Discovery Inc.'s TLC and ID channels turn 10 in South Africa with special nostalgia-programming; as Discovery says 'Africa has been important for Discovery for 20 years and we look forward to the next 10 years'.

by Thinus Ferreira

Discovery Inc.'s TLC and Investigation Discovery (ID) channels both turn 10 years old in South Africa with special programming on both channels, with Discovery reaffirming its content commitment to the continent, saying that Africa has been an important market for Discovery for over 2 decades and that it's looking forward to the next decade.

Discovery has not yet launched its Discovery+ subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service in South Africa or Africa or made any announcements that it plans to launch in sub-Saharan Africa, as Canada becomes the latest country to have Discovery+ rolled out there on 19 October. 

Marking the decade-anniversary of TLC Africa and ID in South Africa, Anouska Widdess, senior director TLC and channel operations and head of content for TLC in South Africa, says that "Africa has been an important market for Discovery for more than 20 years, and we look forward to the next 10 years as we hope to continue to collaborate and engage with South African audiences".

Discovery says that TLC that ranks as the number one lifestyle TV channel on the Africa continent "remains the flagship channel for Discovery with an impressive share of 1.13%. It consistently ranks within the top 25 channels across total TV and premiere episodes frequently achieve over 100 000 viewer from our loyal viewers".

"TLC has a show for everyone; our audiences turn to their televisions to seek comfort, solutions and inspiration. Each of our viewers has an unforgettable memory, heart-warming moment or special connection with our shows and the growth of the channel has surpassed all expectations."

TLC programming

During its birthday month, TLC (DStv 135) will show viewers "2 weeks of nostalgia" from 1 November at 9:25 daily, with another chance to watch episodes of shows like Gypsy Weddings, Honey Boo Boo and I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant.

TLC will also show Toddlers & Tiaras: Where are they now? with viewers who can catch up with what happened to the various toddler beauty queens, who are now young women.

A new season of Theresa Caputo in Long Island Medium: There in Spirit will start on TLC in November. Then the couples of 90 Day Fiance will have to compete with each other for the first time ever in 90 Day Fiance: Love Games.

Other "memory lane" TLC shows during the 2 weeks include Gypsy Weddings, Breaking Amish, Honey Boo Boo, Jon & Kate, Our Little Family, My Giant Life and My Teen Is Pregnant and So am I.

ID programming

Investigation Discovery (ID) is also marking a decade on the air in South Africa with 10 years' worth of criminologists, journalists, pathologists and psychologists exploring the worst of human behaviour.

From 15 to 24 October ID will bring viewers another chance to immerse themselves in true-crime documentaries, detective shows and stories where love goes awfully wrong, as episodes uncover some of the most shocking crimes in recent years with a line-up of all-time favourites.

ID will show episodes from series including The Madeleine McCann Mystery, Gypsy's Revenge, Evil Stepmother, Perfect Murder, Deadline: Crime with Tamron Hall, Deadly Affairs, and Crime to Remember.

Discovery revives its shuttered Real Time channel brand for Africa, added to MultiChoice's DStv and StarTimes and StarSat.

Discovery has revived its Real Time channel brand it shuttered in 2010 with the lifestyle channel that is being added to both MultiChoice's DStv as well as China's StarTimes in Africa and StarSat in South Africa as part of channel carriage agreements.

The logo above is Real Time's logo at launch in Africa, slightly different than the logo (right) of when Real Time was shuttered in 2013 where it ran as a channel in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe.

The teal and coral colours have been switched, the coral changed to red, and the word "Discovery" dropped from the logo.

"We are incredibly excited to present Real Time to the market, and further expand and diversify our local portfolio offering," says Amanda Turnbull, vice president and general manager for Discovery Networks in Africa and the Middle East in a statement.

"With an already successful suite of pay-TV brands, Real Time affords us the chance to bring our world-class content to even more audiences across South Africa, in the form of a channel designed to provide much-needed ‘me time’ to the modern African woman and her wider family."

"With so much in store for our viewers and commercial partners, we look forward to establishing Real Time as Africa's newest go-to destination for quality female-skewed programming," says Amanda Turnbull.


Real Time on MultiChoice's DStv
On MultiChoice Real Time is the supposed "replacement" channel for the dropped Animal Planet at the end of 2017, although not really.

While Animal Planet was aimed at higher pay-TV subscriber tiers, Real Time that was added on Monday 3 September is "tailored specifically" for DStv EasyView subscribers - the cheapest package.

What that means is that Real Time will probably irritate (or be ignored by) a lot of existing DStv subscribers since it will likely be packed full of repeats - programming that DStv subscribers have already seen on other Discovery channels.

Discovery literally chose to highlight People Magazine Investigates that will be on Real Time and that is literally currently showing on ID" Investigation Discovery - which just serves to underscore the already-kinda-rerun fatigue world Real Time will inhabit.

Also strange is that MultiChoice would take away something like Animal Planet that was somewhat distinct, and replace it with something like Real Time that as a "female-skewed" channel, will be competition for the existing TLC (DStv 135) that is also from the same Discovery stable. Why make additional competition for yourself?

Discovery says Real Time is a "general entertainment channel for female audiences" and will be "bringing the best of Discovery's lifestyle and factual storytelling to a whole new fan base" on channel 155.

Does this mean that the "best of Discovery's lifestyle and factual storytelling" is no longer on TLC? How are the two channels different, while Discovery Family is also lurking as the third triplet in the closely related channel grouping?

Also on MultiChoice, besides Real Time's linear offering, a selection of Real Time's programming will also be available to stream or download on the DStv Now platform.

Real Time on StarTimes and StarSat
Real Time is also being added to China's StarTimes across Africa, as well as in South Africa to StarTimes Media SA and On Digital Media's (ODM) StarSat.

This is part of a new carriage agreement signed between StarTimes and Discovery Networks that had that public show-and-tell channel deal signing ceremony in August in Beijing, China.

StarTimes and Discovery switched out Discovery Science for the bland more mass-market Discovery Family, and is adding Real Time.

Several things to note here: On StarTimes Real Time becomes competition for Discovery's own TLC on DStv.

Secondly, StarTimes and StarSat blatantly lied when it released the Real Time channel logo to make it look as if it's a channel packaged for StarTimes and StarSat as one of StarTimes' own channels, under its own logo.

StarTimes and StarSat literally marketed Real Time as the "StarTimes Real Time" and "ST Real Time" channel on channel number 179.

This is however not the case - Real Time is packaged and distributed by Discovery Networks and doesn't carry any StarTimes channel logo as part of its real design and as StarTimes pretended.

Questions in previous weeks to gain clarity on this embarrassing gaffe, what went on here, and why Real Time was initially shown with this logo, have been ignored and went unanswered.

Thirdly, Real Time on StarTimes and StarSat isn't on this pay-TV service seen as a "cheapo" addition. Real Time on StarTimes and StarSat is only available to the two most expensive packages, Super and Special.

It's weird how the inherent channel value proposition can sometimes be so arbitrarily defined or interpreted. It's the exact same channel, with the same channel logo and branding.

Yet only those paying the most will be able to get Real Time on StarSat, while those paying the least and everybody else will get Real Time on DStv.


Disappointment
After waiting 8 months for the Animal Planet replacement and wondering what channel it would/could be, Real Time is, sorry to say, a real disappointment-addition.

Why this sort of retread channel for South African and African audiences when TLC and Discovery Family already exist?

It feels like way too much duplication, like McDonalds adding yet another Big Mac version when the customer already has too many choices with/in one product line.

And why is Africa getting a UK/Europe reject channel? And again in a market where TLC already exists?

It's a bit weird that Amanda Turnbull would actually say Discovery Networks is "incredibly excited to present Real Time to the market" since nothing about Real Time really looks incredibly exciting.

I really thought and expected something more "wow-ier" from MultiChoice and Discovery - something that South African pay-TV subscribers haven't seen or experienced before, like maybe Velocity (soon to rebrand as Motor Trend Network) as a cool 1080p HD channel, or maybe DIY Network, or something like that.  But it's not to be.

Today's interesting TV stories to read from TV with Thinus - 6 January 2016.

Ellen on M-Net (DStv 101) renewed until 2020.
Ellen DeGeneres' weekday talk show renewed.

Meanwhile The Meredith Vieira Show on SABC3 cancelled.
Will end after the current second season ends.

SuperSport pays £296 million to continue showing English Premier League (EPL).
- EPL will continue to be broadcast on SuperSport channels on MultiChoice's DStv in sub-Saharan Africa for the 2016-2019 seasons.
- Could lead to higher subscription costs for soccer lovers since the currencies of South Africa and Nigeria have depreciated between 25% to 35% percent in 2015.

The Royals renewed for a 3rd season.
Meanwhile Universal Networks International's E! Entertainment (DStv 124) on DStv in Africa doesn't have the show and South African viewers haven't even seen the first season yet on any channel.

Kirstie Alley is back with Cheers and Cliff and Norm.
They all pop back into the bar where "everybody knows your name" for Kirstie Alley's new Jenny Craig TV commercial.

Uh-oh. Reviews are bad for MTV's new fantasy drama series, The Shannara Chronicles.
I've asked Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa) in 2015 several times whether South African viewers will get to see the drama series but got no response. I asked again yesterday when the show started overseas.
- Meanwhile The Shannara Chronicles reviews are not good. Its "central emptiness" also has bad special effects and bad acting and the cheerfully cheap series is pretty boring.


Netflix's 2016 agenda: Making more money through international expansion.
The global video streaming service will launch in South Africa in 2016.

After ESPN dumped South Africa and Africa in 2013 its image is now worsening in America.
The declining fortune and future of ESPN and some advice for ESPN on how to try and improve its bad image as a TV sports network.

How Discovery is trying to return to what made it great.
Inside Discovery Networks' plan to move from junk TV back to highbrow programming and documentaries.

Game of Thrones seen on M-Net toning it down a bit for the 6th season.
Creators toning the fantasy drama series' explicitness down a notch after the controversial sexual assault depicted in the 5th season that had viewers saying the show has finally gone too far.

MultiChoice and Discovery Networks International pull transgender teen show, I Am Jazz, from TLC Entertainment schedule across the entire Africa.

DStv and TLC Entertainment (DStv 172) have abruptly pulled a new reality show about a transgendered teen that was supposed to start tonight following a looming threat of censorship and censure in Nigeria.

The show, I Am Jazz, was scheduled to start tonight at 20:55 on TLC Entertainment run by Discovery Networks International (DNI) on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform but has suddenly been dumped and replaced with another show without any programming advisory or explanation why.

The abrupt removal of I Am Jazz follows after Nigeria’s broadcasting regulator, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), over the past weekend said it is going to investigate MultiChoice and TLC Entertainment over the transgender teen show and whether "the programme is indeed promoting undesirable ideas that will offend the Nigerian public".

It's the latest skirmish on the continent in the long-running and sensitive issue of what TV programming is deemed "acceptable" or not for viewers to see. 

Broadcasters and pay-TV operators in several African countries constantly battle myopic broadcasting regulators and are treading a fine line of what they can, and feel they can, show or not show.

The dumping of I Am Jazz a day before it was to air, however marks the first time that the threat of censorship of Nigerian television is directly impacting on pay-TV across the African continent and not just one country.

South Africa, where viewers are more liberally minded, and several other African countries carrying DNI’s TLC Entertainment channel are now kept from seeing I Am Jazz after some Nigerians complained about a show they haven't seen yet.

Ironically conservative Nigerians – who have seen much more risque TV fare recently than the now canned emotional journey of a transgendered teen – haven't complained about any of those shows.

Nigerians just weeks ago saw a penis flash in The Affair on M-Net Edge, are watching the transgendered drama series Transparent and Masters of Sex currently on the same channel, watched the transgendered reality show I am Cait on E! Entertainment which just got renewed for a second season, and are seeing a litany of other shows across several pay-TV channels containing nudity, violence and strong language which didn't see any of those shows pulled either during their run or before they were set to start.

TLC Entertainment promoted I Am Jazz as "fascinating", with Variety describing the show following the 15-year old South Florida teen Jazz Jennings who was born a boy but is living as a girl after being diagnosed with gender dysphoria, as "a sensitively constructed series".

Pulled off the schedule

Late yesterday MultiChoice in Nigeria said in a terse statement that "after careful consideration and wide consultation from various stakeholders, MultiChoice informs its esteemed subscribers that the mini-series I Am Jazz has been pulled off the schedule".

The show is however now in fact off the air not just in Nigeria but across Africa, including South Africa where TLC Entertainment's schedule and programme guide no longer shows it, but instead Little and Looking for Love.

Discovery Networks hasn't responded with answers to a media enquiry made Monday morning asking whether the broadcast of I Am Jazz will go forward and seeking comment on the issue.

Nigerian sensitivities

The pulling of I Am Jazz in Nigeria was likely influenced by other factors as well with MultiChoice Nigeria which has literally come under siege in the West African country the last few months.

Nigerian DStv subscribers are furious after a massive price hike in August which led to a court case that was dismissed.

Last week Nigeria's Consumer Protection Council (CPC) together with police and a warrant stormed MultiChoice Nigeria's headquarters in Lagos and raided the offices, taking computers and DStv subscriber information.

The CPC in a statement said the raid follows "a barrage of consumer complaints" including "poor quality of service such as incessant disruption of service without compensation, wrongful disconnection, decoder swap irregularities and poor customer service".

It's likely that the pay-TV operator wanted to avoid yet another additional programming issue with Nigerian authorities on top of recent problems.

Today's interesting TV stories to read from TV with Thinus - 1 October 2015

Tim Gunn trashes Anna Wintour.
You simply MUST watch what Tim Gunn reveals about Anna Wintour and the Vogue editor to Meredith Vieira of The Meredith Vieira Show on SABC3.


Why allow a con-artist to bleed the SABC dry?
More reaction to the SABC's matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng and his massive salary of R3.78 million.
Hlaudi Motsoeneng "has a knack for saying the dumbest things" and "each time his bloodshot eyes glare at us from newspaper pages or television screens, he is taunting us".
Hlaudi Motsoeneng's massive SABC salary "is bizarre," says the Public Protector.
"The SABC needs to fire Hlaudi Motsoeneng".
Meanwhile the SABC's SABC News tries to "dispel confusion" over Hlaudi Motsoeneng's salary in a news story insert that is real news and not satire and not fake and not a joke.
Hlaudi Motsoeneng claims: "I saved 800 jobs at the SABC and created another 250" and that he has been approached by international broadcasting organisations to join them.


The SABC is facing R1 billion in claims from individuals and government entities - at least 20 claims over millions of rand.


Namibian DStv subscribers are furious at SuperSport over "stupid remarks".
Disgusted with SuperSport presenter Tony Ndoro's insulting remarks who was "temporarily removed". SuperSport said it "apologises to Namibian subscribers for remarks" and that Tony Ndoro will no longer comment on Namibian matches.
Meanwhile angry viewers forced SuperSport to commit to an apology this coming Sunday live on the air during Master Plan over the remarks broadcast over SuperSport airwaves about Namibia.


Why Discovery Networks can't win over investors.
People remain lukewarm and sceptical that Discovery Networks, that runs channels like the Discovery Channel (DStv 121), is ready for the streaming media revolution.
Promises that Discovery will grown in America despite turbulence, promises that Discovery will reach 3 billion subscribers worldwide by the end of this year, promises 3 years of profit growth for Discovery.
Discovery's CEO David Zaslav calls video-on-demand (VOD) services "dumb" and that the economics are inferior.
At Discovery's first Investor Day media day in New York he says VOD services work in markets where many people speak English and like American entertainment.
Oprah Winfrey's new spiritual discovery series Belief will start on OWN, one of Discovery Networks' channels, and will air around the world from October.
Oprah's OWN is now "a cash flow machine" for Discovery after 5 years after it struggled initially.
Discovery Networks International plans to show the trophy hunting documentary Blood Lions in South Africa and worldwide about the trophy hunting industry in South Africa (no announcement in South Africa yet).
Racing Extinction will start as a worldwide event from Discovery on 2 December in 220 countries and will presumably be on Discovery Channel (DStv 121) and Discovery Science (StarSat 222) in South Africa.


Tony Danza was "disappointed; Alyssa Milano left "a lovely message"
After Who's the Boss?'s gay Danny Pintauro revealed to Oprah Winfrey that he is HIV positive. "The stigma of HIV/Aids is the reason it's continuing to be there," he tells E!.

More embarrassment for MSNBC?
With the disgraced Brian Williams now anchoring on MSNBC, Michael Wolff notes that Today, Nightly News, Meet the Press, Dateline, CNBC (DStv 410) and MSNBC (StarSat 263) are all troubled brands.


HBO's new Westworld remake forces extras to be okay with nudity and sex touching.
Unions concerned after contracts for background extras require consent for naked bareback riding on all fours, hand-to-genital touching, while some might get their "genitals painted". Also genital-to-genital touching on the show "about the future of sin" set at a futuristic theme park where robots go haywire.
Anyone for "contorting to form a table-like shape while being fully nude" on television? The more than 50 extras got paid $600 for the simulated sex scenes on the HBO set because of the "unprecedented amount if simulated sex" they have to perform.
HBO now denies that the trashy nudity and sex document for the controversial simulated sex lot came from them and that it "contains situations that we do not require of any actor".
Hollywood's actors unions and guilds upset and scolds HBO for the trashy contract.


MultiChoice is dumping ONE Gospel (DStv ccc) in the rest of Africa from DStv.
The Christian gospel channel produced by Urban Brew Studios is a gonner on DStv outside of South Africa from 30 September.
DStv subscribers are furious over the removal of ONE Gospel and accuses MultiChoice of a breach of contract while DStv gave no real reason for cutting the channel.
At least there is the SABC Crown Gospel Awards happening on 15 November in Durban "a phenomenon that is currently international".


Absolutely brilliant!
John Oliver brings back a Days of Our Lives character.
The host of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on M-Net (DStv 101) resurrects the dead EJ DiMera (James Scott) for a migrant Syrian teenager "for one night only" who is in love with the American soap.
The whole 18 minutes is a brilliant and beautiful explainer - using television for the best of what it can be.
I wanted to cry when Noujain Mustaffa explained how she learned English by watching Days of Our Lives. And the Days of Our Lives bit starting at 15:50 after you've watched the whole explainer with Sami and EJ ... utterly perfect.

(Meanwhile Fortune looks at the impact John Oliver has had in a very short time and why his influence is no joke.)


MultiChoice explains how it compiles TV channels on DStv.
DStv channels constantly monitored, and the "DStv audience is a challenging one to cater for".

Why reality TV has been voted off the island this new TV season.
People still want reality but are tired of the same stuff and viewers are "ready for something different". Meanwhile reality TV producers say reality shows are not dead - at least not for legacy shows.

The secret of Empire's success.
The hit drama series on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131) shows that culturally relevant programming can have mass appeal and that ... content is king.
And FOX is already thinking of planting a character in Empire to then create a spinoff. Just like Dynasty in the 80s if I remember correctly (and I do).

The Simpsons will likely end with its 30th season.
Longest running primetime animation TV series just started its 27th season. And why did the show wait so long for Smithers to come out as gay?

New reality show coming to SABC3. Apparently.
The Paw Paw Films production which also wants identical twins, will be looking at the workings of the human mind to demonstrate how phobias and hypnosis works.

Where have all the young men gone?
A massive 22% less young men - TV's most coveted demographic is gone since the start of the just started new TV season.

Rob Lowe speaks out about the objectification of men on television.
"I unbutton my shirt and then he looks at me and I realize what he wants to see is nipple," says the star of the new drama The Grinder.

Quantico copies from Shonda Rhimes' dramas.
The great new drama that just started on Vuzu Amp (DStv 114) and which is not from Shonda Rhimes copy and paste what Shonda did with Grey's Anatomy and her other dramas.
By the way, Quantico is one of those shows that's indicative of how the international TV market and what they want and require is impacting and changing the TV made in America.

Stephen Colbert simply won't stand evasive answers and non-responses.
Neither do I. On his new late night talk show Stephen Colbert refuses to back down and just need those who are supposed to talk, to co-operate, when Kerry Washington gives the moronic "watch this space" answer.

CSI out-CSI-ed itself for the finale.
A completely fitting farewell you want to see. And the finale scene of CSI was thought up 16 years ago already says creator Anthony Zuiker.

Blindspot creator has a 3 season plan.
Remember how Prison Break fizzled and eventually had no place to go? Creator of Blindspot coming to M-Net (DStv 101) says there is "a real concrete plan for the first three seasons".

American TV critics complain about not getting a 2nd episode for review.
American TV critics are fed-up with only getting a pilot episode of a new show to review and not more episodes as TV series become more serialised. Meanwhile South African TV critics mostly get nothing and maybe one episode and only sometimes shown something if there's a press launch for a TV show and you're so very "privileged" to be invited.

The Lonely brilliance of MacGuyver.
One of the quintessential TV series of the 80s - one which even even boosted SABC3's midday ratings in 2012 as I reported three years ago is exactly 30 years old.

Traffic! returns to e.tv for a 2nd season
On 6 October at 21:05. Of course ga-zero information to TV critics and the press, but e.tv's website says it will revolve around a serial killer muthi murderer who steals fetuses.

Once people get kids - even millennials - they ...
get or go back to getting pay-TV says The New York Times. Exclusive video-on-demand streaming lasts only until millennials start familes.

Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / StarSat 257) in America won't recognise its union.
Digital employees at Al Jazeera America complain about pay discrepancies, lack of communication between labor and management, and uncertainty.

The boring, boring, boring Homeland on M-Net (DStv 101) ...
... is a typical example of how shows overstay and become stale and irrelevant while it suffers the tyranny of being unable to do anything or kill of the core cast.

The SABC-MultiChoice deal challenged at the Competition Commission Tribunal.
Caxton, SOS Coalition and Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) challenging the massive R533 million deal MultiChoice signed with the SABC which it argues constitutes a merger between DStv and the South African public broadcaster.
Does MultiChoice control the SABC's assets and policy? asks Moneyweb, reporting that MultiChoice's contract with the SABC for SABC News (DStv 404) and SABC Encore (DStv 156) is characterised as "extraordinary" and "deeply unusual".

DYNAMO Q&A: Discovery Channel does a very special press junket with the English magician Dynamo, in a perfect press session.

Magic. Amazing. Perfect.

Not just the English magician Dynamo (Steven Frayne) visiting South Africa but the absolutely perfect press presentation and Q&A session Discovery Networks Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) held today at Nu Metro's Il Grande theatre at Montecasino.

This is how broadcasters, content creators, producers, TV executives and those involved in making and being on television should engage, interact and talk to TV critics and writers and journalists covering television. Spot-on, on message, clear, high-quality, direct communication.

Discovery Networks CEEMEA gets absolute full marks for a pitch perfect press presentation this afternoon with one of the factual entertainment programmer's TV talent visiting the country.

The way in which the excited announcement during the incredible well-done presentation was done (that Dynamo will actually be staying in South Africa a few days to film a special South African episode for the Discovery Channel for 2013) is what PR and marketing people who aspire to be in the TV biz, should see and learn from. Those who want to represent broadcasters, TV talent, programmers and producers can get it right and their message across if they simply follow the golden standard and stay on-form in the correct way.

On a specially erected stage in front of TV critics and journalists, and making full use of the cinema theatre wall to display full backdrop brand imaging, information and viewership statistics (perfectly and beautifully done), Dynamo and Lee Hobbs, the channel director for Discovery Networks CEEMEA's emerging business region had their press junket.

The dynamic and interactive press session was reminiscent of the way in which the American TV biz trot out and talk about their shows.

All TV critics sat with smiles. Print and online journalists asked questions and Lee Hobbs actually made the press feel comfortable to keep asking questions as he deftly steered the presentation through the Q&A session, the big announcement, and more questions afterwards. It was textbook perfect.

Here's some of the press Q & A with Dynamo from this afternoon's session; questions are from all different journalists representing various media:

How did you discovery magic?
My grandpa introduced me to magic. He wasn't a magician per se, but he could do like skills based things. Like remember where you put a coin on your elbow with your hand back and lift up your hand and catch it? Yeah? He could do skills like that, bar tricks around the pool table.

I was actually bullied. Boys would stuff me in a bin and roll me down a hill. And my grandpa found out one day. And to help me stop it, he helped me and taught me how to do stuff. Then when I started doing what he taught me, around school there started a kind of urban myth that I was some kind of demon child. So it started out of being something I started doing to stop being picked on. And my grandpa helped me.

Wat was the first magic you ever saw and what is the most difficult thing you've done?
My grandpa, to this day I'm still not sure how he did it. He took two matchboxes. A green match box, and a red matchbox. And inside the green matchbox was green matches, and inside the red matchbox was red matches.
He told me to switch the matches and put the green in the red box and the red in the green box. Then he just snapped his fingers over them, and when I opened them, the right colours were back in their boxes. That was my first. The feeling I got from that is what inspired me to want to do magic, to perform it and the reaction from people like you watching.

The most death-defying thing is in Los Angeles [South African viewers will see it when the second series of Dynamo: Magician Impossible starts on Discovery Channel from 21 November at 20:30] where I walked down the side of a building. I have a fear of heights. There's a lot of others but I don't want to ruin the surprises for anyone.

How do you describe magic, what is magic for you?
That feeling that you get when you witness something which you can't explain. It takes you back to a childlike state. When you're a baby, everything is amazing. You don't know how anything really works. None of your dreams have been shattered by people telling you that you can't do this; you can't do that. You believe that anything is possible as a child. It's that feeling, that belief in yourself.

Can you talk a bit about your new book, do you tell people how you are able to do what you do?
I think it's out now! It's called Dynamo: Nothing is Impossible. It's the journey I took right from making the second series. It doesn't necessarily reveal how I do what I do. But there's a lot of personal stories along the way. What my life is like. There is secrets in there, but you will have to read between the lines to find them.

Has something you've tried not worked out? Do you get nervous?
I don't really get too nervous. When I meet a group of people I will start out with some of the things I'm comfortable with and see how they're reacting, and depending on that I'll try something more risque. I've never worried about things not working out. In my head, I might know that I have an end goal. But if it's not quite working out, I'll  do something else and improvise. It will still be amazing, it might just not be what I had in mind when I started.

BREAKING. The speed of broadband and the price of broadband the biggest challenge to TV everywhere in Africa - MultiChoice.

"I think the biggest contraint for us on the continent has been broadband - first of all the speed of broadband and secondly the price of broadband," says Aletta Alberts (above right) the head of content at MultiChoice.

She was talking about Africa and South Africa's biggest challenge to bring true "television everywhere on all devices" and on-demand content to TV viewers.

Aletta Alberts as a highly respected TV executive within South Africa's fast-changing TV industry was one of the key panelists at the unveiling of a brand-new 60 page research report by Discovery Networks for the Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) region entitled The Rise of the TV Everywhere Audience.

The report contains remarkable, insightful, and very specific trends, analysis and data concerning South Africa and South African TV viewers, as well as for specific TV markets stretching across several continents, on how the behaviour of TV viewers is changing and is being impacted by broadband access, digitally connected devices and the use of social media.

"With the new undersea cables and everything that is happening at the moment, I think many people in management in the TV industry think [the big broadband revolution with much faster broadband] is 5 to 7 years away; I think it's 2 years away," says Aletta Alberts. "So, just knowing first of all South Africans, they are always looking for TV content. Many people, apart from the services that we offer, download stuff illegally and watch it. So it's not something new."

"In the rest of Africa there is even less connectivity. What's fascinating is when we look at something like Big Brother Africa and the the millions of people who do interact with that content online, because we only show the shower sequences online. So we offer those things online and it is not a few hundred thousands it's millions. Obviously the biggest chunk of that viewing is currently coming from Nigeria."

"If you look at our current transactional video-on-demand (VOD) service and catch-up services, there are now subscribers who only use those services and hardly watch in a linear form anymore," says Aletta Alberts. "We can see trends on some TV channels - especially the fiction channels, where people can only watch one thing at a time, and how they time-shift or use catch-up. A channel like M-Net Series might have a lower rating, but when you actually look at what they deliver on time-shifted, it's almost like a new channel - more than 70% of that channel is time-shifted."

"In terms of the social media stuff, I think there's really, really things that's happening in that space. Social media has actually become the new electronic programming guide (EPG) rather than where the broadcasters would recommend what to watch."

"They will still continue doing that, but it's much more important to let your content do it for itself on social media, because that network is just so much vaster. That's the one thing. Then if you look at how audiences behave today, they have bigger trust in their friends that trust in a broadcaster telling me what to watch. So I think that is becoming more and more evident," says Aletta Alberts.

"With all of our services that we offer we can clearly see that. People are not just watching linear, they're watching everywhere. With more the interaction there is, the more they feel that they're part of the experience, the more they watch.


ALSO READ: MultiChoice looking to launch a new "connected box" DStv decoder in the first quarter of 2013.
ALSO READ: 53% of South Africans believe there's currently more good TV content to watch than there used to be.
ALSO READ: The Rise of the TV Everywhere Audience: Discovery Networks reveals major TV trends impacting South African viewing behaviour.
ALSO READ: The Rise of the TV Everywhere Audience: Discovery Networks releases a massive and fascinating new TV behaviour report.

BREAKING. 53% of South Africans believe that there's currently more good TV content to watch than what there used to be.

While South Africans complain about roads and draconian e-tolls, schools without textbooks, rampant crime, a terrible natonal soccer team and expensive electricity, there's one thing which they're saying is actually getting better: television.

According to a groundbreaking new qualitative study from Discovery Networks, The Rise of the TV Audience Everywhere Audience, done across 10 countries including South Africa in the Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) region and looking at the changing nature of TV consumption, 53% of South Africans (40% agree; another 13% strongly agree) that there's more good TV content to watch today on television than what there used to be.

A quarter (25%) felt that the amount of good TV content in South Africa has neither increased nor decreased, while 23% said there's less good TV content available to South Africans. The research by Discovery Insights, the research division of the global factual entertainment content creator, was carried out in May and June this year.

The exhaustive research for the 60 page report looked for clues and analysed the behaviour of thousands of TV viewers for indicators of how TV watching is evolving and the radical trends and changes digital technology and social media are having on people's viewing habits.

While South Africa's struggling public broadcaster, the SABC, came close to the brink of financial collapse in 2009 and is still limping along with three public access TV channels often derided by the public for old content and rebroadcasts, the country has seen a flurry of activity in new start-up community TV stations.

Meanwhile e.tv as the sole commercial free-to-air broadcaster keeps winning viewers and video-on-demand (VOD) services like DStv BoxOffice started and are very successful. MultiChoice's DStv pay-TV platform keeps up its massive growth in new subscribers and On Digital Media's (ODM) TopTV - although struggling - has thousands of new subscribers as well.

All of the new broadcasters and additional channels mean more options and more TV content for South African viewers than ever before who can now, at any given time of the day, hopefully find something worth watching.


ALSO READ: The Rise of the TV Everywhere Audience: Discovery Networks releases a massive and fascinating new TV behavioural report.
ALSO READ: The Rise of the TV Everywhere Audience: Discovery Networks reveals major TV trends impacting South African viewing trends.
ALSO READ: MultiChoice looking to launch a new "connected box" DStv decoder in the first quarter of 2013.
ALSO READ: The speed of broadband and the price of broadband the biggest challenge to TV everywhere in Africa - MultiChoice.

BREAKING. 'The Rise of the TV Everywhere Audience': Discovery Networks reveals major TV trends impacting South African viewing behaviour.

Major change and evolution - a growing TV watching revolution - is underway in TV viewer, and viewing behavioural patterns in South Africa which has massive implications for South Africa's TV industry and broadcasters - local and international - who will have to adapt to a fast-changing industry and TV landscape.

More South Africans are consuming more TV content, using more of their time to do so - not despite more devices, social media and the internet vying for their time and attention, but because of it.

The major implication is that brands, companies, broadcasters, content producers, content shapers and advertisers who don't engage and join this sea change sweeping television in South Africa as well as similar emerging markets across the world, are going to be left out in the cold.

Discovery Networks for the Central Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) region released in Johannesburg today a detailed and fascinating 60 page report entitled The Rise of the TV Everywhere Audience containing remarkable, insightful, and very specific trends, analysis and data concerning South Africa and South African TV viewers, as well as for specific TV markets stretching across several continents.

The South African TV viewer is watching more television than ever before - a massive 4,5 hours of TV daily - and it keeps increasing. Almost a third (31%) of South Africans have watched live TV in the past 6 months online - an incredible statistic.

"TV viewing is rising and continuing to rise on other screens," said Jonathan Bennet, the director of communications for Discovery CEEMEA who flew to South Africa to present the groundbreaking report done by Discovery Insights this afternoon to journalists, stakeholders and TV executives.

While South African TV viewers and audiences - due to slower broadband speed, cost and access - rate and fare slightly lower in several of the markers, metrics, categories and subjects measured, there is massive change happening within South African TV viewing behaviour which is not confined to "wealthy" TV viewers or those with access to better TV or television on more screens.

It's largely thanks to the smartphone cellphone. A massive 74% of South Africans surveyed indicated that they have a smartphone - the second highest of all of the countries included in the research. Through that viewers interact with social media, watch additional TV and track down more information about, and engage, with TV shows.

While 64% of South Africans still watch TV in a linear way and watch television as it is broadcast according to The Rise of the TV Everywhere Audience, 18% record television for later, a whopping 11% watch video-on-demand (VOD), and a massive 7% watch "catch-up" television which only recently became an option in South Africa.

Furthermore, 17% have watched or downloaded TV content the past 6 months, a third (33%) have used the internet to post something about a TV show on social networks or used the internet to find out more about a TV show online, and 15% have watched live TV through their internet connection on a tablet device.

While South Africa (31%) and Hungary (29%) lag behind other markets they are just as likely to watch catch-up TV than live TV online.

South Africa again came out second highest in the research (72%) with respondents indicating a positive response of being strongly interested in using a device or service that would allow them to access TV content wherever they are, for instance on a smartphone or tablet.

A third (33%) of South Africans said using the internet enhance their TV viewing experience - like posting about a TV show on social networking sites or looking up information about a programme. While 18% of South Africans have already watched clips of their favourite programmes on their mobile phones, 43%  haven't but said they would do so in the future.

South Africa came out tops (67%) in all of the 10 countries surveyed, when asked whether they're interested in a device or service that could recommend TV programmes based on preference and South Africa was again on top with very strong support (79%) for a device which could automatically record TV shows that might be of interest to them.

And another bit of fascinating information: 53% of South Africans believe there is more good TV content to watch on television than there used to be. 25% feels its the same, 17% don't think there's more good TV and 6% strongly disagree.

When South Africans choose what they're going to watch they indicated that trailers influence their viewing decision the most, followed by friends and family, and then online TV guides in the 3rd place. Adverts, printed reviews, and TV guides didn't make the top three spots.

Out of all the countries South Africa also came out tops when it comes to TV viewers talking about TV programmes on social  networking sites while watching TV. South Africa at 8,1% of people who said they do so  always or often, and a further 43% who said they do so occasionally, was on both measurements the highest out of all 10 countries.


ALSO READ: MultiChoice looking to launch a new "connected box" DStv decoder in the first quarter of 2013.

Discovery Networks' channels - ID: Investigation Discovery, TLC, and Animal Planet - to start carrying adverts through DStv Media Sales.

From next Wednesday 18 April advertisers will be able to book TV commercials on 3 further TV channels within the Discovery stable that can be seen in South Africa - TLC (DStv 186), ID: Investigation Discovery (DStv 252) and Animal Planet (DStv 264).

In a just issued press release, Discovery Networks CEEMEA says 3 more of its 6 TV channels will now be able to carry advertising on MultiChoice's DStv: The Discovery Channel, Discovery World, Animal Planet, TLC and ID: Investigation Discovery. DStv Media Sales handles the advertising.

[Note: Discovery HD Showcase (DStv 172) is Discovery's 6th TV channel on MultiChoice's DStv and in high definition (HD) but is not commercialised. Besides these 6 channels on the one bouquet, Discovery also runs the quality Discovery Science (TopTV 302) on TopTV, giving Discovery Networks actually a total of 7 TV channels in the region overall.]

"Discovery Networks Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) today announced the launch of commercial ad sales on an additional 3 of its 5 channels. From April 18 advertisers will be able to book advertising on the leading women's lifestyle channel TLC, ID: Investigation Discovery (ID) and Animal Planet," says Discovery.

"The move to extend commercial advertising sales to all 5 channels in the region serves to broaden the reach available to advertisers, by using Discovery's full portfolio of channel brands to reach a broader consumer demographic. Discovery Networks sees the launch of commercial ad sales as a strategic move to help consolidate the company's advertising business in Africa."

"We are delighted to be launching commercial ad sales with DStv Media Sales and are confident that TLC, ID and Animal Planet will be a strong addition to our existing commercial portfolio,'' says Dorota Zurkowska-Bytner, the newly appointed vice president for advertising sales for Discovery Networks CEEMEA.

Cake Boss on The Discovery Channel with Buddy Valastro will be moving back to the TLC channel.

"DStv Media Sales and Discovery Networks are together expanding business opportunities with these additional launches," says Chris Hitchings, the CEO of DStv Media Sales in the same press release.

"We are delighted to be offering clients and prospective advertisers the opportunity to access such a rich and diverse portfolio of programming through any of the 5 Discovery Networks brands".

BREAKING. Discovery working on special documentary, iGenius - How Steve Jobs Changed the World to air in South Africa on 30 October.

A special documentary iGenius - How Steve Jobs Changed the World is coming to the Discovery Channel (DStv 121) - and possible the other Discovery channels too - as soon as Sunday 30 October in South African and Africa, Discovery Networks just announced. 

Lee Hobbs, the channel director for emerging business at Dicovery Networks for the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEEMEA) region made the announcement at Discovery Networks CEEMEA spectacular Upfront 2012 at the same time as the worldwide announcement went out and could hardly contain himself.

The audience and guests at Discovery Networks CEEMEA Upfront 2012 in Johannesburg - consisting of ad buyers, advertisers, journalists, international Discovery TV talent as well as local and international TV executives - all let out a collective and very audible gasp of surprise, excitement and awe when Lee Hobbs announced the news.

''We just got confirmation and I just had to share it with you all right now,'' Lee Hobbs said with visible delight. Attendees immediately started buzzing. ''It will look at the life and influence of Steve Jobs and it's sure to be amazing,'' he said. The Apple founder unexpectedly passed away last week and on Sunday Discovery Science happened to show a fascinating documentary about the history of the iPod.

iGenuis - How Steve Jobs Changed the World will be the latest of Discovery Networks' quick turnaround, quality documentaries that capitalise on current news events by bringing applied news values as well as high production documentary expertise together to create fascinating documentaries that manage to explore subjects deeper than news channel documentaries in almost as fast the time.

Lee Hobbs said the tentative plan is to show iGenius - How Steve Jobs Changed the World in South Africa and across Africa on 30 October.

FRIDAY 14 OCtober 17:00 - Discovery has now confirmed a time of 20:55 on 30 October for iGenius - How Steve Jobs Changed the World on Discovery Channel (DStv 121).

ALSO READ: Discovery Channel planning a special-effects filled documentary for the 100th anniversary of the Titanic in April 2012.

BREAKING. MultiChoice, Discovery Networks adds TLC and ID: Investigation Discovery channels to DStv from 14 October.

You're reading it here first.

I can exclusively break the news and reveal that MultiChoice and Discovery Networks CEEMEA will be adding and launching two new channels on DStv, TLC as well as ID: Investigation Discovery from Friday 14 October.

I can reveal that TLC will be added on DStv channel 186 and that ID: Investigation Discovery will be seen on DStv channel 252.

I've known for about a month about the coming addition of TLC and ID: Investigation Discovery, which will go live just two weeks after MultiChoice's just-added Studio Universal movie channel on the DStv platform. TLC and ID: Investigation Discovery are two of the three Discovery channels that's already been available on competitor pay TV platform On Digital Media's TopTV, but which will now be getting much wider availability within South Africa.

TLC, that just started in South Africa out of the retired Discovery Travel & Living brand is a female-skewed lifestyle, reality and factual entertainment channel, whilst ID: Investigation Discovery (ID for short) offers viewers a line-up of world-class crime-related documentaries.

This major addition of two Discovery channels bring Discovery Networks' portfolio on DStv to a massive 6 TV channels including Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Discovery World and Discovery HD Showcase. (Besides TLC and ID: Investigation Discovery, TopTV still has the great Discovery Science channel). Both TLC and ID: Investigation Discovery will start to run commercials and sell commercial airtime from the beginning of 2012 on DStv.

''We have had an outstanding relationship with DStv over the last 15 years and are confident that with the addition of TLC and ID, this will go from strength to strength,'' says Phillip Luff, the country manager for emerging business for Discovery networks CEEMEA.

''TLC and ID have been hugely successful in markets all over the world and their addition to DStv's Premium and Compact bouquet forms part of our continued investment in Africa. We're sure that DStv’s subscribers are going to love both channels,'' he says.

''The Discovery brands are world-famous for engaging audiences with a mix of entertainment and information, presented with emotion, spirit and style,'' says Aletta Alberts, MultiChoice's general manager for content.

''They continue to be global television leaders with innovative programming ideas and concepts that resonate with viewers, succeeding time and again in capturing the imagination. DStv understands that as our audience grows and their viewing needs become more diverse, we must evolve. To do so with a partner like Discovery, who really are dedicated to the needs of our audiences, is a significant step forward in building our products,'' she says.

BREAKING. Wall to wall wonderful: Discovery Networks unveil its upcoming 2011 TV shows across its channels on an amazing video wall.

You're reading it here first.

In a first ever for South African television, Discovery Networks - in a crisp and remarkable showcase presentation - employed a full ''video wall'' with great effect for its upfront presentation earlier this evening. The factual TV entertainment brand showcased to the press exactly what various Discovery Networks channels like Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and others have in store for the rest of the year - as well as 2011 - in a way never done for the press covering TV in South Africa before.

In a second first for South Africa, Discovery Networks - that now broadcast seven distinctly different TV channels in South Africa - also went further programming wise that what any TV channel in the past has ever gone in terms of being able to tell exactly what it will show on its various channels for the biggest part of 2011. Discovery Networks unveiled a perfectly presented rundown of what viewers can expect over the upcoming months across its channel portfolio in a systematic, yet entertaining, line-up on the massive video wall that included clips and teasers.

Paul Welling, vice president and head of channels for Discovery Networks' emerging markets, highlighted shows on the various channels as they played out in seamless, massive, and striking clarity across the full size of the wall next to him. ''We're delighted to be bringing our DStv viewers a top line-up of brand-new, awe-inspiring shows next year. We're certain that they're going to be a big hit with both viewers and advertisers in Africa.''

With Ashley Hayden as host and the Animal Planet animal handler Dave Salmoni (currently visiting South Africa), Discovery Networks stole the show by becoming the first broadcaster ever to go to the trouble of making use of a full wall video format during an upfront presentation. It was astounding, it was terrific, and it was a lesson by Discovery to other broadcasters operating in South Africa as to how boring upfronts and stale press previews can be brilliantly upscaled by displaying their TV content in a way that makes people - and the press - actually excited to watch it. The faultless technical presentation happened without a hitch.

On Discovery Channel (DStv 121) viewers can look forward to Extreme Fishing Season (January), Men at Work Night and Engineering Season (April) as well as more Mythbusters. The must-see Curiosity (looking at life's biggest questions) will debut in May. Then there's Escape Night (August), Survival Night and Danger on the Seas Season (September) ending the year with Best of 2011 (December).

Animal Planet (DStv 264) will roll out Pet Zone (February), Rescue Zone (March) and Wild Africa Month (March). Crock Week and the popular Shark Month is on in July. Animal Planet Heroes is planned for October in which World's Deadliest Towns with Dave Salmoni will debut.

Discovery World (DStv 250) has Reign of Dinosaurs (May), War Stories (August) and Exploring the Limits. Discovery HD Showcase (DStv 172) will enter its second year of high definition programming with an array of shows hand-picked from Discovery Networks' most popular channels.