M-Net’s loud, irreverent youth music service Channel O could receive its biggest boost yet after ongoing but thus far disappointing negotiations with the SABC to take advantage of its free-to-air status.
Channel O programming is said to be ready to headline the pay channel’s Open Time, which is changing its appearance radically from July. The 5pm to 6pm slot will see soaps Loving and Neighbours – both of which have had poor ratings – vanish in favour of youth shows. Top teen fanzines from Britain and America are also apparently being chased to fill this crucial slot which M-Net sees as a means of drawing the valuable post-KTV crowd.
The daily hour could now be approached as a “bridging” time to secure the attention of the pay channel’s future subscribers who hold the elixir of disposable income and a well-toned knowledge of multimedia and the Internet. And while broadcasters abroad have found that so-called appointment TV does not necessarily work for youth who resent being over-targeted, there has never been a dedicated slot for young viewers in this country. Instead, a youthful image has been projected, especially by SABC1.
M-Net’s Open Time could well fill that gap for the youth demographic which is internationally accepted as 15 to 24-year-olds, a generation that encompasses teenagers, young adults and the ever-important young-at-heart. Channel O was launched via MultiChoice DStv late last year, in touch with global youth programming which has, historically, been associated with music.
Despite the fact that viewers are not billed to view the channel, they need satellite equipment to receive it, and since the aim of a youth music channel was to reach the widest possible viewership, a decision by M-Net to introduce Channel O to the public in Open Time would be shrewd indeed.
The most important question around this mini-revolution in M-Net’s scheduling, however, is how it will affect the pay channel’s ratings, which have taken a fairly hefty knock from SABC3 over the past nine to 12 months. M-Net has long relied on Open Time to boost its viewership figures, and it is likely that without the albatross of Neighbours and Loving, it will attract a bigger and more diverse audience in the short-to-medium term. The novelty value of having top music videos and celebrity-driven shows would be likely to entice younger viewers, but marketing with street cred will be critical to sustain interest.
Still taking some strain in the ratings, Egoli – which could soon to be the pay channel’s only conventional soap opera – remains in place at 6pm from July. Comedies will continue to dominate the lucrative 6.30pm to 7pm Open Time slot.
Meanwhile, on Sundays, superlative wildlife programming, including The Horse Whisperer and Big Cat Update, are said to be lined up to fill the 5pm to 6pm slot.