AfricaCast 2011: If you see someone getting grabbed by the balls, you must be at a TV industry summit. And which exec is a content pirate?

It's all about VOD, 3D, STB, DTH, VAS (sadly, no VHS) and even a little bit of SABC at the two day AfricaCast 2011 TV summit in Cape Town where the who's who of the African continent's TV executives are gathering.

But AfricaCast 2011, although jam-packed with sessions, keynote speakers and panel discussions is anything but boring.

For instance.

Who is the high-flying executive who is probably blatantly into content piracy? The said executive had no qualms telling delegates that the person ''download movies'', saying ''I often keep my computer on overnight because download speeds are so slow it takes about 6 hours to download a movie''. It wasn't during cocktail banter, it was said during the actual, official presentation.

Then there is the executive who shared a delightful story. The executive's son watched his first movie but stood in front of the television. The boy's hands was on the TV set, and it was clear he wanted to talk to the person in the movie. Why? The first time, and previously when the executive's son saw people on a screen it was through Skype. The first interaction with a person on a screen had the person responding - so that is what the boy wanted to happen. The executive said the new generation of TV children are immediately conditioned that when they see a person on a screen, that person talks back and responds to you.

Another high-ranking TV executive worked his own building access card into his own presentation. Another showed a photo in his presentation of Brian Habana fully grabbed by the balls during a rugby match to illustrate a point of how rough and vexing a certain industry issue is.

Yes, the TV industry is indeed tough out there.