Saturday, March 14, 2015

Today's interesting TV stories to read from TV with Thinus - 14 March 2015


Mail & Guardian was wrong with its 'more Zuma coverage on SABC' story.
M&G's independent ombudsman says newspaper was "clearly in the wrong" over its "ANC tells SABC to show Zuma more love" story which isn't an accurate report of what happened at a workshop.

SABC blackout of Sundowns soccer on Saturday.
SABC doesn't have the budget to show the CAF match between Sundowns and TP Mazembe today.


Kathy Griffin was about to be fired from Fashion Police.
Then she quit before the ax came down. E! Entertainment's (DStv 124) behind-the-scenes scandal continues as Kathy says she threatened for weeks, at least 3 times, to quit. Here's the secret email she sent to her friends asking for their support on Twitter after she made the announcement.
Is it time for Fashion Police to end? E! is apparently considering just that as the damaging fallout grows.
Entertainment Tonight goes "inside" Kathy's decision to quit, Kathy was fighting with newcomer Brad Koreski behind the scenes, how Joan Rivers' death crippled" E!'s now sinking show and finally, how Kathy didn't "vibe" according to insiders and didn't have creative control.


Police arrest 4 men over mugging of SABC journalists.
Police still looking for one more man over the armed robbery of SABC's Vuyo Mvoko. Meanwhile the site near the Milpark hospital where the SABC crew was robbed is a notorious crime hotspot.

With Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) government can cut the TV signal.
Communication minister's spokesperson says with DTT "the government can go to Sentech and close off the signal if it wants to".

Forbes on why the BBC should fire Jeremy Clarkson.
Has commercialisation of the BBC gone too far? Meanwhile Top Gear won't be scrapped if Jeremy Clarkson is sacked. Upcoming Top Gear global live shows, including the one to be held in South Africa, now in doubt.


3 000 people have signed petition against DStv's price hikes from April in Zambia.
MultiChoice Zambia under siege from furious DStv subscribers according to the Lusaka Times.
Meanwhile Zambia's Consumer Competition and Protection Commission (CCPC) says there's nothing it can do about DStv increasing it prices. The 20% DStv price hike is emotional but part of TV economics, says this columnist.
In Botswana MultiChoice denies "corporate arrogance" over controversial price hike after meeting with DStv subscribers, apparently MultiChoice "flaunts its monopoly". Meanwhile DStv subscribers in Nigeria allege "exploitation" over the 1 April DStv subscription increase.


Hollywood roots for the success of Entertainment Weekly.
Apparently Hollywood wants the weekly entertainment magazine covering the entertainment biz to succeed, says new editorial director.

Maria Menounos apparently basking in the negative press Giuliana Rancic is getting.
Maria is now anchoring eNews on E! Entertainment (DStv 124) is the place of Giuliana who is in Australia and of course mired in a public relations nightmare; Maria is apparently "thrilled" over the Fashion Police drama which is working in her favour.

A 5th of people in America watching TV online use other people's passwords.
Parents give their video-on-demand (VOD) passwords to their children.

Netflix now outspends HBO, BBC and Discovery when it comes to TV content.
Only Sky spends more, mostly driven by sports rights.

M-Net's local interest channels director talks.
Nkateko Mabaso talks about his role and creating local TV content.

Canada is lowering its regulations for local content on TV.
Is also axing protection for speciality TV channels.

South Africa's StarSat is now in Malawi.
Quietly making headway selling StarSat subscriptions since 8 January 2015.