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I hear that Popstars coming to e.tv soon would have remained, and would-have, could-have, should-have been on SABC1. But . . . no money. A brokeback SABC1 saw Popstars hop to rival e.tv in an unexpected broadcaster sitch where the free to air broadcaster is now super silent but plans to launch nationwide Popstars auditions in August.
On Wednesday I broke the news exclusively RIGHT HERE that e.tv is planning to resurrect and broadcast Popstars soon which set of a completely flurry within the industry - the biggest question being: why the resurrection of such an ''old'' format, and why suddenly e.tv and not Popstars on SABC1?
Insider sources across the SABC not attached to a particular channel has now told me that Popstars was indeed pitched to the SABC and SABC1 (the show used to be on SABC3 but then shifted for later seasons to SABC1). ''No money,'' a source tells me as to why SABC1 had to/decided to pass. ''It was during the money crunch and absolutely nothing got greenlit,'' another insider tells me. Other SABC insiders expressed great surprise at my news when I told them that Popstars will now be going to e.tv. Some already fielded calls over the past few months from producers and industry workers who thought that Popstars was returning to SABC1 - but confused SABC workers had to (honestly) say that they don't know about it and were then confused to. Now it's all starting to make sense.
''Shocking,'' said one. ''Unexpected but you can't blame them for taking the show to another broadcaster who then happened to be receptive,'' says another. In the meantime e.tv is keeping its Popstars plans tightly under wraps, hoping that it can revive the reality format looking for a group as opposed to one star, after an absence of quite a number of years from South African TV screens.
