GOLDEN COUPLE. South African TV news' best TV news couple - eNCA's Iman Rappetti and Jeremy Maggs - also colour co-ordinate.

There's zero chance that it's co-incidence and as Iman Rappetti and Jeremy Maggs of NewsNight on eNCA (DStv 403) continue to shine as they set the brilliant benchmark for what is the best in all of South African television news broadcasting, something else is also very clear: they take time to colour co-ordinate.

On Friday evening on NewsNight, with South Africa in the grip of a cold front,

Read More

eNCA's harrowing (and well done) but wholly inappropriately scheduled short form mortuary documentary, Voice for the Dead, shocks with timing.

It's as harrowing to watch as it's good; it a seldom reported topic as it's sadly hidden away by society; it's pale, unvarnished and brutal television and it's well told - but eNCA's (DStv 403) short form documentary Voice for the Dead: The Real CSI by Annika Larsen is wholly inappropriately scheduled and is shockingly shown on South African television at completely unsuitable times - despite

Read More

BREAKING. Mzansi Bioskop launching as a new DStv channel from M-Net on 10 September on channel 164 at 18:00.

Mzansi Bioskop (DStv 164) will start as a new 24-hour African movie channel on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform on 10 September TV with Thinus can report from sources who confirm the news.

The news of Mzansi Bioskop starting a yet another of the "Mzansi" channels produced and packaged by M-Net for MultiChoice was first scooped by TVSA today, reporting that Mzansi Bioskop will be

Read More

South African cameraman Adil Bradlow and Al Jazeera journalists detained by Egyptian authorities; Al Jazeera demands release.

The South African cameraman Adil Bradlow and Al Jazeera journalists are being detained by Egyptian authorities with Al Jazeera (TopTV 401 / DStv 406) demanding their unconditional release.

"Al Jazeera calls for the Egyptian authorities to release all our staff unconditionally along with their belongings and equipment," says Al Jazeera in a statement.

The Al Jazeera staffers - Adil Bradlow,

Read More

ANN7: TV news insanity as out-of-sync graphic, video, and what the news reader is talking about, are all part of 3 very different stories at once.

The sad-oh-so-bad ANN7 (DStv 405) on Tuesday evening ran an on-screen bumper graphic, a video, and a news reader reading text - with all three parts which were elements of three different stories.

Neither the bumper, nor the video (which also got stuck) nor what the news reader was reading had any correlation to each other. I unfortunately can't show you the video clip as part of a news story

Read More

ANN7: SABC TV staff says: 'Now we know for the first time the feeling of how it is to be an M-Net.'

Workers at the SABC are speaking out about the new South African TV competitor - the shocking train wreck television which is the new wannabe TV news channel ANN7 (DStv 405) ... and they feel relieved they're no longer perceived as the worst in South African television broadcasting.

 Although not referencing ANN7 directly in conversations, SABC insiders say that [for once] it makes them feel

Read More

ANN7: Sasha Martinengo calls ANN7 trash television 'unacceptable' and says 'take it off'. AND he has the new trainwreck clip I can't show you.

Here's is the shocking SHOCKING ANN7 trainwreck TV clip I can't show you, but which I described and analysed earlier today and which was broadcast by ANN7 - with my conclusion as a South African TV critic that this horrific so-called TV news reader is the worst of the worst at the pathetic TV trash TV news station on DStv.

MultiChoice and Infinity Media launched ANN7 on Wednesday evening on

Read More

ANN7 model presenter lashes out at critics, vents in a Facebook post; admits there's a 'vast number of errors and mistakes' on ANN7.

The ANN7 model presenter Sheena Deepnarain is lashing out at critics of the disastrous ANN7 24-hour TV news channel from Infinity Media but admits "there is a vast number of errors and mistakes".

ANN7 (DStv 405) started on MultiChoice's DStv platform with ongoing and highly embarrassing mistakes last Wednesday and now Sheena Deepnarain is venting in a Facebook rant about the "cynicism" over

Read More

ANN7: Worst news reader of the lot on DStv's third local news channel can't read or pronounce; creates non-sensical sentences as she bumbles on.

We have a winner! So intensely bad is this ANN7 news reader on Gupta News that barely anything she says makes sense. Watch this face. Remember it. When you see her, remember: Nothing will make sense, but you do NOT have Aphasia.

I cannot currently show you a clip under fair use on YouTube to illustrate and report on news - Aiplex Software might likely have it "censored" and scrubbed from the

Read More

ANN7: Our girl thinks she's on Top Billing; can't speak but says goodbye with a wink of the eye and a 'Good night, God bless'.

Our girl thinks she's Bonang Matheba on Top Billing and although she can't speak properly and stumbles over her words, the ANN7 news reader bid viewers goodbye on the air with an informal wink of the eye. 


I cannot show you video. Although it's fair use for news purposes, Aiplex Software might likely "censor" it on behalf of ANN7 (DStv 405) and try to scrub the deplorably bad examples of

Read More

Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown renewed for a second season on CNN International; will start on 16 September at 17:00.

Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown has been renewed for a second season on CNN International (DStv 401) which will include an episode in the new upcoming season filmed in South Africa.

The second season of Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown will start on 16 September on CNN International on Fridays at 17:00 (repeated on Saturdays at 21:00 and Mondays at 03:00).

The second season premiere episode

Read More

YouTube disables fair use clips of ANN7 on-air mishaps after Aiplex Software claims infringement; counter-notification filed with YouTube.

"1.2 million people hugry in die for republican south"...

I can't you you clips, so an image with horrible mistakes such as with this story will have to do for now.



YouTube has disabled (meaning it's not watchable) fair use clips taken by cellphones of the ongoing and multiple on-air gaffes by the new ANN7 (DStv 405) channel on MultiChoice's DStv.

It happened on Sunday evening (South

Read More

ANN7 weather girl Surita Smit embarrassingly calls Johannesburg 'The Mother City' in her weather report.

The ANN7 weather girl Surita Smit cheerily - yet mistakenly - calls Johannesburg "The Mother City" in yet another embarrassing ANN7 on-air fail - "Mother City" is in fact the moniker used for Cape Town.

ANN7 from Infinity Media, South Africa's third 24-hour TV news channel, which MultiChoice launched on its DStv platform on Wednesday, has instantly become the laughing stock of South African

Read More

Idols on M-Net adds judges' interviews - similar to American Idol - for the first time to Hell Week in Sun City for the reality show's 9th season.

Despite multiple requests the past week which M-Net's publicity machine couldn't be bothered to even respond to, it's clear that the 9th season of Idols will also be showing from Sunday that it has also adopted the American Idol content change where the judges sit and interview contestants during the second phase known as Hollywood Week in America and Hell Week in South Africa.

M-Net's didn't

Read More

Carte Blanche's 25th anniversary special broadcast on M-Net on 1 September coming from atop Africa's tallest structure, the Hillbrow Tower.

It will literally be breath taking.

A dare not miss South African television event is happening next Sunday when Carte Blanche on M-Net will be celebrating its monumental 25th anniversary with a special episode broadcasting from atop the tallest structure in all of Africa on 1 September at 19:00 from atop the 269 story high Hillbrow Towers.

Carte Blanche, M-Net's acclaimed and longrunning

Read More

ANN7: Former eNCA reporter Peter Stemmet never had to deal on-air with technical problems with a reporter in a Soweto shebeen.

"Benjamin can you hear me? " (Echo-ey:) "Live to him now ..."



Is Peter Stemmet, the eNCA (DStv 403) sports reporter who've dumped that South African 24-hour news channel to join Infinity Media's ANN7 (DStv 405) perhaps having second thoughts about how this channel jumping decision is impacting his career?



A barrage of on-air mistakes and ongoing technical mess-ups have engulfed ANN7 since

Read More

ANN7: 'We seem to have a slight technical problem. Benjamin what is the atmosphere like out there ...' ANN7's technical stuff-ups continue.

The cringe factor on the worst TV news South African television has ever seen continues on ANN7 (DStv 405) without end, as inexperienced news readers are embarrassed on-air due to ongoing, terrible technical mistakes making for an unbelievable array of public blunders.

ANN7 continues to make for hilarious and sad moments on "GuptaTV" or Gupta News" as the mediocre TV news channel - South

Read More

ANN7: 1.2 MILLION PEOPLE HUGRY IN DIE FOR REPUBLICAN SOUTH. (You simply CANNOT make this trash television up.)

There's probably a reason why the unprofessional and seemingly incompetent news readers on DStv's latest TV news channel, the deplorably bad ANN7 (DStv 405) struggles to read: because Infinity Media's new TV new channel is staffed by people who can't spell.

Even ANN7's on-screen lower-third bumpers are riddled with not just spelling mistakes, but non-sensical sentences, such as this one

Read More

ANN7: 'Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!' Awful, ongoing, cringe inducing mistakes and problems engulf even Chantal Rutter Dros.

Not even the prime time news anchor of ANN7 (DStv 405), Chantal Rutter Dros, is being spared the huge public embarrassement and ongoing, utter cringefest of the trash television dished up by the technically incompetent and mistake riddled third South African TV news channel from Infinity Media on MultiChoice's DStv.

Even Chantal Rutter Dros who've defected from the acclaimed Carte Blanche on

Read More

ANN7: Hola Weekend on ANN7 has such bad presenters and on-air presenting they wouldn't even cut it to do Sunday school class.

"Lots of drama to be expected!" says an overly-animated Arthur Mafokate on the cringe inducing Horrible Hola Weekend on ANN7 (DStv 405) - the train wreck of a South African TV news channel from Infinity Media on MultiChoice's DStv where the hot mess of amateur presenting continues on unabated.

Watch this film school students and then ask you lecturer what you need to do, to not go out into

Read More

SIGH. ANN7 news reader sighs on-air and stops after the technical incompetence and mistakes becomes too much to keep up appearances.

An ANN7 (DStv 405) news reader sighs on-air during yet another technical on-air mistake on MultiChoice's third 24-hour South African TV news channel on DStv.

The ANN7 news readers sighs, gives up and stops - probably resigned to the fact that she made a big mistake and career damaging decision going to work for total train wreck television which has become the laughing stock of South African

Read More

GOT THE T-SHIRT? ANN7's swag bag from its sh#tty launch event has a T-shirt, a notebook and a pen. Bless.

I've heard from people who all have a lot to say - nothing nice - about the event and the "swag" bags handed out at that cringe worthy launch event of the shambolic ANN7 (DStv 405) TV news channel, South Africa's third highly embarrassing local news channel which got off to a total train wreck start.

I'm told guests are enjoying their T-shirt, their notebook and their pen.

It was of course

Read More

ANN7: There's teething problems and then there's unmitigated TV trash - ANN7 on-air incompetence and amateurism is shocking to watch.

There's teething problems and then there's unvarnished trash television - like Africa News Network 7 (ANN7) the new wannabe 24-hour TV news channel from Infinity Media which started on Wednesday evening on MultiChoice's DStv platform on channel 405.

This true train-wreck television on DStv which launched with an embarrassingly mistakes filled broadcast from its launch event in Sandton,

Read More

BREAKING. M-Net grabs The Tomorrow People, The Michael J. Fox Show for October very close to the American broadcasting dates.

You're reading it here first. 

M-Net has grabbed brand-new science fiction teen drama series The Tomorrow People and new sitcom The Michael J. Fox Show to start in October very close to the American broadcasting dates of these brand new shows.

The Michael J. Fox Show will start on the pay-TV broadcaster on 11 October at 19:30 says M-Net. The Tomorrow People about a group of young people -

Read More

ANN7: Incompetent news readers, unable to read or pronunciate, are damaging the non-existent credibility of Africa News Network 7.

Incompetent ANN7 news readers, appointed by Infinity Media on MultiChoice's third 24-hour TV news channel on DStv, visibly unable to read or even pronunciate, are hugely damaging to the reputation of Africa News Network 7 and its non-existing credibility as a news source.

Numerous ANN7 on-air talent come across as wholly unsuited, amateur, unprofessional, unable to read, oblivious of names or

Read More

GAME NOT ON: ANN7's biggest and most embarrassing mistake on its launch night as amateur-looking sports presenters bumble on.

There were other embarrassing mistakes all through the launch night of ANN7 (DStv 405) but the biggest unprofessional on-screen mess of South Africa's third 24-hour news channel happened at 22:04 on Wednesday night.

Two amateur and awkward looking sports presenters were involved in a massive on-screen fail, only to start over right from the beginning after a very long promo break as if

Read More

Surita Smit as new ANN7 weather girl instantly pops on-screen as a Tally Atwater, Kulula flight attendant who've ran away to TV.

Derek van Dam over at eNCA (DStv 403) and that channel's weather centre finally has true competition in the form of Surita Smit, the ANN7 weather girl weather presenter who's bubbly but not blond and who comes across as a kindergarden teacher or a Kulula flight attendant who've secretly ran away to go do television.

If you've seen Tally Atwater in Up, Close & Personal you will instantly see

Read More

ANN7 too incompetent and unprofessional to provide channel logo's for the news channel's shows - but here's the title cards.

ANN7 (DStv 405) on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform has proved too incompetent and unprofessional to provide any channel logo's of TV shows or programming blocks - but here's some of them as revealed on-air following Wednesday evening's broadcast launch.

ANN7 started broadcasting this evening without making any detailed programming information available.

ANN7 run by Infinity

Read More

ANN7: Africa News Network 7's channel bumper looks like something dug up out of the Al Jazeera archives and slightly modified.

It swirls, it twirls, it ends with ANN7 - and reminds me of something dug up out of the Al Jazeera archives and slightly modified for the channel's main bumper.

Is the new on-screen main bumper of ANN7 (DStv 405), South Africa's third 24-hour TV news channel, complete with concave blades oscillating around a red micro globe (or is it a Pokemon egg?) really the best Infinity Media could come

Read More

Empty chairs and tables at the launch event of ANN7 Wednesday evening; sign outside reads: 'Infinity Media dinner'.

ANN7's camera showed viewers empty chairs and tables when South Africa's third 24-hour TV news channel had its channel launch function at a ballroom inside the Sandton Convention Centre on Wednesday evening.

Maybe all the Guptas went to the bathroom together.

Of course ANN7 couldn't bother to even just inform and tell longtime South African TV critics, writers, editors and journalists

Read More

BREAKING. Government planning to break up MultiChoice and SuperSport's lock on premium TV content - especially sport.

You're reading it here first. 

The South African government is set on crafting a new policy to bring an end to premium television content in South Africa - especially sport broadcasts - all being locked up by one broadcaster.

So says the minister of communications, Yunus Carrim, who revealed that the ministry of communications is looking at changing broadcasting regulations in South

Read More

FIRST LOOK. ANN7 news studio finally revealed on-air as Infinity Media launches South Africa's third 24-hour TV news channel on DStv.

ANN7 (DStv 405) finally revealed the South African 24-hour TV news channel's news studio in Midrand on-air when the channel went live at 18:00 on MultiChoice's DStv platform on Wednesday evening.

ANN7, run by Infinity Media, did no walk-through premises tour with TV critics or press prior to launch.

ANN7 didn't respond to multiple media enquiries made prior to launch of the news channel

Read More

ANN7: Is South Africa's 3rd 24-hour TV news channel also going to be third-rate? TV critics are rolling their eyes at ANN7's lacking publicity.

Is ANN7 (DStv 405), South Africa's third 24-hour TV news channel launching today also going to be third-rate?

That's what South Africa's TV critics and editors are wondering after the shoddy and basically non-existent publicity and marketing response to TV critics, journalists and editors who specifically cover television in this country.

On the day of its launch on MultiChoice's DStv

Read More

BREAKING. Sentech to rebrand its Vivid satellite TV service to Freevision on 30 September, will announce a new TV channel line-up shortly.

The parastatal South African broadcast signal distributor Sentech will be rebranding its Vivid direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV service to Freevision on 30 September.

Vivid currently has 60 000 subscribers.

Vivid, or Freevision, wants to operate a service similar to Platco Digital's recent announcement of starting the new possible OpenView HD service in October which will carry free TV

Read More

WIN! With Last Resort on Sony Entertainment Television and get your hands on a hot hamper (Scott Speedman not included).

You can't get your own island like in the fantastic drama series Last Resort on Tuesdays at 20:50 on Sony Entertainment Television (DStv 127) but thanks to Sony Entertainment Television two winner can get their hands on a great Sony Entertainment Television gift hamper!


Watch Last Resort and just answer one question by email here on TV with Thinus and two lucky readers could each win a

Read More

ANN7 logo and ANN7 TV reporter shows up on eNCA, getting exposure 2 days before ANN7 launches as a direct competitor on DStv.

Blink and you'll miss it, but ANN7 (DStv 405) made its very first South African television appearance courtesy of its direct competitor eNCA (DStv 403) which today is giving exposure to an ANN7 microphone and a highly irritating ANN7 TV news reporter.



The eNCA is broadcasting footage showing Cezanne Visser leaving prison, with a highly unprofessional ANN7 TV reporter running around her,

Read More

Ed Schultz on MSNBC moving from weekends back to weeknights, starting Monday 26 August.

Ed Schultz on MSNBC (TopTV 410) is moving from the weekends where his show was moved to, back to weeknights (American time), starting this coming Monday 26 August.

MSNBC announced in March that Ed Schultz is moving to weekends on the news channel but is now undoing the change

The left leaning American TV news channel has made no official announcement but in an internal memo to staff Phil

Read More

Top Travel on SABC3 back in production with Janez Vermeiren and Jeannie D for another new season of the global travelogue show.

Top Travel, the global travelogue show from Tswelopele Productions, is back in production for another new season with Top Billing presenters Jeannie D and Janez Vermeiren, I can now confirm.

I was slipped gossip two month ago from sources that Top Travel will return for a new season but SABC3 and everybody else was tight-lipped as the arduous visa applications, shooting logistics and the most

Read More

ANN7's billboards are up to market the new 24-hour South African TV news channel starting Wednesday ... but no Chantal Rutter Dros.

Thebig  billboards are up for ANN7 (DStv 405) launching on Wednesday on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform as South Africa's third 24-hour TV news channel.

Interestingly, no Chantal Rutter Dros. Channeling your talent on billboards, in this case Chantal Rutter Dros who will be front and centre on ANN7 as the prime time anchor of ANN7 Headlines between 19:00 and 20:00 and ANN Prime

Read More

How much of a fail was SABC3's bleh 15th birthday party for Isidingo with no-show big names from the cast and grumblings about the lack of food?

Make what you will of  Isidingo's 15th birthday part at Katy's Place in Johannesburg this past week which comes across as a bit of a fail for the SABC3 soap.

Forget that neither SABC3 nor the show's publicist nor the publicists of the PR company could be bothered in the slightest to even tell several longtime South African TV critics and journalists and writers who've covered the soap over

Read More

Chantal Rutter Dros as news anchor of the new 24-hour TV news channel ANN7: 'It's tantalising to once again be part of a start-up.'

The South African TV news woman Chantal Rutter Dros who will from Wednesday evening become the new primetime news face of ANN7 (DStv 405), the new 24-hour TV news channel launching on MultiChoice's DStv, says it's tantalising for her to once be part of a start-up.

Viewers have come to know Chantal Rutter Dros on eNews on e.tv when the TV news service of the free-to-air broadcaster started

Read More

SILVER LINING. TV gold for Discovery Channel as hundreds more bars of silver is recovered from the sunken SS Gairsoppa.

American treasure hunters have found and recovered hundreds more bars of silver off the coast of Ireland in water deeper than the Titanic in a fascinating deep sea expedition chronicled and filmed by the Discovery Channel (DStv 121) for new episodes of its ongoing docu series which will be shown on the factual entertainment TV channel in South Africa in due course.

The SS Gairsoppa was

Read More

BREAKING. Carte Blanche on M-Net starts teasing its brand-new transparent glass on-air look to be revealed on 1 September at 19:00.

You're reading it here first. 

Carte Blanche and M-Net has started teasing on-air the brand-new transparent glass on-screen look in gray scale of the pay-TV broadcaster's weekly investigative magazine show's which will be revealed on Sunday 1 September at 19:00 to celebrate it's 25th anniversary.




The longrunning weekly magazine show from Combined Artistic Productions and consistently

Read More

Oscar Pistorius special, Oscar Pistorius: Brutal Murder or Grave Mistake? this weekend on CNN International.

With Oscar Pistorius due in court again on Monday, CNN International (DStv 401) is showing an hour long TV special, Oscar Pistorius: Brutal Murder or Grave Mistake? this weekend.

Oscar Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentines' Day and the Olympic and paralympic athlete is accused of premeditated murder in a sensational court case which has been making global

Read More

Dynamo dumps Oscar Pistorius from the episode of his upcoming new season of Dynamo: Magician Impossible on Discovery Channel.

Dynamo's latest disappearing act involves making Oscar Pistorius disappear.

The insert which the brilliant magician filmed at the end of last year in South Africa with Oscar Pistorius before the Olympic and paralympic athlete shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp is getting deleted from the new season of Discovery Channel's Dynamo: Magician Impossible.

Last month Discovery told TV

Read More

e.tv chooses Sentech as the signal distributor for its set of digital e.tv TV channels once digital terrestrial television (DTT) starts in South Africa.

The South African free-to-air broadcaster e.tv has chosen Sentech as the signal distributor for its set of digital e.tv TV channels once the long-delayed switch to digital terrestrial television (DTT) eventually starts in South Africa.

e.tv says it has signed a memorandum of understanding to appoint Sentech to provide signal distribution services for its digital terrestrial television services

Read More

BREAKING. South African cake reality show dumps SABC3 as Charly's Cake Angels moves to the Food Network for its new 2nd season.

You're reading it here first.

Charly's Cake Angels, the delightful South African cake baking docu-reality show set in Cape Town will no longer be on SABC3 and is moving to the Food Network for the brand new second season from September.

Charly's Cake Angels follows the cake baking adventures of cake momma Jacqui Biess and her cake baker daughters in South Africa's most famous and best

Read More

BREAKING. Africa News Network 7 urgently looking for TV news reporters as the South African TV news wars heat up.

Africa News Network or ANN7 (DStv 405) is urgently looking for TV news reporters across the country days before the launch of its new 24-hour TV news service as South Africa's newest, and third, TV news channel.



ANN7 which which plans to launch next Wednesday 21 August on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform as South Africa's newest, and third, TV news channel, is urgently looking

Read More

CNN International's Max Foster snags the first sit-down interview with Prince William after the birth of his son Prince George Alexander.

CNN International's (DStv 401) royal correspondent Max Foster has snagged the first sit-down interview with the United Kingdom's Prince William following the birth of his son Prince George Alexander.

Portions of the interview will be shown on CNN in the United States on Monday 19 August; CNN International has not communicated when viewers in South Africa might get to see the interview.

The

Read More

Maggs on Media on eNCA going to the urinals on Sunday as it investigates the marketing opportunities inside the men's room.

The weekly episode of Maggs on Media on eNCA (DStv 403) on Sunday at 10:30 proclaims that it will be boldly going where no show has gone before ... straight to the urinals inside the men's room in Sunday's upcoming episode.

The shopping mall washroom has become a hot piece of real estate when it comes to marketing products and Maggs on Media will be investigating the marketing happening here.

Read More

M-Net CEO Patricia van Rooyen on M-Net's nursery school and the pay-TV broadcaster's M Life to help with all of life's mundane chores.

August is Women's  month and in the August issue of The Media trade magazine M-Net CEO Patricia van Rooyen makes quite a "revelation".

Did you know that M-Net as a pay-TV broadcaster runs a nursery school for working mothers and have done so from the early days? That's what Patricia van Rooyen told The Media magazine. M-Net also provides M Life.

"This service helps with all those mundane

Read More

eNCA ANCHOR CHANGES. Joanne Joseph moves to mornings opposite Gareth Edwards, Nikiwe Bikitsha gets the afternoons on eNCA.

There's been no announcement about its window dressing or official statement but eNCA (DStv 403) confirms what viewers have been seeing on their TV screens since the beginning of the month which is that Joanne Joseph has now moved to the mornings.

Joanne Joseph's former old late afternoon timeslot on the 24-hour news channel is now being filled by Nikiwe Bikitsha who is back on air on eNCA

Read More

SABC News provides another half hour of Afrikaans news per day at 19:30 on the public broadcaster's 24-hour TV news channel.

The 24-hour TV news channel SABC News (DStv 404) from the South African public broadcaster has added another new half hour of Afrikaans news to television per day with the Afrikaans news broadcast every day at 19:30, and repeated at 02:00.

The additional half hour of Afrikaans news is broadcast live at 19:30 on SABC News, following the existing half hour of Afrikaans news at 19:00 on SABC2.

Read More

Interviews for candidates for the new 12-member permanent SABC board will start next week in parliament.

Interviews for candidates for the new 12-member permanent SABC board will start next week Tuesday in parliament until Friday with the list of applications which has been narrowed down to 37 potential candidates.

A multiparty task team was set up last week to cull through the 147 applications which were received to be on the SABC board.

The SABC is currently governed by an interim SABC board

Read More

kykNET and kykNET Musiek TV channels added to THEMA's TalkTalk pay-TV service in the United Kingdom for expat South Africans.

Two of M-Net's Afrikaans pay-TV channels from the South African pay-TV broadcaster have been added to TalkTalk, a TV service accessible for Afrikaans speaking TV viewers living in the United Kingdom, with the kykNET and kykNET Musiek channels which are now accessible on this service.

Viewers in the United Kingdom can now watch kykNET and kykNET Musiek on TalkTalk from THEMA, a company which

Read More

DStv Explora, MultiChoice's powerful next generation high definition decoder, goes on sale in South Africa.

MultiChoice's new next generation DStv Explora, nicknamed "the pebble" by insiders for its sleek curvature design, has gone on sale from this morning in South Africa, turning the page for a new chapter in direct-to-home (DTH) video content delivery for both the satellite pay-TV operator and for the continent.

The DStv Explora, the satellite pay-TV operator's latest high definition personal

Read More

UNBOXING. DStv Explora: Exactly how it looks - and what's all inside the box - of MultiChoice's newest HD decoder.

MultiChoice's brand-new high definition PVR, the DStv Explora will be going on sale in retail from today for R2 499 and TV with Thinus has one to show you the unboxing first.







The blue and white box itself looks great; the black DStv Explora decoder - nicknamed "the pebble" by MultiChoice insiders due to its curvature physical design elements - is packed inside very sturdily in

Read More

Sky News switches all its on-screen lower third graphics to the HD version with a single line text block.

Sky News (DStv 402) has switched its on-screen graphics and graphics blocks used in the lower third of the TV screen all to the high definition (HD) version of the 24-hour TV news channel, using it even for its standard definition (SD) channel feed from now on which South African viewers will see.

Sky News is done with the double block of text following a headline even for its SD feed, opting

Read More

Sky News cameraman Mick Deane killed today in Egypt in violent clashes between protesters and police.

The Sky News (DStv 402) cameraman Mick Deane (61) was killed today in Cairo, Egypt in the violent clashes between Egyptian protesters and police.

Mick Deane, a father of two, had worked for Sky News for 15 years and was covering the violence in Egypt which flared up today.

The rest of the Sky News reporting team in Cairo are safe and unhurt.

"Mick Deane was part of a Sky News team reporting

Read More

BREAKING. Oprah Winfrey heading to South Africa again on October to inspire South Africans in her O You! event on 14 October.

Oprah Winfrey is heading to South Africa
again in October, this time to talk to fans and to inspire readers of her O, The Oprah Winfrey Magazine in an O
You! event.



Oprah Winfrey will be at the Gallagher Convention
Centre in Johannesburg on 14 October to encourage readers of her O Magazine to
make the most of their lives where more than 6 000 people are expected to
show up.



Tickets

Read More

SABC News reporters arrested and detained in Zimbabwe for daring to film video footage of Freedom Square in Harare.

SABC News reporters were arrested and detained in Harare, Zimbabwe after they filmed video footage of Freedom Square in struggling African nation.

SABC journalists Shingi Nyoka and cameraman Ephert Musekiwa were arrested, detained and later released. They were arrested because they were filming in public, a public space, but one which the Zimbabwe police says is "not a protected area". They

Read More

President Jacob Zuma's son, Duduzane Zuma, is a shareholder in ANN7 as South Africa's new, third 24-hour TV news channel on DStv.

South African president Jacob Zuma's son, Duduzane Zuma, is a shareholder with an interest in ANN7 (DStv 405), the new and third 24-hour South African TV news channel which will start broadcasting on 21 August on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.and which is promising "balanced news coverage".

Duduzane Zuma holds a 45% stake in Mabengela Investments. Mabengela Investments has a 21

Read More

Chantal Rutter Dros on the jump from M-Net's Carte Blanche to new 24-hour news channel ANN7: 'The opportunity to bring relevant info to people.'

Chantal Rutter Dros, the Carte Blanche presenter on M-Net who is jumping to the new 24-hour South African TV news channel ANN7 (DStv 405) launching on 21 August says she is leaving Carte Blanche since ANN7 presents the opportunity to bring relevant information to people.

"It's enormously exciting to be a key part of this start-up station and to influence what we define as news and how we

Read More

Mapi Mhlangu the new news editor of eNCA; Seamus Reynolds to continue as managing editor of the 24-hour TV news channel.

Mapi Mhlangu has been appointed as the news editor of eNCA (DStv 403) while Seamus Reynolds (which e.tv's publicity department spells as both Raynolds and Reynolds) will continue as managing editor after he's been overseeing both managing duties as well as the day-to-day news diary of the 24-hour South African TV news channel.

Seamus Reynolds took over as managing editor at eNCA earlier this

Read More

The Wombles from Wimbledon kids TV show set to return to the underground, overground, in a big television comeback.

As a 6 year old in South Africa I distinctly remember the sign in the very final episode which read: "Closed. Forever." but in television nothing is really ever over: The 1970's British TV kids series, the Wombles are set for a TV return.

"We have plans for two new 26-part TV series, a feature-length movie and an interactive Womble World experience," Wombles co-creator Mike Bratt announced to

Read More

Q&A: BBC Worldwide's Jon Farrar on the BBC channels' portfolio in South Africa: Downton, Dine With Me, and catching up with the Doctor.

After the recent BBC Worldwide channels winter upfront for South Africa for 2013 I asked Jon Farrar, the head of branded services for Western Europe and global editorial strategy at BBC Worldwide Channels more about the BBC channels seen in South Africa.



Jon Farrar spoke about Come Dine with Me South Africa, The Fall and others, BBC Knowledge staying on brand, BBC Lifestyle's trip to the

Read More

Samsung's new Smart TV can be secretly hacked into to watch you as the viewer while you're watching television.

Your new Samsung Smart TV can be made to watch you while you're watching television, with the TV viewer unaware that they're being spied on.

Samsung tells TV with Thinus that Samsung is aware of the issue and has released a security update to resolve the issue.

CBS News reported that hackers can now watch you while you're watching TV if you have a new Samsung Smart TV, with the viewer

Read More

Koo Govender quits M-Net; pay-TV broadcaster's director of corporate marketing and communications to become CEO of VWV agency.

Koo Govender has quit M-Net where she has been the director of corporate marketing and communications at the pay-TV broadcaster; she will become the first female CEO of the VWV agency from next month.

There's been no official announcement to the press from M-Net yet about Koo Govender's departure, nor who will be replacing her.

Read More

M-Net paying to switch M-Net analogue subscribers' TV signals to a new frequency after CTV takes over the M-Net's channel frequency.

M-Net is paying to help M-Net analogue subscribers of the pay-TV broadcaster switch their signals in Cape Town on their decoders to a new frequency after the community TV station Cape Town Television (CTV) started broadcasting on M-Net's frequency from this week.

CTV has moved its transmission to the same channel as M-Net, which means that M-Net has to shift to a new frequency for its analogue

Read More

Lerato Mbele set to return to television from October as presenter of the new weekly show Africa Business Report on BBC World News.

BBC World News

After an experiment lasting just over a year, Lerato Mbele who joined the Newsday radio show of BBC World Service in June 2012 is returning to television from 5 October as the presenter of a new show on BBC World News (DStv 400 / TopTV 400), Africa Business Report.

Africa Business Report will be a new weekly business TV programme on BBC World News, similar to CNN Marketplace

Read More

Discovery Channel heavily criticised for fake Megalodon documentary, passing off ancient giant shark's existence as real.

The Discovery Channel is being heavily criticised by viewers after the broadcast of a fake documentary, Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives on the factual entertainment TV channel.

Viewers said the megalodon TV special is damaging Discovery's reputation after it showed the programme on the channel in the United States as part of Shark Week about a creature of which it's current existence is

Read More

SABC has spent more than R10,8 million in legal fees getting rid of top SABC executives; R19,5 million spent on investigating corruption.

The SABC has coughed up more than R10,8 million since January 2009 in legal costs in disputes in the public broadcaster's various messy and protracted fights with several senior executives who've left the SABC, it has been revealed in parliament.

Another R19,5 million has been spent on investigating a litany of corruption charges at the broadcaster.

Disciplinary action has been taken against

Read More

New science fiction drama, Extant, from Steven Spielberg coming in 2014; bet on M-Net to grab it for South African viewers.

A new science fiction TV drama, Extant, a thriller executive producer by Steven Spielberg, will be coming to television in America in 2014 while South African viewers can expect M-Net to grab it similar to Under the Dome which is currently showing on the South African pay-TV broadcaster.

Steven Spielberg's Amblin Television and CBS Television Studios have received a straight-to-series order for

Read More

Multiparty task team set up to cull through the more than 100 nominees for positions on the new SABC board.

Parliament's portfolio committee on communications tasked with oversight of the SABC, set up a multiparty task team today to cull through the more than 100 nominees and CVs for the new SABC board.

New SABC board members will be appointed to replace the current interim SABC board who can only serve until September.

The current interim SABC board were appointed and rushed through parliament

Read More

SABC workers demand more lunch money: SABC unions demand a 10% salary increase and file a wage dispute with the CCMA.

SABC workers are demanding more lunch money - two SABC unions, Bemawu and CWU have filed a dispute with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) after the SABC rejected their pay demands. 


SABC workers want R55 for meals - part of a demand for a 10% rise across the board which include a R1 500 allowance for housing and R300 for subsistence and travelling. 



The

Read More

Corrupt Dina Pule found guilty of abusing her power and of lying to parliament as the now fired former minister of communications.

The corrupt Dina Pule, South Africa's fired former communications minister has been found guilty on the majority of extremely serious charges levelled against her by parliament's ethics committee.

The well-heeled in Christian Louboutin shoes Dina Pule, has been found guilty of abusing her power as a South African minister and that she had blatantly lied to parliament.

The committee has

Read More

Al Jazeera opening 12 news bureaus across America before the launch of Al Jazeera America on 20 August.

Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / TopTV 401) is opening 12 new news bureaus across the United States before the launch of 20 August of Al Jazeera America, the new American-centric spin-off 24-hour news channel version of Al Jazeera.

The Al Jazeera correspondents will however be available to report on stories for the broader Al Jazeera TV news network such as Al Jazeera English seen in South Africa,

Read More

Africa News Network 7 (ANN7) will launch on MultiChoice's DStv on 21 August as South Africa's 3rd 24-hour TV news channel.

Africa News Network 7, or ANN7 will start on MultiChoice's DStv channel 405 as I've already reported, on 21 August, the new TV news channel from Infinity Media announced today.

ANN7 which embarked on a massive recruitment drive for staff - including technical crew as well as on-air talent as TV with Thinus reported in June, has already attracted some top level on-air talent such as Chantal

Read More

Chantal Rutter Dros drops Carte Blanche to become the new primetime news anchor of ANN7's new primetime shows ANN7 Headlines, ANN7 Prime.

Carte Blanche presenter Chantal Rutter Dros is leaving M-Net for the new South African TV news channel Africa News Network 7 or ANN7 (DStv 405) which will be starting on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform on 21 August.

Chantal Rutter Dros is leaving M-Net's weekly investigative news magazine produced by Combined Artists Productions to become the prime time news anchor of the new

Read More

BREAKING. Saffron TV shutting down at the end of the month; local Indian TV channel removed from MultiChoice's DStv channel line-up.

Saffron TV (DStv 195), a local South African Indian TV channel which started in September 2008, is closing down at the end of this month and will disappear from MultiChoice's satellite pay-TV platform DStv after the channel failed financially; unable to attract enough advertising over the past couple of years.

Five years later Saffron TV - which hardly ever did any programming publicity to

Read More

BREAKING. MultiChoice is fined R10 000 for shocking, bloody promo on M-Net during family time of cannibal drama during MasterChef Australia.

The Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) has slapped MultiChoice with a R10 000 fine for contravening the subscription television code in April after M-Net showed a promo for Hannibal, the Sony Entertainment Television (DStv 127) TV series about a cannibal during a family time broadcast of MasterChef Australia.



After the BCCSA received complaints, the broadcaster

Read More

AMAZING CATCH-UP. The 21st season of The Amazing Race coming to Sony Entertainment Television with a brand-new twist.

Chippendales! Crazy goat farmers! Indian sisters! Injuries! Stolen passports! Collecting rats!

Sony Entertainment Television (DStv 127) has caught up in an amazing way with The Amazing Race for South Africa viewers with the excellent 21st season of The Amazing Race which will start on SET on Sunday 22 September at 19:35 for 11 episodes.

In the United States the 22nd season is the only

Read More

eNCA and SABC News channels both go with live coverage of the start of the Arms Procurement Commission hearings.

Both eNCA (DStv 403) and SABC News (DStv 404) as the two available 24-hour South African TV news channels decided to go with live coverage of the Arms Procurement Commission which started this morning.

The commission, also known as the Seriti commission will investigate the R70 billion South African arms deal.

Read More

PUBLIC EMBARRASSMENT. The terrible new Health Talk on SABC News is boob tube television in its most worst produced form.

It's so surrealistically bad it's hard to believe its real, but Health Talk started on the SABC's new SABC News (DStv 404) TV news channel as a new (unintentionally hilarious, superlatively bad) health talk show.

The terrible first episode featured breastfeeding HIV mothers who had babies with them in the studio - babies who screamed and made so much noise it was hard to hear as they drowned

Read More

Network starts on SABC News on Sundays at 19:30 with Sihumelele Zondi, as a new consumer technology and social media magazine show.

Network presented by a clearly inexperienced and badly dressed and inappropriately dressed for television Siphumelele Zondi made its debut today on SABC News (DStv 404), the SABC's new 24-hour TV news channel, as a new weekly magazine show focusing on consumer technology and social media news.

Network is a new weekly half hour show which is clearly an extremely low-budgeted version of the

Read More

Kaleidoscope starts on SABC News on Sundays at 17:30 with David Webb, looking at the African continent's lifestyle, arts and culture.

Kaleidoscope presented by David Webb made its debut today on SABC News (DStv 404), the SABC's new 24-hour TV news channel, as a new weekly arts and culture lifestyle show.
Kaleidoscope as a new weekly half hour show also has David Webb as one of the producers, and will be bringing viewers inserts from South Africa as well as the rest of the African continent. The SABC issued no press material,

Read More

Media Monitor starts on SABC News on Sundays at 09:00 with Alicia Jali, looking at the week's media and press coverage.

Media Monitor presented by Alicia Jali has made its debut on SABC News (DStv 404), the SABC's new 24-hour TV news channel, as a brand-new weekly meta media show examining news coverage and the media.

Media Monitor on Sundays at 09:00 is an hour long show and is scheduled just before Maggs on Media on Sundays on the eNCA (DStv 403) at 10:30, South Africa's other 24-hour TV news channel.

The

Read More

SABC CEO Lulama Mokhobo disappointed that SABC's new 24-hour TV news channel isn't available to all, asks viewers to 'bear with us'.

The SABC's CEO Lulama Mokhobo says she is disappointed that the SABC's new 24-hour TV news channel, SABC News (DStv 404), isn't available to all all South African TV households who have to pay an SABC TV license, and is begging viewers to "please bear with us" until the TV news channel is made available freely once the long delayed digital terrestrial television (DTT) switch over happens.

Read More

TV news channels such as the new SABC News 'are a risk everywhere in the world,' says communications minister Yunus Carrim.

"The SABC needs to communicate more clearly that yes, the SABC News channel is starting on pay-TV but very soon it will be available on digital terrestrial television so that the masses out there can also benefit."

So says the minister of communications Yunus Carrim, who already took the SABC to task for its bad communication and said that the SABC needs to communicate more.

He doesn't feel

Read More

The new SABC News 24-hour TV news channel's first live news event coverage is the funeral of Judge Pious Langa from Durban City Hall.

The new SABC News (DStv 404) 24-hour TV news channel did its first live event TV news coverage which started on Saturday morning at 10:00 with live coverage from Durban of the funeral of Judge Pious Langa from the Durban City Hall.

The channel stayed with funeral coverage from 10:00 until 13:30.

The exact same funeral coverage feed was simulcast at the same time on SABC2.

Read More

Ayanda-Allie Paine dumps eNCA; moves to the SABC's new SABC News 24-hour TV news channel.

The eNCA (DStv 403) anchor Ayanda-Allie Paine has dumped that 24-hour South African TV news channel to move to the SABC's new SABC News (DStv 404) TV news channel.

The SABC says in a statement Ayanda-Allie Paine is now a SABC news presenter.

Ayanda-Allie Paine's defection to another TV news channel marks the eNCA's first on-air face showing up on a rival South African TV news channel.

Read More

Morning Live now longer: SABC2's morning breakfast show also on SABC's new SABC News TV channel will now continue for an hour longer.

You're reading it here first.

Morning Live, the SABC2 morning breakfast show which is also simulcast on the SABC's new 24-hour TV news channel, SABC News (DStv 404) will henceforth continue for an hour longer on the news channel after the two hour live show signs off on weekdays on SABC2.

There's been no official announcement, press release or statement from the SABC, SABC2 or SABC News, but

Read More

MultiChoice adding SuperSport 9 from Tuesday with EFC, Africa soccer leagues and American-based sport such as basketball, soccer and boxing.

SuperSport 9 (DStv 209) will be added by MultiChoice to DStv from Tuesday 6 August for all DStv Premium, DStv Compact and DStv Extra subscribers.

SuperSport 9 will contain EFC Fight Nights, as well as domestic soccer leagues from the African continent to South African viewers, as well as American-based sports such as college basketball, soccer and boxing.

The addition of SuperSport 9 comes

Read More

MultiChoice: SABC News 24-hour channel will eventually expand beyond Southern Africa and will become available in the rest of Africa.

The SABC's new second version of a 24-hour news channel, SABC News (DStv 404), which was launched on Thursday and replace SABC News International on MultiChoice's DStv pay-TV platform will eventually expand and be seen in the rest of Africa, says MultiChoice.

"At the moment it is seen in Southern Africa. So it goes beyond the borders of South Africa," Imtiaz Patel, the group CEO of

Read More

SABC's matricless megastar Hlaudi Motsoeneng on boastful binge over SABC News channel: 'We have negotiated with MultiChoice more than half a billion! Who else can do that?'

The SABC's matricless megastar Hlaudi Motsoeneng is cementing his attention-hogging status as the South African public broadcaster's supremo enfant terrible, with the SABC's controversial acting chief operating officer (COO) doing zeaolous public boasting about the SABC's next attempt at a 24-hour TV news channel.

Hlaudi Motsoeneng who led the negotiating team from the SABC's side to start

Read More

Imtiaz Patel, MultiChoice's CEO watches the SABC's morning breakfast show Morning Live every day.

Who knew? MultiChoice's CEO Imtiaz Patel has a favourite morning show on television and it's not Expresso, Sunrise or Morning News Today but SABC2's Morning Live.

SABC2's Morning Live is being simulcast on the SABC's new 24-hour TV news channel, SABC News on DStv 404 which is replacing the previous SABC News International, with Morning Live shown at the same time on SABC2 and the SABC News

Read More

MultiChoice to help digitise the SABC's archives in the same way in which MultiChoice helped to digitise the ANC's archives.

You're reading it here first. 

MultiChoice will help to digitise the SABC's archive in the same way the satellite pay-TV platform has digitised the ANC's archives for that political party.

MultiChoice made the announcement at the launch event on Thursday afternoon of the SABC's second attempt at establishing a 24-hour TV news channel, the SABC News channel which went live at 18:00 on

Read More

'My name is Zandile," the SABC chairperson tells news anchor Peter Ndoro on the new SABC News channel when he wrongly calls her Andile.

Barely an hour into the start of the broadcast of the SABC's new SABC News (DStv 404) 24-hour news channel, the very first on-air embarrassment took place.

The new primetime SABC News anchor Peter Ndodo didn't know and use the correct name of the interim SABC chairperson Zandile Tshabalala - mistakenly referring to her as Andile, after which she publicly corrected him on live television.

Read More

The SABC as a public broadcaster needs to communicate more, says minister of communications, Yunus Carrim.

South Africa's new minister of communications, Yunus Carrim, says the SABC should be communicating much more to viewers about what the broadcaster is doing.

On the SABC's new SABC News (DStv 404) 24-hour TV news channel Yunus Carrim said on Thursday evening that "the SABC is very, very challenged, but it is not as challenged as what is made out in the public domain."

"One of the tasks the

Read More

eNCA congratulates the SABC on the start of the SABC News channel as the public broadcaster's second attempt at a 24-hour TV news channel.

The 24-hour independent TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403) is congratulating the SABC and SABC News with the start of the SABC News channel as the South African public broadcaster's second try at a 24-hour TV news channel.

"We know how hard it is to launch and maintain a 24-hour news service and can appreciate the amount of work required," Patrick Conroy, the group head of news at eNCA tells

Read More

BREAKING. SABC News launches as new 24-hour channel with Peter Ndoro and Vabakshnee Chetty, 'telling the story that South Africans want to hear.'

You're reading it here first. 

SABC News as the SABC's new 24-hour TV news channel launched at 18:00 on MultiChoice's DStv channel 404 anchored by Peter Ndoro and Vabakshnee Chetty using the news studio used for SABC3's daily news bulletin at 18:30

Besides a skeleton grid schedule neither the SABC, nor MultiChoice, released to the press and TV critics by the end of the business day on

Read More

BREAKING. SABC News channel launches 'with bottles of real champagne'; Lulama Mokhobo, SABC CEO, says 'tough task ahead'.

You're reading it here first.

The SABC, funded by MultiChoice with hundreds of millions of rands for the establishment of its new SABC News 24-hour channel on DStv channel 404, held a launch event on Thursday afternoon in Henley Studios where the SABC CEO Lulama Mokhobo remarked that "for the first time in the history of the SABC I see bottles of real champagne".

The launch was attended

Read More

BREAKING. SABC News 24-hour channel must 'seize the opportunity to cover South Africa beyond crime and corruption,' says president Jacob Zuma.

You're reading it here first. 

The SABC's new 24-hour TV news channel, SABC News, launching at 18:00 on MultiChoice's DStv platform on channel 404 "is being established at the right time", says president Jacob Zuma who is speaking at the channel's launch event being held at the SABC's headquarters at Auckland Park, saying "we hope this channel will seize the opportunity to cover South

Read More