Oubaas out at 7de Laan as actor Pierre van Pletzen is leaving the SABC2 soap; character won't get divorced or die, says producers.

Oubaas is out at 7de Laan with actor Pierre van Pletzen who played the iconic character for 17 years, leaving the Danie Odendaal Productions weekday soap in early August after he was unceremoniously fired by the production company after years of loyal service.

The producers of the weekday Afrikaans soap told TVwithThinus that the character of Septimus van Zyl, known as Oubaas ("Old Boss") that lives in a flat in Hillside Heights in the fictional Hillside suburb in Johannesburg and who is married to Hilda (Annelisa Weiland) is being written out of the show but that the character won't get divorced or die.

The extremely well-liked and highly regarded Pierre van Pletzen (65) who also used to be one of the directors of the soap until 2016 when he was prevented from continuing in a dual on-set role due to newly enforced SABC rules, will leave the soap and film his last scene on 14 August.

Since the soap films episodes some months in advance, the final scenes with Oubaas, known for his mixed metaphors, will only be broadcast on SABC2 in the latter part of 2017 during the 19th season.

The veteran actor, director and musician Pierre van Pletzen is one of the last remaining original actors and characters left who has been with the soap since its inception on SABC2 in 2000 - but now he has been fired as well.

The production company said "as of 14 August Pierre van Pletzen won't form part of the 7de Laan cast" and that "on his exit he won't be killed nor divorced from Hilda. We don't have immediate plans for his character but the possibility always exists for him to come and visit for a story arc."

The production company gave no reasons for why Pierre van Pletzen was let go.

"Pierre has been a valuable part of 7de Laan for many years. His contribution is highly appreciated.We will not be saying goodbye to Pierre as he will be visiting from time to time."

Meanwhile the bulk of the South Africa's viewers and even the local TV fraternity are completely unaware of the extremely hard-working Pierre van Pletzen's unofficial South African and Afrikaans television "Guinness Book of Records"-like achievement.

This month Pierre van Pletzen became the first artist to appear on three different and competing TV channels simultaneously, starring in three different Afrikaans shows, in different roles.

He's the first and so far only person to appear on SABC2, the Afrikaans lifestyle channel VIA (DStv 147) and the Afrikaans entertainment channel kykNET (DStv 144) at the same time in first-run productions.

Besides his role in the Afrikaans soap 7de Laan on SABC2, the veteran performer can also be seen as a bumbling university academic in the new Afrikaans comedy Phil 101 on kykNET and as himself in the new Afrikaans reality music series, Die Ooms se Band on VIA setting up a new band called Harrebaard with Frank Opperman.

The more on-screen appearances and more work in different shows Pierre van Pletzen did the past few months besides just 7de Laan are in fact a direct result of what happened behind the scenes at the soap.

While the SABC's now fired Hlaudi Motsoeneng in 2016 as chief operating officer (COO) kept publicly touting how he's creating a better dispensation for artists and actors, behind the scenes the public broadcaster made things much worse and more difficult for creatives and production companies.

The SABC ordered shows like 7de Laan to end the practice of "double dipping" where people could fulfill and be paid for more than one role. Pierre van Pletzen subsequently lost the directing part of his job at Danie Odendaal Productions that abruptly saw his income halved.

On orders from the SABC to broadly "revitalise" the soap, the older character actors like Pierre van Pletzen, Anneliza Weiland and Annelize van der Ryst (Matrone) in 7de Laan also saw their contracts being changed from permanent to so-called "on call" actors that also had a negative impact.

According to insiders, the multi-tasking and skilled Pierre van Pletzen, known among his colleagues for often taking catnaps on sets in-between filming, won't struggle to find new work opportunities and will likely be snapped up for new acting and directing work at other Afrikaans soaps and productions.

After illegal 'boosted Facebook posts' the second season finale of The Voice South Africa on M-Net will see a structure change.

After illegal "boosted Facebook posts" that could have resulted in more votes for certain contestants, the second season live finale of The Voice South Africa on M-Net (DStv 101) will see a structure change for the now top-heavy last episode that is still set for 9 July.

M-Net's The Voice South Africa reality singing show recalled the last two ditched contestants for this Sunday's episode and also won't be voting any contestant out this coming Sunday after yet another voting fiasco has derailed the carefully planned structure of the pay-TV broadcaster's second season.

In the third voting misfire to hit and negatively impact the South African version of the African Media & Production Network (AMPN) produced show based on the international Talpa format - two during the fateful first season and now also marring the second season - M-Net decided to halt this week's voting.

Voting for The Voice South Africa will only resume on Sunday night.

Hours before Tuesday night's 22:00 cut off, M-Net abruptly scuppered the viewer voting for this week and decided to disregard hundreds of thousands of viewers votes due to irregularities regarding alleged paid-for marketing votes that could potentially have skewed the results.

The Voice South Africa invited the ousted contestants Luke Lovemore and PJ Pretorius back, but on Thursday still didn't know if one, or both, would accept to return to perform in Sunday show and the finale.

It means that Sunday's show could have 6 or 7 contestants, with 6 or 7 contestants in the finale on 9 July as well, instead of the originally envisioned 4.

"M-Net has given Luke Lovemore and PJ Pretorius, the two talent in The Voice SA who left the show during the voting periods in which the boosted Facebook posts occured, the option to return to the show," the pay-TV broadcaster told TVwithThinus on Wednesday.

"We are not in the position yet to confirm whether they will be coming back, or not."

"The final of the series will still take place on Sunday, 9 July," said M-Net, confirming that M-Net is "relooking the running orders for the semi-final and final, not only because of the possible return of the two previously voted-off talent, but also because nobody from the last voting period will be going home."

Asked how M-Net and AMPN will ensure or be able to ascertain what votes are credible and countable going forward and which votes not, M-Net said "there is no question whether the votes cast during all the voting periods were valid".

"The vote results were independently computed by Deliotte and Touche and confirmed against the vote results determined by M-Net".

"The question was whether there was misconduct around the boosting of posts, which talent is not allowed to do," said M-Net.

"Despite our best efforts, we could not determine whether the boosted posts, gave anyone an unfair advantage or disadvantage. Therefore, we believe the fairest option under these unusual circumstances was to not send someone from the Top 5 home and extend an invitation to the two talent who left the shows during the affected voting periods to return to the show."

M-Net stressed that voting for the DStv Mzansi Viewers' Choice Awards 2017 set for a live broadcast on 26 August on Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) - a new awards show competition also making use of WeChat and SMS voting similar to The Voice South Africa - isn't affected by the voting issues that has marred the reality singing competition.

"There were no issues around the voting platforms on The Voice South Africa," M-Net told TVwithThinus.

"It is paid-for marketing by contestants in The Voice SA that's against the rules. The DStv Mzansi Viewers' Choice Awards are distinct from other talent programmes like Idols and The Voice SA as the nominees are public figures with well-established personal brand promotion practices".

M-Net dumps entertainment magazine show V-Entertainment after 8 years on VUZU AMP, says show's 'going on a break' but will return in future.

M-Net has decided to dump its youth-centric weekday entertainment magazine show V-Entertainment  on VUZU AMP (DStv 103) that it believes is no longer properly aligned to the youth entertainment culture, saying the show is abruptly "going on a break" but telling TVwithThinus that it isn't cancelled.

V-Entertainment served as VUZU's flagship daily half hour entertainment magazine show since 2009 when M-Net's GO channel rebranded as VUZU, and again transitioned to the premium channel VUZU AMP when that channel launched in October 2014.

V-Entertainment, produced by Don't Look Down Productions, as a South African pop culture version of E! News, gave rise to presenters like Lalla Hirayama while providing opportunities for people ranging from Nonhle Thema and Siya Ngwekazi, Dineo Moeketsi, Denise Zimba and Shelton Forbez.

The show inflicted brand and reputation damage when a new crop of presenters introduced in April 2016 didn't gel with viewers.

M-Net told TVwithThinus in response to a media enquiry that V-Entertainment isn't cancelled. Yet the show is going off the air after 8 years for a break, instead of staying on-air while doing a retool. V-Entertainment will end with a "special" hour long episode on Friday 30 June at 18:00.

According to insiders, a reformatted V-Entertainment is likely to return as a weekly episode from August but definitely won't be back as a weekday show. The show that's been seen on VUZU AMP and VUZU will likely also become a VUZU AMP show only.

"V-Entertainment broke boundaries and introduced audiences to fresh new talent," says Reneilwe Sema, M-Net's director of local entertainment channels. "Entertainment culture is always evolving and we must change along with it."

M-Net said "fans need not despair though, as the changes coming in August will reflect our aim of being at the forefront of innovative entertainment".

kykNET orders first season of Koekedoortjie as an Afrikaans baking show spin-off from Koekedoor for kids between 9 and 13.

kykNET (DStv 144) has ordered a first season of Koekedoortjie, a spin-off version for kids of the Afrikaans baking competition show Koekedoor.

Koekedoortjie, produced by Homebrew Films, is now looking for contestants with kids between the ages of 9 and 13 who can enter by sending an email to koekedoortjie@homebrewfilms.tv or calling 021 422 3452 for more information. Entries close on 25 August.

Koekedoortjie follows on the heels of the diminutive Kokkedoortjie, a cooking competition spin-off from Kokkedoor. Mari-Louis Guy and Nic van Wyk will again be the judges of the new show that will be filmed in Cape Town at Atlantic Studios.

Kokkedoortjie yielded its first winner on Wednesday evening in the show's finale during which Edwin Theron (13) from Worcester was announced as the winner after a final cook-off against Christi Myburgh (14) from Bloemfontein and a "Wonderland"-themed plated meal.

As with Kokkedoortjie, contestants in Koekedoortjie will have to be accompanied by a mom, dad or a grandparent who will serve as chaperone and also serve as baking inspiration and a bake mate in some of the challenges.

Both have to be available between 23 September and 7 October 2017 for filming with auditions for Koekedoortjie that will be taking place in the week of 4 to 7 September.

In the past year, MultiChoice literally added 1 712 new DStv subscribers per day. I asked a TV expert to help explain why - and here is what she told me:

Pay-TV uptake in South Africa continues strong growth and with the DStv subscriber base that's grown with another 625 000 subscribers in the past year, a TV expert says it is because the SABC is in crisis while DStv is more creative with content, that it's driven by sports rights, and that watching pay-TV is a family activity that's cheaper than other out-of-house activities.

MultiChoice added another 625 000 DStv subscribers in South Africa in the past year according to the latest Naspers annual results for the year until 31 March 2017 that was released on Friday. 

That is equal to a whopping 1 712 new DStv subscriptions that South African TV households signed up for per day over the past year, despite DStv raising subscription fees every year, falling consumer confidence, worsening economic conditions and with retailers struggling to get consumers to open their wallets.

While South African consumers are tightening their belts and cutting back on expenses they not just loathe getting rid of their direct-to-home (DTH) satellite pay-TV but more are ditching the public viewing fare from the SABC and parting with their hard-earned cash to sign up and pay monthly for subscription television.

MultiChoice that doesn't operate a loyalty programme in South Africa, now has a massive 6.36 million pay-TV subscribers in South Africa (11% growth compared to the previous year) as paying viewers are boosting the viewership figures and ratings of a flurry of pay-TV channels ranging from Al Jazeera and Animal Planet to SuperSport and Zee World.

"Watching TV is a leisure experience that can be enjoyed in a family setting and might be comparatively less expensive than leisure activities that take place outside of the house," TV expert and academic Dr Alexia Smit from the University of Cape Town's Centre for Film and Media Studies told TVwithThinus.

"It's much cheaper than dinner and a movie, shopping or going to a bar. This might explain the retention of DStv numbers as people cut down on other leisure activities," she says.

Dr Smit, with a PhD in Television Studies, says DStv has been very clever in the way that the pay-TV behemoth has grown its audience share.

"They've put a lot of effort into producing packages that are accessible to a large audience of lower to middle income South Africans. They also invest a lot of resources into audience research and retention."

"Sport cannot be overlooked. Many South Africans buy into DStv to have access to important sporting events. It is also worth noting that not all DStv viewing takes place in the private home but also in bars and community spaces where access to sports matches are key."

"In many cases the SABC cannot afford the rights to key sporting events like the Protea's recent tour of New Zealand or Premier League soccer.

Dr Smit says DStv subscriber uptake is also driven by culturally relevant content.

"DStv's Mzansi Magic and Vuzu TV channels offer original programming that is carefully designed to appeal to the needs and desires of South African viewers, particularly those understood to be part of South Africa's so-called ‘emerging black middle class’."

"DStv is providing a style of programming that fills certain gaps for local audiences who have a hunger for representations of themselves and their interests. Shows like Date My Family and Our Perfect Wedding are pitched in a way that really works," she says.

She says these shows "don't offer a didactic 'rainbow nation' message. They are about love, families, consumption, aspiration, leisure, tradition and local culture" and that this programming is the result of  very careful audience research.

"While people in the top end of the market might be lured away by free downloads and competitors like Netflix, there isn't much competition in the pay-TV sector when it comes to accessing original local content, though the switch to digital TV might start to threaten this."

Many DStv shows also have a remarkable online life, says Dr Smit. "There is often a Twitter storm that accompanies the first airing of episodes of Date My Family and Our Perfect Wedding. I believe this online culture might drive a certain amount of desire for access to this programming."

She says the growth in South African pay-TV subscribers "is not necessarily about TV viewing becoming more popular. Rather pay-TV viewing is seen as affordable for a larger segment of the population". 

"The SABC is in a deep state of crisis. It is likely that this has had an effect on programming quality and audience engagement," says Dr Smit.

"Aside from the institutional difficulties the SABC has been experiencing, we must also factor in the difference between the role of a public broadcaster and a pay-television network."

"The SABC is beholden to a public service remit so the SABC has historically been tasked with producing programming that is educational or aligns with the interests of the nation. DStv is a commercial broadcaster with an expansive array of options and much more freedom with regards to the kind of programming they distribute."

"They have the capacity to cater for niche audiences in a way that the public broadcaster cannot. They are also free to develop local content that does not need to share a public service message."

"I think audiences may appreciate a shift away from the more didactic address of the SABC. I think DStv is a lot more creative with local content and more responsive to audience needs but this has to do with having a lot of resources and using them well."

"If the SABC really wants to compete for viewers they need to find ways to put real money, support and infrastructure behind producers of local content, they need to invest in ways of understanding the changing needs of their audiences and they need to get access to more key sporting coverage," says Dr Smit.   

M-Net recalls ousted The Voice South Africa contestants as a voting fiasco once again engulfs the reality singing show.

M-Net's The Voice South Africa reality singing show is recalling the last two ditched contestants back for Sunday's episode and also won't be voting any contestant out this coming Sunday after yet another voting fiasco has derailed the carefully planned structure of the pay-TV broadcaster's second season.

In the third voting misfire to hit and negatively impact the South African version of the African Media & Production Network (AMPN) produced show based on the international Talpa format - two during the fateful first season and now also marring the second season - M-Net has been forced to halt this week's voting.

Hours before Tuesday night's 22:00 cut off, M-Net abruptly scuppered the viewer voting for this week and decided to disregard hundreds of thousands of viewers votes due to irregularities regarding alleged paid-for marketing votes that could potentially skew the results.

Not only did M-Net discover that the paid for social media posting from some of the contestants' personal social media accounts could affect who gets jettisoned this week, but that it also stretches back and impacts the past two weeks' results.

Voting for The Voice South Africa can only be done through SMS - limited to 100 votes per user - and WeChat - also limited to 100 votes per user.

At the moment M-Net (DStv 101) and AMPN - that is also concurrently producing a second season of The Voice Nigeria done in South Africa's Sasani Studios - isn't planning to push out the live second season finale of the South Africa show set for 9 July that would be more fair for the remaining contestants, rather opting for a jumble-filled finale with a bumper line-up of contestants.

M-Net is inviting the booted contestants Luke Lovemore and PJ Pretorius back who must still indicate in writing if they want to return to The Voice SA for Sunday's live show in which nobody will leave.  

The remaining five The Voice South Africa contestants will perform, along with Luke Lovemore and PJ Pretorius if one or both opt to return.

After carefully working to steer clear of the voting problems of the first season of The Voice SA that first saw 8 000 SMS votes not delivered in time and counted and then the voting platform collapse during the live finale, M-Net and AMPN that added more episodes to the second season, is once again being confronted with a show not going according to plan.

At 19:01 on Tuesday evening M-Net issued a statement saying The Voice South Africa that has been drawing packed crowds to the weekly Sunday shows is discarding the hundreds of thousands of votes of the past week and asking the last two voted out contestants back "in the interest of fairness and transparency".

M-Net says paid-for marketing, which is against the rules of The Voice SA competition, "can cause voting spikes which could provide an unfair advantage".

M-Net didn't say how it will bypass, filter out, or circumvent the undue voting influence in The Voice SA for the foreseeable future. M-Net also didn't disclose which of the contestants' social media accounts contain alleged paid-for activity.

M-Net said an investigation showed that paid-for social media marketing "could have affected the outcome of the voting results" the last few weeks of The Voice South Africa and that Luke Lovemore and PJ Pretorius who were voted out, could possibly have remained in the show.

M-Net says it's unable to know with certainty what The Voice South Africa's accurate and credible voting tallies for the past few weeks are supposed to be.

"Despite our best efforts, we could not determine with certainty whether misconduct took place and what the impact was on the voting results," says Nkateko Mabaso, M-Net South Africa's general manager in the statement.

"We believe the fairest solution under these circumstances is to give all the affected talent another chance".

Despite discarding thousands of viewers' votes, M-Net wants viewers to continue to vote.

"The Voice SA has proved to be an excellent platform for launching the careers of new singing talent and we would like to encourage our viewers to continue to vote for their favourites," he says.

Lani Lombard, M-Net's head of publicity says The Voice SA is so far sticking to its Sunday 9 July date for the second season's live finale.

It’s not yet clear if the voting issue could impact M-Net and MultiChoice’s just-launched DStv Mzansi Viewers’ Choice Awards set for 26 August. The live awards show also asking the public to vote, is also making use of WeChat, SMS and USSD for votes.

You can't pirate Netflix's latest new show as the video streamer launches a series of 'choose your own adventure' style stories.

You can't pirate Netflix's latest new show - a move that might signal what might be waiting in TV's future - as Netflix rolls out the first in a series of interactive shows where you get to choose what happens next.

Netflix is going interactive and is now offering users the interactive, choose-your-own-adventure children's story, Puss in Boots: Trapped in an Epic Tale. Two more shows are set to follow with Buddy Thunderstruck following 14 July and Stretch Armstrong: The Breakout coming in 2018.

Netflix calls the new shows an experiment.

Puss in Boots: Trapped in an Epic Tale, released globally and produced by DreamWorks Animation, gives viewers 13 choices throughout the story to choose a different branch, making it highly rewatchable for kids to try other possibilities.

The shortest story that Puss in Boots: Trapped in an Epic Tale can be - depending on all of the variable choices - is 18 minutes but the episode can stretch to a full 39 minutes at the longest with different choices.

Puss and the evil narrator (the cat is trapped in a magic storybook) offer their suggestions at various points in the story after every two to four minutes, and the user each time gets to choose a different "branching" between two choices.

This new Netflix show is virtually impossible to pirate. It's available on some modern smart TVs by using a remote control, game consoles and iOS devices like iPhones and iPads, but doesn't work on the internet, Apple TV, Chromecast or Android devices yet.

"The chilren's programming space was a natural place for us to start since kids are eager to play with the favourite characters and are already inclined to tap, touch and swipe at screens," says Carla Engelbrecht Fisher , Netflix, director of product innovation, in a statement.

"They also talk to their screens as though the characters can hear them. Now, that conversation really can be two-way".

She says Netflix said it came up with the idea by thinking of what type of stories only Netflix can tell. "Netflix is an interactive device ecosystem. We're not beholden to terrestrial television. We’re not beholden to linear schedules."

MultiChoice close to touching 12 million African pay-TV subscribers in 2017 as share of top-end DStv Premium subscribers continues to decrease and growth comes from lower-tiered bouquets.

Pay-TV operator MultiChoice is within reach of 12 million pay-TV subscribers across Africa with its subscriber base that added 1.5 million DStv and GOtv subscribers to top 11.9 million although the bulk of the subscriber growth is now coming from lower-tiered, cheaper bouquets.

On Friday afternoon Naspers released its annual financial results for the year until 31 March 2017 that revealed that its pay-TV business MultiChoice added another 625 000 DStv subscribers in South Africa in the past year (11% growth) to reach 6.36 million households.

In addition, MultiChoice experienced its highest net DStv subscribers growth ever over a 6-month period, and increased its spending 13% on TV programming and production costs that's paid in dollar.

It means that South Africa with over half of all MultiChoice's pay-TV subscribers in one country, remains MultiChoice's biggest pay-TV and DStv market in Africa by far, despite ongoing erroneous articles mistakenly citing countries like Nigeria as being the largest.

Naspers says its South African direct-to-home (DTH) pay-TV business delivered a "solid all round performance".

Sadly the plunge in Nigeria's currency has been debilitating on the entire MultiChoice Africa operations - a gaping black hole that led to a whopping $358 million trading loss and that wiped out MultiChoice's operational progress in lowering costs and streamlining operations.

It will likely take a couple of years for MultiChoice in Africa to return to profitability.

While the number of DStv subscribers are growing, the share of DStv Premium subscribers - the top-tier of users subscribing to the most expensive bouquet - is once again shrinking and continuing to contract, now down to 16%.

While mid-tier DStv Compact subscribers are remaining stable at 27%, the share of subscribers paying for lower-tiered bouquets is now the fastest growing, increasing its share from 53% to 57%.


PVR users in South Africa and across Africa growing fast
MultiChoice's streaming and catch-up service, DStv Now, is "gaining excellent traction" as available TV channels added to this service, and users grow, Naspers said.

Elsewhere in Africa, MultiChoice's digital terrestrial television (DTT) service, GOtv, is already profitable in four African countries. Overall GOtv is inching towards profitability, with MultiChoice that now has 3.001 million DTT subscribers in Africa.

In South Africa MultiChoice saw a 10% growth in the number of DStv subscribers, compared to 2016, who have and use its personal video recorder (PVR) decoders. With this bigger PVR use, the average revenue per user (ARPU) for PVR decoders in South Africa increased by 2% in 2017.

In the rest of Africa the growth of PVR decoders by DStv subscribers have been even more phenomenal - a whopping 26% jump, although the ARPU in the rest of Africa declined by 23% in the financial year.

MultiChoice is responding to increased content costs by removing and renegotiating non-essential TV content.

MultiChoice focused on "bouquet restructuring and reduction of non-performing content, holding subscription prices steady in key markets, better customer focus and retention, reducing set-top box prices and rightsizing operations".

Naspers' subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service, ShowMax, completed its first full year of operations and is now fully localised in South Africa, Kenya and Poland.

Consolidated development spend for Naspers' video entertainment segment was $102 million compared to 2016's $85 million - up 20% year-on-year (YoY).

Naspers says increased investment in ShowMax was offset by scaling of the GOtv DTT platform.

Another SABC1 show jumps to pay-TV as a former SABC1 format show, Take Me Out SA, moves to VUZU AMP on DStv and is retitled Take Me Out Mzansi.

The SABC has lost yet another format show that used to be on the public broadcaster to pay-TV with Take Me Out South Africa that used to be on SABC1 that's getting retitled to Take Me Out Mzansi and jumping to VUZU AMP.

After facing financial trouble at the cash-strapped SABC in 2014 during its first season after sponsors jumped ship, the FremantleMedia/Thames format dating show is jumping to VUZU AMP (DStv 103) complete with presenter Phat Joe.

Take Me Out Mzansi, produced by Rapid Blue, will kick off on Monday 10 July at 19:00 in which an eligible dater picks, chooses and eliminates from a gaggle of potential suitors.

Where the first and sole SABC season focused on a single guy, the Mzansi Magic version is changing the format dating show, allowing for episodes with a line-up of both guys and girls in the parade of 30 wannabe lovers a contestant gets to pick from.

In Take Me Out Mzansi, a contestant is introduced to a panel of 30 men or women and tries to persuade them to keep their "lights" on. If some of the 30 are not impressed, they too can walk away by switching off their podium lights.

As the show continues, a date seeker has to continue to impress the remaining panelists.

"Take Me Out Mzansi has all the ingredients for a weekly dose of great viewing: humour, surprises, romance and unadulterated fun," says Sphumelele Sibeko, the head of reality for local entertainment channels at M-Net, that has picked up the show for a pay-TV audience. "Phat Joe tops off an already perfect mix, to make for brilliant television."

Ghana's media regulator orders 3 TV channels to stop broadcasting pornography; says 'actual sexual intercourse shouldn't be transmitted'.

Ghana's TV regulator, the National Media Commission (NMC) has ordered three of the country's public TV channels to immediately stop broadcasting pornography, saying "actual sexual intercourse between humans should at no time be transmitted" with no exceptions.

The TV channels, XYZ TV, Thunder TV and Ice TV told the regulator they're broadcasting pornography because other TV channels that they compete with, are also doing it.

While the NMC can't fine the TV channels over showing pornography since Ghana's regulations doesn't currently make allowance for that, the NMC said it can order the stations to stop.

After complaints, the NMC said the channels' broadcasts didn't meet the NMC's broadcasting standards.

"The stations apologised and committed themselves to ensuring that there would be no more pornography on their stations," said Nana Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng, NMC chairperson in a statement.

"They however, drew the attention of the Commission to other radio and television stations which they considered to be carrying similarly offensive content."

One of the channels, Ice TV, that said it will abide by the directive, has reportedly now threatened the NMC with court action over the decision, saying they want Ghana's courts to give clarification on whether the regulator has the right to stop it from airing pornography on Ghana's free-to-air TV airwaves.

Samuel Owusu Asare, Ice TV general manager, told Ghana's radio station Citi 97.3 fm that "we will come back to seek more clarification from the court because you cannot tell us to stop showing pornographic materials and later on we'll see other TV telecasting such materials. We wouldn’t take that kindly".

Babes Wodumo fails to make it to the BET Awards 2017 after not applying for a visa in time, now blames Viacom Africa 'for inability of BET to arrange visa'.

Singer Babes Wodumo (real name Bongekile Simelane) who posed around airports and did airport interviews failed to make it to the BET Awards 2017 in Los Angeles following the incompetent failure to apply for a United States visa in time and now the singer is blaming the BET channel.

Babes Wodumo was nominated in the best international act from Africa category and was supposed to fly to Los Angeles for Sunday's awards show but ended up being a no-show due to hilariously only strolling into the American embassy on Tuesday last week.

Hilariously Babes Wodumo thought she would still be flying to the United States and told magazines and newspapers she "won't miss the BET Awards 2017".

Babes Wodumo and her incompetent management had her glitz up her remaining time before Sunday's BET Awards 2017 doing publicity schmaltz like attending a celebratory eThekwini municipality “send-off breakfast” paid for by South African tax payers, instead of queueing for an application and interview for an American visa in her passport.

After failing to get an American visa, Babes Wodumo is now blaming the BET Africa (DStv 129) channel from Viacom International Media Networks Africa.

In a hastily arranged Friday evening press conference in Durban to admit defeat, Babes Wodumo and her incompetent management team told the media that BET was supposed to do all the travel arrangements and the visa arrangements.

BET was allegedly too busy with "a number of priorities" to give proper attention to Babes.

"As part of on-going discussions between WestInk and BET, it was understood that all arrangements pertaining Babes and an additional person would be made by BET team," said team Babes Wodumo at the press conference.

"This included transport, accommodation and visa application. Due to the fact that BET was busy with a number of priorities, a communication was sent to WestInk Administration on the inability of BET to arrange Babes’ visa."

Team Babes said by the time they were told BET isn't helping anymore and Babes must do her visa herself, there wasn't enough time left.

VIMN last week told TVwithThinus in response to a media enquiry that "as Viacom International Media Networks Africa, we have assisted the 2017 BET Awards nominees in securing their travel requirements in a speedy manner" and tried to help.

The SABC now says the old 7de Laan theme song won't be return after SABC2's Jacqui Hlongwane told the media the original theme song would be back.

The SABC now says the old 7de Laan theme song won't be returning.

The SABC's statement comes after SABC2's programme manager Jacqui Hlongwane reportedly told media that the original theme music of the weekday soap would be making a comeback.

SABC2 in a statement said it noted "with great concern" the "unfortunate misleading media reports regarding the return of the original signature song of the soapie 7de Laan".

Caxton's community newspaper AlexNews first reported what Jacqui Hlongwane told invited media who attended the cash-strapped public broadcaster's media event at the Gold Reef City theme park in Johannesburg.

After dumping the Sunday 7de Laan omnibus in mid-February without any prior warning to viewers - a move that saw SABC2's Sunday ratings tank - the channel reversed course on the decision and made the official announcement that it will be bringing back the weekend repeats of the Danie Odendaal Productions soap from Sunday 2 July at 13:30.

According to media, Jacqui Hlongwane also said that the old 7de Laan theme song that was dropped in June 2015 as part of a series of transformative changes to the weekday Afrikaans soap, would be making a comeback. 

For years, dogs across South African TV households, would start to howl as soon as the iconic Soweto String Quartet violin melody, composed by Louis van Rensburg started - a canine alarm calling owners to their TV soap.

That however changed when the new song from Joe Niemand along with a new opening sequence was introduced.

Jacqui Hlongwane who reports to SABC2 channel manager Gerhard Pretorius, told the media that e.tv is "breathing down our neck" according to AlexNews and that SABC2 is aware that the SABC will have to produce better content if it's to keep its viewers.

"Our relationship with our viewers should not be a one-night stand but one that will last for eternity. We need not take them for granted as they now have more options at their disposal. e.tv is breathing down our neck and the only way to stay relevant is to beat them at this viewership and we can do that by producing top class material for the viewers," said Jacqui Hlongwane.

She said SABC2 is aware that line-up and schedule changes the channel introduced touched a raw-nerve that negatively impacted viewership. "I can assure them that we have listened and we're answering their numerous calls urging us to do something."

Jacqui Hlongwane said that SABC2 has gone through a lot of changes and that "we could have invited you to  ahotel and gave you speeches but because we are game changers, we took this launch to a whole new level to communicate our strategy that is coming to fruition".

Zandile Nkonyeni, SABC TV head publicist didn't respond to a written media enquiry on Wednesday when she was asked for clarification specifically about what Jacqui Hlongwane said about 7de Laan and the show's theme song at the media event.

The SABC in a statement on Thursday afternoon, after reports surfaced that the old theme song is coming back, said that SABC2 announced "that the omnibus will return from 2 July at 13:30, however there was no mention that the old signature song will be returning. Our viewers have warmed up to the new signature tune and therefore reports are factually incorrect and misleading".

The SABC said in its statement that it "urges the media to report responsibly and not mislead the public".

I reached out to Johannesburg media who attended the press event on Thursday, who re-emphasised that Jacqui Hlongwane said the old 7de Laan theme song would be coming back.

"She even said literally that some viewers were complaining that even their dogs now don't know their meal times as they were being fed when that original signature song was playing and she said she was happy to say it will be returning," said one veteran journalist who attended SABC2's Gold Reef City presser.

American TV news channel MSNBC on StarSat increasing its live weekend programming hours over weekends from this Saturday; adds new Hugh Hewitt show.

The American TV news channel MSNBC (StarSat 263) has announced that it will be extending its weekend live programming  - two days when it runs a lot of repeats and recorded shows - from this Saturday and rolling out further new shows in July.

The conservative American talk show host Hugh Hewitt will anchor a new Saturday interview show on MSNBC from this Sunday, 24 June, at 8:00 in America and seen 14:00 in South Africa.

Hugh Hewitt's show will provide interviews and analysis on the week's news with a panel discussion.

From July MSNBC will increase its number of live programming hours over weekends and will be live on Saturday and Sundays until 03:00 in the mornings (South African time, 21:00 in America).

From July, Thomas Roberts will return to MSNBC to anchor two hours on Saturday and Sunday evenings.

MSNBC weekend programming will now be Joy Reid presenting AM Joy on Saturday and Sundays from 16:00 - 18:00; MSNBC chief legal correspondent Ari Melber as the presenter of The Point on Sundays from 23:00 - 01:00 and Alex Witt and Richard Lui anchoring on weekends.

There is also Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle, as co-anchors of Velshi & Ruhle on Saturdays from 18:30, JJ Ramberg doing Your Business Sundays at 13:30, and Rev. Al Sharpton as the presenter of PoliticsNation on Sundays from 14:00 to 15:00.

Discovery Science to cover The Great American total solar eclipse on 21 August with a TV special as well as tracking it on Facebook Live.

Discovery's Science Channel (StarSat 222) is ramping up coverage plans for the first total solar eclipse in 99 years to span the United States on 21 August.

It's not yet clear whether the Science Channel seen in South Africa and Africa, a European channel feed of Discovery Networks International's American subsidiary will be showing the same live coverage and programming, but some of the off-television content will be accessible by South African viewers.

On 21 August the Science Channel will broadcast the once-off, one-hour TV special, The Great American Eclipse (working title), that will include same-day footage of the total solar eclipse.

The Science Channel will be in Madras, Oregon in the United States and will be partnering with the Lowell Observatory on the Lowell Solar Eclipse Experience (lowellsolareclipse.com), as astronomers and educators narrate the eclipse as it happens.

Madras is considered by experts to be one of America's premier viewing spots, because of its location in the high desert of Central Oregon, typical weather patterns, and unobstructed views.

The Science Channel is planning to provide live footage from other prime viewing destinations across America including locations in Tennessee, Idaho, Nebraska, and South Carolina, as well as offering glimpses of the eclipse taken from the International Space Station.

"The Great American Eclipse is truly once-in-a-lifetime," says the Science Channel.

"With live coverage and a post-eclipse special, along with updates throughout the day on our digital and social platforms, Science Channel promises to be the destination for this mind-blowing experience."

The Science Channel has launched an eclipse micro-site on ScienceChannel.com that contains blog posts, photo galleries and an original eclipse companion guide video series.

Besides the TV special, on August 21, the Science Channel will Facebook Live the eclipse from Madras, capturing crowd reactions of the remarkable spectacle, and will offer live eclipse updates throughout the day.

The Great American Eclipse will be produced by Pioneer Productions with executive producers Thomas Viner, Stephen Marsh and Helen Williamson. Kyle McCabe will serve as  the executive producer for the Science Channel.

The SABC repeats a wrong episode of Uzalo in prime time on SABC1 without any apology as viewers take the SABC to task over its latest mistake.

The SABC remains silent about its latest on-screen blunder while Uzalo fans are angry and wondering what went on, after SABC1 on Wednesday night replayed an old previous Uzalo episode without telling viewers what's going on.

The SABC knew it was a mistake but kept showing the wrong Uzalo episode at 20:30 and failed to offer any apology to the viewing public over messing up the third season of the Stained Glass Productions produced soap.

SABC1 that didn't do an on-screen scroll or acknowledged the mistake, failed to tell viewers to stay tuned for longer, since the channel decided to then show the next and new episode after the repeat, by which time viewers have tuned away from SABC1.

While viewers settled in to see the outcome of Zekhethelo confronting Mxolisi for betraying her dad, Nkunzi in Uzalo - the SABC's most watched show - all they got SABC1 was a repeat in prime time.

SABC TV head publicist Zandile Nkonyeni didn't immediately respond to an emailed media enquiry on Thursday seeking comment as to why SABC1 replayed an old episode in prime time and how the mistake happened.

Stained Glass Productions in response to a media enquiry said it can't comment on the SABC's scheduling mistake.

While the SABC kept silent, viewers on Wednesday on social media were quick to make their voices heard:

@Official_SABC1 covering up @Uzalo_SABC1 's repeat like...#Uzalo pic.twitter.com/ZYcVwBw3AJ

— PHILL (@PholoH) June 21, 2017

#Uzalo 15min gone
Was someone High on Weed or sleeping on the Job

And no apologies

— Flick Madd Thug® (@mr_flick_thug97) June 22, 2017

I think cloudy hacked into the system 😅

— Violin Candy (@CandyViolin2) June 22, 2017

#Uzalo sabc sucks!! Firstly, no Confed Cup. Now, we are forced to watch repeats and they expect us to pay for TV licences!! Bayanda stru!! pic.twitter.com/K05RxIpKFN

— Baba ka Mbalie (@spree1982) June 21, 2017

Soo u paid ur TV licence to watch a repeat nyana#uzalo pic.twitter.com/f0QB7s2DcB

— John Mokgotho (@john_kgotho) June 21, 2017

What do you call a #Uzalo repeat in English?

Born Again??? 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/4fVmUpnkAT

— Noxolo Binda (@NoxoloMobileSpa) June 21, 2017

#Uzalo repeating the same episode and I was like
Me:want us to pay TV license but can't broadcast uzalo episode pic.twitter.com/oBlRX4XoqF

— Sips Dee (@dee_princs) June 21, 2017

SABC crew busy watching #LTDWSomizi and forgot to put today episode #Uzalo pic.twitter.com/sPsL9sQudk

— Anele (@mbalsea) June 21, 2017

KEEP CALM. Epic TV news blooper leaves BBC News in utter silence as news anchor Huw Edwards sits quietly for over 4 minutes.

Technical problems at the Beep left the BBC News channel out of news and viewers looking at the stoic BBC news anchor Huw Edwards who literally sat in silence for over 4 minutes behind the anchor desk in London.

Besides the BBC World News (DStv 400 / StarSat 256) channel seen in South Africa and worldwide, the BBC also runs the domestic BBC News 24-hour TV news channel that experienced problems on Tuesday night, creating an epic "silent movie" blooper for the ages.

At 22:00 on Tuesday night, viewers watched in silence as Huw Edwards simply sat in silence and proved why the British are renowned for their "Keep Calm and Carry On".

After four minutes the BBC managed to sort out the technical problems and Huw Edwards calmy said sorry to viewers and apologised for "a few technical problems".

Later during a radio interview he said that "it has never happened before. No matter how experienced you are, and I have been presenting for 25 years, its a very unusual set of circumstances".

The BBC said its system crashed and the BBC had to switch to a back-up system.

Some viewers were quick to chip in with chirps on Twitter:

Watching Huw Edwards do nothing on BBC news is kinda absorbing, like a lava lamp

— Ian Ford (@ij_ford) June 20, 2017

BBC headquarters right now #bbcnewsten pic.twitter.com/UatJL0RBBA

— Joanne the Scammer (@KnightDamian) June 20, 2017

Babes Wodumo failed to apply for an American travel visa on time and might end up missing the BET Awards 2017.

She posed for airport pics and did airport interviews but singer Babes Wodumo might not actually be able to use an airport and end up missing the BET Awards 2017 on Sunday that she is supposed to attend in Los Angeles.

Babes Wodumo doesn’t have an American visa and failed to apply for one in time.

While Babes Wodumo (real name Bongekile Simelane) posed for the cameras last week and had time to attend a celebratory eThekwini municipality “send-off breakfast”, she hasn’t yet applied for her American travel visa for her first visit to the United States and only went to the American Embassy in Durban on Tuesday.

That is not enough time for the still to happen person-to-person interview, visa documents to be processed and for the visa to be inserted into a passport for Babes to still fly to Los Angeles for Sunday’s BET Awards 2017 at the Microsoft Theatre that will be broadcast on BET Africa (DStv 129).

The Durban rapper Nasty C also attending the BET Awards 2017 is already in America. The two South African artists are nominated in the Best international African artist category.

Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa) that operates the BET channel, says they are aware that Babes is still sitting without an American visa and can’t currently enter the United States.

VIMN tells TVwithThinus in response to a media enquiry that "as Viacom International Media Networks Africa, we have assisted the 2017 BET Awards nominees in securing their travel requirements in a speedy manner".

"However it has been brought to our attention by the management of the nominee in question that she has not secured a visa. We are in contact with the nominee’s management and are working together to find a solution."

Will Babes get her behind in a BET Awards seat in time?

Financial Services Board bars ANN7 business editor Clive Ramathibela-Smith from giving financial advice after clients' funds were not invested according to instructions.

The business editor of ANN7 (DStv 405) Clive Ramathibela-Smith is off the air and gone from TV screens after the Financial Services Board (FSB) withdrew the licence of Clivera Consulting and barred economist Clive Ramathibela-Smith from providing further financial advice.

The registrar of financial services providers on 26 April 2017 debarred Phelegetso Ramathibela from rendering financial services, according to a FSB statement.

The decision to debar Clive Ramathibela-Smith came after a FSB investigation on Clivera Consulting and Clive Ramathibela-Smith following complaints from Clivera Consulting clients.

The effect of the registrar's decision is that Clivera Consulting and Clive Ramathibela-Smith are prohibited from rendering any financial services or to give financial advice according to the FAIS Act.

According to the FSB two clients - one of who is a pensioner - lost money. Both said that they approached Clive Ramathibela-Smith for investment advice to invest money.

According to the FSB "our investigation into the complaints found that funds sent to Clivera Consulting's bank account were not invested according to their instructions," but ended up being misinvested by Clivera Consulting.

According to reports Clive Ramathibela-Smith will appeal the decision.

National Geographic reveals that the second season of Genius will move on from Albert Einstein to Pablo Picasso.

National Geographic (DStv 181 / StarSat 220) has announced that the second season of its fictional, factual drama series Genius will move on from Albert Einstein and again cover a white male genius, the Spanish painter Pablo Picasso.

Casting on the second season of Genius has not yet started, with the second season that will again flip between time periods as did the first, of the life of the artist who died aged 91 in 1973 after created over 50 000 works.

Pablo Picasso's passionate nature and relentless creative drive were inextricably linked to his personal life, which included tumultuous marriages, numerous affairs and constantly shifting political and personal alliances.

The artistic genius lived most of his life in the vibrant Paris of the first half of the 20th century and crossed paths with writers and artists including Ernest Hemingway, Coco Chanel, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Gertrude Stein, Georges Braque, and Jean Cocteau.

Genius from Imagine Entertainment and Fox 21 Television Studios will again be executive produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, with production that will start later this year and the second season that will be broadcast in 2018 on 171 feeds of National Geographic globally.

"We are excited to be delving back in to the concept with season two," says Courteney Monroe, CEO of National Geographic Global Networks in a statement about Genius' second season.

"More so than any of his contemporaries, Picasso's work dramatically expressed the modern age and defined new cultural norms. We are excited to explore his life and his genius with the incredibly talented team behind the series."

"The remarkable story of artistic visionary Pablo Picasso is the perfect subject for season two of Genius," says Ron Howard, executive producer.

"Picasso was a trailblazer who left a profound artistic and cultural impact on the world and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership with National Geographic and Fox 21 Television Studios in telling the untold story behind the brilliant individual."

RIDICULOUS. The mind-boggling reasons Kenya's censor board gives for why it banned cartoons on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Disney XD on DStv.

The outright ridiculous reasons are now surfacing as to why Ezekiel Mutua, the censorship tsar of Kenya's censorship board, last week abruptly banned 7 cartoons on Nickelodeon (DStv 305), Disney XD (DStv 304) and Cartoon Network (DStv 301) for being "pro-gay".

The bisarre reasons provided by Kenya's Film Classification Board (KFCB) it seemingly took straight from the internet without having actually watched and screened the various kids cartoons, are mind-bogglingly insane and shockingly unbelievable.

Ezekiel Mutua, KFCB CEO, told MultiChoice Africa the 7 cartoons singled-out, must be off the air on the DStv and GOtv satellite pay-TV platforms over seemingly-insane reasons, ranging from one character "who has a dick for a head", to two characters who go on an (unseen) "implied romantic vacation".

While on a superficial level Kenya's censorship and banning of kids cartoons might seem silly, it has systemic and operational real-world consequences for South African and African TV viewers far beyond the borders of the East African country.

Since channel distributors often only has one TV channel broadcast feed for Africa, a ban of content on a channel in one country, like Kenya or Nigeria - that a channel distributor then must agree to - means one of two things.

Either the whole channel must be completely blocked and be made unavailable in the affected country, or the content deemed offensive on the TV channel must be removed from the linear broadcast schedule.

Since there's only one similar channel feed for more than one country, this means that the content is taken away not just from viewers in the country affected, but from millions of DStv subscribers right across several African countries, including South Africa.

I asked the KFCB when the censor board saw the actual shows to properly evaluate their content since the majority of the now-banned shows are not even being broadcast on the various channels across DStv at the moment anyway.

The KFCB failed to answer when the 7 cartoons were actually broadcast and watched by the board and responded to the question in a non-sensical fashion by saying, in part, that broadcasters must "ensure that Kenyan identity is developed and maintained in programmes" and that they "observe standards of good taste and decency".

The 7 cartoons are now abruptly banned, with the KFCB's shocking censorship that is creating problems for not just MultiChoice and DStv, but also the channel and content providers Walt Disney Africa, Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa) and Turner Broadcasting EMEA that respectively run and programme the Disney XD, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network channels.

Some of the cartoons are not even airing anymore and ended years ago - for instance the now-banned The Legend of Korra that finished its run in 2014.

Yet it seems as if the KFCB, on an apparent gay hunt, did a basic desktop Google-search to find possible justification for a ban on the shows, and then decided to ban them based on what the internet sites it visited, said.

Responding to a media enquiry from TVwithThinus, the KFCB says the 7 cartoons -  Loud House, The Legend of Korra, Hey Arnold, Clarence, Steven Universe, Adventure Time and Star vs the Forces of Evil are TV children programmes "with homosexual themes".

The KFCB says it doesn't matter that the shows don't include or show any overt on-screen "gayness".

If a show's creator said a character is gay - in the way that JR Rowling after the conclusion of the Harry Potter series said that Prof Dumbledore is gay - that is enough for Kenya's censors to order a ban on a kids cartoon on MultiChoice's DStv platform.

The KFCB was specifically asked why content is banned that's not even being aired and isn't on-air currently.

The KFCB says its "investigations focused on both current and previous programmes that are not suitable for children. The fact that some of the programmes are 'no longer airing' does not negate the fact that they are unsuitable for children". 

The KFCB - that said it banned the cartoons because it believes that the Nickelodeon, Disney XD and Cartoon Network shows "are intended to introduce children to deviant behaviour" - was asked what this "deviant behaviour" is that it is referring to, and also how this children's programming is doing that.

The KFCB didn't offer up any explanation or clarity, and in response to the question says that it is "mandated to regulate film and broadcast content to protect children from exposure to inappropriate content. Promoting cultural and moral values through also constitutes our mandate."

The KFCB that said the cartoons are against its "understanding of the institution of family", was also asked what the KFCB's definition of family is and when this definition was decided upon.

The KFCB says Kenya's constitution "only recognizes marriage between people of the opposite sex. From these references to the Kenya Constitution 2010, it is clear that homosexuality is not part of the culture, national values and the concept of a family."

"Further, it is important to note that South Africa is the only African country that recognizes same sex marriages. Indeed, the Kenyan government has a responsibility to protect children against harmful exposure to negative media content and this is what the KFCB is doing as part of its mandate."

The KFCB provided the following reasons for why it banned each of the 7 cartoons on Nickelodeon, Disney XD and Cartoon Network: 

Provider	Channel	Programme	Description
DStv	Nickelodeon	Loud House	The animated TV show airs on weekdays between 11am and 3pm and features a married, inter-racial same-sex couple, Howard and Harold McBride parenting ten year old Clyde McBride. While the program does not make a big deal out of the fact that this couple is homosexual, we find that this is a veiled attempt by the creators of the show to pass off this kind of relationship as normal.  The homosexual couple debuted on the show in July 2016 in an episode dubbed “Overnight Success” in supporting roles but they have continued to constantly feature in the show that Nickelodeon has rated 7+.
GOtv	Nickelodeon	Loud House
DStv & GOtv	Disney XD	Star Vs the Forces of the Evil	A gay couple share a kiss in one of the episodes of the animated program in the children’s network. In yet another episode, two lesbian couples are seen cuddling.
Dstv	Nickelodeon	Legend of Korra	The creators of the program state that the star and her co-star both of who are female cartoons are a lesbian couple. In one scene they are seen walking through a portal into the spirit world for an implied romantic vacation.
DStv	Cartoon Network	Adventure time	The creator reveals that two main characters, Princess Bubblegum and vampire Marceline are in a gay relationship.
DStv	Cartoon Network	Steven Universe	The show depicts two lesbian couples Ruby and Sapphire and Pearl and Rose Quartz.  The creator of the show explains the reason as to why she put gay characters in the series is that you can’t wait for children to grow up to let them know that queer people exist.
DStv	Disney XD	Gravity falls	The jokes in the cartoons are adult oriented for example one cartoon calls the other ‘bitch’, porn watching and gay cops.
DStv	Nickelodeon	Hey Arnold	Arnold is taught the wonders of sexual stamina and given stories about sex. Arnolds grandpa had a dick for a head – head is in the shape of a penis and somewhere in the scene there is a poster written "try my sausage".

Loud House

The KFCB is so uninformed that it missed the announcement of self-censorship by VIMN Africa in mid-2016 when Viacom International "assured" DStv subscribers that it won't be broadcasting on television anywhere in Africa the "Overnight Success" episode on the Nickelodeon channel featuring the flash-appearance of two gay dads.
The KFCB has now banned the Loud House series over an episode that was never even broadcast in Kenya in the first place.

Star vs the Forces of Evil

It's strange that the KFCB would ban a cartoon it couldn't possibly have seen yet.
Disney XD just started showing the second season of the show on the channel across Africa and is now at episode 8. It will be quite a while before episode 20, "Just Friends", makes it to actual TV screens that does contain a fleeting kiss - if you know where to pause and look closely in the background.

Legend of Korra

The KFCB decided to ban The Legend of Korra since the creator, after the conclusion of the show in 2014, said that two characters are lesbian. Yet nothing romantic during the duration of the show was ever shown on-screen.

Legend of Korra is banned although it isn't even showing on Nickelodeon currently.

Adventure Time

The KFCB decided to ban Adventure Time on fake reasons and alleges that "the creator said the two main characters are in a gay relationship".
Not only are Princess Bubblegum and Marceline not the main characters as the KFCB alleges, but the creator, Pendleton Ward, has never said anything to that effect ever.

The closest is actress Olivia Olsen voicing the character of Marceline, at a book signing, who said that in her personal opinion Marceline is likely lesbian but that the show will never venture into that territory since "in some countries where the show airs, it's sort of illegal".

Steven Universe

The KFCB found a correct quote from an interview with the website Movie Pilot with the show's creator. Ruby and Sapphire are indeed lesbians, according to the show's creator, but viewers will have to watch the show with that specific subtext to see that.
The KFCB however seems to read a lot of fanfiction. Is Pearl and Rose gay? Nobody knows for certain and the show has never said that.

Gravity Falls

Explaining why it banned this cartoon, the KFCB again lies and says a character calls someone "bitch". Nobody says this to another character and the word is never spoken. 

What happens is that a character called Grunkle Stan once says "son of a ..." before the scene cuts away.

The KFCB also lies when it says the characters watch porn. It's never happened.

The show also finished in 2016 already. Like The Legend of Korra, the show's creator, after the conclusion of the series, said Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durand are gay, although its never ever mentioned or explored in the show.

Hey Arnold

The KFCB says "Arnold is taught the wonders of sexual stamina and given stories about sex". Nowhere in the series does that ever happen.

As proof of these and other simply not there things, the KFCB seems to have found a website that tries to find so-called "dirty jokes" in the cartoon.

The KFCB says Arnold's grandpa "had a dick for a head – head is in the shape of a penis and somewhere in the scene there is a poster written 'try my sausage".

To see a penis you have to take a pen and draw on grandpa's face in just the right way to create a penis, and you won't believe how a penis will then pop out. It's real, definitive proof according to the KFCB that Hey Arnold isn't meant for children.

Luckily Hey Arnold isn't even on Nickelodeon currently, so the KFCB didn't have to bother to watch actual episodes before banning the cartoon.

The KFCB didn't ban the evil Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, those anthropomorphic turtles who are luring unsuspecting kids to go live in the sewers, or The Powerpuff Girls where Donny the transgender pony who isn't horny believes that he's actually a unicorn - but it's probably just a matter of time.