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, provides a constant stream of unprofessional on-air incompetence putting SABC News (DStv 404), the South African public broadcaster's new 24-hour TV news channel to shame when it comes to the race for bottom of the barrel television news quality.

Imtiaz Patel, MultiChoice's group CEO said on Wednesday evening that the satellite pay-TV satellite platform has "stringent quality controls" for the news channel and that MultiChoice was happy with the test broadcasts it saw before ANN7 launched its broadcast on Wednesday evening.



Commentators pegged ANN7, South Africa's third 24-hour TV news channel to be wedged between the established eNCA (DStv 403) and SABC News (DStv 404).

It's now very clear that ANN7 is even worse than SABC News as far as ongoing on-screen ineptitude and amateur unprofessionalism is concerned.

ANN7 news readers are unable to read properly. ANN7 news readers are unable to pronounce words and names correctly. ANN7 news readers keeps making cringeworthy mistakes.

It's highly embarrassing for ANN7 which clearly doesn't have any better people with which to replace the inexperienced talent causing the mishaps.

There's a very big, and a very real, difference between one or two accidental mistakes, and an ongoing sistemic problem with quality. If you're a 24-hour TV news channel like ANN7 on DStv and people tune in to rather laugh and watch to see incompetence, instead of the news, then you have a problem.



ANN7 wanted to do a 24-hour news channel but seems incapable of doing it correctly. How can South African viewers trust the news if the basic on-air delivery - filled with amateur news readers and technical snafus - is so far below acceptable standards?

ANN7 already started with perception problems being called "Gupta News" and GuptaTV". Doing a messy trash job of launching and running a 24-hour TV channel isn't going to build credibility or to help change perceptions that ANN7 is a quality TV news channel.