eMedia's Kuiertyd Undergoes Further Restructuring As The Axe Falls On Maalingsprokie

In an attempt to balance Turkish repeats across their platforms, eMedia Investments will replace the daily late-night repeats of Maanligsprokie at 00:00 with eKasi: Our Stories once that series ends. While Ouma Sarie and Divorce Court will be taking up the afternoon slot of 16:30 and 17:00. 

This change means a majority of Turkish shows will now be exclusive to eExtra and eVOD.

The move follows another recent schedule change on e.tv. The channel removed the 23:00 Kuiertyd timeslot and replaced it with repeats of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. By adding eKasi: Our Stories into the late-night mix, it appears eMedia is trying to make more room for content from eSeries.

A Look Back at Kuiertyd and How It Grew

Kuiertyd started on eExtra as a popular evening block. It featured well-known local dramas such as Bloedspoor, Verdeelde Liefde, and Begeertes. Over time the block expanded and began including other titles like Ouma Sarie and Kelders Van Geheime. Viewers enjoyed having a regular place to catch these older shows again.

e.tv later gave some of these titles their own dedicated slots to reach a wider audience. This idea eventually grew into a full standalone channel called ePlesier. While the concept worked for many people, some Openview viewers have complained that the overall offering has become too full and hard to follow. The channel line-up started to feel crowded.

The Problem Is Not the Content — It Is How It Is Handled

Unlike the Bollywood shows, which face their own scheduling challenges, eMedia’s Kuiertyd-style content has become either too repetitive or too scattered. The shows themselves are not the issue. The real problem is how the company has managed these titles over several years. Repeats appear in different places at different times, and it is not always clear where to find a particular series.

Canal+’s MultiChoice does something similar with its movie channels and some entertainment brands. However, MultiChoice has a clearer structure. It serves three main market levels: top-tier (Premium), mid-tier (Sports packages), and mass-market (Starter). This system helps different groups of viewers know what to expect.

eMedia Investments runs Openview as one main ecosystem. The closest options for expanding the market are Openview Stream and the eVOD platform. There is less separation between viewer groups compared with MultiChoice’s package system.

Why Having Multiple Channels for Similar Shows Creates Challenges

This latest schedule change will disappoint some viewers who liked the late-night Maanligsprokie repeats. At the same time, viewers still have two other channels that offer similar entertainment. One long-standing problem with running two or three channels that show the same kinds of series is that the audience gets split.

Some people may skip Een Wit Leuen or Lente Na Die Storm and only watch Vlymskerp on eExtra. That is their choice. The bigger issue is that spreading the same style of shows across several channels makes it harder to keep a strong sense of nostalgia or a clear identity for each channel.

eExtra currently offers only two rebroadcast slots for older shows. When these slots first started, there were more of them. The two remaining slots may exist mainly to serve DStv viewers, who do not have access to ePlesier.

A Suggestion for Daytime Slots

Other programmes on eExtra, such as India: A Love Story and Twist of Fate, have been moved to daytime. Most people are at work during those hours, so the audience for these shows is limited. It may make more sense to phase out some of these daytime Indian drama slots over time.

Those timeslots could then be used for Turkish series that already air on e.tv, alongside the existing primetime Turkish offering on eExtra. This would create a more consistent Turkish drama presence across the platforms and reduce the feeling that content is being repeated or scattered without a clear plan.

Looking Ahead

Schedule changes are normal in free-to-air television, especially when companies try to balance different types of content and reach different viewers. The latest adjustments show that eMedia is still refining how it uses its channels. Whether these moves will reduce the sense of repetition and make the line-up easier to follow remains to be seen.

'n Ma se Hart will broadcast on eExtra at 16:30 with repeats available on e.tv on weekdays at 08:30. Initially, it was reported that the show would be replacing Maalingsprokie but it seems that's only the case for the 08:30 timeslot as Divorce Court, Ouma Sarie and eKasi Our Stories take up the remaining slots on the channel.