It's the news I broke that has South Africa's entire TV industry abuzz: SABC3 immediately killing off All My Children and replacing the suffering soap from 2012 with The Nate Berkus Show.
Is there any change another broadcaster could take over the beleaguered soap that SABC3 shifted all over the schedule and into more timeslots than Dali Thambo had people in the south?
Here's the top contenders for an All My Children take-over, and last week while I worked this story, TV with Thinus asked them if they would possibly grab the Pine Valley people and give All My Children a South African television reprieve. The most likely channels to take over and continue All My Children, would be e.tv, M-Net, M-Net Series (DStv 110) and Top One (TopTV 150).
''e.tv has no interest in All My Children,'' says Monde Twala, e.tv's head of channels. e.tv already has The Young & the Restless and dumped Passions a few years ago. ''The soap is not in line with the content strategy for 2012,'' he says.
''No. We won't be taking over All My Children,'' Gugu Sibeko, the vice president for local content at TopTV tells me. ''However we are already in conversation with other suppliers regarding the possibility of an international soap that could work for TopTV,'' she says.
M-Net and M-Net Series haven't responded yet - but the pay broadcaster says it's because they don't have an answer yet. Mmm. Interesting, because at least All My Children fans are not getting an outright ''no''. ''We will let you know as soon as we can,'' says M-Net.
With the door not completely closed on Erica Kane and company - there's about 4 years left to see of All My Children. A South African broadcaster who picks up the show, gives it a good timeslot and keeps the show stable, might get the viewership benefit that's eluded SABC3 with cricket-crazy pre-emptions, erratic timeslot moves, zero publicity and exposure, and very little love.
All My Children has a (small but never really allowed to grow) dedicated audience that might be beneficially for a South African broadcaster that shows All My Children some love.
