TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 18 April 2018.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ MUST LISTEN: Can the SABC be restored to its former glory?
Listen to the 42 minute interview on Radio 702 of Eusebius McKaiser with Chris Maroleng, SABC COO. The audio is also available here.


■ The BBC's children's channel CBeebies now helps to lull kids to sleep with pastoral programming and scenic daydreams.

■ As Netflix goes global, can it avoid regional politics?

■ John Oliver bought Russell Crowe's jockstrap.

■ Ukrainian TV presenter Olga Freymut at Novyi Kanal tells women to be silent about their feelings.

■ Alcohol and drugs abuser Ant McPartlin of Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV Choice (DStv 123) slapped with biggest drunk driving fine in Britain's history.

■ The zombie drama series The Walking Dead on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131 / Cell C black 201) is starting to go down fast - since its peak in 2015 it has lost half (50%) of its viewership in both demo and total viewers as it keeps losing popularity.

■ Richard Blystone, who for years was a familiar face on CNN International (DStv 401) as a correspondent, has died at the age of 81.


■ MUST READ: What a well-done article: 25 years of the "special we're going to Disney World" episode. And why they're happening less frequently now on American television.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 11 April 2018.

Here's the latest news about TV that I read and that you should read too:

■ Trashy TV reporter AJ Bayatpour assaults a competitor at an American football game.
And an unhinged idiot punched a TV reporter in New York


■ Ant dumped: ITV's alcoholic presenter Ant McPartlin who's back in rehab over drugs and drinking problems has been dumped from the latest season of ITV's Britain's Got Talent with Declan Donnelly who will be presenting on his own.
ITV sends Ant "all our love". It comes after the co-presenter of Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV Choice (DStv 123) was arrested last month on drunk driving charges and also vanished from that show.


■ German TV is starting to sanitise its television series by not wanting to portray the true evil of Nazi Germany.

■ Zimbabwe students at the Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) are furious after their DStv is cut off, start protest action over their lack of entertainment.


■ In a leaked recording of a tense staff meeting of CNN International (DStv 401) in London, managing director Tony Maddox said he is "surprised by this, shocked and disappointed" by the results of an internal gender pay gap survey as CNN executives were confronted by female employees, including Christiane Amanpour over being paid less than men at CNN.


■ Catt Sadler who left E! for not wanting to pay her as much as much as her male co-anchor Jason Kennedy, says she should have asked E! Entertainment (DStv 124) for more money much earlie from the NBCUniversal Networks channel that's one of the places mired in a gender pay gap controversy.
She's also wrote a must-read essay for Vanity Fair over equal pay E! was asked to comment but refused.


■ FOX Networks Group's offices in West-London raided by European Commission investigators who seized documents and computers and who will remain on the premises on Wednesday and Thursday. The reason for the raid isn't clear. FNG says it iscooperating with the inspection.

■ What viewers would like to see more of in the second season of Being Bonang on 1Magic (DStv 103).

■ Let this sink in: Netflix does a Los Angeles premiere for its new TV show Lost in Space (for a TV show, not a movie) at the Cinerama Dome with the cast and full press in attendance where the show is previewed with reviews from TV critics coming out hours later. Meanwhile e.tv can't get its act together for a proper launch for its new local drama series Imbewu. How very sad.

ITV pulls Saturday Night Takeaway, seen on ITV Choice, off the air after troubled co-presenter Ant McPartlin is arrested on suspicion of driving drunk after a car crash and goes back to rehab.

The British broadcaster ITV has pulled Saturday Night Takeaway off the air and the broadcast of the remaining episodes of the show, also seen on ITV Choice (DStv 123) in South Africa and Africa, are uncertain after co-presenter Ant McPartlin was arrested on Sunday afternoon over suspicion of drinking and driving drunk in southwest London following a car crash.

The troubled Ant McPartlin (42) is heading back to rehab with his publicist saying he is taking time off "for the foreseeable future" after he failed a roadside breathalyser test.

A child passenger in one of the cars was taken to hospital for a check-up as a precaution, according to police who arrived following a collision between 3 cars that required several people to get treatment for minor injuries.

Ant McPartlin spent 2 months in rehabilitation in 2017 after admitting that he's addicted to painkillers and alcohol. In January 2018 he confirmed that he is getting divorced from his wife Lisa Armstrong after 11 years.

"Ant has decided to go back into treatment and step down from his current TV commitments. He has spoken with Dec and ITV today and asked for time off for the foreseeable future. As such, Saturday Night Takeaway will not be going ahead this Saturday," reads the statement.

There's still episodes of Saturday Night Takeaway left in the latest season, with the final episode that's supposed to be a live broadcast from the Universal Orlando Resort with 200 fans of the show flying out in a specially-chartered plane. Last year's final episode was done from Disneyworld in Florida.

ITV in its own statement says "ITV has taken a joint decision with Ant and Dec's team not to broadcast Saturday Night Takeaway this weekend".

'We will be reviewing options for the last two episodes of the series (31 March and 7 April) which would not feature Ant who is taking time off to seek treatment. We very much hope that he gets the help that he needs."