BREAKING. Mark Rosin out as eMedia Investments COO after 5 years, no replacement yet.

eMedia Investments late on Tuesday afternoon confirmed to TVwithThinus in a media enquiry that Mark Rosin, chief operating officer (COO) at eMedia Investments has resigned. No replacement has been named.

Sources told TVwithThinus on Tuesday that Mark Rosin resigned and is leaving his post at the company housing South Africa's free-to-air commercial TV channel e.tv, the TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403) on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform, and its free-to-air satellite service Openview. 

Mark Rosin's exit comes 5 months after Andre van der Veen resigned and left as eMedia Holdings CEO at the end of November 2018.

In response to a media enquiry eMedia Investments says "Mark Rosin will step down at the end of April 2019, after 8 years in the eMedia group, first as e.tv's lawyer, then in-house business affairs and legal executive, before becoming the COO in 2014.

eMedia Investments says an announcement regarding the COO position will be made in due course".

"Mark leaves the organisation having worked with different CEO's and liaising directly with the board and shareholders, while managing operations within the group".

Khalik Sheriff, eMedia Investments CEO, says "We are going to miss his energy, warmth and capacity to stay calm under pressure. However, Mark will not be lost to the group. He will continue to provide consulting services to us, whether as a lawyer or media consultant".

Openview's new black-and-white TV commercial with Siya Kolisi and Wayde van Niekerk features a people's movement building a free TV mountain.

eMedia's free-to-air satellite TV service, Openview, has made a black-and-white TV commercial with Springbok captain Siya Kolisi and Olympian athlete Wayde van Niekerk to underscore the growing movement of free-to-air digital television in South Africa.

The "TV Free and Proud" advert that was filmed in Johannesburg and conceptualised and produced by Sugar Ray Leonard & Partners and directed by Tebogo Malope, director at The Star Film Company, has people in various setting staring at TV screens with pay-TV channels until they unplug it and start moving, en masse, with the TV sets outside.

It leads to a movements of people stacking their TV sets in a heap on the Nelson Mandela Bridge in downtown Johannesburg.

More than 150 extras, including e.tv staff, took part in the commercial.

"The team at eMedia really put us through our paces in terms of carving out the positioning for Openview," says Marlin van Noie, Sugary Ray Leonard's chief creative officer.

"We finally got to the 'freedom of entertainment', and it felt right for Openview to be the liberator of free - the brand for the people."

Director Tebogo Malope says "the team at eMedia are creative, and they are also plugged into the streets. They are about the people, and they are about creative work like this. I realised I am in a space with kindred spirits who understand how to make work that resonates with our people."

Openview has just passed 1.5 million activated set-top boxes (STBs) this month and currently carries 20 TV channels and 8 radio stations.

"For the first time in the South African landscape there is world-class television in high-definition (HD) for free," says Khalik Sheriff, the new eMedia Investments' CEO.

"Don't tell anybody I didn't warn you. Even if you don't believe me today, in a few years from now, we will all be watching Openview."

BREAKING. eNCA news boss Mapi Mhlangu quits as editor-in chief; out with immediate effect citing academic work pressure; Jeremy Maggs to take eNCA into 2019 election year coverage.

Mapi Mhlangu has abruptly quit eNCA (DStv 403) as editor-in chief and is out with immediate effect after a year and four months, with senior anchor Jeremy Maggs who is also eNCA editor-at-large who will be overseeing the South African TV news channel in the interim.

Jeremy Maggs who anchors during afternoons on eNCA will stop that for now to manage the news channel, but will likely continue anchoring his Sunday show Maggs on Media.

According to insiders the parting wasn't amicable, with well-placed insiders who gossiped that higher-ups allegedly had "lost confidence in her long ago" and that she was pushed out.

eNCA and Mapi Mhlangu who became editor-in-chief in July 2017 in a statement however cite "the onerous demands of the job along with the workload of her MBA" for her abrupt departure, saying "the tension between these two commitments was raised a couple of months ago leading to a difficult decision for both parties".

Mapi Mhlangu was at eNCA for 8 years and eNCA and Mapi Mhlangu say the decision to leave "is by mutual agreement".

"I leave eNCA in a strong position as South Africa's television news leader but this is the right time for me to leave and hand over the reins," says Mapi Mhlangu in a statement who earlier this month attended the launch event of eMedia's latest TV news channel OpenNews on its Openview free-to-air satellite TV service.

"I've enjoyed the myriad challenges I've dealt with during my leadership tenure and know that I leave the operation in safe hands. My only wish is that eNCA continues reporting the news fearlessly and without favour; continues to set the agenda and ask tough questions South Africans deserve answers
to."

eNCA will now be overseen by Jeremy Maggs heading up the newsroom until a permanent replacement is made, with Ragani Achary, head of input; Jody Jacobs, head of output; and Sally Burdett, story editor and head of anchors.

"The company acknowledges Mapi's contribution and would like to thank her for her unwavering loyalty to our newsroom and the huge part she has played in its success," says Khalik Sheriff, the new incoming eMedia Investments CEO.

"We believe the time is right ahead of the election period to make this change, allowing the

existing management team a chance to focus and prepare for 2019."

Jeremy Maggs says "I'd like to pay tribute to Mapi's exemplary leadership. Under her guidance she has cemented eNCA's position as the first source of television news in South Africa."

"I look forward to leading the station into 2019 and through the election. We have an extraordinarily strong product; a dedicated and talented team of over 500 people who collectively work tirelessly to bring news and analysis to South Africa in the fairest and most impartial manner."