TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 27 July 2020.

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


■ Political interference increasing at the South African public broadcaster.
The SABC doesn't have enough money but politicians want to prevent the struggling and bloated SABC from firing staffers. The SABC says "this is a political issue and this is a repeat of what happened in 2018".
- 45% of the SABC's expenditure is on salaries and only 21% on content, compared to eMedia Holdings spending 11% on staff and MultiChoice spending 15% on staffers and 43% on content.


■ Nigeria's minister of information, Lai Mohammed who doesn't like MultiChoice allegedly plots to get the latest season of Big Brother Naija on DStv cancelled and shut down.
Told the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to take Big Brother Nigeria off the air so that it doesn't look as if it's his plan, and using Covid-19 as the excuse.
- Lai Mohammed says he didn't ask the NBC in a memo to suspend Big Brother Naija.

■ The former Disney actress Maitland Ward claims pornography saved her from Hollywood.

■ With almost no other live sports on TV, the start of baseball in America with MLB lifts the ratings of ESPN in the United States by 232%.

■ O, is it Over? After Associated Magazines ended O, The Oprah Magazine in South Africa, is it over for Oprah'sprint magazine in the United States after 20 years as well?
 - Ebony magazine is also forced into bankruptcy.

■ Mangaliso Ngema names himself as the actor who was fired from Quizzical Pictures' set of Lithapo after sexual harassment allegations at the SABC2 drama.
The actor claims he was adjusting himself in front of the actress and touched himself inappropriately because his costume was too tight.

■ Tarek El Moussa of Flip and Flop on HGTV (DStv 177) and Heather Rae Young are engaged.

■ Why so many WWE wrestling stars have lost their last names.

■ Cecil Sunkwa-Mills, MultChoice Ghana managing director, says cinemas in the country must open despite the shutdown of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"I know there’s Covid-19, but I think we need to bring cinemas back; with some hand sanitisers and so on. Cinemas provide the first revenue for filmmakers."

■ How the world turned on celebrities.

■ Trolls, tweets and famous friends: The vicious PR war between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.

■ A curious Broadcasting Code.
Nigeria is changing that country's broadcasting code with new amendments after having changed it in 2019. Lai Mohammed (who else?) plans to take broadcaster's and pay-TV operator's exclusive content away.

■ Zambia's government has demanded that the private commercial broadcaster in that country, Prime TV, broadcast Covid-19 TV commercials for free.

■ No, Paw Patrol on Nickelodeon (DStv 305) with a police dog isn't cancelled despite the White House publicst Kayleigh McEanany claiming it is.

MultiChoice in Kenya, Zambia, Ghana announces DStv price cuts for all DStv subscriptions from September.

MultiChoice is lowering DStv subscription prices for DStv subscribers in Zambia, Kenya, Ghana - and possibly in more African countries - for all DStv bouquets from 1 September 2017.

No price reduction has been announced for DStv in South Africa.

"This substantial price reduction across our DStv packages reinforces our commitment to ensuring that our customers receive the best possible access to great entertainment and outstanding value," says Kobus Bezuidenhout, regional director for MultiChoice Investment Holdings (MIH) West & Central Africa.


In Kenya DStv Premium will be cut by 3.42% to Sh7,900 and DStv Compact Plus by 4.15% Sh5,200.

DStv Compact is reduced to Sh3,200 and DStv Access by 9.52% to Sh950.

MultiChoice Africa said the DStv price reduction in Kenya is due to the strengthening of the Kenyan shilling against the American dollar. MultiChoice Africa's GOtv subscriptions for its digital terrestrial TV service will remain unchanged.

According to Eric Odipo, MultiChoice Kenya managing director, the MultiChoice Kenya price cut is as a result of the improving Kenya Shilling against the dollar.

"The majority of our input costs are in US dollars and we hope we will not experience any further currency devaluations or other unexpected increases in costs for the remainder of the year. It is also a way of rewarding our customers for their loyalty and support," says Eric Odipo.


In Zambia DStv Premium is reduced by 3.42% to K790, DStv Compact Plus is cut a whopping 16.04% to K450, DStv Compact is reduced by 6.54% to K300, DStv Family is going down 2.43% to K200 and DStv Access is reduced by 7.4% to K100.

According to Ngoza Kasunga, MultiChoice Zambia acting managing director, the reduction in that country isn't based on currencies like fluctiations in the value of the Kwacha, but on a value proposition.

"MultiChoice continuously reviews its packages ans price points in the dynamic market conditions with the interests of our customers at heart and with one objective in mind – to delight customers by constantly offering them more value," said Ngoza Kasunga.

"We are delivering more value to our customers by giving them access to amazing local and international content at a price they can afford."

"The business recognizes that we are living in changing economic times and wants to reward customers for their ongoing loyalty and support. In April 2016, we had a 'no price increases' or price lock on all packages in order to provide relief to our customers in the current tough economic conditions."

Ngoza Kasunga at a breakfast press briefing held on Tuesday in Lusaka, said MultiChoice Zambia "doesn't price based on what competitors are doing".

Should Zambia's Kwacha not depreciate and production costs remain the same, the new MultiChoice Zambia prices for DStv subscriptions will remain in place until MultiChoice Zambia holds its next price review in April of 2018.


In Ghana Cecil Sunka-Mills, MultiChoice Ghana general manager in a statement said MultiChoice Ghana is lowering DStv subscription fees to make DStv more affordable.

"We want to do our bit by adjusting the price of their DStv packages to make them more affordable while adding more value."

"The majority of our input costs are in US dollars and we hope we won't experience any further currency devaluations or other unexpected increases in costs for the remainder of the year."

MultiChoice Ghana wins TV piracy court case after pay-TV operator Champion TV stole EPL broadcasts; Champion TV ordered to pay $40 000 in damages.

MultiChoice Ghana and SuperSport International has won a piracy court case against the Champion TV pay-TV operator in Ghana for illegally broadcasting the English Premier League (EPL) in 2015 and again in 2016 on its pay-TV service, with the Ghana court that ordered Champion Broadcasting Limited to pay MultiChoice damages of $40 000 (R539 216).

MultiChoice Ghana first took Champion Broadcasting Limited to court in Ghana in March 2016 when Champion TV pirated English Premier League (EPL) matches for one of its TV channels and illegally broadcast soccer matches of the 2015/2016 EPL season without authority, despite SuperSport that paid millions of dollars for the exclusive broadcast rights within Sub-Sahara Africa that includes Ghana.

After Champion TV was ordered to stop by the court, agreed and paid a settlement in July 2016, Champion TV went and did it again. Champion TV had the audacity to set up a new TV channel on its Champion TV decoder called Top TV 2, and again broadcast EPL matches from the 2016/2017 season.

MultiChoice Ghana's lawyers told the court that Champion TV's ongoing TV content piracy of the EPL "were indicative of a firm resolve to infringe on the exclusive television content rights" of MultiChoice Ghana to advance Champion TV's "own commercial interest at the expense of MultiChoice".

Champion TV has been ordered to pay $40 000.

Cecil Sunkwa-Mills, MultiChoice Ghana's general manager, says the TV piracy court victory for MultiChoice is a landmark victory for the fight against copyrights infringement in TV broadcasting in Ghana.

"MultiChoice Ghana will not hesitate to use lawful means to protect content we have duly secured territorial broadcast rights for". He says broadcasters in Africa must ensure that they properly secure the TV broadcasting rights for all content they're showing.