Nazeer Noormohamed considering cancelling purchase of former Afrotone Worldview and ANN7 TV building after it gets stripped of assets.

Businessman Nazeer Noormohamed is considering cancelling the purchase of the former Afro Worldview and ANN7 building in Midrand, Johannesburg that he acquired through an auction process after its been stripped of assets that had been ripped out.

The building in Midrand housed the offices of The New Age newspaper and the studio of the controversial ANN7 channel from the now-notorious Gupta family that was broadcast on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

ANN7 was rebranded to Afro Worldview by Mzwanele Manyi, chairperson of Afrotone Media Holdings, who took over the channel from the Guptas, with MultiChoice that made a decision to dump the controversial TV channel from DStv, effectively shuttering the loss-making AfroWorldview and The New Age that got put up for auction in 2018.

On Sunday the City Press newspaper reported that the building had been stripped of a range of valuable items, ranging from satellite broadcasting hardware to air conditioning units.

"After learning that the assets of the property were being stripped, on behalf of the existing tenant or their representatives, we called the auctioneers, who said that they were not responsible for securing the building," Nazeer Noormohamed is quoted as saying in City Press, who found 15 air-conditioners taken away and loaded onto a truck when he visited the Midrand property.

A large, central cooling system had also been removed from the Midrand building, including 3 large transformers that were bolted to the ground.

Nazeer Noormohamed would still buy the building but only if all the fixed assets are returned and reinstalled, and is demanding that the R8 million deposit he had paid for the building be returned after he bid R29.5 million for the building.

Meanwhile Mzwanele Manyi told City Press that he had "moved on" with  Sifiso Mthethwa, the company's director who said that only moveable assets were removed from the Midrand building.

Nazeer Noormohamed owns a TV channel as well as local newspapers in Pretoria.

Labour court finds Mzwanele Manyi breached labour laws when he abruptly fired Afro Worldview staffers; orders workers to be reinstated at the shuttered TV channel that DStv dumped last month.

The Johannesburg Labour Court on Thursday ruled that Mzwanele Manyi breached the Labour Relations Act when he fired the staffers at the now shuttered and controversial Afro Worldview TV channel and ordered workers to be reinstated.

MultiChoice finally dumped the controversial Afro Worldview at midnight on 20 August with Mzwanele Manyi who abruptly told workers on 19 August not to come to work anymore.

The Communications Workers Union (CWU) took Mzwanele Manyi to labour court that on Thursday ruled that Afro Worldview must reinstate staffers since they were not properly dismissed.

The court ruled that Afro Worldview and Infinity Media Networks "failed to engage in a retrenchment consultation process" and that workers who were fired with immediate effect must be reinstated.

Mzwanele Manyi and Infinity Media Networks breached sections 189 of the Labour Relations Act by failing to conduct retrenchment consultation.

Tasso Anestidis, lawyer for the fired Afro Worldview staffers says "We are elated with the court order and the judgement. It is a great order and we are looking to enforce it. Depending on what he does, we will act accordingly because we have relief. We are happy that all our hard work paid off".

The order does not apply to the second respondent in the case, Afrotone Media Holdings.

ANN7 changes to Afro Worldview on MultiChoice's DStv with Richard Nta and Flo Letoaba as new morning co-anchors, will no longer report that anyone 'died' since people only 'pass on', says owner Mzwanele Manyi.

On Monday morning the brand-damaged ANN7 (DStv 405) rolled out its new look as Afro Worldview on the same channel number and with the same set, but a new logo on DStv - with owner Mzwanele Manyi who said he won't interfere with the "new" channel's editorial decisions but then said it was decided that henceforth Afro Worldview in its news reporting won't say someone died but always use passed on.

Although name-changed to try and distance itself from its disastrous, often-mocked and blooper-filled on-air image, as well as its history of bias and links with the now-notorious Gupta family, MultiChoice will still dump Afro Worldview on 20 August from its DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

With a set design that's now incongruent to its new logo and colours, the gold-and-black themed Afro Worldview launched with new morning co-anchors Richard Nta and Flo Letoaba who both previously worked for the competing TV-news channel eNCA (DStv 403).

Afro Worldview that according to its contract with MultiChoice is supposed to supply publicity material and talent photos, schedule information and programming updates to both the pay-TV operator and the press, didn't issue any press releases about anchor, line-up or programming block changes to the media ahead of today's rebranding exercise.

Mzwanele Manyi, the Afrotone Media Holdings chairperson, on Monday morning in an appearance on Afro Worldview, said that the channel will have a new editorial policy "and it's going to be a major shift from all the criticism that we've been receiving from a whole range of people".

He said Afro Worldview wants to be "the trusted voice of Africa".

Mzwanele Manyi said the rebrand from ANN7 to Afro Worldview is part of a plan to steer the TV news channel in a new direction with around 500 people working in the news group "whose jobs are going to go if this channel shuts down."

"So all of this fanfare and everything is an effort to say to South Africa, this channel cannot shut down. We have done everything that needs to be done to make sure that this channel does not shut down. We have cut a clean break with the Guptas. We don't owe any Guptas anything."

Following eNCA's lead where Mapi Mhlangu is the managing director and editor-in-chief, Mzwanele Manyi announced that the channel will have "a black, an African, and a woman who is going to be the new editor of the channel".

About Afro Worldview Mzwanele Manyi said "I'm just the owner. So I don't want to get involved in editorial policies. That's one of the major decisions. We're going to draw a strong line between owners and editors."

Mzwanele Manyi later in the same interview then announced as owner an editorial policy change, saying that "one of the things that you will never hear again, ever, in this channel, is when a person has passed on, you hear 'a person died'. With us as Africans, a person does not die, a person passes on."

"So let it be clear to everyone, even if you say I'm interfering with the editorial policy, but here, because we are Africans, we must never say a person died. A person passes on; an animal died. That kind of a thing."

Four businesses want to start new free-to-air TV channels in South Africa, including ANN7, Sekunjalo through Tshwaranang, and Econet Media's Kwesé TV.

Four business consortiums want to start new freely available TV channels in South Africa - including the so-called "Gupta news" channel ANN7 that MultiChoice is dumping from DStv in August, as well as Sekunjalo that owns the South African print group, Independent Media, looking to launch its first TV channel.

South Africa's broadcasting regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) received four applications from interested parties who want to start individual, commercial free-to-air (FTA) TV channels.

The last time the regulator opened applications for people to start free-to-air channels to be competition for the SABC and e.tv in 2014, all 5 who applied were disqualified in 2016.

All 5 were refused licences due to problems with cross-media ownership that didn't adhere to regulations, not complying with foreign ownership restrictions, not complying with the ownership share regarding historically-disadvantaged groups and not proving they have adequate financial backing to start sustainable TV channels in South Africa.

Infinity Media Networks - the company name that owned ANN7 before selling it to Mzwanele Manyi's Afrotone Media Holdings - wanted to start a freely available version of ANN7, and has now applied again.

Icasa has published the 4 applicant's names in the Government Gazette of 13 March 2018 with the public that had until 4 April to respond.

The actual applications and application documents are available to the public, but can only be access by people who are in Johannesburg and who physically have to go to the Icasa library in Sandton during office hours. Icasa says the applications are not available online for the public to study.


The following businesses applied for TV channel licenses:

Kwesé Free TV
Econet Media runs Kwesé TV as a pay-TV service outside of South Africa in several Southern African countries but doesn't have a licence to run a pay-TV service in South Africa.
Kwesé has a South African office in Bryanston, Johannesburg, and its one channel, Kwesé Free Sports was just added to the free-to-air satellite service, OpenView HD (OVHD) run by eMedia Investment's Platco Digital.

Econet Media would like to get a foot in the door by starting a free TV channel in South Africa that will start getting its brand out there and build brand recognition in the country, after which it will wait until it can apply for a pay-TV license to become competition for MultiChoice's DStv, StarSat and Deukom.


Infinity Media Networks
Infinity Media Networks used to run ANN7. Then the controversial Gupta family sold ANN7 to Mzwanele Manyi and his Afrotone Media Holdings in a "vendor financing" agreement.
Now Infinity Media Networks is listed again as an applicant to start a new, free-to-air TV channel.

While Infinity Media Networks' name is listed as the applicant for a TV licence, the telephone number listed is that of ANN7 in Midrand - 011 542 1222. The physical office address and the postal address are those currently used by ANN7, and the email addresses provided to the public in the Government Gazette are both ANN7 email addresses.


Free to Air TV
Little is known about this applicant whose office address is given as being in Melrose North, Johannesburg.


Tshwaranang Media
Tshwaranang Media is from Sekunjalo Independent Media (SIM) controlled by Iqbal Survé who owns 55% of the Independent Media Group.

The contact details provided to Icasa are those of the African News Agency (ANA), the tiny wire service run by Sekunjalo and Independent Media, where the contact point for Tshwaranang Media is given as ANA Pictures CEO and Independent Media Solutions (IMS), Amit Makan.

Tshwaranang Media also lists contact details at Condé Nast in Cape Town, with Condé Nast Independent Magazines (CNIM) that is part of Sekunjalo Independent Media.

ANN7 owner Mzwanele Manyi vents over detained Indian staffers: 'Chinese firms full of unlawfuls, ‘all kinds of Pakistani's in townships without documentation’.

ANN7 owner Mzwanele Manyi is lashing out over the department of home affairs inspecting the work permits of Indian staffers and on Tuesday evening decided to vent on ANN7, saying home affairs should visit Chinese firms that "for a fact" have lots of unlawful workers, that home affairs will find "lots of them" in Bedfordview, and that "they can go to the townships – there’s all kinds of Pakistani's that are there without the required documentation".

The department of home affairs on Tuesday conducted a second surprise raid at the Gupta-linked ANN7 to inspect the documents of the 18 Indian staffers working at the ANN7 headquarters in Midrand. 

Three Indian staffers who are not senior managers, were detained but not arrested, and allowed to return to work after questioning. 

Mzwanele Manyi, chairperson of Afrotone Media Holdings that owns ANN7 (DStv 405) and The New Age took to the ANN7 airwaves on Tuesday evening at 19:00 to vent about the behaviour and actions of the department of home affairs.

Mzwanele Manyi said there's been a "communications breakdown" between ANN7 and the department of home affairs, saying "we're on that process to go and drop off the documents so that they can inspect. And the arrangement was that by Thursday we'll drop off the documents there. So we were sitting here with that understanding that we are dropping off the documents on Thursday".

Mzwanele Manyi said "we have nothing to hide as an organisation" and "that is nobody at these premises who are here unlawfully". He said on ANN7 "the visas are no problem. The problem is the, shall I call it, the categorisation of the work permit. That is the whole issue, and it maybe affects two or three employees. The rest of the employees have got proper work permits."

"There's probably one or two – three at most – who are on intra [company visa], but even those, they are not here unlawfully. They are here lawfully".

Mzwanele Manyi said the Indian staffers "are highly traumatised".

"The treatment, the arrangement, that we were exposed to here today, I must say as a South African I was ashamed of my country because what they did, it reminded me of the pass law raid and whatever."

"If indeed there was this seriousness in my view, from home affairs, if there is a seriousness to weed out unlawful people in the country, surely they should have visited various Chinese firms in the country – those people indeed, for a fact, they have a lot of people that are unlawful."

"They could have gone to Bedfordview [eastern Ekurhuleni], they will find lots of them. They can come to Sandton here and look at foreign nationals that are not here legally. They can go to the townships – there’s all kinds of Pakistani's that are there without the required documentation," said Mzwanele Manyi.

"That's why this could also, the narrative that says we are being targeted here can actually be a credible narrative, because there's absolutely no reason for home affairs to really act in the manner they did when they're getting co-operation".

ANN7 didn’t respond to a media enquiry made Tuesday evening asking for comment about the latest home affairs raid.

MultiChoice is dumping ANN7 at the end of August from its DStv satellite pay-TV platform over repeated compliance breaches, low audience ratings, a lack of technical and editorial quality, as well as investor pressure arising from reputational damage over ANN7’s association with the controversial Gupta family linked to widespread State Capture allegations.

ANN7's Midrand headquarters raided by immigration officials from the department of home affairs after Indian worker visas have apparently expired.

The Midrand headquarters of the controversial ANN7 (DStv 405) channel was raided by immigration officials on Thursday afternoon, the department of home affairs confirmed.

The surprise raid comes as the work visas of several ANN7 staffers from India, including several managers, had apparently expired.

Mzwanele "Jimmy" Manyi didn't respond to media enquiries about the home affairs raid on Thursday.

His Afrotone Media Holdings now owns the notoriously biased "Guptanews" channel on DStv that MultiChoice is shutting down at the end of July.

Fugitive Guptas as currently being hunted by South African law enforcement as they continue to evade the law that is looking for them due to their connection to widespread alleged "state capture" in South Africa.

The work permits of several ANN7 staffers from Indian, including multiple managers, have apparently expired, and they allegedly kept working.

ANN7 insiders said Indian workers were herded into the one green room where they were made to wait, while ANN7 staffers looked on.

ANN7 staffers said the home affairs check was "completely unexpected".

The department of home affairs in a statement said that it had conducted a "routine inspection" at ANN7.

"As part of its mandate, the inspectorate directorate of the department undertakes regular inspections on the basis of information provided to them, which information would demand a thorough investigation including in loco inspections."

"In this regard, our officials visited the ANN7 studios to verify information related to visas of certain individuals employed by the organisation".

"Once verified, the department will release the findings of the inspection."

Neither StarSat, Cell C black nor OpenView HD interested in taking over the ANN7 channel from MultiChoice's DStv.

Neither StarSat, Cell C black nor OpenView HD are interested in taking over the ANN7 channel from MultiChoice's DStv, with none of the three TV providers who carry TV news channels in a position - or willing - to pump the millions of rand into the so-called "Guptanews" channel that's required to keep such a channel afloat.

MultiChoice's has decided to dump ANN7, that's been a mistake-riddled embarrassment since the first day it launched on 21 August 2013, from its DStv satellite pay-TV platform at the end of July.

MultiChoice discarding ANN7 doesn't technically spell the shutdown of the channel since the floundering Mzwanele Manyi owned TV albatross could be taken over by another platform - although nobody else actually wants, or can afford, it.

StarSat CEO Debbie Wu tells TVwithThinus that "as you are aware StarSat just came out of business rescue, our current focus is to re-establish and stabilise the business. Currently we have not mandated any engagements in connection with ANN7.

Surie Ramasary, Cell C black chief executive says "We have a very strong suite of news channels and a news specific package on black with our current content offering and are not looking to include additional news channels at this time.  We will review our news content offering when appropriate."

eMedia Investments that run the free-to-air satellite TV platform, OpenView HD through its Platco Digital division, says "eMedia Investments will not be commenting on the issue you have raised below."

It's extremely unlikely that OpenView HD will take over ANN7 since the channel's operating costs are too expensive, OpenView HD can't pay that, and eMedia Investments already supply the rival TV news channel eNCA to MultiChoice's DStv.


ANN7 can't exist without a platform
ANN7, now owned by Afrotone Media Holdings, can't exist on its own and can't broadcast directly to viewers - it needs a platform through which to broadcast for two reasons.

Firstly ANN7 can't for instance just become a YouTube channel or be turned into a free-to-air digital terrestrial television (DTT) channel since it doesn't have such a license. ANN7 was commissioned by MultiChoice as specifically a satellite TV channel with the broadcasting regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).

Like M-Net's Mzansi Magic or ITV Choice or BBC Worldwide's BBC Earth, ANN7 is a channel that was created for and must sit in a TV decoder basket. Like a gold fish in a bowl, it can't exist independently outside of the environment that keeps it alive.

Icasa okay'ed ANN7 as a pay-TV channel for a satellite TV service. Therefore ANN7 can't suddenly broadcast to everyone like a SABC1 or e.tv.

Even if it were to do so, ANN7 would first have to get a type of DTT or analogue television broadcasting frequency and license - something Icasa is not issuing now or anymore.

ANN7 will also then have to find a terrestrial signal distributor like Sentech, and pay millions of rand for its TV signal to be send through the airwaves so that TV antennas can receive it.

ANN7 as an expensive operation also needs millions to keep afloat, and the possible income generated from YouTube or other streaming services simply won't be enough.

Secondly ANN7 is very largely dependent on what is known in the biz as "carriage fees" - the money the platform it is on, pays the channel for its content.

This "carriage fee" is the millions of rand that MultiChoice has been paying ANN7 as part of the carriage agreement or contract. It is the controversially large amounts of money that MultiChoice has been pumping into ANN7 over the past four years although the channel kept damaging the MultiChoice and DStv brands.

It's also interesting to note that carriage agreements between TV platform operators and TV channel suppliers usually stipulate that if a channel's content quality isn't up to scratch that penalties kick in, often in the form of reduced carriage fee payments.

Just like in shops where last season's leftover fashion rejects are marked down in the "bargain bin" and the price of food items are decreased as they near their sell by date because their value are diminishing as a result of their quality going down, bad TV channels as a product are paid less than premium, "good" channels.

In MultiChoice's and ANN7's case however, when ANN7 performed extremely badly, MultiChoice didn't penalise ANN7 by paying it less, but decided to pay ANN7 even more.

ANN7 essentially since launch became a laughing stock for its bad audio and video quality, amateur anchors making mistakes and struggling to read, numerous technical mistakes and spelling mistakes.

MultiChoice decided to pump millions of rand more into ANN7 when the channel under-performed and suffered from bad quality, with MultiChoice saying in a statement it decided to pay ANN7 even more money because "the terms of the agreement were renegotiated and payments increased when it became apparent that ANN7 needed to improve quality on the channel".

Tbo Touch wants to replace axed ANN7 with his own TV news channel on DStv giving viewers a 'black millennial perspective'.

Digital radio entrepreneur Tbo Touch, whose real name is Thabo Molefe, says he is ready to replace the “Gupta-news” channel ANN7 that MultiChoice is dumping from its DStv satellite pay-TV platform at the end of July.

Earlier this week MultiChoice announced that it won’t be renewing its contract with ANN7, now owned by Mzwanele Manyi’s Afrotone Media Holdings after the Guptas offloaded their often derided and mistake-filled channel to him last year.

ANN7 has been competing with SABC News and eMedia Investment’s eNCA (DStv 403) as local TV news channels both carried on DStv. 

The other satellite TV services, StarSat and OpenView HD (OVHD) carry no local TV news channels. StarSat, that started out as TopTV, said before it’s launch in 2010 that it would start and carry a local TV news channel but then backtracked on the decision and said the costs of starting and running a 24-hour TV news channel is too expensive.

eNCA commands over 50% of the total TV news audience share, with all the other news channel combined having to share the rest of the 50% of viewers who tune to watch TV news. SABC News has around 24.5% of the news viewership, with ANN7 sitting with a paltry 13.6%. 

Interestingly MultiChoice pays ANN7 more despite its barely there ratings, than eNCA that’s the most watched TV news channel among the local and international TV news channels combined.

At MultiChoice’s press conference earlier this week where the company announced that it’s axing ANN7, MultiChoice SA CEO Calvo Mawela said that MultiChoice will be replacing ANN7 with a new majority black-owned local TV news channel.

Linear TV news channels are notoriously expensive to set up and run as one of the second most most expensive TV genres to broadcast besides sport – and doesn’t make any significant profit, with channels that take years to turn profitable, if ever. 

Even internationally seen TV news channels that are considered successful and “prestige” projects are essentially failures if you ask a chartered accountant – Sky News (DStv 402) from pay-TV operator Sky in the United Kingdom is for instance a loss-making operation and has been for years.

Tbo Touch however thinks he can make it work where ANN7 failed and where the SABC with its first try at a TV news channel – SABC News International that failed and that was also shuttered by DStv – struggled to find success.  

On social media Tbo Touch that runs Touch HD, said he “submitted my bid for the 24-hour news channel” and that his plan is to do a news channel that provides “news from a black millennial perspective”. Tbo said he’s waiting “patiently” for a call from MultiChoice’s boss, saying Calvo Mawela’s “got both [my] numbers”.

ANN7 has quietly scrapped its weekly Indian lifestyle magazine show, East 'n Style; cancellation apparently due to 'revamp' reasons for the struggling channel.

The struggling TV channel ANN7 (DStv 405) has dumped its weekly Indian lifestyle magazine show East 'n Style.

East 'n Style, presented by Avashnee Vandiar and Shalandra Bunseelall has not been renewed.

IndianSpice on Monday first reported the East 'n Style cancellation news.

There's been no press release or statement from ANN7 now run by not Mzwanele "Jimmy" Manyi who is the executive chairman of Afrotone Media Holdings, now the new holding company for ANN7 and The New Age newspaper.

IndianSpice reports East 'n Style has been cancelled because ANN7 is apparently "revamping" its channel profile.

Since ANN7 launched with no publicity on MultiChoice's DStv in 2013 (that disastrous launch event and those disastrous on-air mistakes) ANN7 has never really ever bothered to tell the media and TV critics about any of its programming on the channel, or doing weekly programming advisories or basic PR notifications when new shows starts.

It's therefore hardly a surprise that DStv subscribers would even know what other shows there are on ANN7 or why they should bother to watch.

As the scandal that has engulfed DStv keeps growing over dealings with the Guptas and ANN7, MultiChoice finally relents after public pressure; says it will now investigate possible corruption.

MultiChoice has finally bowed under growing public pressure as a widening scandal involving its massive payments to the controversial Gupta family for the ANN7 (DStv 405) channel has engulfed the pay-TV operator running the DStv service, and said on Friday morning that MultiChoice will now conduct an investigation into possible corruption and governance failures.

On Tuesday this week TVwithThinus asked MultiChoice if it will possibly undertake or is going to undertake any investigation following the various #GuptaLeaks emails, contracts and email trail linking MultiChoice, the disgraced former minister of communictions, the Gupta family and the ANN7 TV channel.

MultiChoice didn't want to give any clear yes or no answer and simply said in response to the media enquiry that there was nothing unusual or inappropriate about its interactions with the minister and its contract with ANN7.

The past week, since last Friday's latest revelations of allegedly inappropriate dealings between MultiChoice and the Guptas over ANN7 - including questionable payments together with exorbitant amounts of money paid by DStv to the Guptas for the highly-criticised and low quality ANN7 channel - MultiChoice and Naspers has been enveloped in a growing tsunami of bad press and an avalanche of public criticism.

MultiChoice upped its payments to ANN7 from R50 million per year to R100 million per year and then a whopping R141 million per year and threw in a questionable R25 million once-off payment.

These MultiChoice payments have been made while ANN7 has remained mired in biased, slanted coverage and has been accused of fostering racial discord in South Africa through its one-sided coverage - particularly contantly slating politicians and people who are against State Capture and president Jacob Zuma's alleged looting of the public purse.

Meanwhile ANN7's on-air mistakes and embarrassing gaffes, including low production values continues unabated.

On Friday morning MultiChoice issued a statement saying that because MultiChoice's reputation has been "negatively impacted" it will now launch a probe into the ANN7 deal and whether there's been any corporate governance failures at MultiChoice".

MultiChoice is investigating itself, instead of any independent, external investigation by group owner Naspers where Naspers chairperson Koos Bekker has been dismissive of criticism from the public and investors about possible corrupt dealings by MultiChoice, and where CEO Bob van Dijk bristled with irritation in the week when asked by Naspers isn't investigating the allegations.

MultiChoice isn't saying whether the outcome of the investigation will be made public once it has been concluded.

In the MultiChoice statement, attributed to Don Eriksson, an independent non-executive director in his role as the chairperson of MultiChoice's audit and risk committees, Don Eriksson said the MultiChoice board is "aware that the ANN7 channel has caused real public concern".

"The MultiChoice board has read the various media reports alleging that MultiChoice has entered into an irregular relationship for the carriage of the ANN7 channel".

"The board is aware that the ANN7 channel has caused real public concern because of the allegations of corruption levelled at the former owners of the channel".

"These allegations have negatively impacted the reputation of MultiChoice. The MultiChoice board has therefore instructed its audit and risk committees to assess whether there has been any corporate governance failures at MultiChoice and report back to the board".

"Based on what is contained in that report, the MultiChoice board will take the necessary action; assess whether the total amount paid to ANN7 is comparable to payments made for other locally-produced channels with due consideration being given to the estimated costs of running a 24-hour news channel."

MultiChoice says it will also "draw on any expertise and skills necessary in order to fulfil the mandate given by the board".

"In addition, Adv Kgomotso Moroka, one of the MultiChoice board members, was requested by the board and has agreed to, assist the audit and risk committees in this matter".

After MultiChoice paid the controversial Gupta family - involved in widespread allegations of State Capture and improper transactions with multiple state-owned enterprises and other companies worth billions of rand - the Guptas earlier this year sold ANN7 to Mzwanele "Jimmy" Manyi's Afrotone Media Holdings.

MultiChoice to drop Guptas' controversial ANN7 channel from DStv in June 2018 according to reports; says it's not currently negotiating to keep ANN7 on DStv.

With Sunday newspaper reports saying that MultiChoice plans to drop the controversial ANN7 (DStv 405) channel from its DStv bouquet in June 2018 when the existing contract expires, MultiChoice on Sunday told TVwithThinus that MultiChoice has not been approached by ANN7 for renewal of the contract and that MultiChoice is not in possible renewal negotiations.

On Sunday the Afrikaans Rapport newspaper reported that the biased so-called "news" channel, slammed for driving racial division in South Africa and known for its ongoing litany of on-air blunders and mistakes, will disappear from DStv during June when the current contract between MultiChoice and ANN7 expires.

Afrotone Media Holdings is now the new holding company for ANN7 and The New Age with Mzwanele "Jimmy" Manyi as executive chairman.

So far more than 12 500 DStv subscribers have signed an online petition at petitions24.com .

The thousands of angry people are demanding, and explaining why, they want MultiChoice to get rid of ANN7.

DStv subscribers are saying that they don't want to be forced to pay for a channel where money is paid by MultiChoice to the highly controversial Gupta family whose involvement with South African State Capture has been exposed, and that is damaging South Africa with biased so-called "news".

In the past week The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) also asked MultiChoice boss Mark Rayner in an open letter to get rid of ANN7 and to come clean about MultiChoice's dealings with ANN7.

Further leaked emails from the Gupta leaks two weeks ago have shed further light on the insider contract negotiations and dealings between MultiChoice and ANN7, with MultiChoice paying hundreds of millions of rand of DStv subscribers' money to ANN7 for the channel to provide its distorted so-called "news" coverage.

On Sunday Rapport said that MultiChoice will dump ANN7, primarily due to the ongoing brand damage ANN7 is inflicting on the DStv brand by proxy.

According to the report MultiChoice has not Mzwanele "Jimmy" Manyi, nor has he made any effort yet to get in touch with MultiChoice.

ANN7 that has been used for personal on-air vendettas against politicians not aligned with the tarnished president Jacob Zuma, has also been a bottom-feeder in terms of TV news channel ratings on DStv.

MultiChoice in a quick response to a media enquiry on Sunday morning told TVwithThinus that it is not currently negotiating to keep ANN7 on DStv.

"We have a legally binding channel carriage contract for the ANN7 channel."

"We cannot comment on the terms of the contract (including the duration of the agreement) as it is subject to confidentiality clauses."

"We have not been approached by the owners of ANN7 for the renewal of the contract and we are not in negotiations for the renewal of that contract. Timelines for negotiations for the renewal of contracts vary from contract to contract and are dictated by different situations and circumstances."

"We are furthermore unable to cancel a contract prior to its expiry unless there is a clear breach of that contract."

"As we have stated previously, DStv is a platform that relays many local and international news channels, representing a wide spectrum of views - for instance SABC News, eNCA, ANN7, CNN, Sky News and many others."

"We don't have editorial control or any involvement in running the operations of any of these news channels, including ANN7."

Embarrassing Gupta Leaks reveal: ANN7's original name on DStv, late launch date, would have been 'multi-language, multiple subtitling channel'; raises questions over how much MultiChoice is paying ANN7.

DStv subscribers are wondering exactly how much they're paying to support ANN7 (DStv 405) after a revised contract agreement was made publicly available in which MultiChoice agreed to up it payment from R50 million to R150 million per year to broadcast the channel.

The draft contract between MultiChoice and Infinity Media and several email correspondence about the channel's content are part of a new tranche of the so-called "Gupta leaks" emails that has been made publicly available.

The new set of emails about the "Gupta news" channel that came to light on Thursday makes for embarrassing reading in some places, and gives insight into what the Guptas wanted, what MultiChoice wanted, and what ANN7 originally wanted to be.

It also raises questions over how much DStv subscribers are paying for the channel that has been slammed by parties across the political spectrum, has been mired in embarrassing on-air bloopers since its launch day, and has been described as broadcasting content that is "racially divisive" to South Africa.

In response to a media enquiry, MultiChoice says "the draft contract published was not signed and MultiChoice is not part of the email exchange referred to in your query. We confirm that we have a legally binding contract, the details of which are subject to confidentiality clauses".

MultiChoice was asked that since launch ANN7 made and continues to make mistakes and if this has impacted on the money MultiChoice is paying ANN7 and if MultiChoice is paid ANN7 less due to performance issues. 

MultiChoice didn't specifically answer this.

The leaked email correspondence reveals fascinating other insights. ANN7's original name was actually Infinity News before it was changed to Africa News Network 7.

Another leaked email reveals that ANN7 actually started late. When its botched launch took place on 21 August 2013, it was already behind schedule – it was supposed to start on the 1st of that month. Later ANN7 admitted it wasn't actually even fully ready for the 21st launch day.

In the email trove it becomes clear that MultiChoice was also adamant that the Guptas should do a TV news channels that kept to the "running schedule, look and feel of a traditional news television service in the spirit of those already carried on MultiChoice DStv platform such as eNCA, CNN International, Sky News, BBC and Al Jazeera".

MultiChoice told the Guptas that "it is very important that we have clarity that we are getting a traditional 24-hour South African news channel (with vernacular languages) and not anything else".

Another fascinating revelation from the emails is that ANN7 would originally have been a multi-language channel "with multiple subtitling" – before it ended up being an English-only channel.

ANN7 eventually also agreed not to carry TopTV (now StarSat) advertisements/commercials or any of competing pay-TV platforms in South Africa.

In an email Amitabh Kumar writes to Tony Gupta: "They" - meaning MultiChoice - "have still not agreed on the channel carrying advertising of any other channel which is not on the platform. Perhaps we can agree to this."

ANN7 continues to inflict brand and reputational damage on MultiChoice with more than 12 500 people who have so far signed a petition that was started in April at petitions24.com where DStv subscribers say they don't want to be forced to pay for the content coming from ANN7.

So far the ANN7 petition is the global site's 3rd highest signature and comment drawer for 2017. On Thursday negative comments again started flooding social networks when the latest Gupta emails were made publicly available.

In August the controversial Gupta-aligned businessman Mzwanele Manyi announced that his company Lodidox has bought ANN7 for R300 million and two-thirds of TNA Media that owns The New Age newspaper for R150 million from Oakbay in a deal financed by the Guptas.

Afrotone Media Holdings is now the new holding company for ANN7 and The New Age with Mzwanele Manyi as executive chairman.