Catch Hallyu Fever
POP-UP CHANNEL: 16 WEEKS OF THE BEST OF SOUTH KOREAN TV ON DSTV
This is part of DStv’s commitment to bring the best of the world home.
Yolisa Phahle
CEO general entertainment and connected video
The Korean Wave offers a slew of ‘relatable stories and slick productions’.
South Korea’s television industry has been making significant global inroads since its deregulation in the ’90s. Like South Africa, Korean television emerged from a broadcasting duopoly to a mushrooming cable, terrestrial and on-demand streaming sector, with its content slowly emerging as a major global influence.
Most recently, the hit Netflix show Snowpiercer was an adaptation of an originally produced Korean feature film.
Now, South Africans will have the opportunity to indulge in everything Korean when DStv launches a new pop-up channel on 1 March.
tvN Africa will be available on DStv, channel 134 and the lineup promises to be worthwhile.
According to MultiChoice, K-pop and K-drama – as the country’s content has become known – has seen a wave of global interest as lockdowns and a sustained hunger for content has seen consumers trawl all corners of the earth for entertainment.
The surge in interest is called Hallyu Fever (the Korean Wave) and offers a slew of “relatable stories and slick productions”.
If Snowpiercer is anything to go by, South Africans are in for some great entertainment.
“Delivering the tvN channel to millions of viewers on our continent is part of DStv’s commitment to bring the best of the world home,” says Yolisa Phahle, MultiChoice Group chief executive of general entertainment and connected video.
“DStv customers can now explore South Korean lifestyle through tvN’s dynamic entertainment offering.
“Through the quality of its rich stories the channel broadens the already extensive range of viewing options we have on DStv.
“We are continuously looking for ways to find and develop the best mix of content and value propositions that we can deliver to our customers, who by their nature have different viewing needs.
“The appetite for Korean content has grown tremendously.” Dramas include a romantic series called Another Miss Oh, a story about two women who share the same last name and the same romantic interest.
There is also Encounter, lipsynced to English, about a romance between an uncomplicated everyman and his relationship with a dynamic hotel chief executive. K-pop is an hour-long music programme on Thursdays and Fridays that showcases Korean pop music.
I-land is a Korean talent and variety show, where finding the next K-pop boy band occupies a weekly slot on Thursdays.
More to look forward to: A curious walk-talkie sees conversation time-travel and connects a 21st-century criminal profiler to a detective in 1989.
Together, they solve crime in the hit Korean thriller Signal.
It is a daily broadcast during the week, Monday to Friday. All content will be subtitled barring Encounter. “The channel will start 1 March and run for 16 weeks as a popup channel on premium,” said Phahle.