E! Entertainment (DStv 124) tells TV with Thinus it is definitely now also trying and working on narrowing the gap or broadcasting window between the start of shows and episodes in the United States, and that content starting and being shown on E! across Africa and South Africa.
The Escape Club is starting as a new reality series on E! Entertainment in South Africa this coming Sunday, 22 June at 21:00 - a new show which just started in the United States on 8 June.
It means South African viewers get to see the series just two episodes behind American viewers.
E! Entertainment tells me that the channel "seeks to premiere selected content on E! closer to the domestic (United States) premiere dates wherever possible, in line with our long term planning strategy".
Quicker - much quicker - is definitely shaping up to be one of the defining trends of the year for South African television, as TV channels - led by M-Net (DStv 101) - is dramatically, and very successfully, narrowing the gap between the start of foreign TV content being shown overseas and it becoming available here.
From BET, Sony Entertainment Television (SET), FOX and M-Net Series Showcase to Disney Channel have quietly but definitely worked to narrow the lag time between some of its signature programming shown in the United States, and locally in South Africa.
TV channels which should be part of this group - now that its been shown that it can work and that it is possible, and has done some work but should be doing more to bring shows fresher, is BBC Worldwide's BBC Entertainment, Discovery Channel, StarSat's Star One and Star Series E1.
Of course the SABC has done nothing and needs to radically attempt to start the process of bringing SABC3 as a public commercial TV channel back to what it once was, and SABC2 can also do with help.
Both channels from the public broadcaster have a smattering of international TV shows, but which are heavily dated series.
