You're reading it here first.
M-Net viewers are already complaining bitterly to me since yesterday and today about M-Net's The Event countdown clock counter buzzing in the corner of their TV screens. But the pay broadcaster is shaking up the status quo by further closing the broadcasting window between America and South Africa and is making sure viewers know about it.
Early in September I broke the news RIGHT HERE that M-Net has secured the broadcasting rights to The Event that kicked off in America last week with the first episode and will be starting this week on M-Net. (''Today its two days because yesterday the irritating buzz block said three days,'' a reader told me this morning - so M-Net's buzz-o-countdown-clock is having the desired effect.)
To help combat piracy in a digital world, cash in on global buzz and just do it because they can, M-Net will be showing The Event a mere 36 hours later in South Africa after episodes air in America. Currently South Africa will be a few days behind (9) America, but will catch up dramatically when the American Superbowl causes The Event to skip a week.
The Event grabbed 12,2 million viewers last week in America and is off to a great start. Even better - because even American viewers don't know what the event of The Event is yet by the end of the first episode (MASSIVE shocking final scene!). So in a wonderful the mystery remains for M-Net viewers as well, since the channel is showing it while the narrative of the show is playing out in au courant popular culture.
The Event has been snapped up by 200 countries Variety was first to report last week which includes M-Net. ''It's a great achievement for us to be able to broadcast The Event as part of NBC's worldwide release. It has been made possible by the latest broadcast technology which allows us to acquire HD files through a state-of-the-art new file delivery service,'' says Pierre Cloete, M-Net's channel head.
