Last Week Tonight with John Oliver seen on M-Net renewed for a further 3 seasons until 2020.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver seen on M-Net (DStv 101) in South Africa and across Africa on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform has been renewed for a further 3 seasons until 2020.

The big multi-season renewal for the late night weekly talk show by HBO in America comes after two Emmy wins for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver that won at the Creative Arts Emmys in the categories for outstanding interactive programme and outstanding picture editing for variety programming.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is currently in its 4th season and the show is one of M-Net's Express from the US titles broadcast on Sunday nights at 22:00.

Each of the further three seasons will have 30 episodes, meaning an additional 90 episodes.

"We are thrilled to have John Oliver as an integral part of the HBO family and to continue to share his comedic brilliance with the world," says Casey Bloys, HBO programming president in a statement.

"His extraordinary genius for rich and intelligent commentary is second to none."

"First: I firmly disagree with everything Casey just said," says John Oliver in the statement. "Second: We're very grateful to Richard Plepler, Casey and everyone at HBO for letting us continue to do whatever it is we actually do."

"And finally: We'd also like to thank our staff for all their hard work. We're incredibly proud of all of you, and rather than tell you that to your face, we'd like to do it in the cold, dispassionate form of a press release."

DAILY TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read from TVwithThinus - 14 February 2017.

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


■ A reality show from Donald Trump's White House?
How TV conventions and TV reality production manipulations have infiltrated daily life.

■ American pay-TV has become more like Comedy Central's (DStv 122) The Daily Show in covering Donald Trump.
Except for FOX News (StarSat 261) that has become the uncritical Trump TV.

■ Australia's ABC looks set to load up on reality television.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation's new head of "non-scripted" programming coming over from Foxtel loves her reality TV.

■ Woman breastfeeds a baby pig on live TV in Peru.
Wanted to show how much flooding has affected her farm.

■ Puffing away: More than a 5th of all TV programming in India shows smoking.
Tobacco use depicted in 22% of TV programmes, 77% of which were broadcast when children may be watching.

■ Trash fight with each other on television in Egypt.
Panelists debating Shiite books on Egyptian TV start throwing each other with stuff while the cameras roll.

■ Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is back with a spectacular take-down of Donald Trump
And an even more spectacular cowboy-inspired TV commercial plan to enter Donald Trump's "info-stream. The 4th season of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver will start showing on M-Net Edge (DStv 102) on Saturday 18 February 22:10.


■ MUST READ: Pay-TV becoming the big loser in the consumer entertainment industry.
The Economist on how subscription television in America's formula of constantly adding TV channels and charging more, no longer appeals. There may be more things to watch than ever before, but there's only so much content people can take.
Pay-TV channels that grew fat on subscriptions are forced to invest in content.


■ What Australia's TV channels are doing in 2017 and where they're heading to in terms of programming.
Oz TV bosses talk about how free-to-air channels compete and can compete, loading up on reality TV, what it's lost to pay-TV and why its important to make TV where viewers "have to watch that night in order to watch the conversation the next day".

■ Kenya's KBC dragged to court over digital terrestrial television (DTT) contract awarded to StarTimes.
Lawsuit alleges that DTT contract between the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) and StarTimes is riddled with kickbacks to senior government officials.

■ Meanwhile a veil is pulled over the contract details of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) that is kept secret because StarTimes demands it.

■ How advances in TV set technology is changing trends.
The new developments and trends that will shape the TV making biz in 2017.

■ The head of Gambia's state broadcaster fired.
Malick Jones, only appointed in December, has been fired with immediate effect as the purge of dictator Yahya Jammeh's former loyalists continue.


■ Algerian TV journalist released.
Hassan Bouras got a suspended jail sentence. Was arrested simply for doing an interview for Al Magharibia, a private pay-TV channel in Algeria, with residents accusing judicial and security officials taking bribes and involved in corruption.


■ Suicide rates rising under Bengali TV actors and film makers.
Why are the people working in this area under so much stress?

■ Television in Russia is on the decline as the most popular medium.
State-run television in Russia is losing its grip on consumers in the internet age.

■ Is fan TV just looking for attention?
Learn more about TV channels giving sport supporters a chance to vent - but are they just looking for notoriety?

■ Cameroon's public state broadcaster promises to launch 2 new TV channels in 2017.
Cameroon's Cameroon Radio & Television (CRTV) says it will launch a dedicated sports channel and a 24-hour TV news channel this year. The news channel was already supposed to start in the beginning of 2016.

■ Kenya TV reporter Roncliff Odit survives a car accident.
Hit a pot hole while driving to Mombasa.

■ The new Klingons as they will look in Star Trek: Discovery ... or not?
Actor posts a photo from the Toronto set saying its the new "Klingon crew', and then the photo gets pulled.
■ And hopefully they don't wear red shirts: Star Trek: Discovery adds 3 actors as Starfleet officers.

■ The shallow, implausible women flooding China's TV dramas.
Blame cheap Chinese TV producers using amateur instead of professional writers.

■ The BBC planning a new show to rival The Great British Bake Off.
The BBC wants a new baking show after losing it to Channel 4.

■ White House reality TV star Omarosa allegedly threatens and bullies a journalist.
Allegedly physically intimidated a reporter and made verbal threats, saying Donald Trump has collected "dossiers" of negative information on several journalists.

■ Apple Music unveils its first 2 TV series.
Unscripted series Carpool Kareoke and Planet of the Apps will roll out on the service later this year.

John Oliver of Last Week Tonight on M-Net forced to shut down his fake church after viewers send him their 'seed' in the mail.

John Oliver of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on M-Net (DStv 101) has been forced to shut down his fake church after viewers started sending him their "seed" - sperm - in the mail.

A few weeks ago the satirist created his on-air fake church, Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption, to expose how some televangelists are duping people asking that they first send money, or "seed" before they can receive divine healing, and then incessant requests for more.

The hilarious 20-minute skit, complete with back-up church choir done in classic televangelist television presentation style, also highlighted how American tax law and the IRS are incapable of monitoring churches and the "seed" they're receiving.

Viewers responded by sending their "seed" - but while thousands of dollars started flowing in, Last Week Tonight producers also started receiving seed of another kind in the mail: men's sperm.

The show is now shutting down Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption - although it was registered as a legitimate church with the IRS unable to do anything about it - after viewers sent the show jars and vials of semen.

The "church's" website at ourladyofperpetualexemption.com now carries a "farewell note".

John Oliver says "when someone sends you jizz through the mail, it's time to stop whatever you're doing".

"We have still, miraculously, not broken any laws by promising you untold riches in return for sending us money. We're also not closing down because you all kept sending us actual seeds, even though we explicitly told you not to."

"We're closing because multiple people sent us sperm through the mail."

John Oliver says all previous monetary donations have been forwarded to Doctors Without Borders. "We did not send the sperm".

BREAKING. In a brilliant programming move M-Net adds the brand-new late night Sunday talker, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

You're reading it here first.

In a scintillating and simply brilliant programming and scheduling move, M-Net just added the exceptionally funny and well-produced brand-new show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver to the M-Net (DStv 101) line-up on Sundays at 22:40 starting Sunday 4 May.

Comedian John Oliver sat in for Jon Stewart on Comedy Central (DStv 122) in 2013 on The Daily Show when he was off making a movie where John Oliver got rave reviews.

His new show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver which just started in America, likewise got rave reviews.

It is fantastic that M-Net jumped extremely quickly to secure the HBO show and hasn't been afraid to quickly rework the pay-TV broadcaster's schedule to accomodate it.

A Sunday night late night timeslot would also be the most perfect place on the M-Net schedule to place Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

Even more spectacular is how recent the episodes will be for South African viewers on M-Net, with relevant, current jokes, topics and people on his show.

"M-Net, channel 101 on DStv, carries the very best entertainment from around the world and we added Last Week Tonight with John Oliver to its schedule as soon as the deal with HBO had been concluded, Lani Lombard, M-Net's head of publicity, tells TV with Thinus about the major programming acquisition coup.

"We're thrilled to bring out viewers this hot, topical show in the same week as the United States and believe that it complements our super strong Sunday night line-up on M-Net, with Carte Blanche at 19:00 and the movie at 20:00," says Lani Lombard.