by Thinus Ferreira
Sources told TVwithThinus on Monday night that
Waldimar Pelser is taking over from Karen Meiring as director of kykNET
channels at MultiChoice from February 2022, with the Rapport editor
and In Gesprek met Waldimar Pelser host who is
succeeding Meiring who is retiring from the position after 12 years.
Karen Meiring was appointed as the head of kykNET
from January 2009 where she steered MultiChoice and M-Net's Afrikaans TV
channels and content expansion drive on DStv.
There's no word yet on who will succeed Waldimar
Pelser as Rapport editor who will likely also give up his TV anchor chair of
the weekly current affairs show on kykNET (DStv 144) he has been fronting since October 2014.
Global insiders as well as South African producers
have been buzzing about the imminent change of the guard at kykNET that some
have called "the biggest open secret since the appointment of Karen Meiring".
Several MultiChoice, M-Net and kykNET staffers said that Waldimar Pelser's appointment was a "double surprise".
I'm told that firstly, several MultiChoice, M-Net and kykNET staffers didn't expect that Waldimar Pelser would be appointed, were surprised by his name and suggested names they thought that M-Net and kykNET would promote from inside.
Secondly, MultiChoice, M-Net and kykNET staff were surprised to hear about the appointment of Waldimar Pelser from external places - producers, production companies and people working across South Africa's television industry - before an internal memo was sent out inside the pay-TV company to inform them.
TVwithThinus will add the official statement here later if received with MultiChoice and kykNET that are set to likely make an
official appointment announcement on Tuesday.
UPDATE: MultiChoice and kykNET announced that Waldimar Pelser is replacing Karen Meiring internally in a memo to staffers on Tuesday, and then decided to play the silly "fake exclusivity" game by giving a press release to an Afrikaans paywall news site first, cutting out other media although TVwithThinus already had the news.
MultiChoice says Karen Meiring will "continue consulting for MultiChoice".
"We look forward to welcoming Waldimar Pelser to the MultiChoice family," says Gideon Khobane, MultiChoice group executive for general entertainment, in the prepared statement the pay-TV company issued on Tuesday afternoon.
"His knowledge and insight of the Afrikaans community will stand him in good stead to continue the success of our kykNET channels."
