Tuesday, March 5, 2019

SABC3 viewers furious and reacting angrily after SABC abruptly dumps The Bold and the Beautiful weekday soap after years.


SABC3 viewers are just as livid as when Brooke stole Ridge for the 9th time from Taylor, and are reacting after the SABC abruptly dumped the long-running American soap The Bold and the Beautiful since Monday from its schedule.

The SABC that can't and won't pay for The Bold and the Beautiful anymore replaced it with a Democracy Gauge political show at 17:30 on weekdays, and added repeats and rebroadcasts like Taryn and Sharon from 2017 and SABC2's former telenovela Keeping Score to its prime time schedule.

Neo Momodu, SABC spokesperson, didn't respond to a media enquiry, made multiple times since last week, seeking comment on the programming changes and asking when the decision was taken to remove The Bold and the Beautiful, whether old content will not lead to lower viewership during prime time for the already-struggling channel, and what the new direction is that SABC3 is taking.

The SABC only confirmed on Saturday afternoon in a statement that The Bold and the Beautiful has been canned and would be gone from Monday, after the SABC3 schedule for March that became available in February, showed that the soap was no longer on the schedule from 4 March.

In September 2018 the SABC did a big countrywide publicity blitz with The Bold and the Beautiful star Katherine Kelly Lang that the SABC gave prime placement and massive exposure on a flurry of SABC TV talk and magazine shows as well as SABC radio stations, emphasising the value and importance of the programme to the SABC.

In January Bold from BBL Productions lured 484 067 viewers, just below local magazine show Top Billing, as the 5th most watched show on the channel for the month, excluding four sports broadcasts.

Bold finally getting scrapped from the latest March SABC3 schedule come two years after SABC3 lost Days of Our Lives in September 2017 to rival e.tv.

M-Net (DStv 101) was asked if it's possibly looking into taking over The Bold and the Beautiful and tells TVwithThinus "we always buy the best of the best. In this case it depends whether the show will fit into our current channel strategies and propositions, schedules and budgets".

"SABC3, you took off The Bold and the Beautiful and replaced it with this political garbage? Disgusting!" said Joyce Dembo.

"Wow, The Bold and the Beautiful really not broadcasting on SABC3 anymore. End of an era," said Caeden Govender.

"Hi SABC3. Please call my mother and tell her what y'all did with The Bold and the Beautiful because it's now my duty to look for it," said Kgabo Kganyago.

"Even an entertainment institution like The Bold and the Beautiful can be taken off the air so rapidly for a propaganda show, when just late last year there was a massive marketing drive to cement collaboration with local shows and establish viewership," said Harold Ferwood.

The Bold and the Beautiful is running on EVA (DStv 141) but with episodes that are two years behind SABC3.




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