SABC3 adds McMafia, House of Cards, a food waste documentary series, and gives a new starting date for taking over the 14th season of NCIS.

SABC3 is adding the British drama series McMafia, the American drama series House of Cards, a must-see food waste documentary series, and has a new starting date for the 14th season of NCIS.

SABC3 is adding McMafia as a territory-first series for South Africa from Thursday 4 April at 21:30.

The series is based on Misha Glenny's bestselling book McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld, and focuses on an organised crime family and Alex Godman (James Norton), the privileged British-raised son of an exiled Russian mafia boss.

Having resisted his family's dark ties to organised crime, Alex is eventually drawn deeper into the crime world in this gritty-glamorous drama spanning money launderers in Dubai, cyber criminals in India, Russian oligarchs in London and Bedouin smugglers in the Negev desert.

McMafia is created by Hossein Amini and James Watkins, directed by James Watkins and produced by Paul Ritchie. The first season of this BBC-series has 8 episodes and it was recommissioned for a second season.

SABC3 is also adding the American drama series from Netflix, House of Cards, that just finished its 6-season run on M-Net. The first season's 13-episodes will start on SABC3 on Monday 1 April at 21:30 with two episodes per weeks that will be shown on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Produced by Media Rights Capital, House of Cards follows the greed, corruption, political plotting and ambition of Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey) as a politician in Washington D.C. and his equally ambitious and ruthless wife Claire (Robin Wright).

SABC3 is also adding a fascinating 2-part documentary series, Wasted: The Story of Food Waste on 7 and 14 April at 19:30.

With 40% of food produced in America going to waste while human hunger remains a global problem, food activists, including chefs, discuss the issues.

SABC3 is giving a new starting date for the new season of the American drama series NCIS that was moved from SABC2 to SABC3 but that didn't start because of payment problems and tape delivery delay.

The 14th season of the forensic drama procedural NCIS will now start on Wednesday 3 April at 21:30 following the investigations and cases of NCIS special agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) and his team.

SABC3 is also adding an anniversary British edition of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? from Saturday 6 April at 19:00 with Jeremy Clarkson as the host to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the quiz show.

Produced by Stellify Media, the classic game show is back and adds an additional lifeline option for contestants: Ask the Host!

Netflix fires sex predator Kevin Spacey from House of Cards seen on M-Net; final 6th season might never be completed.

Netflix has fired the alleged sex predator Kevin Spacey from its House of Cards drama series seen in South Africa and Africa on M-Net (DStv 101).

Kevin Spacey is fired if House of Cards, now riddled with sex abuse scandal, were to continue with completing production on its 6th season.

Production was abruptly shut down earlier this week after several men - former and current production staffers - came forward and told of how Kevin Spacey allegedly sexually assaulted, harassed and groped them over a number of years. This was first reported by CNN.

House of Cards was midway through filming the 3rd episode of the 6th season that would be its last - if even completed - after House of Cards was also abruptly cancelled by Netflix following the Kevin Spacey sex abuse scandal.

The alleged sex predator - now publicly gay - was also dropped by his agent and publicist who.

In a statement Netflix says "Netflix will not be involved with any further production of House of Cards that includes Kevin Spacey".

"We will continue to work with production company Media Rights Capital (MRC) during this hiatus time to evaluate our path forward as it relates to the show​."

"​We have also decided we will not be moving forward with the release of the film Gore, which was in post-production, starring and produced by Kevin Spacey."

In a separate statement MRC says "while we continue the ongoing investigation into the serious allegations concerning Kevin Spacey's behaviour on the set of House of Cards, he has been suspended, effective immediately".

"MRC, in partnership with Netflix, will continue to evaluate a creative path forward for the program during the hiatus."

House of Cards cancelled at Netflix, production abruptly suspended after Kevin Spacey, 'now gay', responds to allegations of being a sexual predator.

American presidential drama House of Cards got abruptly cancelled by Netflix and production of the 6th season currently being filmed abruptly suspended, with the news coming after actor Kevin Spacey, now gay, responded to allegations against him as a sexual predator.

Kevin Spacey decided to say he's gay after actor Anthony Rapp seen in the sister Netflix show Star Trek: Discovery, accused Kevin Spacey of pushing him onto a bed, climbing on top of him and laying down on him when he was 14 years old in 1986.

Anthony Rapp pushed Kevin Spacey off of him and ran to the bathroom.

In a bizarre public statement Kevin Spacey decided to both say that he's now "choosing to live as a gay man" - announcing a long-know Hollywood insiders' secret - but also refusing to admit to Anthony Rapp's accusation, rather saying "if I did what he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behaviour".

If Kevin Spacey did what Anthony Rapp claims, then Kevin Spacey's actions are not that of "inappropriate drunken behaviour" but of a sex predator and abuser.

In a statement Netflix and House of Cards producer Media Rights Capital said they're "deeply troubled" by the sexual harassment claims against Kevin Spacey who is also an executive producer of House of Cards.

"In response to last night's revelations, executives from both of our companies arrived in Baltimore this afternoon to meet with our cast and crew to ensure that they continue to feel safe and supported. As previously scheduled, Kevin Spacey is not working on set at this time."

In another statement, House of Cards announced that production has been suspended indefinitely after the sex predator allegations surfaced.

"MRC and Netflix have decided to suspend production on House of Cards season six, until further notice, to give us time to review the current situation and to address any concerns of our cast and crew."

In South Africa and across Africa House of Cards is not shown on Netflix but on M-Net (DStv 101) and the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service Showmax.

The 6th and final season of House of Cards, currently in production will be broadcast in 2018.

The now extremely damaged show was one of Netflix's most successful series. House of Cards won 53 Primetime Emmys since it started in 2013, including a Golden Globe win in 2015 for Kevin Spacey for Best Actor in a drama series.

It's now very likely that Netflix will cancel the film Gore, set to star Kevin Spacey, about the author Gore Vidal, as Netflix will move try to swiftly distance itself as far as possible from the accused sexual predator.

BREAKING. MultiChoice releases entire new 2nd season of House of Cards on DStv Catch Up 2 weeks before episodes are shown on M-Net.

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MultiChoice will be making the entire brand-new second season of the Netflix drama series House of Cards available on its DStv Catch Up service and this time before its being shown on pay-TV broadcaster M-Net - a first ever for South Africa television and a groundbreaking move for MultiChoice.

Not just the second season of House of Cards will become available to DStv subscribers, but also the whole first season's 13 episodes which was already shown on M-Net, will be made available to DStv subscribers.

The new second season's 13 episodes of House of Cards will become available to DStv subscribers from 13 June - a full two weeks before the first episode of the second season is set to start on 27 June on M-Net.

Earlier this year in March MultiChoice made previous seasons of the HBO series Game of Thrones available to DStv subscribers on its DStv Catch Up service before the start of the 4th season.

Now however MultiChoice - in a groundbreaking new move for the satellite pay-TV platform - is going one step further, releasing and making TV episodes of a regular TV series available for on demand viewing before it will be shown on M-Net on a linear broadcasting schedule.

The first season's 13 episodes of House of Cards will become available from 30 May on DStv. The second season's 13 episodes of House of Cards will become available on 13 June.

Once M-Net starts broadcasting the second season from 27 June, four episodes of House of Cards will once again be stacked on DStv Catch Up.

MultiChoice's DStv On Demand can be totally amazeballs if it does this. (hint: The After! Mozart! Star Wars The Lost Missions!)

MultiChoice's DStv On Demand service would totally go amazeballs if it got for South Africa The After, Mozart in the Jungle, Star Wars The Clone Wars - The Lost Missions - and several other fan-tastic TV gems.

Yes. It would be difficult to achieve, behind-the scenes, to get this content. But as uniquely and exclusively offered video-on-demand (VOD) content on DStv it would be so great.

Don't have a clue what I'm talking about? Just read on.

There's a growing gap developing due to South Africa's unique TV market situation - a strange "void-world" of TV shows being streamed and watched in the rest of the world - which doesn't fit the traditional pattern and model of TV shows.

Every successful product has competitive, unique advantages, and MultiChoice's DStv On Demand can wonderfully exploit and capitalise on this if its quick by bringing South African viewers and DStv subscribers TV content many of them don't even know exist, but does - and which is amazing - and which can't really fit on linear broadcasting.

Netflix, Amazon and others have TV programming which for multiple reasons can't really go anywhere in South Africa on traditional TV channels - but it would be perfect on DStv on Demand - to sit on the DStv Explora and be downloaded or streamed by DStv Online.

It would completely, surely, boost the appeal of DStv On Demand, enhance its use further, and boost that treasure chest of golden coins the accountants refer to as revenue on the balance sheet.

How can South Africans for instance get to see The After and "Huh?" I hear you say. Exactly.

Chris Carter from The X-Files made this new TV drama called The After. There's only one episode - a pilot episode - and it might become a series,or it might just remain a pilot episode.

How will South Africans ever get to see it if not on DStv On Demand on your DStv Explora?

It's amazing, and even if its just one episode, real TV fanatics will want to watch The After. It was released by Amazon a week ago and in it eight people try to survive in a (post-apocalyptic?) world where something disastrous is happening with no power or communication.

There's also one episode of Mozart in the Jungle. That too can be streamed through Amazon - but not for South African viewers. Like The After, there is also just one episode, and it may become a show, or might forever remain one episode.

But what true TV aficionado wouldn't want to watch - even if it remains just one episode - this dramatic comedy set in the world of New York's classical music.

Mozart in the Jungle is about a world of "sex, drugs and classical music" all clashing and Malcolm McDowell playing an established yet ageing orchestra conductor. It too was released a week ago.

South Africans might never get to see it, but it doesn't means its not good. In fact, its great. Imagine being able to watch that single episode on DStv On Demand.

Let's move on to Star Wars The Clone Wars - The Lost Missions. Cartoon Network (DStv 301) showed Star Wars The Clone Wars in South Africa and Africa on DStv - although always a year or more after the rest of the world saw it. Thankfully at least we got to see it.

Then Disney bought LucasFilm and with it all Star Wars rights. LucasFilm and Disney cancelled Star Wars The Clone Wars at the end of 2013 while production was busy with the 6th season and rebooted it with a new animation series Star Wars Rebels which we will see in South Africa later in 2014 on Disney XD (DStv 304).

But ... 13 episodes of Star Wars The Clone Wars entitled "The Lost Missions" were still produced and finished before the ax came down and the series got cut. So what about those episodes?

Well, Netflix just got the rights in America (although other TV channels in Germany and elsewhere are also showing it globally).

Will Cartoon Network on DStv show these 13 final episodes in South Africa? Never ever. Will Disney (DStv 303) or Disney XD? No. Will M-Net add it as a morning cartoon or the SABC show ever show it? No.

Star Wars The Clone Wars - The Lost Missions "hangs" in a nothingness as far as South Africa is concerned, exactly like that man who got stuck at an international airport when he suddenly had no country of origin to return to.

May it not take 17 years for South African viewers to see this 6th final season.

The only real way to see this really amazing animation series would be if MultiChoice somehow grabbed Star Wars The Clone Wars - The Lost Missions for DStv On Demand in the way that Netflix will be releasing it on 7 March as a final 6th season. People will pay to watch it - and that's no Jedi mind trick.

Imagine if the new second season of House of Cards didn't go to M-Net (or it still can) but rather was made available, in its entirety, on DStv On Demand for subscribers to watch in the way the pilot episode of Banshee was made available before the show went to M-Net?

It should be do-able in the way all the Nelson Mandela tribute channel content on DStv was also loaded on DStv On Demand while the channel ran at the end of 2013 as a linear TV channel.

There's all these bits of excellent TV programming which, because of its nature and South Africa's TV landscape, doesn't really fit or belong nicely in any TV container. It would all fit perfectly on DStv On Demand.

Yes, intricate, difficult rights issues, and companies' differing ideas and goals and corporate focus - and international hurdles due to distance - complicate things.

South African viewers haven't seen Alpha House, or Betas, or Hemlock Grove - TV shows on overseas streaming services you don't know exist and might never get to see. Unless there's a type of perfectly suited TV receptacle to capture these perfect for on-demand shows.

BREAKING. M-Net grabs Netflix American drama House of Cards with Kevin Spacey; set to start on 8 November at 21:30.

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M-Net has grabbed the Netflix, made-for-the-internet, American drama House of Cards which I can reveal will start on the South African pay-TV broadcaster on 8 November at 21:30 for 13 episodes.

A second season of the political drama series with Kevin Spacey is currently in production.

In America House of Cards was only streamed over the internet but South Africa will be able to see the web television show in high definition (HD) on TV.

The drama was nominated for 14 Emmys including best drama and best lead actor and as viewers saw Kevin Spacey do during the Emmy Awards broadcast, he often turns directly towards the camera, breaks the fourth wall and give commentary straight to the viewer.

In the web television drama Kevin Spacey plays a politician in Washington exacting sweet revenge after he is passed over for the position of secretary of state.