by Thinus Ferreira
On Monday eMedia's South African TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403) is poised for yet another rebrand less than 5 years after the last one - with more schedule changes and anchor shifts which will see the channel dump its own morning show output to simulcast's e.tv's The Morning Show, the return of anchor Shahan Ramkissoon and the channel now staying in live programming until midnight.
The Hyde Park-based eNCA had a channel rebrand in July 2018 that was accompanied by a dramatic overhaul to its schedule, programming and anchor line-up. It was followed by another eNCA schedule shake-up in July 2019.
Now eNCA, under John Bailey as managing editor - and feeling the increased heat and competition from rival local TV news channels like Thabile Ngwato and Thokozani Nkosi's Newzroom Afrika (DStv 405) and the public broadcaster's SABC News (DStv 404) - is once again revamping its look, programming structure and content output.
The eNCA logo is changing again from 1 May 2023, sticking with blue and red, but delineating the blue "e" from the red and flipping the blue and white between letter and background colour.
eNCA will no longer produce its own morning show, The South African Morning, with its anchors Tumelo Mothotoane and Gareth Edwards shifted to anchor NewsLink from 09:00 to 12:00. NewsLink which used to end at 11:00 and is now being extended to a 3-hour block.
In the space of The South African Morning, eNCA will now show DStv subscribers a simulcast of e.tv's The Morning Show, meaning that pay-TV viewers and free-to-air viewers will now see the same show on two TV channels.
What eNCA saves in production costs by dropping the in-house production of The South African Morning it used to do from its own studios, it will now use to stay in live broadcast programming until later.
From May eNCA will now broadcast live until midnight, nightly, whereas it used to switch to repeats and rebroadcasts at 22:00.
According to the new eNCA schedule, the All Angels daytime block which ran from 11:00 until 14:00 will now run from 12:00 until 15:00. Today which ran from 14:00 until 17:00 will now start at 15:00 until 18:00. South Africa Tonight which started at 17:00 on eNCA will now start at 18:00.
NewsNight on eNCA which used to start at 20:00 and ended at 22:00, how shifts to start at 21:00 for three hours until midnight.
Shahan Ramkissoon who left eNCA a year ago in May 2022 to work in South Africa's corporate public relations industry is returning to anchor the new eNCA show The Last Word on Thursday and Friday nights at 20:00.
"From 1 May, viewers will see an updated logo and fresh look for the channel," eNCA confirms in a press release. "As part of the refresh, viewers can expect some updates in the daily broadcast schedule," the news channel says.
"Viewers will still see the familiar faces they've grown to rely on, and also some new ones who will join the channel," says eNCA, adding that "The weekend schedule is also being refreshed. Going forward, We the Nation will be shown on Sundays at 20:00. eNCA will also extend its broadcast hours until midnight, every night."
