MSNBC is doing what it refers to as a "vanilla feed" in South Africa and elsewhere internationally, since MSNBC shows 2012 Olympic Games coverage in America which is doesn't have the rights to broadcast in South Africa or elsewhere.
In May I reported RIGHT HERE that MSNBC will have to find replacement programming for the 155,5 hours which the 24 hour American news channel planned to show from the end of July and in August in America. Since it's not feasible to have long stretches of a blacked out screen, MSNBC is substituting the massive Olympic Games broadcasting timeslots with other content for South Africa and other countries.
It's now clear why MSNBC wasn't willing to divulge and tell upfront what programming exactly it was going to be substituting its Olympic Games coverage with in South Africa and elsewhere - because it's rebroadcast TV trash.
MSNBC calls its alternative non-Olympics feed seen in South Africa its "vanilla feed" - meaning bland, basic ... and basically boring.
In August the MSNBC "vanilla feed" schedule is filled with countless hours of mindless programming.
Wednesday 1 August boasts 9 consecutive hours of MSNBC Investigates - The Squeeze, a documentary series about crime in Chicago.
Thursday 2 August has another 9 consecutive hours of filler content and another one hour stand-alone documentary ranging from Born in the Wrong Body to Runaways.
Friday 3 August has another hour of filler and another 9 hours of consecutive filler content made up out of Lockup: Pendleton (a prison documentary series) and Lockup: Raw (another incarnation of the prison series).
On Saturday 4 August MSNBC takes trash-rehash to a whole new level. South African viewers are dished up 11 consecutive hours of Lockup: Wabash, Lockup: Raw and then another 10 consecutive hours of Caught on Camera and more Lockup. Basically the whole day besides two hours will not be news coverage (and those two news hours - Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews will be repeats as well) and consist out of repeat third rate documentaries.
Sunday 5 August has more "vanilla feed"for South Africa from MSNBC: Another 11 consecutive hours of MSNBC DocuMystery investigating perplexing non-relatable trash with subtitles such as "Death and the dentist", "Vegas Undercover", "Reality Undercover", "The Kindness of Strangers" and "Crime Never Sleeps". Later Sunday there's another 10 consecutive hours of Caught on Camera, Lockup and MSNBC Undercover.
This weekly pattern of terrible substitute programming on MSNBC will continue for the duration of the 2012 Olympic Games, making MSNBC - supposedly a TV news channel - excrusiatingly unwatchable in South Africa and entirely missable without missing out on anything.
