BREAKING. SABC1 dumps broadcast of The Royalty Soapie Awards in a late night timeslot; miffed at having to promote Mzansi Magic's Isibaya.

SABC1 has dumped the broadcast of The Royalty Soapie Awards in a late night timeslot of 22:00, and on a weeknight just before an Easter long weekend - hoping for the smallest possible audience for the must-show telecast in which it will reluctantly have to promote M-Net and Mzansi Magic's (DStv 161) soap Isibaya.

After the organisers originally announcing a broadcasting time of 20:30 on SABC1 on a Sunday, TV with Thinus broke the news last month that that was not going to happen - the SABC said there was no agreement for broadcasting it on that Sunday - and definitely not at 20:30.

Now SABC1 will burn off The Royalty Soapie Awards - which basically amounts to a free television publicity blitz on the SABC's biggest TV channel for M-Net's black soap Isibaya on Mzansi Magic - late night this Thursday.

The Royalty Soapie Awards will be shown - unlike The MetroFM Awards, the Saftas, the Samas, the Mamas or the South African Sports Awards - far outside of prime time and when TV viewers have checked out for television and checked in for the Easter long weekend - the one long weekend in the year besides Christmas when TV viewing plummets.

The Royalty Soapie Awards will be shown Thursday, 17 April at 22:00 - the SABC has to since it came onboard as a sponsor - but isn't going to promote the Durban based soap award show in the way it would have it SABC soaps, or SABC1's Generations, won more or the bulk of the awards.