Monday, June 15, 2015

Today's interesting stories from TV with Thinus - 15 June 2015.


The science of TV spoilers.
How Game of Thrones spoilers actually lead to an increase in viewership; why hearing TV spoilers beforehand actually improves viewing.

Soccer broadcasting drama when Afcon refs are late.
Moving of match time hours later on Saturday impacted the SABC and SuperSport after referees didn't arrive from Madagascar in Durban as scheduled and which saw the Bafana match against Gambia moved from 15:00 to 19:00.

TV news reporters in America under siege from profanity.
Growing trend of people in the background running into TV reporters' live shots shouting explicit vulgarities and swearing on live television.

Shocking BBC financials show it spends less than half of its cash on actually making programmes.
Staggering waste at the BBC, like £230 000 spent on tea, £9 914 on liquor - with 100 staff members at the British Broadcasting Corporation earning more than the British prime minister.

Children's television is the last frontier in the clash of pay-TV empires.
The BBC, Sky, Netflix and others are all now battling to gain younger viewers on various platforms beyond the traditional TV set.

R5 million given to president Jacob Zuma's daughter's SABC1 soapie Uzalo.
Wanted R11,5 million for the KwaMashu based production, but got R5 million in the "begging bowl" from the eThekwini municipality since the SABC's R52 million for the first season of 156 episodes is apparently completely "insufficient".

How the pay-TV bundle came to be, and where it is perhaps going.
The Wall Street Journal on how pay-TV bundling has been the biggest "forced private subsidisation" imposed by TV programmers, and what the future holds for subscription television bundling a lot of TV channels together.

The symbolism of the depiction of the male body in TV drama.
What does the depiction of the male body in shows like Outlander (M-Net Edge) and Poldark (ITV Choice) signify? It actually symbolises landscape, region, nationality and territory.