Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:
■ The 76th Golden Globes were an embarrassment.
Show flung trophies to inexcusably problematic and misguided films, ceremony bizarrely paced with no cohesive sense of spirit, purpose, or tone, and the TV side you can scratch your head for days.
■ And the TV awards show host is dead.
■ And the Fii water girl photobomber Kelleth Cuthbert at the Golden Globes is revealed to be a married Canadian model who married her Playboy photographer husband.
■ And Melissa McCarthy wanted people to feed and handed out secret ham sandwiches at the Golden Globes after she snuck in snacks.
■ LG's mind-bending, rollable TV is real and it goes on sale later in 2019.
LG's latest OLED TV is completely flexible and rolls away into its base when not in use.
■ Netflix's upcoming content crisis.
The biggest shows on Netflix are owned by other companies.
■ Why is Netflix enabling Saudi Arabia's crackdown on press freedom?
■ The first global decline in pay-TV subscribers.
The total number of pay-TV subscribers of the 100 leading services in the world fell slightly by 0.11 million in the third quarter of 2018 - the first decline ever.
■ When will sport on pay-TV reach a breaking point?
■ ITV's Dancing on Ice in a terminal downward spiral as ratings tank.
Lowest viewership for the Brit-show yet after losing 1 million viewers in the first episode of 2019 season.
■ The Sopranos at 20: How did the show change TV - and us?
■ A quiet, far-reaching change: India is following Canada with a dramatic pay-TV change.
From 1 February 2019 India's broadcasting regulator, TRAI, has ordered pay-TV operators to change and introduce a new pricing and TV channel selection system. The new system will "free" viewers from having to pay for a specific set of TV channels in a bouquet or package.
India's pay-TV subscribers will pick and pay for only the channels they choose - with the regulator even capping a fixed maximum price per channel of Rs19 (R3.78).
- There's still a catch: Subscribers will still pay a base monthly "connection fee" and this will come with 100 standard definition (SD) free-to-air channels. Further channels will be added by choice at an individual price. Will watching pay-TV in India get costlier? Well, once the heavy discounts to maintain current pricing levels stop, yes.
■ Premature ending: Amazon Prime Video self-censoring Hindi films.
Movies on Amazon Prime Video in India are shorter than the same film on Netflix in that country.
■ TV shows that were too disturbing to finish.
■ Sky News (DStv 402) live interview interrupted by Brexit protesters.
