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

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


■ BBC News finally apologises over its use of the "N"-word racial slur in a report - after 18600 complaints - and after a black BBC radio presenter had to quit.....
- After first defending the decision, outgoing BBC director-general now admits: "We should have taken a different approach". "We are very sorry for that".


■ South Africa's parliament again asks the SABC to stop its retrenchment plan at the South African public broadcaster.

■ Netflix is killing Christianity.
Instead of being out and about missionaries are sitting home binge-watching.

■ SABC foreign editor Sophie Mokoena accused of bribery and taking American money to tarnish Zimbabwe's image.

■ Meet the fund manager who doesn't like Netflix and won't touch it with investments.
"While Netflix can continue to add paying subscribers, they will never be able to deliver a high level of return on investment capital because a lot of that money is going to buy up new content."


■ Nigeria's disastrous and destructive National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) does propaganda for its controversial changes to the country's broadcasting code and banning pay-TV operators from acquiring exclusive content.
- Incompetence will destroy pay-TV in Nigeria.
- Confused director-general Armstrong Idachaba goes on a crazy rant against Iroko.
-  Armstrong Idachaba doesn't understand how English Premier League (EPL) rights work and are sold globally; gives non-sensical answer when confronted and told why pay-TV operators like MultiChoice and Supersport buy sports content in the first place.


■ There are 42 Easter eggs hidden in the second season of an Umbrella Academy on Netflix.
- Show creator responds over Umbrella Academy anti-Semitism claims.

■ Kenya DStv subscribers and GOtv subscribers furious at MultiChoice Kenya after shocking DStv price hike.

■ After both The Good Doctor and Grey's Anatomy will prominently address the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic in storylines in their upcoming new seasons, New Amsterdam will now as well.
All three American medical drama series seen on M-Net (DStv 101) will now incorporate Covid-19. The New Amsterdam change comes after the series pulled an unaired flu pandemic episode from broadcast earlier this year.

■ Netflix subscribers complain that there's nothing really worth watching (subscription required).
Video streaming services like Netflix promised near-endless choice. So why are viewers complaining and finding that there's nothing left worth watching?

■ The reality real estate star Ryan Serhant of Million Dollar Listing New York on VUZU (DStv 116 / Lifetime 131) turns to New Zealand after New York's housing market tanks because of Covid-19.

■ "Here's a question you shouldn't be able to answer: Computer, what is the nature of the universe?"
Voice search becomes more conversational.

■ MultiChoice's problem isn't going away as angry DStv Premium subscribers say the offering continues to be diluted and continue to flee DStv in droves.
"I'll soon wave goodbye to DStv."

■ Is Uyajola 9/9 on Moja Love (DStv 157) perpetuating negative stereotypes around black love?

■ Christopher Eccleston returns as BBC's Doctor Who - in radio stories.

■ Pakistan TV is changing: Lesbian lovers and a boxer in a burqa.

■ Disney is making its first Southeast Asia launch of its Disney+ streaming service.
Disney+ will launch on 5 September 2020 in Indonesia as Disney+ Hotstar.
- And: How Netflix went from foe to friend in Indonesia (subscription required).

■ Sundance, sunset: Is it over for independent film festivals?

■ Americans who no longer pay their monthly bills because of Covid-19 say they no longer pay their pay-TV account.

■ Creative TV creators should use the Covid-19 lockdown period as their moment to reinvent.

■ Formula 1 CEO confirms there will be a third season of the F1 reality documentary series Drive to Survive on Netflix.

■ South Africa's disgraced minister of communications, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, responds to photo of barefoot man in Eastern Cape kneeling in front of her as she wears Nike.


■ Global media and video streaming giants are putting the squeeze on smaller local media's plans for their own streamers.
As international TV business companies start to keep their library content for themselves and put new content on their own video streaming services, localised country and territory streaming services will have to evolve fast if they want to continue to try and compete against the world’s most powerful technology and entertainment companies.

■ Dan Levy says that his work as a red carpet correspondent was soul-crushing (starts at minute 5:35).
"It takes a very particular person to not be soul-crushed by the experience of interviewing on the red carpet. You're inherently not the person that the person answering questions wants to talk to."

Formula 1's official F1 TV Pro live streaming rolled out to South Africa and more African countries as second season of its Netflix reality series, Drive to Survive, gets ready to race from 28 February 2020.

by Thinus Ferreira

Fans of Formula 1 racing in South Africa can finally watch live races with the F1 TV Pro official F1 subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service that now accepts South African subscribers with the second season of its reality show, Formula 1: Drive to Survive, that will make its debut on Friday on Netflix.

F1 TV Pro live streams all F1 races, as well as F2, F3 and the Porsche Supercup series as an on-demand service with a live stream of every track session for every Grand Prix. F1 TV has been available for a while since 2018 in South Africa but didn't offer local viewers the option to watch live racing.

The 2020 pre-season testing kicked off on 19 February with all 6 days of testing that was shown live on F1 TV Pro for the first time. F1 TV Pro has a daily Tech Talk show analysing the latest innovations the various teams are trialling for 2020 and also gives full coverage of various press conferences.

Besides South Africa, FI TV Pro has been made newly made available in several other African countries including Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

F1 TV Pro cost $4.99 (R75.51) monthly and $44.99 (R680.81) for an annual subscription and will compete with Netflix South Africa, MultiChoice's Showmax, Amazon Prime Video, Vodacom's Video Play, Apple TV+ and others for consumers' stream-watch rands.

Meanwhile the second season of F1's docu-series on Netflix, Formula 1: Drive to Survive will become available on 28 February globally.

For the second season all 10 teams agreed to be followed by the production company's cameras and include drivers Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen for the first time.

New Netflix documentary series coming in March, Formula 1: Drive to Survive, goes inside the heart of the world's fastest race as it's changing for the future.

Netflix on Wednesday released the first trailer and information about its new 10-episode documentary series, Formula 1: Drive to Survive, that will become available from 8 March and attempts to give a look behind-the-scenes of the global racing competition.

The documentary series got access to the drivers, teams, cockpits and paddocks throughout the Formula 1 racing season.

Formula 1: Drive to Survive reveals not only the fight to be number one, but the battle for the heart, soul, and direction of this multi-billion-dollar business.

Formula 1 is undergoing a huge revolution since the takeover in January 2017 by Liberty Media and all eyes are on the sport as they undergo a reinvention to build the sports' sustainability.

Formula 1: Drive to Survive managed to get some unprecedented access to the top drivers, principals and owners, giving a deeper insight into the personal lives, and the sacrifices and challenges of those who have dedicated everything to their love of the world's fastest sport.

As a new generation of drivers step out of the shadows of the older more experienced rivals and legends of the track, the scene is set for a new wave of gripping competition and challenges on the grid.

Beginning in Melbourne where the world of high stakes, adrenaline and passion that underlies Formula 1 is launched.

From there the series moves with the teams following each of the races; from Bahrain to Canada, Austria, Singapore, Austin to Brazil, before culminating in the final fight of the season in Abu Dhabi, where scores are there to be settled.

"Netflix was the perfect platform on which to tell the inside story of this incredible sport," says Paul Martin from Box to Box Films in a statement.

"F1 has long been a world of colourful characters and super-sized ego's, thrills and drama, victory and tragedy but until now that world has been largely hidden and secretive from fans. Formula 1: Drive to Survive takes the viewers right into the heart of this world and shows what it is like to live, work and race within the world's fastest sport."

Formula 1: Drive to Survive is executive-produced by James Gay Rees and Paul Martin for Box to Box Films. Sophie Todd is the showrunner.