TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 16 September 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:  

■ The Crown on Netflix will show Princess Diana's heartbreaking battle with bulimia.
Could set up a clash between Netflix and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and their multi-million contract with the video streamer.

■ Donald Trump announces that he's getting weekly showtime on Fox News (StarSat 261) as bewildered Fox News hosts say it's fake news.

■ American anchor Jim Cramer on CNBC (DStv 410) calls Nancy Pelosi "Crazy Nancy" on TV ... in her face.
- Meanwhile CNN (DStv 401) is getting sued.


■ Nigerian filmmakers are risking jail with their lesbian film Ike.
Nigeria's Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) is monitoring and trying to prevent producer Pamela Adie and director Uyaiedu Ikpe-Etim from screening and releasing their Yoruba-language film in the West African country.


■ South Park tackling the Covid-19 virus with its first hourlong episode.

■ I'm not interested. Bye," is all he has to say about it: Idols judge Somizi Mhlongo accused of stealing the Dinner with Somizi show idea on 1Magic (DStv 103) from Hastings Moeng (subscription required).
Producer says he send concept to Somizi in July 2014, and met with him and Dinner with Somizi executive producer Legend Manqele in 2016 to discuss putting the show together. Somizi's comment on the report is "I'm not interested. Bye."

■ Netflix's Ratched is wretched viewing; drama has no story to tell with incoherent characterisation and limited vision.

■ WWE trying to see if it can host WWE Raw and WWE SmackDown seen on SuperSport at outdoor venues in order to get people back to attend wrestling matches again.

■ Zambia praises China's StarTimes for funding its public broadcasting switch from analogue to digital terrestrial television broadcasting.

■ The shocking departure of Anna Faris from Mom seen on M-Net (DStv 101) is a nightmare for the comedy series.

■ John Cena shows off his shocking physical change before his TV return as the new host of Wipeout.

■ Ellen DeGeneres: From sweetheart to degenerate - a timeline.
- Is this the perfect time for Drew Barrymore to launch her own TV talk show?

■ 250 000 people less are paying their BBC TV licence fee in the United Kingdom as younger viewers flee to streaming services.

■ Jerry Harris from Netflix's Cheer under FBI investigation for soliciting sex from boys.

■ How reality TV shows find and cast the "right" people - a director explains.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 15 September 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:  

■ Netflix CEO Reed Hastings says marriage counceling revealed that he was a "systemic liar".

- Netflix vice president told him that he was unempathetic and don't encourage criticism.

- Netflix's secret to corporate success?: The "Keeper Test" to ensure a star in every position.
- "We want to be better than Disney at family animation."
- Wants to add someone from Africa to the Netflix board which Netflix doesn't have currently.
- Says Netflix subscribers "don't really care" whether its content is original.

- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Netflix projects could top the viewership charts, says Reed Hastings.


■ How the cancellation of Keeping Up with the Kardashians on E! (DStv 124) hints at the demise of traditional pay-TV.
- Family looking for a lucrative video streaming deal.

■ Netflix launches its first global marketing campaign, known as "One Story Away".
Wants to make Netflix more than just the place where a viewer goes to binge-watch.

■ An appearance on Rachel Maddow on MSNBC (StarSat 263) is very good for American book sales.
MSNBC and Rachel Maddow refused to talk to Associated Press, but literary agent says she helps make books "number one".

■ Snack with caution: A new study finds that watching TV while eating makes you become unaware that you're actually full.

■ Why "Cancel Netflix" is trending.
- Netflix won't cancel Cuties in the United States but might have to internationally.


■ Netflix doesn't have TV commercials but that doesn't mean that it won't have ads in future.
- Netflix takes the crown for spending on film and television.
- Netflix argues for free speech in court fight with Indian businessmen.


■ After she's been let go from Primedia's EWN at 702, Gia Nicolaides joins eNCA (DStv 403).

■ M-Net West Africa is filming Enakhe as a new series in Nigeria for DStv's Africa Magic Showcase channel.

■ The bloated SABC has spent almost R3 million on catering as the struggling and overstaffed South African public broadcaster forges ahead with getting rid of hundreds of workers.

■ M-Net (DStv 101) picks up Race for the Cure documentary.

■ Coronavirus corruption: South African government offers Leanne Manas of SABC2's Morning Live tenders for personal protection equipment.

■ America's pornography industry headed for a major Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.

Aunt Flori Schrikker, other half of the Bonteheuwel TV show cooking duo Flori en Koelsoem se Kosse has died. She was 67.

by Thinus Ferreira

Florence Schrikker known as Flori, the other half of the famous Cape Town TV cooking show duo in Flori en Koelsoem se Kosse on VIA (DStv 147) has died on Saturday 12 September 2020 just 5 months after her friend Koelsoem Kamalie died in mid-April 2020. Florence Schrikker was 67.

Florence Schrikker died on Saturday afternoon in the Netcare N1 City hospital in Cape Town after her condition deteriorated, following complications after a dubble heart bypass operation that she underwent in early-August.

Flori Schrikker who suffered from Type 2 diabetes and who lost a limb in an amputation in 2011 because of the disease, is survived by her husband of 47 years Alfonso Schrikker known as Uncle Foni, 4 children and 10 grandchildren.

Angus McKenzie,Ward 50 Bonteheuwel councillor in Cape Town, in a statement said that "As a community we are conforted by the fact that they they will be serving the heavens with some of the best cuisines".

"Aunty Flori's passing is a huge shock to the community and in our sadness, we want to thank her family for sharing her, her talents, and her love with each and every one of us."

VIA was approached for comment about the death of Flori Schrikker on Monday. At the time of publication VIA didn't have any comment.

Together with Koelsoem Kamalie, Flori Schrikker co-hosted their own cooking show, Flori en Koelsoem se Kosse on VIA that was produced by Leroux Botha and Nina Swart from Afrokaans, over two seasons in 2016 and 2017.

They first rose to fame when the two shared their fascinating recipes and stories during the afternoon on Tjailatyd on the SABC's Afrikaans radio station RSG.

In 2017 their show won an ATKV Mediaveertjie-award for best magazine show and was based on their cookbook Kook Saam Kaaps that was released in April 2016 by LAPA Uitgewers.

Their second cookbook about desserts entitled Soettand was released in 2017.

Netflix South Africa now offers R39 mobile-only plan as a test in the country, undercutting MultiChoice's Showmax and its R49 mobile-only plan.

by Thinus Ferreira

As a consumer test Netflix is rolling out a new R39 Netflix mobile-only plan in South Africa that is much cheaper than its cheapest R99 per month subscription fee and that the subscription video-on-demand service (SVOD) says will only last if enough South African viewers respond to it.

The Netflix Mobile plan at R39 per month in South Africa is now undercutting MultiChoice's Showmax video streaming service, with Showmax Mobile that costs R49 per month.

In mid-2019 Netflix announced that it would roll out and test a "mobile device only" plan that launched in Indian in the third quarter of last year. The mobile only Netflix plan is priced significantly lower that Netflix's existing 3-tier plan structure but also limits users to streaming on mobile devices and with other imposed limitations like video quality as well.

South Africa - like India and African countries like Egypt where Netflix also tested its "mobile only" plan- is part of places where Netflix wants to test how many more users it could potentially sign up to use and sample its video service in markets where the penetration of mobile devices are high but data costs are still expensive and the availability of broadband internet is limited.

Netflix's R39 per month mobile-only plan limits the video stream to 480p and one viewing stream on a mobile device or tablet. Netflix's other three plans, Netflix Basic (R99), Netflix Standard (R139) and Netflix Premium (169) offer more options.

The streaming service has had the same 3 plans for over 5 years and Netflix says that in that time its membership base "has changed enormously - and mobile usage has increased significantly".

Netflix tells TVwithThinus that in keeping this mobile audience and people's device usage in mind, it is experimenting with new plans across the African continent - excluding Egypt where it was already tested - to give potential subscribers more choice.

Netflix however cautions that if it sees that users are not valuing these new plans that it won't be rolling it out more widely.

A Netflix spokesperson says that "We’ve had the same three plans for several years now and this test offer reflects significant usage of and preference for mobile in South Africa.  We’ll only roll this out longer term if people value the increased flexibility".

SABC on the brink as South Africa's public broadcaster warns that it could collapse, urges need to 'reinvent' and creation of a redesigned SABC - report.

South Africa's struggling public broadcaster that is mired in financial problems despite another billion rand government bailout is facing possible collapse the City Press newspaper reported on Sunday.

The overstaffed and bloated SABC wants to get rid of thousands of workers and told parliament two months ago that the impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic in South Africa has caused a predicted shortfall in revenue of at least R1.7 billion for its current financial year.

The SABC also told parliament last month that it needs and has applied for additional government funding relief to help make up for the revenue shortfall because of Covid-19.

South Africa's governing ANC political party and its current disgraced minister of communications, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, are against retrenchments at the struggling SABC and doesn't want the public broadcaster to lower its salary bill as its single biggest expense.

As the biggest cost driver at the SABC, a whopping 41% of the struggling broadcaster's expenditure goes to just paying salaries. Shockingly, the SABC only spends 22% on actual content.

"It is time for a collaborative approach by all stakeholders to deal with the huge cost base that threatens the the viability of the SABC," the broadcaster says.

According to documents from the SABC's board and executives, the public broadcasters is imploring that "We must collectively ensure that the SABC does not collapse under our watch".

According to City Press, the SABC held a virtual meeting with trade unions Bemawu and CWU on Friday "about measures to prevent a collapse".

The SABC describes its latest financial battle amidst Covid-19 in the document as "the most critical for the future and sustainability of this 84-year old institution" given "the dwindling advertising revenues in the industry and the SABC".

The SABC says it has looked at the role of MultiChoice and eMedia Investments that runs e.tv and the Openview satellite platform, online video streaming services like Showmax and Netflix, and evolving consumer behaviour and that the SABC will have to reinvent itself.

"Against this backdrop the SABC must reposition itself and get ready for the future with customer-centred business models. A target operating model provides an ideal framework for this."

"The proposed target operating model will give birth to a redesigned SABC that is modern, agile and is future-focused"," the SABC says.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 10 September 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:  

■ E! cancelled Keeping Up with the Kardashians after family's pay increase demands although ratings kept going down.
Wanted at least $40 million per season but E! couldn't keep paying the Kardashians the same or even more money for half as many viewers.
- Keeping Up with the Kardashians on E! (DStv 124) couldn't keep up with itself - why the reality show got cancelled.
- Kardashians: The reality TV family who reinvented fame.
- How Keeping Up with the Kardashians changed everything from beauty to celebrity.


■ Ellen DeGeneres was a terrible person in her mansion to household staff: Allegedly took pleasure in firing staffers, ran it military-style boot camp, tormented workers over misplaced salt shakers, would leave passive aggressive notes about what's wrong, would lay traps, says ex-staffer.


■ South African National Editors' Forum (SANEF) calls for investigation after EFF political party harassed reporter Nobesuthu Hejana TWICE.

■ Netflix subscribers upset over its 4K streaming quality.

■ Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: "Netflix isn't a media company or a technology company. It is an ..."
- Says Netflix bundling isn't an option (subscription required).
- Why Netflix will never have commercials.

■ Pearlena Igbokwe the new boss of NBCUniversal's global TV studio operations.

■ Netflix shocker: Bela Bajaria taking over to lead it's global TV operations with Cindy Holland exiting.

■ How MultiChoice's Showmax decides if and when a series will be acquired and placed on the video streaming platform.

■ Fox News style TV channel planned for the United Kingdom will only broadcasting during prime time, will have a comedy show.

■ Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death grips Indian with frenzied TV coverage.
- India's TV news serves up celebrity death coverage to distract from the country's Covid-19 disaster.

■ Disney will move allof the content of its linear Disney channels to its Disney+ video streaming service in the United Kingdom when it ends its linear channels there.

■ Will The Walking Dead seen on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131) end like the comics did?

■ The hunt for new TV in 2020 brings a last gasp of new shows - and perhaps a shift in old habits.

■ Ukonwa Ojo the new chief marketing officer for Amazon Prime Video and Amazon Studios.

■ Streaming television can eventually replace pay-TV.

■ Black Mirror predicted what reality TV audiences would look like during the Covid-19 pandemic.

■ After 18 years off-air, the godfather of reality TV has revived his passion project.

WarnerMedia and StarTimes sign channel carriage deal for TNT coming to sub-Saharan Africa and StarSat in South Africa.

by Thinus Ferreira

WarnerMedia and China's StarTimes pay-TV operator has signed a channel carriage agreement to add its TNT film channel to its StarTimes service in sub-Saharan Africa branded as StarSat in South Africa.

TNT is already carried on the DStv platform of the South African based MultiChoice on channel 137 along with some other WarnerMedia channels like Cartoon Network, Boomerang and CNN International.

Several WarnerMedia channels are also already carried on StarTimes elsewhere in Africa like Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Boing, WarnerTV, CNN International and TCM Cinéma.

WarnerMedia is already distributing Toonami on StarTimes in English-speaking Africa, including StarSat in South Africa.

TNT will go live on StarTimes and StarSat on Tuesday 15 September in 10 African countries, including Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and South Africa.

TNT will be available on StarTimes' Smart Bouquet on channel 186.

It will be pop, pop, pop on DStv from December 2020 with 3 new M-Net Movies pop-up film channels including James Bond.

by Thinus Ferreira

They gotta be strong and they gotta be fast and they gotta be fresh from the fight, and now you only need to hold out for a hero until December. That's when MultiChoice will launch three thematic M-Net Movies pop-up channels on DStv in succession until February 2021 all about heroes.

TVwithThinus can reveal that in December 2020 MultiChoice and M-Net will start with a Male action heroes M-Net Movies pop-up channel on DStv, with the exact channel name that is still to be announced.

The pop-up channel will be jam-packed with films featuring male action hero stars.

"Then we move on to females because female action heroes are also taking over the world," says Aletta Alberts, MultiChoice's head of content strategy and third-party channels.

This Female action heroes M-Net Movies channel name is also still to be revealed.

"In February 2021 we bring back the Bond, the lovely James Bond, and we know that's not going to leave you shaken ... but stirred," says Aletta Alberts.

February's James Bond pop-up channel of which the channel name is still to be revealed, will be the second time that MultiChoice and M-Net is running a James Bond pop-up channel on DStv.

It previously did so three years ago in February 2017 when MultiChoice showed every 007 James Bond film of Ian Fleming's suave British super spy for DStv Premium subscribers.

While the three M-Net Movies pop-up channels will again only be accessible for higher-tiered DStv subscribers it will be the first time that lower-tiered DStv subscribers will be able to get access to it through the new "Add Movies" bundle that the Randburg-based pay-TV operator just launched.

For R99 per month lower-tiered DStv subscribers can add 3 M-Net Movies channels that can be added to any of its lower-tiered DStv bouquets. With this, DStv subscribers get the repackaged M-Net Movies 1 (DStv 104), M-Net Movies 2 (DStv 106), and also the now-permanent Afrikaans fliekNET (DStv 149) channel.

However, when MultiChoice and M-Net now do M-Net Movies pop-up channels, these channels when they run on DStv, will now be made accessible as part of the Add Movies bundle, for free. 

That means that DStv subscribers who add the Add Movies bundle during December, January or February will actually get not get just the 3 movie channels on that add-on package, but also that month's M-Net Movies hero pop-up channel on DStv that will be included for free.

The Walking Dead seen on FOX cancelled, will end with an extended season 11 in 2022 as more spinoffs are planned.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Walking Dead on FOX (DStv 125  /StarSat 131) has been cancelled after 11 seasons with the AMC-produced zombie drama series that will end with an extended season.

The Walking Dead will end with an 11th season that will play out over an extended 24-episode season, with 12 episodes set to be broadcast in 2021, and the final 12 episodes in 2022.

The 11th season of The Walking Dead was supposed to broadcast this year but was delayed because of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic that shut down film and television production globally.

Besides the end of The Walking Dead, AMC will also produce another two Walking Dead spinoff series - one revolving around Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus) and Carol Peletier (Melissa McBride) that will debut in 2023; as well as an anthology zombie-series currently entitled Tales of The Walking Dead, bringing the number of new spinoffs to 4 series.

Meanwhile the 10th season of The Walking Dead will start on 4 October, followed by 6 bonus episodes before the 11th season's first half starts later in 2021.

"It’s been 10 years 'gone bye', what lies ahead are 2 more to come and stories to tell beyond that" says Scott M. Gimple, former The Walking Dead showrunner and chief content officer of the franchise, in a statement.

"What’s clear is that this show has been about the living, made by a passionate cast, team of writer/producers, producers, and crew, bringing to life the vision put forth by Robert Kirkman in his brilliant comic - and supported by the best fans in the world."

"We have a lot of thrilling story left to tell on The Walking Dead and then, this end will be a beginning of more Walking Dead - brand new stories and characters, familiar faces and places, new voices, and new mythologies."

"This will be a grand finale that will lead to new premieres. Evolution is upon us. The Walking Dead lives."

Angela Kang, The Walking Dead showrunner, says "I look forward to digging in with our brilliant writers, producers, directors, cast and crew to bring this epic final chapter of Robert Kirkman’s story to life for our fans over the next two years."

"The Walking Dead flagship series has been my creative home for a decade and so it’s bittersweet to bring it to an end, but I could not be more excited to be working with Scott Gimple and AMC to develop a new series for Daryl and Carol."

"Working with Norman Reedus and Melissa McBride has been a highlight of my career and I'm thrilled that we get to keep telling stories together."

Ed Carroll, chief operating officer at AMC Networks, says "The Walking Dead made television history, and is one of those rare creative works that has given life to an entire content universe that is still in the early stages of growing and entertaining both new and established fans".

"We can’t wait to bring viewers this expanded final season of The Walking Dead over the next two years, and launch the fourth series in the history of the franchise, focused on the beloved Daryl and Carol characters, with the incredibly talented Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Angela Kang and Scott M. Gimple."

"There really is so much 'walking' ahead, in a number of very exciting directions, for this extraordinary creative universe we call The Walking Dead."

The 6th season of the spinoff series Fear the Walking Dead will start in October.

The other spinoff series, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, following the "first generation" to grow up during the zombie apocalypse, will start on the dame day in the United States. A South African TV channel and date for The Walking Dead: World Beyond has not yet been announced.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 9 September 2020.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:  

■ "Is this the best you can do for R900?"
DStv Premium subscribers continue to complain about the lack of value and quality content as BBC Studios' BBC First channel is also ripped away and subscribers say they have had enough of "junk viewing".

■ Another reader angry about the axing of ITV Choice and now BBC First, says DStv hasn't bothered to reply while having to pay R1000 monthly to watch repeats.
"What led MultiChoice to the belief thatno-one watched BBC First on channel 119?" asks the reader that wants to move from DStv to Netflix.


■ The disturbing photos from Ghana's trash-bad imitation TV version of M-Net and MultiChoice's Big Brother Naija.
Horrific production values as the so-called Biggy 237 trash show is marred by technical problems; contestant housemates sleeping in dirty, unkept room on student matrasses on the floor; organisers lied about the show being part of MultiChoice Ghana.


■ New BBC director-general Tim Davie against a switch to subscription.

■ New BBC boss Tim Davie to crack down on BBC staff posting their personal views on social media.
- Won't hesitate to shut down BBC TV channels if they no longer offer enough value.
- Says BBC has reached end of linear TV expansion.
- "There is still too much bureaucracy."

■ Star Wars actor John Boyega slams Disney and says he was pushed to the side.

■ How Netflix reinvented entertainment as well as corporate culture.

■ Covid-19 has wiped out 2020's new TV schedule in the United States.

■ Hollywood is filled with fear and loathing over the new stranglehold over cinema of video streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

■ Andrew Lloyd Webber warns that the arts is "at the point of no return".

■ Away on Netflix is another mission-to-Mars TV drama that doesn't achieve liftoff.

■ Reporters from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Australian Financial Review flee China after media crackdown.


■ "Shame on you Unilever! Shame on you TRESemmé!"
eNCA (DStv 403) continues its slide into activism and blended in-news commentary, blurring the line between just reporting the facts in TV news bulletins and giving personal opinion.
- EFF political party harasses eNCA reporter Nobusuthu Hejana.
- EFF political party harasses eNCA reporter AGAIN.


■ South Africa's auditor-general (AG) questions the SABC's R63 million contract with 5 international news agencies - BBC, Reuters, Feature Stories, Associated Press (AP), and AFP awarded in 2017.

■ Ellen DeGeneres will address the behind-the-scenes scandal at her talk show on the air when the new 18th season starts.

■ Global pirate viewing will start on 30 October when the second season of Star Wars' The Mandalorian is released on Disney+ that hasn't yet launched or announced any launch date for Disney's video streaming service in South Africa or Africa.


■ What the end of Keeping Up with the Kardashians on E! (DStv 124) says about the changing TV industry in America.
- The internet today would not be what it is without the Kardashian influence.
- The influencer/creator culture we have today would not exist without Keeping Up with the Kardashians and The Hills and The Simple Life.


■ "Very bad form": Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pull out of a fundraiser linked to a video streaming rival to Netlifx after they had already said yes but are now producers for Netflix (subscription required).

- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's "money panic" played amajor role in their decision to sign a production deal with Netflix.
- Netflix viewers cancel their subscriptions after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announce their Netflix production deal.