| M-Net | |
|---|---|
| Launched | 1986 |
| Owned by | Naspers |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV, 4:3), 720p (HDTV, 16:9) |
| Slogan | Where magic lives |
| Country | South Africa |
| Language | English, Afrikaans |
| Broadcast area | South Africa |
| Headquarters | Johannesburg |
| Website | http://www.mnet.co.za |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Sentech | Channel depends on nearest Sentech repeater |
| Satellite | |
| DSTV | Channel 101 |
M-Net (originally an abbreviation for Electronic Media Network) is a subscription-funded television channel in South Africa, established in 1986 by Naspers.
The channel offers a mix of general entertainment, children's programmes, sports and movies, most of which are acquired from overseas but some are also locally produced. While the TV signal is generally encrypted, M-Net showed some programmes 'free to air' in its "Open Time" slot between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., until the slot closed on 1 April 2007. In the early 1990s, M-Net added a second analog channel called Community Services Network (CSN), and began digital broadcasting via satellite to the rest of Africa, via its sister company MultiChoice.
With the introduction of MultiChoice's multi-channel digital satellite TV service, DStv, in 1995, several different channels have been created to complement the original M-Net terrestrial channel.
M-Net launched its subscription based Web TV service in August 2005 under the name KuduClub. The service operated in unison with the premiere of the Idols South Africa 3 series. The service hosts all of its channels described above, excluding DStv, plus exclusive content.
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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).[1] 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.[1] 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.)[1]
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. 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.[1] However, it pushed forward and eventually, the public started taking notice. After two years, the loss was turned into a R20-million profit.[1] 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 cutting edge and fearless 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 first dedicated sports channel.
When the channel originally started broadcasting "Open Time" in 1986, it was for two hours a day, from 5pm to 7pm.
1990 was the first year that they made a profit[2] 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."[3]) but during June 1991, they announced that it was putting its 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 unique brand. During that year it broadcasted 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.[4] It was a major breakthrough for the channel as well as SuperSport, which had by now expanded to channels on DStv, Multichoice's satellite TV service.
Standard definition (PAL 768x576/576i) M-Net Channels: Premium General Entertainment Channels
Premium general entertainment channel featuring premiere movies, series, live sport and children's programs.
Premium movie channel featuring first-tier movies.
Premium movie channel featuring second-tier movies.
Movie channel.
Premium general entertainment channel featuring movies and premiere series with a strong focus on men and the action genre.
Premium series channel featuring premiere series as well as classic series.
Premium Afrikaans language general entertainment channel with series and information programs.
Premium general entertainment channel featuring premiere and classic series with a strong focus on the youth.
General entertainment channel featuring South African and African series and movies.
General entertainment channel featuring African and 2nd grade international content, as well as Poker tournaments.
General entertainment channel featuring African language content.
General entertainment channel featuring African language content.
Music channel with a strong focus on the Hip-Hop and Urban music genres.
Afrikaans and Zulu children's channel aimed at babies and toddlers.
Afrikaans music channel with a strong focus on the Rock and Alternative rock music genres.
High Definition (HD) (HD 1280x720p/1920x1080i) M-Net Channels:
Premium general entertainment 720p HD channel featuring premiere movies, series, live sport and children's programs.
Premium movie 720p HD channel featuring simulcast content from M-Net Movies 1.