Vuyo Mbuli's SABC memorial service: 'Today is an overwhelming day for the SABC family,' says Lulama Mokhobo, SABC CEO.

You're reading it here first. 

"Today is an overwhelming day for the SABC family," said Lulama Mokhobo, SABC CEO at the jam-packed, emotional and very moving memorial service in the SABC's Renaissance Centre for Vuyo Mbuli, the co-anchor of the SABC's flagship breakfast show Morning Live on SABC2 who died unexpectedly on Saturday night four days after his 46th birthday.

The SABC's public memorial service held on Wednesday afternoon at the SABC's Auckland Park headquarters for the popular dead TV presenter drew a massive crowd as well as an outpouring of tributes from dignitaries, luminaries, politicians, artists and TV industry heavyweights who all attended.

In the public memorial service for Vuyo Mbuli which lasted more than 4 and a half hours, person after person after person took to the podium to talk and relate stories, anecdotes and tales about Vuyo Mbuli who was branded an "icon" on an SABC banner besides the stage.

Besides clips from the SABC archives from Morning Live and Vuyo Mbuli appearances, the SABC choir sang, Soweto children sang, violins played, and relatives spoke plainly and painfully.

The SABC put together a moving, terrific and incredibly beautiful tribute video filled with SABC colleagues spanning the breath of the public broadcaster talking and sharing memories about Vuyo Mbuli, filled with the big and small places across the length and breath of South Africa Vuyo Mbuli travelled to to do Morning Live from over the past 13 years.

Leanne Manas, his co-host on Morning Live who attended the memorial service said she was "flooded with memories" and called Vuyo Mbuli "short but a giant".

"This has been the hardest week of my entire life. I've lost a very big part of my life. My heart's jumping out of my body at this point in time. Vuyo was and is most of the most loved individuals in this country. He embraces and embodies everything that South Africa is about."

Addressing Vuyo Mbuli, Leanne Manas said "I met your mother and your father, sadly, for the first time on Sunday. They creid when they saw me, Vuyo. I think they cried because I think they saw you when I walked through the door. And I saw you in them. I saw you in your father's eyes."

As tears kept streaming down her face, Tracy Going, Vuyo Mbuli's first co-anchor on Morning Live sat crying as photos spanning his career flashed on screen.

"He just made sure that you are happy coming to work and that you enjoy the experience," said Andile Masuko, the weather woman on Morning Live.

Ashraf Garda, Special Assignment presenter said Vuyo Mbuli is "for me very much the Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo of the broadcasting world. What I mean by that that they are quite irresistible."

"This is a person who just loved life and loved what he did," said Sophie Ndaba, Generations actress. "Every time we think of eloquence, every time we think of talent, every time we think of someone whose got the class to go along with what you want to present, we think of Vuyo."

Samm Marshall, Morning Live Weekend anchor said "Vuyo understood the business. He knew what morning TV was all about. It's about engaging with people; sharing your life with people; because they open up their hearts and their homes to you every morning."

"Here is a man who I can call 'sunrise'. Sunrise never ever lets you down - it's so consistent," said Yvonne Kgame, the SABC's acting head of strategy.

"Vuyo Mbuli made a huge contribution," said actress Lillian Dube. "He made journalism something people aspired to be through his respect for the people he interviewed, always having that twinkle in his eye, his laugh - and he made you feel important."

"I think there's probably a lot of young people who are thinking of becoming broadcasters because of him," said Peter Ndoro, Morning Live's business anchor. "In his work I think he always tried to make South Africa a better place and he was very passionate about that."

Nothando Maseko, the executive producer of Morning Live - flanked on stage by the entire Morning Live crew as well as crew members who started Morning Live in November 1999 including Tracy Going - sang a song that Vuyo Mbuli sang on set every morning. "Obviously this is not an SABC choir" joked Nothando Maseko.

"Vuyo was spontaneous, Vuyo was brave, and very unpredictable," she said. To Vuyo Mbuli's children aged 15 and 13 sitting right in front she said what he told her once: "Thando, my children inspire me to wake up and to be who I am. My children are my dream."

BREAKING. Scandal! on e.tv becoming a 5 day a week soap from 5 July; finally adding a 5th episode on Fridays.

e.tv is extending its weekday primetime soap Scandal! to 5 days a week from the current 4 episodes per week, with the first Friday episode going out on the South African free-to-air commercial broadcaster from Friday 5 July.

Despite a complete lack of any kind of communication from e.tv's publicity department to all South Africa's TV writers and critics about upcoming local content changes on the red letter channel, I can tell that e.tv has ramped up its Scandal! episode production to now deliver 5 episodes per week.

e.tv also has a international format game show planned which will be produced in Cape Town, and will also have another celebrity reality show and introduce boxing as a sport which the past few years got marginalised in terms of coverage on the SABC.

I asked e.tv for a possible interview with Monde Twala, e.tv's head of channels earlier in the week; was told he is not in the country.

The eKasi: Our Stories programming strand which started out as 13 episodes per season will increase to 52 episodes per year.

Tech Report on the eNCA on Thursday at 21:30 predicting when you'll die - but also app'ing to add a few years to your life.

Tech Report Thursday 23 May at 21:30 on eNCA (DStv 403) looks the Sony Xperia Z headset, as well as a brand-new app which claims to accurate "predict" when someone might die.

Seth Roterham takes a look at Ignite - an iPhone app which might help you add a few years to your life. The weekly magazine show will also look at the digital music revolution.

And finally, take all the superheroes you can imagine, add the fighting mechanics of Mortal Kombat, bundle it up into a story of epic proportions and you might just get an inkling of what you're in for with DC Comic's Injustice game.

South African government set to legislate exclusive TV rights and secondary TV rights reselling within SA pay-TV industry.

The South African government plans to intervene soon with new regulations in South Africa's lucrative pay-TV industry to basically legislate, through new broadcasting regulator amendmends, pay-TV operator's exclusive TV rights as well as the secondary TV rights reselling of content between broadcasters and between pay-TV operators and broadcasters.

The new regulations will mean that the South African government, through the broadcasting regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), will impose rules - which currently don't exist - placing limits on the exclusive content rights of pay-TV operators, as well as in a sense "forcing" them to resell some of those exclusive rights to other pay-TV operators and/or broadcasters.

Dina Pule, the minister of communications told parliament that Icasa will be issued with a policy directive to address competition inequalities within South Africa's pay-TV and television industry.  The department of communications now wants Icasa to put in place "market definitions" regarding exclusive and so-called "premium" television content.

While public and free-to-air broadcasters can theoretically lock up premium and exclusive TV content as happens elsewhere in the world, its more often pay-TV operators who secure these rights, and first. In South Africa that has left the SABC - through its own inadequacies - as well as the free-to-air commercial broadcaster e.tv, out in the cold.

Currently MultiChoice which operates the DStv satellite pay-TV platform and the pay-TV broadcaster M-Net which also supplies channels to DStv, are the de facto holders of the most and almost all premium TV content for the Southern African region when it comes to entertainment and sports rights.

Rival On Digital Media (ODM) which operates the struggling TopTV satellite pay-TV platform has complained the past three years that it can't start a sports channel or offering because most rights are sewn up by MultiChoice.

However, although MultiChoice also operates elsewhere in Africa, that didn't stop other pay-TV operators in the same countries where MultiChoice is operational, from introducing sports channels and providing premium content through clever self-compiled channels - ZukuTV for instance just launched a new sports channel.

Also, even if new regulations and laws compel MultiChoice and M-Net to resell TV rights and content to other operators and broadcasters, or prevent them from signing exclusivity deals, it remains unlikely that a lot of sport and premium entertainment content willsuddenly show up elsewhere.

The content will never be available for free, meaning rival pay-TV operators and broadcasters will still have to buy the content from each other. Although operators and broadcasters might be compelled by law to make it available and play nice, they might not be in a position to actually afford it.

In addition, in terms of the windows when entertainment rights to premium programming from overseas distributors become available, the window for public and free-to-air broadcasters follows very closely on that of premium pay-TV operators anyway.

Another "secret": Public and free-to-air broadcasters in South Africa can buy a lot of the very same TV sitcoms and dramas as those shown on DStv and M-Net and actually soon after they've started showing - they just choose not to because of price and often wait longer since the licensing rights pricing goes down over time.

It's therefore unlikely that artificially introduced competition curbing rules will lead to South African viewers seeing more or different TV content in more different places.

The "market definitions" might further include other regulatory specifications. TV content resold, for instance live sports coverage of premium sporting events, will come with clauses - it won't be resold as "live" for instance, meaning viewers on a rival operator or broadcaster will only be able to see the content in a so-called "second window" a few hours or a few days later.

TCM turning 20 years old next year not interested in chasing for viewers through programming; can't show every classic movie ever made.

TCM (DStv 137) which will be turning 20 years old next year is actually not interested in getting and chasing viewership for the channel and is not trying to get a broad audience to tune in to the niche channel, Turner Classic Movies revealed at the TCM Classic Film Festival in Los Angeles.

In a TCM panel discussion, channel executives revealed that the classic movies channel is not trying to change the formulae to attract bigger audiences as it nears its 20th anniversary in April 2014.

"We don't get ratings. We're not even allowed to get ratings," said Charlie Tabesh, the vice president of programming for TCM in America who've been with the channel for 16 years. "We're not trying to reach a broad audience. We're not trying to maximize the demo. We're not trying to get the 18-34, whatever it is. There's none of that that's considered at all."

TCM also explained why it can't show every classic movie ever made. TCM only has the (pre-1986) MGM library, the pre-1950 Warner Bros. library, the entire RKO library and some United Artists and a few MGM films (since the two merged for a while). TCM however doesn't have ownership but has to license the movies along with all other films shown on the channel.

"We can't license every classic movie ever made; financially, it's impossible to do that," said Charlie Tabesh.

Zaziwa, a new 26 episode music talk show, starting this evening on SABC1 at 19:00 with presenter Pearl Modiadie.

Zaziwa, a new 26 episode music talk show starts on SABC1 this evening at 19:00, presented by Pearl Modiadie also known as "Black Pearl".

Zaziwa will aim to give viewers a glimpse into the lives of their favourite celebrities through the music which are shaping their lives. The music talk show will feature one-on-one studio interviews with local stars as they discuss with the help of music videos, the sounds and music influencing their lives.

SABC1 says Pearl Modiadie is "the perfect candidate to drive this exciting show to success."

In a statement Pearl Modiadie says "not only am I doing what I love which is television hosting, but I'm also involved in the nitty gritty's behind-the-scenes. This show gives me a chance to connect with my guests on another level and show a different side that they perhaps would otherwise never have seen. I absolutely love music so this show is perfect."

The first episode of Zaziwa profiles actor Melusi Yeni of the SABC1 soap Generations.

Chellomedia of Liberty Global is up for sale for $1 billion; provides several pay-TV channels to DStv and TopTV in South Africa.

Chellomedia, the international satellite pay-TV channels unit of Liberty Global, which provides TV channels which can also be seen in South Africa on MultiChoice's DStv platform as well as On Digital Media's (ODM) TopTV, is up for sale The Wall Street Journal reports.

Chellomedia provides TV channels such as CBS Reality (a joint venture with CBS Studios International), Food Network (joint venture with Scripps Networks Interactive) to DStv and Natura, Fine Living Network (joint venture with Scripps Networks Interactive), JimJam (joint venture with HiT Entertainment) and MGM to TopTV in South Africa.

Liberty Global wants between $800 million to $1 billion for Chellomedia, The Wall Street Journal reports. Chellomedia's revenue was $514 million last year.

StarTimes TV channels in Africa suddenly gone, as StarTimes pay-TV subscribers in Kenya experience a loss of channels with no explanation.

StarTimes - the Chinese TV conglom whose bid of millions to bail-out the beleaguered TopTV in South Africa was accepted by shareholders of the struggling satellite pay-TV operator - is experiencing a disappearing TV channels scandal of its own elsewhere in Africa as almost all of the local TV channels were suddenly inexplicable yanked or for some technical reason no longer available.

Similar to TopTV subscribers which since 2012 saw TV channels simply disappear without any advance warning or any explanation when it happened or afterwards, several TV channels on StarTimes in Kenya - one of the countries where StarTimes is operating a pay-TV business - just went blank.

StarTimes which has swooped in to take control of TopTV in South Africa with a flush of cash and plans for operational, managerial and major structural changes, haven't bothered to explain to StarTimes subscribers in Kenya why the Chinese pay-TV operator now longer has local  TV channels such as Citizen TV, NTV and KTV available on its bouquet.

Just like TopTV, StarTimes subscribers in Kenya have not been given any pro rata discount after suddenly getting less TV and less channels.

Kenya which has a Television Viewers and Radio Listeners Association based in Nairobi, says "We are concerned and disturbed by complaints and concerns we have continuously received concerning StarTimes. We therefore warn all of you to be careful and cautious before purchasing the digital boxes from this company until we are assured that they will provide what they purport to do."

A StarTimes Kenya representative could not be reached.

On its Facebook page StarTimes Kenya simply tells subscribers - without any explanation: "We sincerely apologize for the missing local channels, this is due to unavoidable circumstances which we hope will be resolved as soon as possible for you to continue to enjoy our services. Kindly bear with us."

Digital television in South Africa could get rid of cumbersome and artificial, 'mandatory' set-top box control mechanism; plan to be reviewed.

Sanity appears to finally have come to the South African government and the country's protracted and long-delayed digital terrestrial television (DTT) switch-over, with the government which could soon decide to rather get rid of the highly contentious and bitterly contested set-top box (STB) control-mechanism the government unilaterally forced to be built into new digital TVdecoders for public television.

The minister of communications, Dina Pule, today told parliament that the department of communications will now review the decision which the government forced onto South Africa's TV broadcasting industry - a means of encoding and in effect cutting off public TV signals and making it possible to lock out STB's.

South Africa's long-delayed switch-over to DTT, a process known as digital migration, has partly been stalled because of acrimony, in-fighting, drawn-out regulatory debates and court cases over set-top box control, the set-top box control mechanism and who should control it.

It happened because the switch to DTT - in which the viewer and the ordinary South African television viewer's TV watching experience should be paramount for the switch and adoption to ultimately be successful - got hijacked by the government and business interest which decided to make DTT and digital migration a "job creation" priority.

The past few years as the digital migration process stalled, the focus and emphasis in DTT shifted to set-top box manufacture, how a local STB industry in South Africa can be artificially protected (although South Africa is years behind in both price point, expertise and actual manufacture of a device which is only a temporary measure since its globally built into TV sets automatically), and squabbling over how to be able to turn STBs off and scramble free TV signals to prevent set-top boxes from "leaving" South Africa's borders and from cheaper yet functional imports coming into South Africa.

South Africa is the only country in the world where the government mandated set-top box control and a set-top box control mechanism for public, free-to-air television, raising fears that government or parastatal institutions would be able to decide what and whose set-top box(es) should be turned on or off.

e.tv took the government to court saying South African broadcasters - forced to make allowance for STB control and a STB control mechanism - should at the very least be in control of it and not the government or unilaterally assigned parastatal institutions. The court agreed.

It now appears that the government is considering scrapping STB control and a STB mechanism altogether, which would be in the interest of the ordinary South African consumer and the ordinary South African television viewer.

Without the system built into STBs the set-top boxes would cost less since it will demand less parts and electronic components. The software of a STB control mechanism also requires royalties which also adds to the overall price and which will also no longer be necessary and also help to drop the cost.

Furthermore South Africa won't be locked into a STB locking system the country will never be able to escape. It will also give South African broadcasters one less ongoing concern and technical aspect to run and maintain and South Africa's TV industry one less thing in DTT to have to spend money and resources on.

After finally settling on the DVB-T2 - the right and best standard for DTT - after another drawn-out uncertain process, dumping the mandatory STB control mechanism would be the second correct decision for DTT in South Africa in years.

Dina Pule told parliament today that department will soon be reviewing the mandatory STB control mechanism decision. She said removing STB control from set-top boxes is "one way of fast-tracking the roll-out of digital terrestrial television".

Dina Pule told parliament that the government is "ready to implement the set-top box manufacturing strategy, which requires 30% local content as part of the electronic industry development".

BREAKING. Halo becoming a TV series from Steven Spielberg produced for Microsoft's XBox.

The hugely successful Halo video game is becoming a live-action TV series executive produced by Steven Spielberg specifically for Microsoft's XBox.

The announcement of Halo The Television Series and the video game franchise being turned into a TV science fiction action drama was just made by Microsoft during the launch and unveiling of Microsoft's new XBox One console taking place in America and the United Kingdom at the same time.

Halo will be produced by Steven Spielberg and game maker 343 Studios. The project comes from Nancy Tellem, who runs XBox Entertainment Studios which will now bring the futuristic world of Master Chief to life.

Steven Spielberg says that he is "excited to be involved with the heroes, worlds, and wonders that Halo will take us to." 

"For me, the Halo universe is an amazing opportunity for the intersection of mythmaking and technology."

BREAKING. Microsoft unveils XBox One as its new console; XBox One aiming to be the new entertainment hub for the living room.

Microsoft has unveiled its new XBox One console which the company is positioning as a device to be the new entertainment hub for the living room.

With the new XBox One announcement comes the announcement that Microsoft and Steven Spielberg are teaming up to make Halo The Television Series based on the highly successful Halo videogame franchise.

The XBox One is the latest in line since the XBox was introduced in 2001, followed by the XBox 360 in 2005 with 57,8 million sold since.

"For the first time you and your TV are going to have a relationship," says Microsoft.

The new XBox One has a larger 500GB hard drive, faster processing speed, comes with a live TV tuner, DVD and Blu-Ray player, can do Skype video conference calls and stream videogames through the internet from a cloud.

The XBox One, unveiled after months of speculation, is intended by Microsoft to be an "all in one system" for television, videogames and entertainment in a user's living space.

Vuyo Mbuli's public SABC memorial service Wednesday at 14:00 at the SABC; public very welcome to attend to 'share the life of Vuyo'.

Vuyo Mbuli's public SABC memorial service will take place tomorrow, Wednesday 22 May at 14:00 at the SABC's Auckland Park headquarters and the SABC says members of the public are very welcome to attend the proceedings.

Vuyo Mbuli, co-anchor of the SABC's flagship weekday breakfast show Morning Live on SABC2 died unexpectedly from a heart attack - a pulmonary embolism - on Saturday night.

"We are calling on everyone who wants to be a part of the memorial to come over and let us share the moments and life of Vuyo Mbuli," says the SABC.

Vuyo Mbuli's memorial service to which everyone is invited as a final big goodbye and tribute will take place in the Renaissance Centre at the SABC and his funeral will take place on Friday, 24 May at St John's College in Houghton at 09:00.

SABC plans to pay back the outstanding R220 million of 2009 government bail-out loan by September.

The SABC plans to pay back the outstanding R220 million which the South African public broadcaster owes the South African government by September, Dina Pule, the minister of communications, told parliament.

Dina Pule was reading her budget speech in the National Assembly. In 2009, hovering on the brink of financial collapse, the SABC received a government bail-out of R1,47 billion in the form of a government guaranteed loan from Nedbank.

"The SABC plans to pay the outstanding balance of R220 million within four months," Dina Pule told parliament.

The SABC would however not be able to launch a multitude of new TV channels immediately when South Africa's TV industry moves from analogue to digital broadcasting or digital terrestrial television (DTT), a process known as digital migration and which has been long-delayed.

"The SABC can immediately migrate the existing three TV channels to the DTT platform and launch new channels in due course," said Dina Pule.

She said that corporate governance issues are still hampering the SABC. "I will be consulting with the portfolio committee on communications to explore an urgent review and amendment to the Broadcasting Act," said Dina Pule.

She also wants the minister of communications to have a say in what people gets appointed to the SABC board, although the SABC is a "public broadcaster" and as a government minister such a change to the Broadcasting Act would turn the SABC into a "state broadcaster".

"The minister was not at the interviews, the minister does not know who was interviewed and the kinds of qualifications that these people have, and what the parliamentary committee saw in these members - and when there is a challenge, the minister must answer," said Dina Pule.

Big Brother Africa The Chase to be streamed live for free on the internet across Africa from 26 May.

The 8th season of Big Brother Africa entitled Big Brother Africa The Chase will be streamed live on the internet for free across Africa from Sunday 26 May at 19:00 when the Endemol South Africa produced reality show launches for a new season of 91 days.

Besides being broadcast on channels 197 and 198 on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform viewers across Africa will be able to watch the show through live streaming, requiring only a computer and an internet connection.

Packaged content from Big Brother Africa The Chase will also be shown on the AfricaMagic, AfricaMagic Entertainment and AfricaMagic World channels on DStv with IK Osakioduwa once again be the presenter.

Big Brother Africa The Chase will launch with Nigerian, Kenyan and South African artists performing on Sunday evening 26 May when 28 new contestants from 50 African countries enter the camera house in Johannesburg.

Al Jazeera wants to hear direct pitches from South African documentary makers; Al Jazeera Pitching Forum held in Cape Town on 15 June.

Al Jazeera (DStv 406  / TopTV 401) wants to hear from South African filmmakers on Saturday 15 June in Cape Town when two commissioning editors from the 24-hour news channel want to hear and listen to pitches from African filmmakers who will have 5 minutes to pitch their film.

Two commissioning editors from Al Jazeera will be in Cape Town on 15 June at the Protea Breakwater Lodge at the V&A Waterfront and host an Al Jazeera Pitching Forum session during the Encounters film festival.

This is the second year in a row that the news channel is reaching out directly in South Africa straight to documentary producers for content they can pitch straight to decision makers.

Each person will have a maximum of 5 minutes to pitch their film, with an additional 10 minutes for feedback and questions from the Al Jazeera panel. Visual aids will be provided for those who have DVD's or presentations.

People who want to make a submission need to email Nikissi Serumaga at manager@encounters.co.za before 16:00 on Monday 27 May and people need to be available for a one-day pitching workship on Friday 14 June. Selections will be confirmed by Friday 31 May.

People who want to make a pitch need to submit before 27 May to the email address a one-page synopsis of their film, a one-page biography of the filmmaker and include contact details.

The Al Jazeera Pitching Forum will be done by Dominique Young and Diarmuid Jeffreys.

Dominique Young is a senior producer based in Al Jazeera's English bureau in London. He commissions a wide range of documentaries on African and Middle Eastern subject matter for broadcast on the channel's flagship documentary strand Witness.

Witness broadcasts one 25 minute film and one 48 minute film each week and stories are character led, first-person stories set within the context of the daily news agenda.

Diarmuid Jeffreys is an award-winning journalist and television producer and has been an executive producer at Al Jazeera English since 2008, and is now based in Doha. He's responsible for the People & Power investigative current affairs programme and a range of other documentaries.