Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:
■ "Is this the best you can do for R900?"
DStv Premium subscribers continue to complain about the lack of value and quality content as BBC Studios' BBC First channel is also ripped away and subscribers say they have had enough of "junk viewing".
■ Another reader angry about the axing of ITV Choice and now BBC First, says DStv hasn't bothered to reply while having to pay R1000 monthly to watch repeats.
"What led MultiChoice to the belief thatno-one watched BBC First on channel 119?" asks the reader that wants to move from DStv to Netflix.
■ The disturbing photos from Ghana's trash-bad imitation TV version of M-Net and MultiChoice's Big Brother Naija.
Horrific production values as the so-called Biggy 237 trash show is marred by technical problems; contestant housemates sleeping in dirty, unkept room on student matrasses on the floor; organisers lied about the show being part of MultiChoice Ghana.
■ New BBC director-general Tim Davie against a switch to subscription.
■ New BBC boss Tim Davie to crack down on BBC staff posting their personal views on social media.
- Won't hesitate to shut down BBC TV channels if they no longer offer enough value.
- Says BBC has reached end of linear TV expansion.
- "There is still too much bureaucracy."
■ Star Wars actor John Boyega slams Disney and says he was pushed to the side.
■ How Netflix reinvented entertainment as well as corporate culture.
■ Covid-19 has wiped out 2020's new TV schedule in the United States.
■ Hollywood is filled with fear and loathing over the new stranglehold over cinema of video streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
■ Andrew Lloyd Webber warns that the arts is "at the point of no return".
■ Away on Netflix is another mission-to-Mars TV drama that doesn't achieve liftoff.
■ Reporters from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Australian Financial Review flee China after media crackdown.
■ "Shame on you Unilever! Shame on you TRESemmé!"
eNCA (DStv 403) continues its slide into activism and blended in-news commentary, blurring the line between just reporting the facts in TV news bulletins and giving personal opinion.
- EFF political party harasses eNCA reporter Nobusuthu Hejana.
- EFF political party harasses eNCA reporter AGAIN.
■ South Africa's auditor-general (AG) questions the SABC's R63 million contract with 5 international news agencies - BBC, Reuters, Feature Stories, Associated Press (AP), and AFP awarded in 2017.
■ Ellen DeGeneres will address the behind-the-scenes scandal at her talk show on the air when the new 18th season starts.
■ Global pirate viewing will start on 30 October when the second season of Star Wars' The Mandalorian is released on Disney+ that hasn't yet launched or announced any launch date for Disney's video streaming service in South Africa or Africa.
■ What the end of Keeping Up with the Kardashians on E! (DStv 124) says about the changing TV industry in America.
- The internet today would not be what it is without the Kardashian influence.
- The influencer/creator culture we have today would not exist without Keeping Up with the Kardashians and The Hills and The Simple Life.
■ "Very bad form": Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pull out of a fundraiser linked to a video streaming rival to Netlifx after they had already said yes but are now producers for Netflix (subscription required).
- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's "money panic" played amajor role in their decision to sign a production deal with Netflix.
- Netflix viewers cancel their subscriptions after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announce their Netflix production deal.
