Popular local daily drama Binneland Sub Judice, which is currently broadcast on M-Net and kykNET, will become an exclusive kykNET property on DStv next year.
Pay-television station M-Net announced today that there will be changes to the content and scheduling of Binneland Sub Judice from 1 April 2011, to accommodate the ever-changing viewing needs of satellite DStv subscribers, while continuing to serve M-Net subscribers with analogue decoders.
The stories of the people from the Binneland Clinic, which have captivated audiences since the M-Net launch of the series in October 2005, will continue as a half-hour daily Afrikaans-language soap on kykNET. This means that DStv viewers, who currently have the option of catching each episode of Binneland Sub Judice on M-Net or kykNET, will be tuning into kykNET to watch the series from April 2011.
However, M-Net’s analogue viewers, who don’t have access to kykNET, will still be able to enjoy their favourite soap: the half-hour kykNET episode of Binneland Sub Judice will also be broadcast on the M-Net channel available to analogue subscribers.
The cut-and-thrust legal universe, which was introduced earlier this year alongside the high drama of a hospital in an hour-long format, will not form part of the half-hour kykNET soap as of April next year.
Theo Erasmus, Director: M-Net General Entertainment Channels, says the changes to Binneland Sub Judice form part of M-Net’s long-term strategy to create tailor-made channels for different target audiences on different platforms. “In the fast-changing world of television, it’s important to research the needs of viewers constantly, and to nip and tuck our channel and programme offerings accordingly. At the same time, we don’t want to alienate our existing, loyal viewers and therefore all changes are researched prior to their implementation. Binneland Sub Judice is hugely popular among our analogue viewers, who will still be able to enjoy it. It has also become one of the must-see programmes on kykNET.”
Since the inception of kykNET ten years ago, M-Net has increased its Afrikaans language offering and now also produces the music channel MK and the children’s channel Koowee. Other niche channels in the M-Net family of channels on DStv featuring original local content are Channel O, Vuzu, AfricaMagic, MagicWorld and Mzanzi Magic.
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