Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Today's interesting TV stories to read from TV with Thinus - 14 October 2015


■ New show Quantico on Vuzu AMP (DStv 114) gets a full season order.
There will now be 19 episodes in the first season of the new Priyanka Chopra drama and it could even be increased further to 22 to get to a traditional episode number for a season.

■ Dominion on M-Net Edge (DStv 102) cancelled.
Defiance's cancellation is likely next. Viewership dropped by almost half (47%) for the show that was filmed in South Africa by Film Afrika.

■ Beauty and the Beast on M-Net (DStv 101) cancelled.
Upcoming 4th season will be its last. It's never been much of a ratings performer.

■ The ANC has lost faith in Faith Muthambi.
The minister of communications further derailed the mess that was and is supposed to be digital terrestrial television (DTT). The ANC shows "the most public anger expressed at any serving minister since 1994".

■ You can now add ShowMax to your Mweb subscription
The video-on-demand (VOD) service of Naspers is getting bundled with its internet service provider service.

■ Trevor Noah of The Daily Show once again accused of stealing a joke.
The Comedy Central (DStv 122) star apparently again stole an exact replica of a decades-old joke of Dave Chapelle.

■ eNCA (DStv 403) anchor Joanne Joseph interview.
She talks to The Media about her new book, her short temper, human stories and shares advice for female journalists.

■ How the public broadcasting television system in the United Kingdom is under threat like never before.

■ The new 2 minute tralailer for upcoming fantasy series, The Shanarra Chronicles.
No response on a media enquiry from Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa) on whether the new series it will be on MTV on MultiChoice's DStv from 2016 or on an M-Net channel like what happened with Teen Wolf and Vuzu AMP.

■ Why do we say someone is "on" TV, but "in" a movie?
The lexicon explained: TV is this ongoing thing, while a movie is a contained thing.

■ Russia Today (RT) is getting its budget slashed as Russia's economy falters.
The Russian TV news channel seen on MultiChoice's DStv (DStv 407) has gone into propaganda drive again over Russia's bombing of Syria. The channel's budget is being cut by 9% amid the faltering Russian economy.
- RT actually pays TV platforms like DStv to carry the news channel instead of being paid carriage fees as this Foxtel story from earlier in the year in Australia reveals.