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Real Time

What to expect from Discovery's new Real Time channel

Written by TVSA Team from the blog Real Time on 27 Aug 2018
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Discovery ripped Animal Planet away from us a couple of years ago, they've been quiet on the "new channel" front for a while and now they're speaking up again with the introduction of Real Time. 

The new channel debuts on DStv, channel 155 next Monday (3 September) and will be available to all subscribers, from the Easy View bouquet onwards.

It's also going to be on StarSat but the finer details of this haven't been confirmed yet - it launches sometime later this year.

As for what we can expect from it... according to the press release from Discovery, the channel's been designed "to provide much-needed ‘me time’ to the modern African woman and her wider family,” so it's been created for female audiences.

In our experience, the division of a channel's audiences according to gender exists more for the marketing of the channel and not in the Real World because men often enjoy the programming that's supposedly geared towards women. 

According to Discovery, the channel has also been created for Easy View audiences who don't have access to any of the other Discovery channels.

The line-up of shows includes a range of themes that are characteristically found on Discovery's stable, with a chunky dollop of TLC: small people, big weddings, deadly outcomes and medical situations that everyone wants to avoid.

Here's an overview of the channel's primetime shows in its debut week:

Our Little Family (Real Lives)
Premiere date: Wednesday 5 September at 21h00

Meet the Hamills... parents Dan and Michelle are not raising the typical American family: the entire family of five has achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism.

Dan and Michelle use their own life experiences to help guide their kids to overcome physical obstacles and learn to adapt to the world around them. 

Married by Mom and Dad (Real Weddings)
Premiere date:
Tuesday 4 September at 20h00

In this new social experiment, men and women who have been unlucky in love have agreed to put their love lives and their future in the hands of the people who know them best: their parents. 

My Extreme Excess Skin (Real Medical)
Premiere date:
Thursday 6 September 2018 at 21h00

In each episode of My Extreme Excess Skin we follow two people who have lost massive amounts of weight and are about to undergo a full body transformation through skin removal surgery. The reveal will not only change each subject's self-image but will change their life. 

Predators up close with Joel Lambert (Real Nature)
Premiere date:
Sunday 9 September at 20h00

This series reveals nature’s apex predators as you’ve never seen them before. Using a new, unique and bespoke polycarbonate and aluminium ‘pod’, the Predator team come face to face with lions, hyenas, polar bears and sharks – close enough to carry out a range of original scientific experiments, and to feel the true power (and terror) of the natural world’s most effective killing machines. (Sunday 9 September at 20:00)

Is OJ Innocent? The Missing Evidence (Real Headlines)
Premiere date:
Saturday 8 September at 21h00

Is O.J. Simpson innocent in the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman? In this six-episode series, investigators delve into one of history's most infamous unsolved cases, exploring an overlooked suspect and never-before-seen evidence. 

People Magazine Investigates (Real Crime)
Premiere date:
Saturday 8 September at 21h00

America’s popular weekly magazine, People, seeks to uncover the truth behind some of the country’s most infamous characters and iconic stories of crime. These are extraordinary tales of ordinary people who were thrust into the national spotlight.
----

A selection of the programming will be available to stream and download on DStv Now.  

Channels in this post: Real Time



3 Comments

deziclesthagawd
27 Aug 2018 13:32

There better be more cuz so far it sounds like everything we already have. I miss Animal Planet and this channel seems like a shabby replacement.

Tashi
27 Aug 2018 14:28

Tashi edited on
8/27/2018 2:33 PM

Snap Dezi, I miss Animal Planet bigtime - was mad about it. 

Yes, it definitely sounds like this channel will be more of the same so it must be all about Easy View getting access to some of Discovery's shows.

Networks like Discovery, BBC, M-Net and e just keep making more and more channels with similar content to put on different packages instead of extending what currently exists to other packages. 

I've been browsing through the Easy View channels and the line-up seriously needs a boost when it comes to entertainment channels. 

These are the channels currently on it:

TCM
SABC Encore
People's Weather 
SABC1
SABC2
SABC3
e.tv
e.Extra
SuperSport Blitz
SuperSport Play
SuperSport Events
Soweto TV
Bay TV
1 KZN
Tshwane TV
Cape Town TV 
Gau TV
Lesotho TV
JimJam
eToonz
Mindset
Mzansi Magic Music
Faith
Daystar
TBN
iTV Networks
Emmanuel TV
SABC News
Afro WorldView (which doesn't exist anymore)
Al Jazeera
Parliamentary Service
CGTN News
CNBC Africa
Business Day TV
CCTV 4

 

deziclesthagawd
27 Aug 2018 16:02

Wow! So many news channels. Yeah, this new channel will definitely benefit them more than us.


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