M-Net had its ''State of the Station'' address today - the South African pay broadcaster's about-twice-a-year rollcall staff con - where everyone at the blue ''M'' is brought up to date with what M-Net is busy with, working on, planning, and the general status quo of various matters ranging from programming, to human resources matters.
Not that much to report on this specific M-Net ''State of the Station'' after I've spent a large chunk of the day talking to various M-Net insiders, but this one is slightly more significant since it follows a few weeks before M-Net's official big 25th birthday happening on 1 October.
I'm told a big party is coming for all M-Net staff - round about 3 000 people I would guess - which is a nice gesture from the company to the people who've built this TV business the past two and a half decades starting from cargo containers in 1986. I've specifically asked, and everyone I spoke to are happy and there isn't really any gripes. The M-Net staff party is likely to take place on 24 October at the Ulwasi Centre.
(Four different birthday events for M-Net's 25th anniversary is coming by the way I'm told - the one for M-Net staff which will most likely include MultiChoice and DStv people, one for media and press, one executive thing and one trade and advertiser event for sponsors, ad buyers and supporters.)
In line with the 25th birthday at M-Net there's also big excitement about a special 25th birthday campaign coming, most likely from end of September/start of October. ''It will include celebrities from the past 25 years and faces of familiar people closely tied to the M-Net brand,'' one person told me. ''It's quite a big thing. Everyone's very excited,'' said another. It reiterates part of what I wrote about RIGHT HERE in August and the special promos M-Net was filming in July.
Staff were also told that M-Net's special interest channels division - all those M-Net channels like kykNET, mk, Vuzu and Mzansi Magic for instance - will be getting a name change to ''local interest channels. Look out for the public ''announcement'' if there is to be one, soon.
M-Net is also going to invest in, or is investing in more leadership programmes (new HR director since July who came over from MultiChoice!) which M-Net staff are all happy about. Digital terrestrial television (DTT) and M-Net's plans for multichannels from 2012, the State of the Station get-together didn't really address.
One big programming thing is the telenovella of John Kani that Mzansi Magic (DStv 107) will start to broadcast in 2012. Of course readers of TV with Thinus will know all about that since April already when I spilled that news RIGHT HERE. I can break the news that the working title of Desire has so-far been changed to Pride & Desire. Mzansi Magic is also doing Miss Teen and Miss South Africa as live events.
