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