A TeeveeTee exclus: The sands through the hourglass is done with the SABC and will run be running through e.tv - yep Salemnites, what the SABC didn't value is now jumping to e.tv where Days of Our Lives is being restored to its rightful place: early primetime with e.tv that is taking over the hugely popular American day time soap Days of Our Lives from e.tv from Monday 4 September at 17:30.
I've learnt that Days of Our Lives will no longer be shown on e.tv but will be a new e.tv exclusive. Days on e.tv will start with episode 12 368.
The SABC has carried and broadcast Days of Our Lives for 25 years - half a century since it first started in February 1992 on the then CCV channel.
After the SABC under the controversial and now fired former chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng decided to "ban" international content from the SABC and especially SABC3 where Days of Out Lives was marginalised and pushed from its hugely popular spot at 17:00 to near-midnight, e.tv is now taking Days of Our Lives over.
Although Days was hugely popular, got very good ratings for SABC3 and was a very big money-spinner for the public broadcaster's only commercial channel, the SABC's shoddy treatment of what was a programming jewel, is now e.tv's gain who is taking over Days and restoring it to a plush timeslot where viewers can and will watch it again in droves.
e.tv has been building up a great balance of both local and international content for viewers while the struggling SABC continues to slide back in terms of its content offering as e.tv sows up more and more deals with international distributors and partners ranging from Disney and others to ramping up its local content output.
The last time e.tv pulled off an American daytime programming coup like this, was almost 3 decades ago when e.tv brazenly managed to "steal" The Oprah Winfrey Show away from the SABC's then NNTV (the channel that eventually became SABC3) in 1998 when e.tv launched.
The SABC and channel executives were dreadfully disappointed, baffled, stunned and rather outraged - a competitor stole their show by agreeing to pay more money for it and treating it better.
What's more is that South African viewers with the shift of Days of Our Lives from SABC3 to e.tv for the first time be able to watch Days of Lives in high definition (HD) since e.tv is a HD channel on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform on channel 194 and on Platco Digital's OpenView HD (OVHD) on channel 104.
The take-over of Days of Our Lives by e.tv and slotting it for 17:30 will cause another debilitating effect for the already struggling SABC's SABC3 channel.
Given the sizeable audience that Days had that will very likely return and now switch to e.tv during the hour, it very likely spells depressed ratings for Anele Mdoda's talk show Real Talk with Anele at 17:00.
"We continue to add world-class entertainment to the e.tv lineup, and by adding a multi award-winning show like Days of our Lives, we not only give our current viewers a daily dose of quality drama, but we also give the die-hard fans of the show a new home to get their fix of ‘Days," says Marlon Davids, e.tv managing director.
Days of our Lives is produced by Corday Productions Inc. in association with Sony Pictures Television. Ken Corday is the executive producer with co-executive producers Greg Meng and Albert Alarr. Ron Carlivati is the head writer. Days of our Lives airs nationally on NBC in the United States and in several countries internationally.
e.tv will run Days of Our Lives on weekdays, and then an omnibus every Sunday on the eXtra channel on OpenView HD on channel 105 and on DStv on channel 195.
