■ Disney is developing a Descendants sequel
The movie about the teenager of iconic Disney villains did so well globally The Walt Disney Company is doing another one with all the same on-air talent and crew.
■ The party is finally over for Empire.
It's viewership is still huge but the ratings now keep dropping weekly for the second season of Empire on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131).
■ The SABC and SABC Sport can't spell.
Aggressive SABC Sport lashes out, shows its incompetence to properly talk to people after using "hilites". Its "derogatory response" goes viral.
■ ANN7's 2nd South African of the Year Awards 2015 the "weirdest awards thing ever".
ANN7 (DStv 405) didn't want to invite media to the SATY2015 which turned out to be an embarrassing mess and "trending" after Jason Derulo asked South Africans if they can speak English.
"Guptavision" SATY's was a "local version of Great Leader-loving North Korean state television" says Daily Maverick.
■ Criminal case of alleged fraud opened against On Digital Media (ODM) and StarSat.
Shareholder Mergan Moodley alleges that On Digital Media executives and current owner StarTimes Media SA colluded defraud original ODM shareholders in the troubled pay-TV venture during the business rescue process the struggling operator is still in.
■ Shortlisting of candidates for SABC board set for next month.
Parliament's portfolio committee for communications could have a shortlist ready by November for three long-vancant seats on the unstable SABC board after minister of communications Faith Muthambi intervened to get rid of people who disagreed with the appointment of the matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng as COO.
- Meanwhile the ANC is on the verge of firing Faith Muthambi.
- Meanwhile Faith Muthambi and her spokesperson Mish Molakeng are completely silent on why Hlaudi Motsoeneng has not been suspended if he's facing a disciplinary hearing.
- ANC wants to use encryption of digital terrestrial television (DTT) set-top boxes (STBs) to "weaken MultiChoice's monopoly".
- Meanwhile parliamentary committee chairperson Joyce Moloi-Maropa has resigned over the chaos wrought by Faith Muthambi, but she doesn't want to talk about her resignation. She met "serious challenges beyond what I can carry" she writes in her resignation letter.
■ Primetime viewership in America has fallen another massive 8%
The outdated Nielsen measuring system simply isn't capturing all viewers watching TV and what they're watching and its damaging the American TV industry.
■ Latest AMPS: South Africa DStv viewership is up while SABC and e.tv ratings are down.
South African Audience Research Foundation: In total television remains unchanged, but "significant losses in viewership" for both the SABC and e.tv. SABC2 is "trending downwards", SABC3 is "okay". DStv has "grown significantly".
- Viewership of DStv BoxOffice has also "gone up significantly" while SA cinema attendance plunges.
■ Was the Consumer Protection Council's raid on MultiChoice in Nigeria too heavy-handed?
What exactly does the CPC want to do with the personal information of thousands of DStv subscribers that was seized last week in the raid on MultiChoice Nigeria's headquarters?
- Is politics and competitors involved in the raid on MultiChoice since there's growing fear in the industry that rivals may be using the CPC to attack MultiChoice's market dominance?
- See photos from the raid on MultiChoice Nigeria as police and journalists went along.
- MultiChoice Nigeria was "engulfed in a rowdy scene" causing embarrassment to MultiChoice as shocked DStv subscribers were shut out.
■ Environmental affairs show 50/50 on the SABC wins 2 awards
at the Kudu Awards.
■ Cosatu calls the SABC's famously matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng "a leadership problem"
Controversial Hlaudi Motsoeneng is a leadership problem "the public broadcaster failed to handle" and that it shows "no leadership when you hear a COO say in public that he did not increase his own salary," says Cosatu.
- Meanwhile Hlaudi Motsoeneng warns the South African courts ...
■ Defiance seen on M-Net Edge (DStv 102) cancelled.
Science fiction show which became cheap is done after its 3rd season.
■ Rookie Blue seen on Universal Channel (DStv 117) cancelled after 6 seasons.
The Canadian TV cop drama produced by Shaw Media lost its executive producer anyway.
South Africa has telenovela fever.
The SABC, e.tv and M-Net's Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) are all making local telenovelas - shows that's supposed to end. But then those that become popular are continued, robbing viewers of a definite ending because TV channels can't bear to lose something successful.
■ Shocker: Why your monthly pay-TV subscription keeps going up
While the relative price of TV sets, computers, audio equipment and everything else keeps dropping. With a graph.
TV TRANSFORMED
The New York Times has a special TV coverage section with all the articles in it really well worth the read:
■ From Wasteland to Wonderland - TV's altered landscape.
There's still a mountain of junk on TV but there's also a lot more dazzling television to watch.
■ Unwrapping the pay-TV TV bundle.
Be careful what you ask for - breaking down your pay-TV subscription to pay for just the channels you want will end up costing you the same, or more, while you get less content.
■ Watching for the programming apocalypse.
With the avalanche of TV programming and shows being made, is the TV bubble about to burst?
■ New twists for the TV plot
Viewers have watched so much television that they can guess plots now. It forces TV makers to change the way they structure plots and to become even more creative.
■ Social media takes TV back in time.
Social media is making TV more communal - the way it actually used to be.
