NFL Super Bowl LX shown live on ESPN in South Africa on Monday 9 Feb at 01:00, including Bad Bunny halftime show

by Thinus Ferreira

The NFL Super Bowl LX will be broadcast live on both of ESPN's channels seen in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa on DStv, as well as on Disney+ in South Africa, on Monday morning, 9 February from 01:00.

ESPN's live Super Bowl LX broadcast will include the live halftime show, headlined by Bad Bunny. Charlie Puth will sing the USA national anthem and Green Day is also set to appear during the opening ceremony.

The Super Bowl LX will be between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. These two teams previously faced each other in Super Bowl XLIX in 2015.

Viewers who don't want to be awake at 01:00 for Super Bowl LX, can watch it as a recording at 08:00 on Monday on ESPN2 (DStv 219, Disney+), 11:00 on Monday on ESPN (DStv 218, Disney+) and again at 15:00 on ESPN2 (DStv 219, Disney+).

A 55-minute highlight package will also air during the week.

The Super Bowl LX will take place at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, which is the home of the San Francisco 49ers.

This will be the stadium's second time hosting the Super Bowl after Super Bowl 50 took place there in 2016.

ESPN forced to return 37 fraudulently gained Emmy awards after investigation.

by Thinus Ferreira

After an investigation ESPN (DStv 218 / StarSat 248) has been forced to return 37 Emmy awards it acquired through fraud in which ESPN used fake names to enter for the American television awards.

The Atlantic reports that America's National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (Natas) that runs the Emmys did an investigation and uncovered a fraudulent scheme where by ESPN since 1997 made fake Emmy entries, using the initials of real ESPN staff but different names, then took those fake awards and re-engraved the Emmys with other names.

Natas uncovered the ESPN fraud and demanded that ESPN return the Emmys after it did a verification process in 2022 and ESPN was asked to verify certain names which ESPN had to admit were all fake.

How ESPN's afraid worked is that executives would enter for Emmys in categories but would then add multiple fake names to group entries. 

If a group won, ESPN executives would use those "additional" fake Emmy statuettes of non-existent people, re-engrave them and then give them to people who were not eligible to enter as part of groups.

ESPN in a statement says "Some members of our team were clearly wrong in submitting certain names that may go back to 1997 in Emmy categories where they were not eligible for recognition or statuettes".

"This was a misguided attempt to recognise on-air individuals who were important members of our production team. Once current leadership was made aware, we apologized to NATAS for violating guidelines and worked closely with them to completely overhaul our submission process to safeguard against anything like this happening again."

"We brought in outside counsel to conduct a full and thorough investigation and individuals found to be responsible were disciplined by ESPN."

ALSO READ: Nasty podcaster Pat McAfee claims 'rat' ESPN vice president Norby Williamson is trying to sabotage his conspiracy-theory show.

Nasty podcaster Pat McAfee claims 'rat' ESPN vice president Norby Williamson is trying to sabotage his conspiracy-theory show.

by Thinus Ferreira

The conspiracy-theory-prone podcaster Pat McAfee is now lashing out at his ESPN boss, using ESPN's (DStv 218 / StarSat 248) own airwaves to do so, claiming on ESPN that vice president Norby Williamson is allegedly trying to "sabotage us from within ESPN".

The Pat McAfee show runs on YouTube but has been licensed by The Walt Disney Company's ESPN for millions of dollars in a 5-year contract to carry the low-quality podcast on ESPN as well.

On Friday's episode of The Pat McAfee Show, the former NFL player suddenly lashed out at ESPN itself and specifically ESPN boss, Norby Williamson, ESPN's executive vice president of studio and event promotion.

In yet another unproven rant, Pat McAfee said "there are some people actively trying to sabotage us from within ESPN - more specifically, I believe Norby Williamson is the guy who is attempting to sabotage our programme. I’m not 100% sure."

"That is just seemingly the only human that has information and then somehow that information gets leaked and it’s wrong, and then it sets a narrative of what our show is. Are we just gonna combat that from a rat every time? I don’t know."

Pat McAfee's outburst came after this report in The New York Post about the ESPN show's dismal viewership on the pay-TV channel.

The New York Post story happened after Pat McAfee had a contributor on his show on ESPN last week - Aaron Rodgers - who wrongly claimed as yet another conspiracy theory that the ABC network comedian Jimmy Kimmel was linked to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Pat McAfee also pays Aaron Rodgers to be on The Pat McAfee Show.

"Somebody tried to get ahead of our actual ratings release with wrong numbers 12 hours beforehand," Pat McAfee said in Friday's edition of his show.

"That's a sabotage attempt, and it’s been happening basically this entire season from some people who didn’t necessarily love the old addition of The Pat McAfee Show to the ESPN family. There's a lot of those."

"So, even with the enemy within our own camp - I don't like that guy. That guy left me in his office for 45 minutes; no-showed me in 2018."

"So, this guy has had zero respect for me and in return, same thing back to him for a long time."

Bizarrely, neither Disney or ESPN are responding to requests for comment from the media about Pat McAfee and his show and still just remaining silent.

Disney and ESPN so far have been unwilling to make any statements about someone on ESPN attacking Jimmy Kimmel - meaning that one part of Disney is smearing another - and that someone on ESPN is attacking one of the bosses of ESPN on ESPN's own airwaves.

ALSO READ: Disney's nasty The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN smears Disney's Jimmy Kimmel on ABC with unfounded allegations linking him to convicted American paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Disney's nasty The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN smears Disney's Jimmy Kimmel on ABC with unfounded allegations linking him to convicted American paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

by Thinus Ferreira

Bizarrely doing nothing and unwilling to say anything about it, Disney which owns ESPN (DStv 218 / StarSat 248), has allowed The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN to smear its other Disney star Jimmy Kimmel on American's ABC TV channel, with untrue allegations linking the comedian to the convicted American paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Pat McAfee who pays the New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers millions of dollars to be on The Pat McAfee Show, has allowed Rodgers, who is a conspiracy theorist and an anti-vaxxer, to spout boundless conspiracy theories on ESPN where the American sports personality used ESPN to question Covid-19 vaccines.

On Tuesday the conspiracy-prone Aaron Rodgers said on The Pat McAfee Show that Jimmy Kimmel is apparently going to be named in the list that an American court was getting ready to release and that would include people and associates linked to Jeffrey Epstein.

"There's a lot of people, including Jimmy Kimmel - really hoping that doesn't come out," Aaron Rodgers said.

The list was released late on Wednesday night and Jimmy Kimmel's name does not appear on it.

Before the list was released, Jimmy Kimmel on X, formerly known as Twitter, said in a statement aimed at Aaron Rodgers: "Dear Aasshole: for the record, I've not met, flown with, visited, or had any contact whatsoever with Epstein, nor will you find my name on any list other than the clearly-phony nonsense that soft-brained wackos like yourself can't seem to distinguish from reality".

"Your reckless words put my family in danger. Keep it up and we will debate the facts further in court."

ESPN has so far chosen to stay silent about an ESPN show and ESPN airwaves used to attack another valuable Disney asset in the form of Jimmy Kimmel. 

Disney's corporate PR division has also decided to stay silent instead of condemning The Pat McAfee Show and Aaron Rodgers.

Pat McAfee on Wednesday's episode on ESPN mentioned the conflict his show has caused, saying "I can see exactly why Jimmy Kimmel felt the way he felt, especially with his position. But I think Aaron was just trying to talk s-."

"Now, did it go too far in a lot of people’s ... Jimmy Kimmel certainly said that was the case. We and I, immediately upon it happening, tried to be like 'whoa'!"

"We obviously don't like the fact that we are associated with anything negative, ever. We like our show to be an uplifting one, a happy one, a fun one. But it's because we talk s- and try to make light of everything."

"Some things, obviously people get very pissed off about especially when they are serious allegations. So we apologise for being a part of it. Can't wait to hear what Aaron has to say about it. Hopefully, those two will just be able to settle this, not court-wise."

Disney boss Bob Iger: We've made too much content for Disney+, traditional linear TV business 'is broken'.

by Thinus Ferreira

Disney CEO Bob Iger on Thursday said that The Walt Disney Company made too many shows for its Disney+ video streaming service diluting the impact of its content and that the Mouse House would consider selling off its linear Disney TV channels which are no longer considered part of its "core" business since that part of the business is broken.

Speaking to CNBC during a sit-down interview on the sidelines of an Allen & Co. session in Sun Valley, Idaho in the United States as part of the larger Sun Valley Conference, Iger on Thursday admitted that Disney over-extended its creative forces in ramping up content for Disney+ causing the quality of its film output from its various studios to suffer.

Disney has seen several of its films flop at the box office in the past few months, from Marvel's Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, to Elemental and the disappointing opening of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.

Bob Iger noted that "there have been some disappointments. We would have liked some of our more recent releases to perform better. In our zeal to basically grow our content significantly to serve our streaming offerings, we ended up taxing our people in terms of their time and their focus way beyond where they had been".

"Marvel is a great example of that. They had not been in the TV business in any significant level. Not only did they increase their movie output but they ended up making a number of television series, and frankly it diluted focus and intention."

"There were three Pixar releases that went direct to streaming, mostly because of Covid," Iger said, referring to Soul, Luca and Turning Red. "I think it may have created an expectation under the audience that they're eventually going to be on streaming, and probably quickly, and there wasn't an urgency."

"You have to agree that there were some creative misses as well," Iger said.

Disney: Linear TV channels broken

Bob Iger also spoke about the ongoing deterioration and unravelling of linear broadcast television and the traditional pay-TV channel business which he calls "broken".

Disney owns and runs TV channels ranging from the ABC broadcast network in the United States, to pay-TV channels like The Disney Channel, National Geographic and ESPN distributed globally to and carried by pay-TV operators in South Africa like MultiChoice's DStv and StarTimes Media SA's StarSat.

"The disruption of the traditional television business is most notable," Iger said when asked about the big challenges facing Disney. "The disruption of that business has happened to a greater extent than what even I was aware".

Iger said that Disney will look at and consider potentially selling something like ABC, as well as its Disney pay-TV channels "which may no longer be core" to the overall business, but will keep ESPN and look for strategic partners when it transitions ESPN to streaming.

About ESPN he said it's "not necessarily about spinning ESPN off, but about looking for strategic partners that could either help us with distribution or content but we want to stay in the sports business."

"There is an inevitability in taking ESPN direct-to-consumer [streaming]; we haven't said when but we do know that it will happen."

About ABC, National Geographic and the other Disney channels, Bob Iger said "We're going to be expansive".

"We have to be objective and open-minded about the future of those businesses."

"They may not be core to Disney. There's clearly creativity and content that they create that is core to Disney but the distribution model, the business model that forms the underpinning of that business  - to deliver great profits over the years - is definitely broken. And we have to call it like it is - and that's part of the transformative work we're doing."

"One of the things that I discovered when I came back is that one of the disruptive forces that have been preying on that business for a while is greater than I thought. It's eye-opening. There is a reality to it that we have to come to grips with and we have to come to grips with that now."

Disney+ loses 4 million subscribers, will cut back on streamer's volume of content.

by Thinus Ferreira

Disney on Wednesday night in its latest quarterly earnings report announced that its Disney+ had lost subscribers again for the second consecutive quarter and will cut back on the volume of content it makes for its video streaming service.

Disney+ lost 4 million subscribers globally during the first three months of 2023, falling from 161.8 million to 157.8 million subscribers, after ending 2022 with the streamer's first decline in user numbers. 

While Disney+ added almost one million international subscribers outside of India, in India it lost 4.6 million Disney+ Hotstar subscribers where it lost the rights to Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches, and it lost another 300 000 subscribers in the United States and Canada.

Christine McCarthy, Disney chief financial officer, on the quarterly earnings call, said that Disney has decided to cut back on the volume of content it will be producing for Disney+ going forward. 

She said that Disney is "in the process of reviewing the content on our direct-to-consumer (DTC) services to align with the strategic changes in our approach to content curation". 

Disney "will be removing certain content from our streaming platforms" as a result. "Going forward we intend to produce lower volumes of content in alignment with this strategic shift," she said.

Disney also made less money from its international pay-TV channels business during the quarter. The revenue from its international TV channels for the quarter dropped 18% to $1.1 billion, while operating income decreased by 65% to $85 million. 

Bob Iger, Disney CEO, said that the company plans to eventually move the ESPN TV channels to streaming and that pricing still has to be figured out, with the company's plans for ESPN which have not changed.

ESPN to show African boxing in 2022; 12 boxing events planned for the year with one shown on the last Thursday of every month.

by Thinus Ferreira

ESPN (DStv 218 / StarSat 248) will show African boxing in 2022 on the American sports channel, with 12 boxing events during 2022 that are planned and with one boxing event that will be shown on the last Thursday of every month next year.

ESPN plans to African boxing events live on the channel, which will also be shown on broadcast partners with the first African boxing event that will take place in Johannesburg on Thursday 27 January at 19:00.

Each boxing event will include 5 fights per event and two "undercard bouts", with ESPN that also plans to include one "all-female" fight per event to give young female boxers a platform.

Boxing analyses and running commentary will be done on ESPN shows like Sports Center.

"ESPN is known for bringing the most exciting sporting moments to sports fans across the continent and the return of African boxing takes that further," says Kyle De Klerk, director for sports commercial and business at The Walt Disney Company Africa, in a statement.

"Knowing Africa's rich history of developing boxing champions, ESPN will showcase some of our continent's best talent to a global audience which will hopefully give them a platform to progress and challenge for world titles in the near future."

ESPN Africa finally clears rights for its weekday American sports magazine show SportsCenter that will start airing from 5 July.

by Thinus Ferreira

The weekday American sports magazine show SportsCenter is finally being added to the ESPN Africa international feed of the channel from 5 July after the The Walt Disney Company cleared content rights.

SportCenter is the same as various SuperSport magazine shows, offering a mix of sports news, interviews and sports commentary about American sports like baseball, NFL, American hockey, basketball and other American-centric sports, with Scott Van Pelt and Elle Duncan as the presenters.

SportsCenter will broadcast on weekdays at 10:00 on ESPN (DStv 218 / StarSat 248) with repeats at 13:00 and 17:30, and repeated again on ESPN2 (DStv 219 / StarSat 249) at 16:00.

The Walt Disney Company Africa Media Networks shares some early-2021 programming highlights across Disney Channel, Disney Junior, FOX, National Geographic, Nat Geo WILD and ESPN.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Walt Disney Company Africa Media Networks wasn't able to do a physical 2021 new year highlights showcase this year because of the ongoing Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic but still issued programming highlights across its TV channels in the form of a press drop to journalists.

Here are some of them:

Disney Junior (DStv 309)

I literally just discovered Bluey at the end of last year as a new TV show about a month before The Walt Disney Company Africa Media Networks alerted me to it.

It's interesting as a children's show because you can watch it as an adult or as a parent and you will actually be quite entertained by it as well because it works on another level than just entertaining and educating a child.

It's actually quite insightful and revealing because a character like the dad would, for instance, be asked to come and play and he would say something like he doesn't want to, he's tired. You usually don't find that in children's shows.

Bluey is described as "a funny and honest look at modern family life". The Australian blue heeler puppy Bluey has a boundless imagination and loves to turn daily life into playful adventures. 

Bluey and little sister Bingo throw themselves into exploring their world, using gameplay to conquer their fears and to try out adult roles.

The second season of Bluey starts on 22 February.

Disney Channel (DStv 303)

The Disney Original Movie, Upside Down Magic, premiered on the channel in late-January and can still be seen in which the 13-year old Nory discovers that she can "flux" into animals and that her best friend Reina can manipulate flames.

Together they enter the Sage Academy for Magical Studies where Reina's expert ability to harness the power of fire lands her at the top of her class of "Flares", but Nory's wonky magic and proclivity for turning into a 'Dritten" (half-kitten, half-dragon) lands her in a class for those with Upside-Down Magic.

The second season of the animated series Amphibia has started in February on Disney Channel on weekdays at 15:15.

Amphibia is a frog-out-of-water animated comedy series that chronicles the adventures of 13-year old Anne Boonchuy, who is magically transported to the fantastical world of Amphibia, a rural marshland full of frog-people.

There she meets an excitable young frog named Sprig Plantar, his unpredictable sister Polly and over-protective grandpa Hop Pop. With Sprig's help, Anne will transform into a hero and discover the first true friendship of her life.

FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131)

The first episode of the so-called "extended" 10th season of the long-running zombie drama series The Walking Dead will premiere on the channel on Monday 1 March.

This 10th season that started in 2019 and got delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic that impacted production, got 6 additional episodes added, to take the season episode number to 22. These last 6 episodes are now starting with FOX Africa showing them both as a simulcast with the United States and again during primetime.

The 6 additional episodes of The Walking Dead's 10th season (starting from episode 1017) will air simulcast with America at 03:00 in the mornings, South African time, and again in primetime on Monday nights at 20:45. 

National Geographic (DStv 181 / StarSat 220)

The channel has some hard-hitting programming like North Korea: Inside the Mind of a Dictator scheduled for 2 March and 9 March at 21:00. The documentary will give viewers unprecedented access into one of the most secretive countries in the world.

Nat Geo WILD (DStv 182 / StarSat 221)

Snakes in the City filmed in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa is back for a 7th season with the snake-catchers Simon and Sioux as they try to catch some of the deadliest snakes in the most bizarre situations and then release them back into the wild.

In 7 seasons this is probably the first time I think there's ever been publicity done for this specific show. Nat Geo says viewers can watch as the snake catchers solve snake problems like deadly forest cobras at wedding venues, enormous pythons guarding their eggs, and even lethal black mambas inside ceilings.

Of course, the 10th Big Cat Month is taking place during February on Nat Geo WILD as well, with all of the programming details that you can find in this article here.

ESPN (DStv 218 / StarSat 248)

There was the 55th Superbowl and ESPN also has NBA basketball coverage.

When it comes to football ESPN also shows the Scottish Premiership with the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL).

America's 2021 NFL Super Bowl LV clash between Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes to air live across Africa on Monday 8 February on ESPN and ESPN2, will include The Weeknd halftime show but not the American commercials.

by Thinus Ferreira

America's 2021 American National Football League's (NFL) Super Bowl LV will be broadcast live on ESPN's 2 ESPN Africa channels, ESPN (DStv 218 / StarSat 248) and ESPN2 (DStv 219 / StarSat 249) early on Monday morning 8 February 2021.

The African broadcast of the 55th Super Bowl will include the entertainment halftime show but not the usually iconic American TV commercials. 

ESPN tells TVwithThinus that in the place of the American commercials, viewers in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa will see filler promos and other localised commercials, similar to when M-Net is showing American award-shows like the Golden Globes or the Academy Awards live.

With Tom Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers taking on the defending champions of Patrick Mahomes' Kansas City Chiefs at the Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, the ESPN coverage on the ESPN Africa channels will start on Monday 8 February at 01:30 in the morning (Central African Time CAT), with repeats at 07:30 and 14:30 later during the day on ESPN, and a repeat on ESPN2 at 20:30.  

This year the Super Bowl LV halftime show will be headlined by The Weeknd. America's "The Star-Spangled Banner" national anthem will be a duet this year, performed by the R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan and the country singer Erich Church ahead of the match.

"This NFL Super Bowl LV is set to be a quarterback showdown as one of the league's brightest young stars, Mahomes, takes on one of its greatest, Brady, and both have a lot at stake," says Evert van der Veer, vice president of media networks at The Walt Disney Company Africa.

"On top of that, for the first time, fans across Africa will also be able to enjoy the world-renowned halftime show. It's going to be an incredible night."

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 11 November 2020.

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

■ Oscar Pistorius is in prison for murder, so why does ESPN's (DStv 218 / StarSat 248) new documentary coming to South African and African viewers from 19 November treat him so kindly?

- Viewers complain that The Trials of Oscar Pistorius neglects the real victim - Reeva Steenkamp.

- Reeva Steenkamp deserves to be more than a footnote in the story of killer Oscar Pistorius.

- Controversy around the BBC and ESPN's shockingly slanted Oscar Pistorius documentary is justified.

- "Shame on you": Uproar over BBC and ESPN's disgusting Oscar Pistorius documentary.

■ South Africa's Simone Mashile of Below Deck slams Captain Lee Rosbach, says there are not enough people of colour in the yachting industry.

■ Lesflicks - the lesbian video streaming service thriving under lockdown and attracting subscribers from America to South Africa, India and Jamaica.

■ How the SABC's isiZulu radio dramas subverted Apartheid's grand design.

■ MultiChoice Ghana and child labour?: Meet Emmanuel (11), MultiChoice's youngest DStv installer.

This is obviously illegal and illegal child labour.

■ Trace Urban (DStv 325) apparently has original local programming nobody's heard about or that the media were told about - and then it got marred by technical problems.

■ Why you're seeing Kelly Clarkson with an eyepatch on in The Kelly Clarkson Show on M-Net (DStv 101).

■ Trojan TV: China's double-edged gamble with Mozambique's TV market.

China's StarTimes pay-TV operator wants to get a foothold and promote Beijing’s voice in Mozambique, but service and content issues may end up being a disservice to China’s image abroad.

■ New research: When kids watch a lot of TV, parents may end up being more stressed.

■ Virgin Media launches Virgin 360 as a new pay-TV service in the United Kingdom to rival Sky Q.

ESPN loses head of content and '30 for 30' creator Connor Schell who is exiting to set up his own production company.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Walt Disney Company's struggling ESPN (DStv 218 / StarSat 248) is losing its head of content Connor Schell who created its 30 for 30 documentary franchise, according to American reports.

The exit of Connor Schell, ESPN’s executive vice president of content, is not related to ESPN's announcement last week that it's cutting 500 jobs of which 300 are current staffers and 200 of which are positions that have been vacant and are being eliminated.

ESPN said its restructuring and changing its focus and shifting resources towards its video streaming business and digital content.

Connor Schell was in charge of all-non sports programming and was instrumental in ESPN's documentary content and will be creating his own production company.

Connor Schell's role will not be replaced but instead, be split across various ESPN executives.

ESPN previously broadcast its well-done 30 for 30 documentary series in South Africa and across sub-Saharan Africa and SuperSport recently picked it up again to pad its own schedules during the Covid-19 pandemic earlier in 2020.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 10 November 2020.

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

■ His 3rd divorce: Fox News (StarSat 261) staffers believe the American channel will dump Donald Trump and focus on bashing Joe Biden.

"A black hole where news dies and conspiracy theories and opinions reign supreme."

■ Trump's presidency might be ending, but Trump the TV series will continue.

"Trump will remain on our screens because he cannot live without seeing himself on television. As much as he is a product of television, he is also its victim. If he doesn't see himself on TV, he doesn't exist."

■ Trump's reality TV show presidency gets cancelled.

After 4 years Americans were ready to change the channel and what began as a grotesque political version of The Bachelor seems destined to end closer in tone to Fear Factor. Like Oprah he delighted in giving surprise gifts to his viewers; family's emotional dysfunction could provide fodder for entire seasons of Dr. Phil and The Jerry Springer Show.

-Ugly: Anderson Cooper on CNN International's (DStv 401) calls Donald Trump "an obese turtle, flailing on his back in the sun".

- Tension, then some tears as American TV news narrated the announcement that Joe Biden has been elected as that country's next president.

- Behind-the-scenes struggle at Fox News (StarSat 261) with the Murdoch family.

- Pro-Trump outlets cry betrayal after Fox News (StarSat 261) calls American election for Joe Biden.

- CNN was first, followed by NBC, MSNBC, then CBS, and ABC; then Associated Press (AP) and Fox News.

- Fox News (StarSat 261) abruptly cuts off Kayleigh McEnany after baseless allegations.

- MSNBC (StarSat 263) contributor Jon Meacham has secretly been writing Joe Biden speeches without telling the TV channel.

- Will Trump TV dethrone Fox News (StarSat 261) as the new voice of right-wing America?

■ It's time to break up with Nate Silver and FiveThirtyEight''s way-off American election polling.

- American pollsters and fakes like FiveThirtyEight and The Upshot are hawking a false sense of certainty.

- "Issue 3, pollsters disaster": What does it say that American polls were once again so far off in American election voter sentiment before voting?

- What went wrong with the 2020 American election polls and what's next for political polling?

- What went wrong with America's polls this year?

- America's polling crisis catastrophe.

■ America's CBS TV network orders all its reality TV shows to have at least 50% of contestants people of colour.

■ After Alex Trebek, host of American quiz game show Jeopardy! dies:

"Jeopardy!" never grew musty, irrelevant or confined; it never arbitrarily decided that ancient history, revered literature and settled science had a cutoff point. It treated the never-ending story of human civilization as an unfolding and evolving body of knowledge."

■ The fired, then court-ordered back SABC anchor Palesa Chubisi dares SABC CEO Madoda Mxakwe to try and remove her from the SABC airwaves.

■ Production on second season of Netflix's The Witcher shuts yet down again over multiple positive Covid-19 tests.

- 4 crew members of The Witcher tested positive on Saturday in the United Kingdom.

■ South Africa's SABC that has a PR division splashes R2.3 MILLION to pay public relations company, PR Worx, to do PR work and clean up the image of the struggling South African public broadcaster - the contract allegedly signed without following due process.

■ Bad form: Despite raging Covid-19 pandemic, political unrest and economic troubles in Nigeria, MultiChoice Nigeria is going ahead with a DStv Premium Golf Day in Lagos.

■ Half the price of Netflix: How Telkom's streamer TelkomONE and its SABC content compares.

■ SABC execs give trade unions until Friday to come with new suggestions on how to minimise retrenchment numbers at the bloated and overstaffed South African public broadcaster.

■ How the SABC tried not to cover (but failed) the Democratic Alliance (DA) political party's elective congress.

South African public broadcaster had to be forced to do so by a Johannesburg High Court order.

■ Princess Diana interview: "Dark cloud over BBC journalism," says former BBC chairman.

■ Since its tortoise-slow launch a year ago, Apple TV+ finally seems to hit its stride.

■ Bloomberg launches a streaming news channel for younger adults.

■ A fifth of American homes now has video streaming services but no traditional pay-TV service.

■ ViacomCBS is shutting down all of its legacy streaming services to focus on Paramount+ .

■ A flurry of complaints as British viewers are disgusted by ESPN's (DStv 218 / StarSat 248) new sympathetically-slanted Oscar Pistorius documentary series that MultiChoice and China's StarTimes plan to broadcast from 19 November in South Africa and across Africa.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 6 November 2020.

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

■ A furious Donald Trump called Rupert Murdock and screamed over the 2020 American presidential election coverage on Fox News (StarSat 261).

- Rupert refused to tell Fox News staffers to change their coverage.

- Everyone eating hamburgers and chips in White House - then Rage after Donald Trump erupted at Fox News.

- What Murdoch gives, he can take away; signs that he is done with Donald Trump.

- "Fox News sucks!" - Donald Trump supporters suddenly turn on Fox News.

- TV Critics Conversation: America's 2020 election night TV struggled to capture the gravity of the moment.

■ A Million Little Things: On Thursday night SABC3 suddenly fails to broadcast the start of the first season of A Million Little Things because of unexplained "unforeseen circumstance".

■ Naked Attraction virgin in Britain walks off the set and must be consoled by crew after seeing vaginas and 6 women for the first time in his life.

- And more naked people in a TV commercial in Iceland which features "stark naked actors".

■ ESPN (DStv 218 / StarSat 248) to get rid of 300 workers,won't fill another 200 vacant positions.

- Getting rid of people to free up money for streaming and digital.

- "Tremendous disruption in how fans consume sports."

- Balancing its traditional pay-TV channel carriage role with video streaming efforts.

■ How does America's AT&T solve the problem of its DirecTV satellite pay-TV division that it no longer wants?

■ The BBC again doing an investigation into how Martin Bashir managed to get the explosive Princess Diana interview in 1995.

New evidence suggests that the reporter may have used forged bank statements and other unethical methods to convince Princess Diana to do an interview.

■ Instagram flags a social media post of Gareth Cliff of So What Now? on eNCA (Dstv 403), Gareth Cliff says "I have no respect for fact-checkers".

■ M-Net's Pearl Magic channel in Uganda turns 2.

MultiChoice says that in the past 2 years over 145 Ugandan movies have been broadcast on Pearl Magic, 2 of which have been produced by MultiChoice Talent Factory students.

■ The South African public broadcaster plans to appeal the Labour Court decision that found that the SABC's dismissal of SABC TV news presenter and producer Palesa Chubisi was unlawful and invalid.

■ eNCA (DStv 403) does a retraction and apologises for "Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer leaves the club" story; says headline and intro of the story were not accurate.

■ Why Dawson's Creek, in all its cringey glory, is the TV show that 90s kids need right now.

■ Barbra Streisand Effect: Netflix goes on the attack! Netflix suddenly starts filing takedown copyright claims against tweets that are critical of its own film, Cuties, when the public shares Netflix's own trailer.

■ Canal+ plans to expand its myCanal video streaming service into Africa.

■ South Africa's TV cricket commentators slammed by Cricket South Africa (CSA) for their lack of descriptive language use: "Blind people are watching too".

■ How Sky News Australia quietly became Australia's biggest news channel on social media.

■ How Mom, seen on M-Net (DStv 101) addressed the exit of Anna Faris.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 13 August 2020.

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


■ Ghana groom leaves bride waiting in church ... to go fix a DStv dish on his wedding day.


■ Top veteran South African economist Dr Iraj Abedian slams what he calls MultiChoice's trash-bad DStv service and says he's done and cancelling - which leads to an outpouring of complaints from angry and highly upset DStv subscribers:
"DStv services have gone to the dogs. Their helpdesk doesn't answer, their Whatsapp responses are invalid, their website doesn't load. They message me that I have no decoder whilst I've been using their decoder for over 10 years! Such is the state of management at DStv. Embarrassing!"


■ Voice of America (DStv 853), now controlled by the controversial Donald Trump appointed Michael Pack, goes from an American radio station to propaganda station with glowing Mike Pence coverage.

■ Showrunners of Avatar: The Last Airbender leave live-action remake and slam Netflix:
Got no support from Netflix that created a "negative and unsupported environment".

■ Cartoon Network tried to de-gay Steven Universe.
- Cartier's romantic TV commercial with 2 men in China stirs censorship debate.

■ MultiChoice is an absolute joke says a DStv subscriber who has been waiting for months for a refund since cancelling his DStv subscription in June already.

■ Even more financial pain and ratings trouble because of lost advertising revenue due to lost sports content for ESPN (DStv 218 / StarSat 248) as more American college football tournaments are postponed to 2021.

■ Half-naked man walks in during live TV interview as frantic American football analyst Urban Meyer being interviewed freaks out.

■  Remote Control: Making TV amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
Will viewers watch the new "boxed-in" shows done with remote and skeleton crews and casts spending all their time inside?
- The post-Covid-19 TV industry starts to take shape in the United Kingdom, but with missing pieces, frustrated unions, ditched episodes and ruined castles.


■ Secret: Broadcasters believe 5G will replace traditional TV distribution.
- Can broadcasters survive the video streaming battle?

■ Is Disney done with physical disks?
Mouse House apparently ready to dump disks.

■ Breathtaking: Scammers sell $1 billion's worth of TV shows ... a year.
Fake sites sell pirate internet-protocol TV services worldwide filled with live feeds of linear TV channels and it's completely illegal.

■ India bans the import of TV sets.

■ Netflix goes to Hell.

■ Turkey's Ertuğrul: The Muslim "Game of Thrones".

■ He coined the phrase "Content is king". Media mogul Sumner Redstone dead at 97.

■ The big Generation X animation comeback.

■ International TV news channels like Deutsche Welle off the air and forced to end programmes as they are directly affected by Tanzania's shocking new dictatorial media clampdown regulations.

■ Amazon Prime Video gives away free ice-cream in Los Angeles.

■ Nigeria's film and video censorship board abruptly introduces a 30-day mandatory content registration regulation for producers; adds a 5% tax levy payable on all audio and visual content produced in Lagos.

■ New Zealand's Sky TV pay-TV operator sells off its outside broadcasting unit responsible for doing its Sky Sport coverage; will keep the production crew.
- Also removes local Covid-19 horror TV series INSiDE as new real-life coronavirus cases emerge.

■ Egypt extends the detention of the Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / StarSat 257) journalist Mahmoud Hussein.

■ Why is Nigeria's aggressive National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) fighting with MultiChoice, Nigeria' TV industry and the media?

■ The Princess Bride board game is an exercise in futility - which makes it brilliant.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 30 July 2020.

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


■ The SABC is once again/still busy with expansions and deviations of contracts.
The Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) criticises the South African public broadcaster for its ongoing lack of proper planning in supply chain and contract management.
- South Africa's parliament says the abuse with contracts are central to the SABC's financial woes.

■ TV boss in India arrested over fraud after pretending to be a government official handing out houses.

■ The irony of Netflix that produced Indian Matchmaking that didn't involve Netflix India.


■ Fahmeeda Cassim Surtee, DStv Media Sales CEO, was a child of the 80s, one of her favourite shows was MacGyver with Richard Dean Anderson and because it was appointment viewing she planned her life around every episode.


■ America's 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards will be a virtual event on 20 September because of Covid-19.
M-Net (DStv 101) will basically be broadcasting a glam, star-studded Zoom-event since nobody will actually attend in person at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles.
- Producers looking to "create a moment that is more relaxed, more entertaining, more enjoyable".

■ BBC journalist Fiona Lamdin uses uncensored "N"-word in TV news report.

■ Stripper TV drama P-Valley coming to Showmax shocks viewers with graphic phone sex scene complete with full-frontal nudity.

■ Greek TV channel ANT1 dumps Turkish series in protest over the conversion of Hagia Sophia from museum to mosque.

■ A brief history of Australian television: From black-and-white to video streaming.
- Still in Australia: Fixing TV content rules is one step to help the troubled industry.

■ Judge Dredd TV series written but on hold because of Covid-19 pandemic.

■ The most pirated TV series during the Covid-19 pandemic includes The Mandalorian of Disney+, The 100, Game of Thrones and a sponge.

■ After worldwide protests against police brutality, what does the future of cop TV shows look like?

■ Is the future of video streaming services a more curated experience?

■ Tom Fussell appointed as temporary BBC Studios CEO from September 2020.

■ Tamar Braxton's new reality TV show postponed after overdose.

■ The toxic Ellen DeGeneres controversy explained.
- Her celebrity friends are deserting her.

■ The profound oddness of watching televised Major League Baseball (MLB) on ESPN during Covid-19.

■ We're about to run out of new TV shows and new movies - and I can't wait.
The upcoming content drought caused by Covid-19 might be the best thing to happen to entertainment in ages.

■ The United Kingdom's Boris Johnson now wants to do White House-style TV briefings.

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

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

Netflix breaks HBO's record for the most Emmy nominations ever.
HBO's Watchmen earned 26 nominations - the most of any show - and the Television Academy gave newcomers Disney+ and Apple TV + their first nominations.
- Emmy 2020 snubs and surprises: Baby Yoda breaks through.
- TV critics on whether television should be celebrating itself when the Covid-19 pandemic rages on.


■ "Kosher Netflix" launches in Israel.
No dancing to be seen as religious Jewish subscribers can press the "Skip" button to protect their modesty and flick past "problematic" scenes in the new video streaming service, Tov.

■ What is the optimum number of seasons for a TV sitcom before it jumps the shark?
Season 7, episode 3.

■ Television cinematography takes a Quantum Leap.

■ Pay-as-you-go for solar-powered pay-TV in Africa.

■ Convicted paedophile worked on the set of New Zealand children's show.

■ Britain's Sky pay-TV operator embraces the possibilities of showcasing Art on television.

■ How 2020 pressed Fast Forward on the video streaming wars.
- And the early winners and losers: The "What's gone right", What's gone wrong" and the "Verdict".


■ Major League Baseball (MLB) shown on ESPN might get cancelled this season because of Covid-19.
- Slimmed-down baseball on TV has broadcast workers worried about job cuts.
- Major League Baseball pulls the rug out from Amazon Prime Video with shortened season.


■ Apple's Apple TV+ video streaming service is off to a very slow start and isn't generating revenue.


■ "Shame on Big Brother Naija."
Is Edafe Ufoma Holy on drugs or something? In a c-r-a-z-y and hilarious rant over MultiChoice and M-Net's latest 5th season of Big Brother Nigeria, "Ebuka, the presenter got penis erection while interviewing that lady with massive breasts", and "The most handsome of all the male contestants is a yellow skin guy but with little manhood".


■ DStv now charging the same for less, says a subscriber, while DStv Customer Service says "We do not have replacement channels".
"We are left with 20-year old repeats and channels which give us films with excessive violence".

■ If Facebook and social media is the new cigarettes, then this is what we must learn fro the 1970's.

■ Hollywood's lost summer.


■ Adewunmi Ogunsanya, MultiChoice Nigeria chairperson recovers after Covid-19.
Unadulterated joy blossoms in the bosoms of relatives, friends and associates of the successful, beefy lawyer who had coronavirus with the news about Erujeje's healing that has sent his people rejoicing and felicitating with him.

■ Australia's version of Farmer Wants a Wife wants to bring back "wholesome reality TV".

■ Nigeria finally adds sign language to national news briefings on TV.
- While South Africa's SABC puts out a new tender looking for sign language service providers for 3 years.

■ The future of video streaming services is ongoing subscriber churn.
Viewers will subscribe and unsubscribe as new content comes and goes that they might be interested in.

■ SABC chief financial officer Yolande van Biljon says the South African public broadcaster wants to get to a place where it doesn't have to ask for government bailouts again.