TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 2 November 2020.

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

■ As South Africa's bloated and financially struggling public broadcaster gets ready to retrench hundreds of staffers the SABC is looking for an external service provider to do job evaluations for the SABC for 6 months.

■ Fox in America cancels its new drama series Filthy Rich and NeXt after single seasons (both of which are actually good).

■ James Bond actor Sean Connery dead at 90.

■ The correspondents of The Daily Show seen on Comedy Central (DStv 122) on the difficulties and how they've been adjusting to filming from their living rooms.

■ England in new Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic lockdown: TV and film industry can continue but cinemas will have to close.

■ CNN (DStv 401) reporter Amara Walker in 3 anti-Asian racist incidents in 1 hour inside an American airport.

■ Katlego Maboe: 6 things to know as the TV presenter now faces a court battle.

■ "The worst Top Gear I've ever seen!"

Many viewers feel that the "new" Top Gear seen on BBC Brit (DStv 120) doesn't work and is awkward.

■ eNCA (DStv 403) and e.tv fined over Gareth Cliff's Covid-19 conspiracy theorist show.

- Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) says the Gareth Cliff interview damaged eNCA and raised serious questions about the editorial failures at the eMedia Investments channel:

"While the host and producer should shoulder some of the blame, serious questions need to be raised about the editorial failure that gave the go-ahead to run the interview."

■ Nigeria's corrupt National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) that is handing out fines to TV channels like AIT, Channels TV and Arise TV for covering #EndSARS public protests should stop trying to "padlock the air".

■ The creator of This is Us, seen on M-Net (DStv 101) explains how #BlackLivesMatter and the Covid-19 pandemic will feature in the new 5th season.

■ Why Netflix will keep raising its prices for subscribers.

■ Shock-couple Babes Wodumo and Mampintsha apparently signed a R3 million contract to do a 13-episode reality series with MultiChoice's Showmax streaming service.

■ China's state-run China Central TV (CCTV) remains shrouded in secrecy.

- Mexican TV news anchor shot dead in his car.

■ How to look rich on TV: The Undoing that will be shown on M-Net (DStv 101) and what money looks like on the TV screen.

Creating a fictional world for the 1 percent isn't as easy as it seems.

■ SABC1's Generations creator and producer Mfundi Vundla on his art collection and what's hanging in his bathroom.

■ SABC: We can't make money from Google's YouTube.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 29 October 2020.

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

■ Some of the responses to the scandal swirling around the cheater SABC3 Expresso presenter Katlego Maboe and Outsurance frontman shows that attitudes over abuse in South Africa need to change. (subscription required)

■ No sign yet of the GoBinge sit-down interview that the YouTube channel teased days ago with Monique Muller claiming that she endured physical abuse from Katlego Maboe.

■ SABC3's Trending SA show finally addresses the issue after days; Frames it as Katlego Maboe's "private life" although it is his private life, hotel sex cheating with another woman and allegations of a STD, that were made part of public life on social media.

- Katlego Maboe fans who are fine with the swirling abuse and cheating claims around the presenter, attack SABC3's Expresso on Facebook.

- Katlego Maboe becomes a meme using his infamous gown-wearing admission that he's a cheater.

■ Sylvia Tladi, SABC TV Licence fees boss, admits that under new plan where people will be forced to pay a licence fee even if they only watch Netflix SA or MultiChoice DStv consumers won't be getting value for money.

■ Zoom: A naked man shows up on Canada's morning TV.

- And another full frontal "wardrobe malfunction" with Joel Dommett on ITV in Britain.

■ The dark, distorted world of Nicole Kidman's new TV murder mystery The Undoing that will be on M-Net (DStv 101).

■ Ellen DeGeneres, seen on VUZU (DStv 116) but getting axed there soon, lost more followers in 2020 than any other celebrity because of her talk show scandal.

- Wendy Williams unmasked as Lips in The Masked Singer.

■ The overstaffed and overburdened SABC with a monstrous wage bill and dreary programming is a broadcaster that is very hard to like.

■ eMedia Investments refuses to talk about it but e.tv has upgraded its Openview decoders that have a WiFi hotspot option and functionality now - very likely in anticipation of the launch of its Openview Plus streaming service.

■ America's TV news and its plans for 2020 election night coverage.

■ The blessing of the Chinese censors? China's state-run CCTV shows a portrait of the Prophet Muhammad in a TV series.

China merges its 3 state broadcaster propaganda services into one macro unit called Zhongguo Zhisheng, now overseen by Chinese government's Publicity Department.

The Chinese government announced that it's merging its state broadcasting units into one new macro unit called Zhongguo Zhisheng (中国之声) that will be overseen by the Chinese government's Publicity Department to more effectively control the country's propaganda information efforts from China's Communist Party.

China's state-owned propaganda television and radio stations are being fused into one overall broadcasting platform with China Central Television (CCTV), China Radio International (CRI), and China National Radio (CNR) that will form the new Zhongguo Zhisheng.

Zhongguo Zhisheng translates as "Voice of China", although an official English name of Zhongguo Zhisheng has not yet been announced. The former CCTV president Shen Haixiong was appointed to lead the organization.

China Central Television (CCTV), China Radio International (CRI), and China National Radio (CNR) will keep their individual names.

The announcement comes a day after the first session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) as part of a plan from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Several of the news and documentary channels from CCTV are available and seen in South Africa, as well as through the rest of Africa, on various pay-TV satellite services ranging from MultiChoice's DStv and StarSat, to China's StarTimes in other Southern, East and West African countries.

Besides the various CCTV named channels run by CCTV, CCTV is also responsible for its global 24-hour TV news channel CGTN.

CGTN has 6 different language versions. The English version of CGTN is carried by MultiChoice on DStv channel 409.

The French version of CGTN (CGTN French) is carried by StarTimes Media SA and On Digital Media (ODM) on StarSat and in the rest of Africa, along with some CCTV channels.

Murphy Brown comedy reboot coming with Candice Bergen back in her former role for a 13-episode first season.

A Murphy Brown comedy reboot is coming, with actress Candice Bergen who will reprise her former role as investigative TV news woman Murphy Brown for a first season of 13 episodes.

America's CBS network gave the green light for a new Murphy Brown version, with executive producer and writer Diane English also returning. The new Murphy Brown will be produced by Warner Bros Television that also produced the original series.

The long-running Murphy Brown is yet another of the American TV series that South Africa's public broadcaster the SABC, started showing but never completed. 

The last two seasons of  the 10 seasons of Murphy Brown were never broadcast on the SABC - and never anywhere else - after TV4 started Murphy Brown for a few seasons, with the show that then shifted to CCV and got dumped during SABC TV channel restructuring.

Will & Grace that was on SABC3 is back on M-Net (DStv 101), The X-Files that was on TV1 is back on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131 / Cell C black 201), and there is also a Roseanne reboot in America with the original series that was shown in South Africa on CCV and with the new version that hasn't found a TV channel home yet. 

Murphy Brown that was set at the fictional TV news magazine show FYI, started in 1988 - making it exactly 30 years since the start of the show - the same as M-Net's long-running weekly investigative magazine show Carte Blanche that will also be celebrating its 30th anniversary in August this year.

Murphy Brown "returns to a world of cable news, social media, fake news and a very different political and cultural climate," says CBS.

SHOCKER. Chinese news channel CCTV on MultiChoice's DStv and ODM's StarSat suddenly switches to CGTN without warning.

CCTV, the Chinese  Central Television News channel carried on MultiChoice's DStv and On Digital Media (ODM) and StarTimes Media South Africa's StarSat pay-TV platforms has suddenly switched to CGTN - without any warning or any announcement.

"CGTN" stands for China Global Television Network.

Neither MultiChoice nor StarTimes seems to be aware of the abrupt change - the electronic programme guides (EPGs) of both African pay-TV services still call channel 409 on DStv and channel 266 on StarSat CCTV - and both continue to show and carry programming information for CCTV - not CGTN.

The embarrassing CGTN switch is off to a very bad start: CCTV - China's state broadcaster couldn't bother to issue any press release or notification to the media ahead of the "rebrand" of its international TV news service - and neither did MultiChoice or StarSat who don't seem to know about it at all.

CGTN didn't immediately respond to media enquiries on Saturday about the abrupt change.

According to the new CGTN website  it was "launched by the national broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) on 31 December 2016" [today], calling CGTN English its "flagship channel".

With its "CGTN English" moniker for its English language channel feed as well as adding words like CGTN French and CGTN Arabic for its other channel versions, CGTN seems to follow the naming convention of the Qatar-based TV news channel Al Jazeera.

According to an Associated Press (AP) report published in the South China Morning Post, China's president Xi Jinping on Saturday congratulated CCTV with the launch of CGTN, urging it to "tell China's story well, spread China's voice well, let the world know about a three-dimensional, colourful China, and showcase China's role as a builder of world peace".

CCTV/CGTN and China isn't calling the switch of CCTV News to CGTN a relaunch, replacement or a rebrand - its running a story with Xi Jinping who "congratulating the founding of CGTN".

In a badly reported on-air story, more fluff marketing piece than actual news, CGTN says "CGTN is much more than just a bit of rebranding", saying it "wants to provide the world with a fresh alternative".

CCTV News on-screen on DStv and StarSat suddenly carried the letters "CGTN" and its African coverage is sub-branded as "CGTN Africa".

The red from the CCTV News logo and on-screen look is completely gone, with CGTN now sporting gold and blue colours and new news intro's.

Part of the completely uprooted and replaced channel is a flurry of new programmes and programming strands and a new horseshoe anchor's desk.

CGTN also has a new slogan - it is suddenly: "See the Difference".

The CCTV Documentary English channel on StarSat channel 231 has been changed to CGTN Documentary.

CCTV and CGTN says it wants to deliver a new news perspective - but it already started off very badly, clearly not knowing how and not bothering to actually do better and improve its marketing and PR efforts.

The jarring "founding" of CGTN is a trash way of going about suddenly replacing one brand and look with a whole new one without bothering to tell the media about it.

Besides the cosmetic change, CGTN that had one chance to communicate its ... change ... couldn't be bothered to tell or report what else is actually changing - in perhaps its journalism.

A logo, name and branding change doesn't change the fundamental product - in this case a news product - in any real way.

Does CGTN have new content besides merely changing names of shows? Is it opening new global news bureaux, or hiring more journalists and reporters?

A "rebrand" doesn't help if what inside the wrapper is still exactly the same - which is what CCTV News did. With gold substituted for red, its seems to be still the same news.

Why change if you don't fundamentally come with a new product service offering? It will be interesting to watch CGTN in 2017 and beyond, especially its coverage of Africa, to see how the news channel and service perhaps improves it coverage.

CCTV boss Zhu Tong: 'Chinese media has been objective, fair and positive in Africa-related reports'; now reaches 31 million African TV households.

China says its news coverage of Africa "has been objective, fair and positive in Africa-related reports" and that its CCTV News channel carried by both MultiChoice's DStv and StarTimes' StarSat now reaches more than 31 million African TV households.

Zhu Tong, the deputy editor-in-chief at China Central Television (CCTV) spoke on Tuesday at the first China-Africa Media Leadership Summit that was held in Africa.

The summit, to cement greater cooperation between China and Africa saw 200 representatives from across Africa and China converge in Cape Town, South Africa and was co-organised by Naspers and China's StarTimes pay-TV operator.

CCTV's 24-hour TV news channel in English, CCTV News (DStv 409 / StarSat 266) is currently carried on MultiChoice's satellite pay-TV platform DStv as well as on On Digital Media (ODM) and StarTimes Media South Africa's StarSat.

MultiChoice forms part of Naspers' pay-TV division, while StarSat is part of the StarTimes conglomerate.

CCTV News, through its production centre CCTV Africa production office in Nairobi, Kenya, brodcasts shows like the daily Africa Live.

"Chinese and Africa media is like family," said Zhu Tong.

"I believe that this media summit will bring us onto the track of fast development in communicating with each other, promoting mutual understanding and inclusiveness, and deepening cooperation and consensus and will open up a new era of win-win cooperation between Chinese and African media."

"Chinese media has been objective, fair and positive in Africa-related reports," said Zhu Tong at the summit.

"A survey by Oxford University finds that 'Chinese media platforms in Africa, including CCTV Africa, have formed a strategy to advocate a perspective to look at Africa differently from that of Western media".

"What CCTV Africa reports is an uprising, promising continent, not Africa struggling with hunger, wars and backwardness," said Zhu Tong.

"CCTV has long taken an objective and fair stance, a positive and upbeat keynote, a unique and positive perspective and warm languages in reporting Africa-related affairs".

Zhu Tong says CCTV has actively worked to launch its international CCTV News channel in Africa.

"By early October this year, CCTV News had reached 56 African countries and regions by signing contracts with local TV agencies and through unencrypted satellite coverage, now reaching 31.78 million Africa households."

"So far, mainstream TV stations in Kenya, Seychelles, Uganda, Namibia and Lesotho have broadcast many outstanding programmes made by China, including Africa Live produced by CCTV Africa," said Zhu Tong.

Today's interesting TV stories to read from TV with Thinus - 10 April 2015.

The Golden Girls could become a Lego playset.
Proposal and mock-up set for the sitcom gets enough votes, next will be Lego having to approve it and and finding out if the licensing rights are available.

Famous Chinese TV presenter caught insulting Mao Zedong.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV's Bi Fujian was caught on camera calling the Chinese dictator "a son of a bitch" at a private dinner, which CCTV says in a statement "caused serious social impact".

Two Al Jazeera (DStv 406) journalists held in Nigeria have been released.
Ahmed Idris and Ali Mustapha were detained in their hotel ahead of the recent Nigerian general election.

TV channels of France's TV5Monde knocked out by hackers.
11 channels of France's public television station went dark and hit its websites as Islamic hackers claimed responsibility.

MUST READ. Turmoil, damage, bitterness behind the scenes at NBC News.
Scathing Vanity Fair article with numerous sources pulls the veil off the "civil war" and what has really been going on at NBC News before and after the scandal and suspension of NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams.

The Teletubbies is getting a reboot.
Children's programme will return to CBeebies (DStv 306) after an absence of 14 years.

Full House will return as Fuller House to Netflix.
Beloved sitcom will become a Netflix series with several of the original stars who will appear.

Nina Dobrev leaving The Vampire Diaries.
Actress says in open letter to fans she always knew she would be gone after 6 seasons.


E! Entertainment (DStv 124) eNews anchor Giuliana Rancic is speaking out.
Giuliana Rancic is on a publicity blitz and book tour for her new book Off Script, so now she's talking. She says former boyfriend Jerry O'Connell cheated on her with a Spice Girl.
Her friendship with Fashion Police's Kelly Osbourne appears to have been fake - Giuliana Rancic hasn't spoken to Kelly since the Fashion Police scandal.
Meanwhile Kelly Osbourne tweets about "LIARS" on the very same day as Giuliana Rancic goes on television to promote her book and blames the Fashion Police Zendaya scandal on editing.
In another interview the skeletal Giuliana Rancic talks about her weight and denies that she doesn't have an eating disorder.
When Joan Rivers of Fashion Police died Giuliana Rancic "wept for an entire night".

China new CCTV Headquarters finally ready as construction is completed on the bold building in Beijing.

The new CCTV Headquarters - the new main building of China's state broadcaster, China Central Television (CCTV) in Beijing - has been completed after building began in 2004.

The Associated Press (AP) reported this past week that the building of 54 floors is now ready for occupation.

The building with its radical design in the form of a slightly obtuse cubical block as a three dimensional standing structure is helping to redefine the Beijing central business district's landscape as China grows in its image as a world superpower.

ALSO READ: MultiChoice launches a new separate bouquet from China's CCTV, consisting of 11 TV channels, in the rest of Africa, entitled the Great Wall Africa bouquet.
ALSO READ: China's CCTV News channel starts Africa Live, a new hourlong show on weekdays about Africa.

The interesting skyscraper has of course led to a lot of questions - like what it is exactly, whether it should like like that and why it looks like that. It could be that that "asking of questions" is what one of the intangible symbolic attributes of the bold building is and what CCTV wants to convey. The asking of questions is of course one of the cornerstones of journalism after all.