by Thinus Ferreira
With 1.2 million viewers nightly on SABC2 in June, making it the most-watched Afrikaans TV show in the country by far, the South African public broadcaster says that is not enough and not a large enough TV rating for the 23-year old soap to stay on air.
According to the SABC, 7de Laan is "no longer attracting the right numbers to remain a commercially viable product".
The financially struggling SABC sent shockwaves through the South African TV industry and left viewers stunned when it confirmed to me on Monday that 7de Laan has been cancelled.
After insiders said that 7de Laan is getting the axe, the broadcaster was asked about the long-running Hillside-set series' demise just as producers at Danie Odendaal Productions called the cast and crew together on Monday morning to give them the sad news as they huddled together on one of the show's sets at Sasani Studios.
7de Laan is the most-watched show Afrikaans TV show in South African television and in June was the second most-watched show on SABC2 where it pulled 1 191 198 viewers for its most-watched episode last month.
7de Laan's viewership is just behind the long-running Venda soap Muvhango with 1.43 million viewers, now raising questions about its future as well.
Dwarfing any Afrikaans TV content on MultiChoice's various kykNET TVchannels on DStv or eMedia's e.tv channels, the 7de Laan omnibus on Sundays lured another 424 782 viewers to the channels, with the mid-morning repeats at 11:00 on SABC2 adding another 495 397 viewers.
This, the SABC now says, is not enough for 7de Laan to stay on the air, with the show which has become too expensive given its audience rating and audience share.
With more than 5 500 episodes produced so far, the last episode of 7de Laan's 24th season - episode 5 721 - will be filmed on 21 October and broadcast on 26 December.
The decision to cancel 7de Laan was done by Merlin Naicker, head of SABC video entertainment; Lala Tuku, SABC head of content for video entertainment, David Makubyane, general manager of video entertainment platforms; and SABC2 channel head Gerhard Pretorius.
"The SABC was faced with no option but to review the programme strategy to remain
responsive to current audience consumption patterns, the ever-changing landscape,
as well as the commercial sustainability of the schedule," the broadcaster tells TVwithThinus in response to a media query asking for the reason why 7de Laan got the axe.
"SABC2 relies
heavily on great audience ratings to attract the advertisers and 7de Laan was
no longer attracting the right numbers to remain a commercially viable product," the broadcaster says.
"The decision to decommission 7de Laan was also about repositioning the content
offering on the channel."
The SABC says that it "would like to thank
its viewers and stakeholders for their support during the 24 years of 7de Laan,
as the channel embarks on a more defined strategic direction".
"We invite viewers
to stay tuned for more exciting and new content on the channel and an announcement will be made in the near future."
