I exclusively broke the news RIGHT HERE last month that the Saftas will be back on television this year and be shown on SABC3 on Sunday 11 March - now I can tell you that the NFVF, custodian of the awards and SABC3 are in a tizzy as the two-day awards ceremony organized into non-fiction and then fiction on the second day, had to change dates and make it one day earlier from 10 and 11 March, to 9 and 10 March.
SABC3 planned and agreed with the NFVF to broadcast the 2012 Saftas delayed live - which might now not happen, or will force SABC3 to cut up and change it schedule
This is exactly why broadcasters (SABC3 which would have shown the fiction category evening on 11 March will have to amend their schedule for 10 and 11 March now) balk at the could-be-organised-better awards which last year wasn't broadcast on South African television at all.
Last year like the preceding years, the Saftas delivered the usual chorus of criticism about journalists who were shut out, told to sit outside, an overbooked venue, an event that started late, stretched way longer over time, and of course dubious production values.
I'm told that the NFVF just informed SABC3 that the Saftas are moving one day earlier because 11 March is no longer suitable. While neither the NFVF nor SABC3 have officially announced the 2012 Saftas TV deal, I'm told that the venue management told the NFVF all the rigging and equipment has to be gone on the night of 11 March. Since that's impossible, it means the NFVF moved the ceremony (with exactly a month to go today and invites haven't even gone out yet!) one day earlier.
I can reveal that the NFVF is set to announce the nominees and the SABC3 broadcasting deal this coming Thursday 16 February. SABC3 had to decide to either keep its 2012 Saftas broadcast on 11 March but turn it from delayed live to a recorded broadcast, or keep it a delayed live broadcast but then move it to 10 March as well requiring a major schedule revamp. The TV biz will find out on Thursday what exactly SABC3 decided to do.
