TV CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK. A+E Networks' History in Africa gives new meaning to old content as the 4th season of Black Sails starts in Africa a year and a half after the rest of the world saw it.

A+E Networks is literally giving new meaning (in a very bad way) to "old" content on History (DStv 186), with the 4th and final season of the pirate drama series, Black Sails that started this past Wednesday on its channel ... more than a full year and a half after it started showing in the rest of the world.

How condescending and disrespectful to DStv subscribers and viewers and fans of the show in South Africa and elsewhere on the African continent.

It feels as if A+ E Networks UK and its A+E Networks Africa office think that African viewers don't know about a thing called "internet", can't use Wikipedia or Google, and are just one-directional, passive receivers of whatever programming a channel distributor decides to show, when it decides to show it.

Fans and viewers of Black Sails have literally been able to buy the 4th season of the drama series as a DVD and Bluray box set since August 2017 - 2017! - a year ago from places like Amazon and elsewhere.

If you just google searched "Black Sails", and "season 4" the past, uhm, year to find out when it might be shown in South Africa, Africa or on History or DStv, search results would have come up about the 4th season and its finale above other information on the show - information that's extremely hard to avoid or not see.

This obviously happens because the show literally ended in April 2017 already, followed by several articles to explain the ending.

For all the complaining that MultiChoice South Africa CEO Calvo Mawela did recently regarding the threat of subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services like Netflix and Netflix South Africa "coming to eat our lunch", there is really a lot of deliberate, self-inflicted damage being done by the likes of MultiChoice and channel distribution partners like A+E Networks UK.

It feels as if they don't seem to really get that it's really a no-no in this day and age to show a season of an international drama series like Black Sails a year and a half later on television.

Surely a lot of fans and viewers of the series - that was of course filmed in Cape Town, Johannesburg before it was destroyed by a fire and cancelled - would by now have bought the DVDs or would have gone to illegal torrent sharing and other download sites to find and watch the 4th season's episodes of Black Sails.

It's also been possible to rent the 4th season box set of Black Sails from DVD rental shops. Now DStv and History want viewers to tune in every Wednesday for one episode per week as a linear broadcast as if they're a captive audience with no other options as consumers.

Was it really not possible for A+E Networks in the United Kingdom to schedule the 4th season of Black Sails on History sooner?

MultiChoice expects DStv subscribers to pay a premium price to get access to A+E Networks' History channel that's only available to DStv Premium and DStv Compact Plus subscribers. But History in terms of its content doesn't seem to behave like a premium channel.

For added irony, compare how M-Net (DStv 101) as a proper premium subscription channel, has treated Vikings (that is actually an A+E Networks drama series) since M-Net acquired the rights.

M-Net very quickly scheduled the seasons and made a deliberate and focused attempt to catch up and brought South African and African viewers on DStv up to date until the 5th season of Vikings where History in America is with the show.

That is what A+E Networks UK should have done for its History channel in Africa with Black Sails from Starz.

Consumers have been able to buy the 4th season, region 2 DVD box set of Black Sails in their local DVD and music shop or on TakeALot for about R409 for the last 10 episodes - long before its been shown on DStv and History.

A+E Networks UK and DStv now presumably want viewers and ratings for Black Sails on History.

Sadly that ship, like the Walrus, long ago sailed.

Black Sails on History cancelled after 4 seasons and Cape Town Studios lot fire that destroyed one of the on-set ships; will end with final season in 2017.

Black Sails on History (DStv 186) has been cancelled after 4 seasons and a devastating fire that ravaged the set of the pirate drama in May that was filmed in Cape Town at the Cape Town Studios.

The recently filmed 4th season of Black Sails that will be broadcast in 2017 will be the last of the adventure drama series produced for the Starz channel in America and licensed by A+E Networks UK for its History channel on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform in South Africa and Africa.

In early May a devastating fire that took hours to bring under control, engulfed one of the on-set prop ships at the Cape Town Studios that was burnt out and destroyed in the blaze and caused massive damage.

Afterwards Starz told TVwithThinus it didn't want to comment about the fire and the on-set damage. Now no further episodes of Black Sails for another season on the sprawling lot that included a big pirate town complete with a shoreline recreation, won't be filmed.

The show, seen in more than 200 countries and territories, follows the exploits of Captain Flint (Toby Stephens) and takes place 20 years prior to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel, Treasure Island.

"It's a rare privilege in television to be given the kind of creative freedom we've enjoyed on this show over the last four years," says Jonathan E. Steinberg, co-creator and executive producer in a statement announcing the Black Sails cancellation.

"While it was a difficult decision for us to make this season our last, we simply couldn't imagine anything beyond it that would make for a better ending to the story".

According to Starz the final 4th season "will bring us to the shores of Treasure Island as was always intended. Black Sails has been a tremendous success; from the loyal fan following and strong viewership numbers to awards recognition and the skill of our world-class production in Cape Town, we could not be more proud of this very special series."

DEVELOPING ... Fire engulfs Starz' Black Sails set at the Cape Town Film Studios overnight; massive damage caused as one ship is destroyed.

Fire engulfed Starz' Black Sails set at the Cape Town Film Studios, with the fire that apparently caused massive damage in which one of the Black Sails ships were destroyed.

The cause of the fire and the extend and value of the damage to the Black Sails production is not yet known.

The American Starz' pirate drama, broadcast in South Africa and Africa on A+E Networks UK's History (DStv 186) channel on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform is busy working on its 4th season at the Cape Town Film Studios next to the N2 in Faure close to Somerset-West.

The fire caused massive damage according to the City of Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services and Cape Town fire fighters battled for multiple hours on Thursday morning to bring the blaze under control.

In February fire threatened the Cape Town Film Studios that was raging in the dry reeds between the N2 and Baden Powell Drive. That blaze was contained.

Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services tell TVwithThinus that they responded to the fire that caused massive damage at 00:40 this morning (Thursday).

Cape Town Fire and Rescue Services responded with two fire engines, one rescue vehicle and two water tankers. Resources were dispatched from Mfuleni and Khayelitsha and Belhar Fire Stations.

"The fire involved one large movie prop and was extinguished at 03:13. No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is still undetermined at this stage," says Fire and Rescue Services.

Photo: District Mail

"One of the ships burnt out," Nico Dekker, CEO of Cape Town Film Studios tells TVwithThinus.

"The fire bridgade was on the scene very quickly and contained the fire and no further damage was done. Luckily nothing else was damaged but one of the ships you would see from the N2 was destroyed," he says.

Nina Heyns, the head of production for Black Sails in South Africa said she can't comment and that they're busy.

She declined comment when asked about the extent of the fire damage to the production, what ship was destroyed in the fire and how the production feels about what happened.

Nothing yet from Starz and A+E Networks UK about the Black Sails blaze.

Developing ... keep checking back for more as I get more information ....

BREAKING. A+E Networks UK sets sail, giving History edge by acquiring the premium adventure pirate drama Black Sails filmed in South Africa.

A+E Networks UK, which runs channels like History (DStv 186) on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay TV platform in South Africa and the rest of the continent, announced at its Africa upfront this afternoon at Summer Place in Johannesburg that it has acquired the exclusive rights to the Emmy winning adventure pirate drama series Black Sails which is filmed in South Africa.

Black Sails marks a major acquisition for A+E Networks UK's History in Africa where M-Net (DStv 101) has Game of Thrones and Vikings, FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131) has Empire, BBC Entertainment (DStv 120) has Downton Abbey and Discovery Channel (DStv 121) has Klondike.

It signals a dramatic programming improvement for History which announced at the A+E Networks UK upfront that later in 2015 the channel will also show Battle of Waterloo with Sean Bean - a vivid TV special using historical eyewitness accounts and analysis from present-day military experts to give a new view of the events which took place on 18 June 1815.

A+E Networks UK executives told the press on Tuesday that a specific broadcasting date and time isn't yet available. The big acquisition marks the first A+E Networks UK deal with the American media company Starz Worldwide Distribution.

The edgy Black Sails, set in the 18th century during the Golden Age of piracy, recently started production on its third season of the series in November 2014 which is being filmed at Cape Town Film Studios and executive produced by Michael Bay.

Black Sails stars Toby Stephens as Captain Flint, set in a period two decades before the events of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, alongside actors Tom Hopper and Zach McGowan.

The first season of Black Sails has 8 episodes.

"Black Sails is a thrilling drama with a treasure trove of colourful characters that really brings to life a remarkable and provocative period of history," says Rachel Job, the director of programming for History at A+E Networks UK.

"Starz Worldwide is delighted to establish a new relationship with A+E Networks UK through Black Sails," says Gene George, the executive vice president for Starz Worldwide Distribution. "History will be an excellent broadcast partner for us in the United Kingdom and Africa with this amazing series."

AHOY! New American pirate TV drama, Black Sails, produced by Michael Bay, erecting sets at Cape Town Studios in South Africa.

The new American TV drama, Black Sails, which is being produced by Michael Bay for the Starz TV channel in America (the home of Spartacus) is currently in pre-production in Cape Town in South Africa where sets are being erected with possibly as well one or two boats to be built for this brand-new pirate drama.

Black Sails will start on Starz in early 2014 and is a "prequel" of sorts of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island - set 20 years before the events of the book and following Captain Flint and new crew member John Silver as they fight for survival of the New Providence Island - a paradise filled with pirates, prostitutes, thieves and fortune seekers. The first season of Black Sails will have at least 8 episodes.

Before Black Sails set sail however, viewers will get to see Crossbones next year as a new pirate period drama in which Tom Lowe is an undercover assassin sent to go and kill Blackbeard, the feared pirate. The closer the character gets, the more he can't help but admire the ideals of the pirate whose thirst for knowledge knows no bounds and no law.

Then there is Republic of Pirates - yet another new TV drama coming next year from NBC, and don't forget the other pirate drama Port Royal which Fox International Channels (FIC) is working on.