The Box: Ventana Sur Announces Its Lineup, ‘From Rags To Rank One’ Sequel Officially Greenlit

SOUTH AFRICAN BROADCASTING CHANNEL

Africa: South Africa’s public broadcaster, SABC, is under fire as the network is under-performing in its non-English programming in different languages besides English. Recent data show that the SABC is broadcasting 6:56 minutes of content not in the English language, a contrast to what the network originally promised to do, which is 18:12 hours per week. According to reports, the reasoning behind the company not broadcasting in other languages is due to the SABC not having enough budget in order to broadcast other productions. SABC has yet to announce the issue. 

A list consisting of the top 25 South African TV channels that advisors are looking to advertise on was released. The top five channels included in the list were eMedia’s e.tv, eExtra, SABC1, kykNET, and Star Life. The report also showcases what most South-African households are watching. 

Canal+ is looking into possibly buying Comcast’s stake in MultiChoice’s newly relaunched streaming service Showmax. Showmax was relaunched in 2023 by MultiChoice and Comcast’s NBCUniversal; however, the streaming service fell short after a shortage of subscribers. Showmax, if bought by Comcast, will be competing against other giant streaming services, such as Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, and Amazon Prime Video. 

A Nigerian Court orders Multichoice to pay a DStv subscriber a total of R59 110, as the service was found guilty of reportedly cutting the subscriber’s DStv without the subscriber’s approval.

Disney has appointed Rochelle Knock as the new Disney Africa boss. She will reportedly start her position in December. Knock’s new role as vice president for Disney+ & Networks comes after Christine Service exited the vice president role after more than 23 years with the company. Rochelle Knock comes from Yoco Technologies, where her role was head of Customer Value Management. 

M-Net has commissioned a new drama series for Mzansi Magic. The new series to air, titled Mpondoland, is the broadcaster’s first IsiMpondo language drama. The show will reportedly have a total of 13 episodes and will be executively produced by Mmamitse Thibedi and Chumisa Cosa.

shinichiro watanabe - Catherine Powell/Stringer

Asia: Blood & Sweat is a new series consisting of eight episodes, set to be produced by Japan’s AX-ON and Finland’s ICS Nordic. However, the producers attended the Tokyo International Film Festival under the market arm of the festival and revealed the hardships they encountered dealing with international co-productions. The series stars Anne Watanabe and Jasper Pääkkönen. At the festival, the show's producers discussed how working between two different countries (Japan and Finland) caused them trouble, as each country had its own rituals when it came to filmmaking. 

Vertical video makes history as From Rags to Rank One is getting a sequel. The microdrama series makes a rare decision, as these typical series aren’t usually told in sequels; however, producers believe this is just the start of many more microdrama verticals getting made, and soon believe they will become the future for the industry.

Cowboy Bebop creator Shinchiro Watanabe will headline Foreign Exchange 2025: Cross-Cultural Conversations with Anime Visionaries, a film and discussion series taking place in New York City on Monday, November 17, 2025, and will end on Saturday, November 22, 2025. Multiple people are expected to attend the event, which will be co-presented by The Japan Foundation, New York, and The Imagination Project Inc. 

Manoj Bajpayee’s The Family Man officially sets a date for its season three premiere. Prime Video announced the beloved Indian series will officially release on Friday, November 21, 2025. The series starring Manoj Bajpayee sees him as the elite undercover operative Srikant Tiwari as he continues in his adventures.

Ventana Sur

Latin America: Ventana Sur, the biggest film and TV market in Latin America, has officially unveiled its lineup for its TV projects platform, Ventana Sur Series. The series will see 14 new titles, and a few of the titles unveiled are Discepolín, Agosto Poty, Forger, and Fura. The platform has yet to announce a date for release.