genre and preference. The 7 film/movie channels were later reconsolidated into 4 numeric channels:

M-Net Movies 1

M-Net Movies flagship channel consisting of first run movie premieres mostly after being available on the DStv BoxOffice rental service, as well as animation specials. The channel is a result of M- Net Movies Premiere and M-Net Movies Smile (Smile being a combination of M-Net Movies Comedy and M-Net Movies Family).

As a combination of M-Net Movies Premiere & M-Net Movies Smile , the channel is only available for DStv Premium as part of the offering M-Net gives after airing a movie on the original channel.

M-Net Movies 2

The premium action movie channel focuses on thrillers and horror movies. It is a combination of M-Net Movies Action and M-Net Movies Action+.

The channel is only available on DStv Premium for it's offering from it's former home M-Net Movies Action Plus.

M-Net Movies 3

This is a general entertainment channel focusing on the most favoured stars, inherited from its predecessors M-Net Movies Action & M-Net Movies Allstars. Due to most stars being voiceovers, the channel has mostly animated films/movies, with a mix of comedy and romance and some action.

The channel is available for DStv Compact Plus and DStv Compact .

M-Net Movies 4

The lower tiered channel aimed at DStv Access and GOtv Plus subscribers which air all movies shown on M-Net or other M-Net Movies channels.

M-Net Movies Pop-Up Channel

The pop-up channel and the first of the movie channels to broadcast less than 24 hours a day. Initially, the channel was named M-Net Movies Showcase. In 2015, the same year M-Net Movies Smile was formed, another channel, M-Net Movies Romance was incorporated into Showcase, in direct response to viewer complaints of too many repeats. Mostly airing movie festivals such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, James Bond, etc.

This channel is usually available to DStv Premium and this January , the channel wasn't launched for Premium, it was launched for Compact and Compact+

Most of the programmes broadcast are unique to M-Net Series but some are rebroadcasts of episodes previously shown on M-Net.

A single series channel known as The Series Channel (renamed as M-Net Series in 2005) was introduced in April 1998 as a sister channel to the original M-Net channel. On 9 July 2013, this channel was split into three, namely:

• M-Net Series Showcase, which was broadcast in high definition, previously served as the primary series channel on which most new content unique to Series was broadcast.
• M-Net Series Reality broadcast talk shows and other reality media.
• M-Net Series Zone which served as a catch-up channel, and featured previous seasons of shows. Several TV shows also ran back-to-back in marathon blocks.

On 11 September 2014, it was announced that Showcase and Reality would be discontinued and replaced with two new channels, Vuzu Amp and M-Net Edge, on 20 and 13 October, respectively.[10] Only one channel of the original three, M-Net Series Zone, remained. The standalone channel is reminiscent of the initial channel, in that it airs shows that previously aired on the main M-Net channel. It was rebranded M-Net City in 2015.

On 31 March 2017, M-Net Edge programs were moved to M-Net as part of a merge and various other channels from M-Net. On January 29, 2018, Vuzu AMP/Vuzu Amp was rebranded as 1Magic.

KykNET, which broadcasts solely in Afrikaans, was launched in October 1999. The channel features general entertainment, series, informative programs and music. KykNET also has two sister channels, KykNet & Kie and KykNet Musiek.[11] DStv announced on 16 July 2014 that kykNet would be broadcast in high definition as of 12 August 2014.[12]

It was launched in the UK on TalkTalk's IPTV service, TalkTalk Plus TV, in October 2013.[13] However, it was dropped by TalkTalk in December 2015.[14] A kykNet International service is now available online to subscribers in selected countries in North America, Europe and Australasia via the Showmax platform.[15]

Vuzu, originally launched as Go in 2003, has a strong focus on Southern African youth, specifically preteens, teens and the 20-49 demographics, similar to some popular American TV Channels such as Bravo, FX, BET, The CW, NBC, TNT and many others. A sister channel, Vuzu Amp, was launched in October 2014, which was later relaunched as 1Magic.

Mzansi Magic features original South African series, movies, music, documentaries and reality shows. It has two sister channels, Mzansi Magic Music, Mzansi Wethu and Mzansi Biskop.

Africa Magic, which started off as a single channel of the same name, is a brand owned by M-Net and MultiChoice and now comprises 7 channels. The first Africa Magic channel was launched in July 2003 as a movie channel and over the next decade, the brand expanded to include 6 more channels comprising movies, television shows and general entertainment. Africa Magic currently broadcasts in more than 50 African countries. The channels include Africa Magic Family, Africa Magic Showcase, Africa Magic Yoruba, Africa Magic Igbo, Africa Magic Hausa. Africa Magic Epic and Africa Magic Urban. Africa Magic is also responsible for the annual Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards (AMVCAs), the biggest celebration of film and television talent in Africa.

Maisha Magic comprises two channels, Maisha Magic East and Maisha Magic Bongo which focus on East African movies, series and music. It was initially launched as Africa Magic Swahili but was later rebranded as Maisha Magic Swahili then rebranded again as Maisha Magic East. Maisha Magic Bongo have been working with many producers from Tanzania like Mtitu Game 1st Quality, Steps Entertainment, Halisi Film, Joh Films, Severini Film Entertainment etc.

Channel O is a present music channel with a strong focus on urban music genres. It also holds the annual Channel O Music Video Awards ceremony where artists are awarded for their outstanding contribution to music.

SuperSport is a group of sport television channels carried on DStv and GOtv. It provides sports content in South Africa and many other African countries.

Novela Magic celebrates unique African Storytelling and showcases local content and African stories made by African talent by bringing together a rage of content from across the region on one platform.[16]

All HD channels are aired in 1080i but are downscaled to SD if the subscriber isn't in possession of an HD or Explora decoder.

• Gomora
• Is'Thunzi

• MagicWorld

• Carte Blanche

• The Bachelor South Africa
• The Bachelorette South Africa
• Idols South Africa
• Survivor South Africa
• The Voice South Africa

• Open Time (since 2017)

• Briarpatch
• The Sinner

• Curb Your Enthusiasm (repeats)
• Dollface
• The Good Place

• A Million Little Things
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Beecham House
• Better Call Saul
• The Capture
• Charmed (2018)
• Doom Patrol
• FBI
• The Flash
• God Friended Me
• The Good Fight
• Grey's Anatomy (repeats)
• Hawaii Five-0
• Homeland
• Katy Keene
• Legends of Tomorrow
• Legacy (M-Net drama show)
• Lioness (M-Net original series)
• Magnum P.I.
• Mrs. America
• My Brilliant Friend
• NCIS
• NCIS: Los Angeles
• New Amsterdam
• Outlander
• Perry Mason
• Riverdale
• The Rookie
• Stargirl
• Supergirl
• Supernatural
• S.W.A.T.
• Tommy

• The Chase UK
• Ellen's Game of Games
• Mental Samurai

• America's Got Talent
• Little Big Shots UK
• Love Island UK
• The Masked Singer
• Survivor

• The 100
• Roswell, New Mexico

• American Housewife
• Carol's Second Act
• The Conners
• Modern Family
• Mom
• Mad About You
• Will & Grace (repeats)
• Young Sheldon

• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
• The Kelly Clarkson Show

• Disney's Family Time
• Eko-Boffins
• K-T.V.
• K-T.V. Playback
• Mousetrap
• Roundabout
• Shingalana the Little Tiger Hunter
• Simba Surprise

• Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?
• Deal or No Deal
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (later moved to SABC3)

• Big Brother
• Idols West Africa

• Binnelanders
• Egoli: Place of Gold

• The John Berks Show

• Open Time (1987-2007)

• 2DTV
• Futurama
• God, the Devil and Bob
• Meet the Raisins!
• The Simpsons
• South Park
• Tales from Hoffnung
• Wallace and Gromit

• Amazing Stories
• Carol & Company
• Ghost Story
• The Twilight Zone

• Aladdin
• Bill Nye the Science Guy
• Bonkers
• Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers
• Darkwing Duck
• Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears
• Doug (Disney series)
• DuckTales
• Dumbo's Circus
• Goof Troop
• The Little Mermaid
• Lizzie McGuire
• The Mickey Mouse Club
• Mousercise
• The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Raw Toonage
• TaleSpin
• The Wuzzles

• Cow and Chicken
• Dexter's Laboratory
• Johnny Bravo
• Sheep in the Big City

• 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd
• Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
• The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius
• The Adventures of Pete and Pete
• All Grown Up!
• All That
• The Amanda Show
• The Angry Beavers
• Avatar: The Last Airbender
• Back at the Barnyard
• The Brothers García
• Caitlin's Way
• CatDog
• ChalkZone
• Cousin Skeeter
• Danny Phantom
• Doug (original series)
• Drake & Josh
• The Fairly OddParents
• Figure It Out
• Genie in the House
• Gullah Gullah Island
• Hey Arnold!
• Invader Zim
• The Journey of Allen Strange
• Just Jordan
• KaBlam!
• Kenan & Kel
• Legends of the Hidden Temple
• Mr. Meaty
• The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo
• Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide
• The Ren & Stimpy Show (original series)
• Renford Rejects
• Rocket Power
• Rocko's Modern Life
• Romeo!
• Rugrats
• Scaredy Camp
• Speed Racer: The Next Generation
• SpongeBob SquarePants
• Unfabulous
• The Wild Thornberrys
• Yakkity Yak

• Ben & Izzy

• The Adventures of Tintin
• Anatole
• Babar
• Babar and the Adventures of Badou
• Billy the Cat
• Cédric
• City of Friends
• Conan the Adventurer (1992)
• Connie the Cow
• The Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures
• Creepschool
• Diabolik
• Diplodos
• Donkey Kong Country
• Double Dragon
• Dragon Flyz
• The Fairytaler
• Flight Squad
• Flying Rhino Junior High
• Franklin
• Gadget Boy & Heather
• Gaspard and Lisa
• Hairy Scary
• Hallo Spencer
• Heathcliff
• Hilltop Hospital
• Huntik: Secrets & Seekers
• The Hydronauts
• Inspector Gadget
• Journey to the Heart of the World
• Lapitch the Little Shoemaker
• The Little Flying Bears
• Little Shop
• Madeline
• Maya the Bee
• Mona the Vampire
• Monster Allergy
• Mummy Nanny
• Mythic Warriors
• Nanook's Great Hunt
• The Neverending Story
• Noah's Island
• Pat & Stan
• Peanuts
• Pippi Longstocking
• Poppets Town
• PopPixie
• Princess Sissi
• Redwall
• Rupert
• Saban's Adventures of Oliver Twist
• Saban's Gulliver's Travels
• Sharky & George
• Sky Dancers
• Sonic Underground
• Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea
• Super Mario World
• Twipsy
• The Wacky World of Tex Avery
• Walter Melon
• What's with Andy?
• Willa's Wild Life
• Wish Kid
• W.I.T.C.H.
• Wunschpunsch
• Xcalibur
• X-DuckX

• Kikoriki

• Sea Princesses

• Astro Boy (2003)
• Bakugan Battle Brawlers
• Beyblade
• Bumpety Boo
• Digimon
• Dinozaurs
• F-Zero: GP Legend
• The Flying House
• Ketchup: Cats Who Cook
• Mew Mew Power
• Mirai Keisatsu Urashiman
• Monster Rancher
• Noozles
• Pucca
• Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!
• Superbook
• Wowser
• Ōban Star-Racers

• Cubix
• Dreamkix
• MetaJets
• Twinkle, the Dream Being
• Z-Squad

• A Miss Mallard Mystery
• Blaster's Universe
• Captain Zed and the Zee Zone
• George Shrinks
• Jackie Chan Adventures
• Journey to the West – Legends of the Monkey King
• Marvin the Tap-Dancing Horse
• Seven Little Monsters

• Pelswick

• The Adventures of Grady Greenspace

• An Audience with...
• Lucky
• Smack the Pony
• Testees
• Whose Line Is It Anyway? (USA)
• Wilfred

• Far Flung Floyd
• Floyd on Fish

• 35 Up in Britain
• 48 Hours
• The Amazing Animal Show
• Big Cat Diary
• The Civil War
• Elvis in Hollywood
• Front Runners
• Killing for a Living
• Night Walk
• Supersense
• Suzy's Story
• Wildlife on One
• Wildlife Tales
• The World of Panasonic

• 24
• The Adventurer
• Alcatraz
• Angel
• Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel
• Arrow
• Bad Girls
• Ballykissangel
• Baywatch
• Beauty and the Beast (1987)
• Believe
• Beverly Hills, 90210
• The Bill
• Boston Legal
• Brand New Life
• Buffy The Vampire Slayer
• The Campbells
• Charmed
• China Beach
• Chuck
• City of Angels
• The Closer
• The Comeback
• The Commish
• Cracker
• Crime Story
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
• CSI: Cyber
• CSI: Miami
• CSI: NY
• Damages
• The Darling Buds of May
• Darlings of the Gods
• Desperate Housewives
• Dexter
• Diagnosis: Murder
• Dirt
• ER
• Everwood
• Firefly
• Foyle's War
• Friday Night Lights
• Game of Thrones
• Gilmore Girls
• Glee
• Gossip Girl
• The Hardy Boys
• Hart to Hart
• High Mountain Rangers
• The Hitchhiker
• Homefront
• House
• Huff
• In Justice
• Invasion
• iZombie
• Jane the Virgin
• Justified
• Land's End
• Lie to Me
• Lights Out (2011)
• The Littlest Victims
• Lost
• The Mentalist
• The Messengers
• Midnight Caller
• Moonlighting
• The Net
• The New Adventures of Robin Hood
• The Nightmare Years
• Nip/Tuck
• NYPD Blue
• Ohara
• The Originals
• Over There
• Peak Practice
• Pensacola: Wings of Gold
• Presidio Med
• Prison Break
• Private Practice
• P.S. I Luv U
• Pushing Daisies
• Reign
• Rescue Me
• The Riches
• The River Kings
• Roots: The Next Generations
• Rush
• Scrubs
• The Secret Life of Us
• The Shield
• Silent Witness
• Smallville
• Sons of Anarchy
• Spearfield's Daughter
• Stingers
• Sweet Justice
• Sweet Valley High
• The Swiss Family Robinson (1975)
• Teen Wolf (2011)
• Terriers
• Thief
• This Is Us
• Ugly Betty
• United States of Tara
• The Vampire Diaries
• Veronica Mars
• V.I.P.
• Water Rats
• Without a Trace
• WIOU
• The Wire
• The Wonder Years
• You and Me and Uncle Bob

• Side by side
• Sparkling Girls

• Inspector Rex

• Beyond 2000

• Fear Factor
• Robot Wars
• Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation

• Penn & Teller: Fool Us
• Wayne Dobson: A Kind of Magic

• The New Generation

• Eye to Eye with Connie Chung

• America's Funniest People
• America's Next Top Model
• Cedric's Barber Battle
• Extreme Makeover
• Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
• Fame, Fortune and Romance
• The Jamie Kennedy Experiment
• Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous

• Beauty and the Beast (2012)
• First Wave
• Roswell
• War of the Worlds

• 3rd Rock from the Sun
• 'Allo 'Allo!
• Almost Home
• Amen
• Anything but Love
• Arrested Development
• Bagdad Cafe
• The Bernie Mac Show
• The Big Bang Theory
• Blossom
• Boy Meets World
• The Brittas Empire
• Californication
• Charles in Charge
• Clueless
• Coach
• Cosby
• Crumbs
• Cybill
• Dear John (USA)
• Dave's World
• Delta
• Designing Women
• Dharma & Greg
• Dinosaurs
• Dream On
• Drexell's Class
• Duet
• Empty Nest
• Eve
• Father Ted
• The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
• Friends
• Full House
• Get a Life
• Gimme Gimme Gimme
• Good Advice
• The Good Life (1994)
• Grace Under Fire
• Grounded for Life
• Hangin' with Mr. Cooper
• Hearts Afire
• Herman's Head
• The Hogan Family
• Home Improvement
• Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show
• It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
• The Jeffersons
• Joey
• Kristin
• The League
• Legit
• Less than Perfect
• Life with Bonnie
• Mad About You
• Major Dad
• Malcolm in the Middle
• Malibu, CA
• Married... with Children
• The Millers
• Modern Men
• The Mommies
• Mr. Bean
• My Name Is Earl
• Newhart
• Nurses
• The Office (USA)
• Oh Baby
• Only Fools and Horses
• Open House (1989)
• Parks and Recreation
• Perfect Strangers
• Phenom
• Raising Hope
• Reba
• Samantha Who?
• Son of the Beach
• Spin City
• Stacked
• Starved
• Step by Step
• Still Standing
• Suddenly Susan
• That '70s Show
• Three's Company
• Titus
• Too Close for Comfort
• The Torkelsons
• Two and a Half Men
• Two of a Kind
• The Upper Hand
• Veronica's Closet
• The War at Home
• Weeds
• What I Like About You
• Where I Live
• Wings
• Woops!
• Yes, Dear
• Yes Minister
• Zoe, Duncan, Jack and Jane

• Loving

• Parkinson
• The Phil Donahue Show
• Talking with David Frost

• Lonesome Dove