INTERVIEW. SABC3 channel head Aisha Mohamed on the channel's new schedule, The Amazing Race, Real Talk with Anele, Top Billing and Bollywood - and what's happening with the news and Supernatural.

At the beginning of February SABC3 once again changed its schedule, with SABC3 channel head Aisha Mohamed saying the channel's ongoing prime time evolution "is not the beginning nor is it the end. It's definitely the start of much more. It is our journey".

TVwithThinus sat down with Aisha Mohamed, to hear why the new schedule change happened and what it means, why Top Billing moved to Saturdays and why the news and Real Talk with Anele moved to later timeslots.

Aisha explains how SABC3 is trying to catch up with The Amazing Race, those Supernatural episodes that got cut and new seasons coming, what viewers' response are to the Bollywood content and how SABC3's schedule is responding to viewer feedback.




Why did SABC3 decide to change its schedule again from the start of February?
The changes have been coming for a while and we thought it would be really great to start a new year.

The changes are definitely part of our thinking and our strategy and we've spent a lot of time so that the changes we put forward from February are sustainable but also come with longevity. We decided to launch it in February and it can sustain itself to as soon as May when we get new titles in again, and then in the next 3 months again, we get new titles in again. So it made sense for me to start a new year with a new, fresh feeling.

We also had a lot of feedback and time to get feedback from viewers. So we've spent time reading that feedback, researching that feedback, having a look at what people actually want - you know, what are they saying to us.

What is nice about our audience is that they're very vocal. So they will tell you exactly what are the things that they like and that they don't like. And that actually assisted us in this process, with simple things like Real Talk with Anele that we've moved a little bit later. They're very much a part of those decisions, telling us things like "I'm not home when this is on" and SABC3's schedule is very much about those decisions - so we considered all of those things.

The thing is that you're never going to make everybody happy all the time. It's a competitive schedule for us as a channel, so we can compete aggressively but also make our viewers happy in the same vein.

Can you talk a bit about Top Billing and its 25th anniversary and what a show and a brand like that and its longevity means for South Africa and for the SABC and SABC3 and why did you decide to move it to Saturdays at 18:00?
That Top Billing has been on the air for so many years is a testament to the kind of product that it is and the fact that it has such high value. It is regarded in the viewers' mind as something that's really unique.

Top Billing is a very unique property. It encapsulates a little bit of everything. But also we found that in the viewing experience we're moving into a very different age. So as Top Billing is changing and evolving - and you would have seen if you've watched it for the last couple of months - it's definitely moving to a different direction.

It's moving to the direction that SABC3 is moving, but it's also moving in a digital age, it's savvy about how it's responding to it's viewers from a social media perspective, but it's also about ensuring that we give it a home that it can really shine.

And we felt that Thursdays are definitely our home for reality and for drama and that kind of thing. We found from a viewer perspective those people appreciated watching it over the weekend, so it's about giving Top Billing the opportunity tor really shine on a Saturday, and with a repeat on a Sunday. So we're really hoping to see good things in the new timeslot.

The move of the SABC's English TV news bulletin from 18:00 to 21:00, is that to make a less interrupted flow?
That's exactly what it is. So it was about flow and balance, and also allowing our viewers the opportunity to have news and lifestyle strands where they are.

We've got a 2 minute bulletin at 6 o'clock that's you'll still get that's very much the headlines. And then a very detailed bulletin at 9. So it's 2 minutes at 6 and then a very detailed bulletin at 9 encapsulating what's been going on the day.

Also our viewers are very savvy. They're aspirational. They are aware. They are aware of what's happening around them. Often a lot of the news stories, they've seen what's going on around them, they know what's happening. So it's about bringing it all together for a more detailed conversation at 21:00, which I don't think we could have done at 6 o'clock.

And then the rationale for moving the talk shows Afternoon Express and Real Talk with Anele to early prime time, is it to leverage the more viewers that potentially available later?
So definitely, definitely in terms of Real Talk with Anele that has been the feedback from viewers who told us "I have to catch it on YouTube", "I can't believe I missed it again today", "I can't believe I missed so and so" - it's all of that feedback.


So the later timeslot is a testament to the show's success?
Yes. Absolutely. Also, it's a SABC3 production. So we're invested it in. And we want to give it the best possible opportunity to shine. So 6 o'clock makes a lot of sense.

And I hoping that people are comfortably at home then and can enjoy the viewing experience as opposed to being still at work, which is the feedback we got.

Also Afternoon Express has sustained itself over time. It came on as a new show, we weren't sure how it was going to do, and it really has improved our schedule tremendously.

A lot of viewers have been scared about the possibility of Survivor and The Amazing Race disappearing from SABC3's schedule?
We've kept Mondays as adventure, so our reality and adventure on Mondays sustain itself. So Survivor is definitely still on a Monday.

We chose to put The Amazing Race on a Wednesday because we want to bring our seasons forward. So we're looking at what's happening with how many seasons there are and where we are at, and to bring things forward so that we can give viewers the next season sooner rather than later.

So we've got season 25 of The Amazing Race on Wednesdays and then we've got Survivor coming in shortly. And we've got further seasons actually. So there'll be a one and then a break and then another one. But again, just to make sure that we maintain interest and make it relevant, because we find that the gaps otherwise are a bit too far apart.


Will SABC3 ever show the last four episodes of Supernatural's stopped season?
We are still playing the last 4 episodes out. In the schedule change one of the shows that were affected was Supernatural on a Sunday night.

Unfortunately it is a little bit later, so it's not in the same timeslot that it was at, but we are most definitely showing it a bit later, so we are finishing the season. And it's nice that we also have the next seasons of Supernatural coming.

Do you know which ones?
I think its 11 and 12. So they're coming in and will come in on a drama slot on a Wednesday.


What has been the feedback in terms of the Bollywood content and will there be more of that?
So we're very excited about that. The viewer feedback has been well around Bollywood, also the pairing of Mela and Bollywood together was also very much in favour. The movies feedback was really great. So we got a lot of feedback around the types of movies.

We've also got really good titles, and we've got a good combination of for instance Hindi, Tamil and how we can pair them together and can ensure that both communities can enjoy that equally. So it is a bit of a touchy area sometimes. So we are very careful how we schedule them; so that we ensure we have enough titles, pair them nicely.

Also we try to get latest movies, we've just acquired a lot of new ones with some new titles coming on as well. I think we acquired 20 or 25 new ones.

Kerusha Kylie Govender joins SABC3's Indian lifestyle magazine show Mela as new presenter.

The 2016 Miss South Africa finalist Kerusha Kylie Govender has joined the Indian lifestyle and entertainment magazine show Mela on SABC3 and will be making her first appearance during the second week of September.

Mela is broadcast on SABC3 on Sundays at 14:00 with repeats on Tuesdays at 14:00 with the 27-year old from Westville in KwaZulu-Natal who will now be filming inserts for the show.

Kerusha Kylie Govender (27) has made appearances on the Mamelodi Sundows TV show, Sky's the Limit on SuperSport 4 (DStv 204) as a legal advisor and project manager of the Miss Mamelodi Sundowns competition, a title she won in 2012.

Kerusha Kylie Govender, currently the Clicks Cover Model who also appeared in a Clicks TV advert, says she's "thrilled for the opportunity to be a presenter on Mela as I believe the show and I are both exciting, dynamic and people orientated".

She says she believes that she embodies what it means to have a Western mind, Eastern soul and African heart. She loves to travel, whether it be to a small mining community in Kuruman in the Northern Cape or Coimbatore in South India.

SABC3's Mela presenter, Zahira Variawa, marries her dashing dog doc in Dubai; wedding will be shown on 8 May in 4-part travelogue series.

The SABC3 Mela presenter, Zahirah Variawa, has married her dashing dog doctor, Andrew Marty in Dubai where her Australian husband is a veterinarian for the United Arab Emirates president.

The luxurama wedding of the lovebirds who met at an Andrea Bocelli concert in Abu Dhabi, took place at Fairmont The Palm in Dubai and will be broadcast on Mela on Sunday 8 May.

With comedian Siv Ngesi as host, the two got married at the end of March among the exotic Dubai dunes surrounded by 160 of their close friends and family, including South African cricketer Graeme Smith.

Zahirah Variawa will be in Durban from 27 April after she moved to Dubai, with Mela that will be doing weekly Dubai travelogue inserts from 1 May - including her wedding on 8 May.

Zahirah Variawa now runs her own brand management service in Dubai and says moving to Dubai involved major mind-shifts and was a steep learning curve, but that she has learnt to love her new home and its cosmopolitan residents.

With her husband, their Dubai destination wedding will form the centrepiece of the four travel inserts that Mela will broadcast.

FULL LIST OF CHANGES with context: The SABC once again moves shows; makes programmatic scheduling changes across SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3.

The South African public broadcaster is once again moving shows and making programmatic scheduling changes across the SABC's three TV channels in an attempt to hold on to existing audiences and to boost viewership.

The cross-channel schedule changes involving SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 (see the breakdown list for each channel below) come a year and a half after the "drastic" schedule changes the SABC implemented in July 2014 after its 2014 FIFA World Cup coverage.

The public broadcaster which undid some of the changes in the months after following sharp criticism from viewers, is now undoing some more of those changes like moving Fokus back from SABC3 to SABC2, admitting it was a mistake.

"This schedule revamp is a direct response to the evolving television landscape and in keeping up with the SABC audience's current needs and expectations," said Verona Duwarkah, the SABC's head of television.

The SABC's chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng said that changes were made to the SABC TV schedules that viewers were not happy about but that the public broadcaster is now responding to those complaints.

The SABC admits SABC1 needed more drama. The SABC and South Africa's highest rated show, the KwaMashu filmed Uzalo on SABC1 is being turned from a telenovela into a soap thanks to its high viewership and strong performance similar to what Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) did with isiBaya, with a second season that will seamlessly start on 8 February at 20:30. Uzalo also gets an omnibus repeat slot on Sundays.

Live Amp on Fridays is being demoted to 19:30, with a new music entertainment show, Urban Music Xperience, starting on Fridays at 21:00.

On SABC2 the biggest changes are the move of the daily Sesotho news bulletin from 19:30 to 18:00 since this week, Fokus that will return from SABC3 to SABC2 from this Sunday after a year and a half after its move and a day after the programme's 20th anniversary, and the move of the Indian magazine show Mela from SABC2 to SABC3.

SABC3 takes Mela over from SABC2 as "the Indian Top Billing" and a companion show on Sundays with the Top Billing repeat.

SABC3 is also introducing specific timeslots for female variety on Tuesdays at 20:00, male viewing on Sundays at 17:30 and even a "female voyeur variety" slot on Tuesdays at 22:00 for reality shows like Botched and Dr. 90210.

SABC3 also acquired Humans as a first-run drama series for the territory, a science fiction series about domestic androids, that will be shown on Wednesday nights at 21:00.

Here's the specific changes according to SABC channel:

SABC1
■ Uzalo is officially no longer a telenovela but becoming a soap similar to what Mzansi Magic did with isiBaya with the 2nd season of Uzalo that will start on 8 February at 20:30 without interruption, from Mondays to Wednesdays.
■ The Thursday night drama slot is cut down to half an hour. The 2nd season of Mfolozi Street with Hlubi Mboya and Luthuli Dlamini will now be show here.
■ On Fridays a revamped Live Amp, still with Pearl Thusi and DJ Warras will now start at 19:30.
■ On Fridays a new hour long music entertainment show, Urban Music Xperience will start at 21:00, with presenters Luthando "Lootlove" Shosha and Adil More.
■ On Fridays Fan Base at 18:00 is getting revamped with new presenter Akhumzi Jezile.
■ On Saturday's Mzansi Insider moves an hour later to 10:00.
■ On Saturday's the Generations - The Legacy omnibus moves to 11:00.
■ On Sundays SABC1 is starting an Uzalo omnibus at 12:30.
■ On Sundays the 20:00 movie slot is gone, now replaced with a drama slot where shows like Ngempela and Sokhulu & Partners will be shown.

SABC2
■ This week the SABC moved the only Sesotho, Tswana and Sepedi news bulletin earlier from 19:30 to 18:00 from Mondays to Sundays.
This move is to create better flow across the SABC2 schedule to try and retain viewers. On Fridays for instance, Afrikaans viewing was interrupted for half an hour, leading to the loss of those viewers who didn't return after the half hour of Sotho news. Fridays now has an uninterrupted block of one language, hopefully keeping those viewers from tuning away.
■ Travel series Mooiloop! returns for another season on Mondays at 19:30, now with Elma Postma as presenter.
■ On Tuesdays the Afrikaans comedy Parys Parys that was on kykNET will start at 19:30 and SABC2 will also repeat the Afrikaans drama series Geraamtes in die Kas.
■ SABC2 will broadcast The National Teachers Awards on Tuesday 8 March at 20:30.
■ On Wednesdays Motswako moves to 19:30, followed by Ngula Ya Vutivi now at 20:00 and with the Tsonga talk show Vusaseki moving to 20:30.
■ On Thursdays 50/50 will return with another season from 18 February, again in a new timeslot of 19:30. All the presenters like Bonne de Bod, Bertus Louw and Ntokozo Mbuli remain.
■ The 25th season of Noot vir Noot will start on Friday 5 February at 20:00. SABC2 now has an uninterrupted Afrikaans programming block on Fridays from 18:30 until 21:00.
■ The comedy series My Wife and Kids move to Saturdays at 18:30 from 6 February.
■ The second season of Abomzala will start on Saturday 6 February at 20:30 about older single women looking for men.
■ The SABC is moving Fokus back from SABC3 to SABC2 a day after its 20th anniversary from this Sunday to the timeslot of 18:30, serving as an Afrikaans lead-in to the Afrikaans news at 19:00.
■ On Sundays Gospel Time on SABC2 moves to 20:00.

SABC3
■ Afternoon Express is not cancelled and remains at 16:00.
■ The Indian lifestyle magazine show Mela that replaced Eastern Mosaic moves from SABC2 to SABC3 that has a smaller broadcasting footprint reach and will now be on Sundays at 13:30 from 7 February where the SABC wants it to be a companion show to the Top Billing repeat.
■ Tuesdays is getting a reality slot at 20:00 where shows like Top Chef will be shown, as well as a "female voyeur variety" slot at 22:00 in which shows like Dr. 90210 and Botched will be shown.
■ On Wednesday at 21:00 SABC3 will broadcast the new British science fiction drama series Humans as a first-run series in South Africa in which households can buy androids and the problems it create.
■ SABC3 will start a cooking lifestyle slot from April at 20:30 in which it will broadcast shows like Neil Anthony Private Chef and Lorraine Fast Fresh & Easy.
■ SABC3 will change Friday nights to "Comedy Nights" from April with a Friday night comedy strand that will include both local and foreign stand-up comedy offerings.
■ On Saturdays, from April, the start of the movie slot is moved from 19:30 to 19:00.
■ On Saturdays, from April the arts and culture slot is moved earlier to 18:00.
On Sundays SABC3 is introducing a male variety slot at 17:30 for shows like Top Gear and One Day with Bryan Miles, followed by a current affairs block from 19:00 including shows like Interface, Special Assignment and documentaries like Ross Kemp: Extreme Worlds.

SABC News
■ The SABC said nothing about its SABC News (DStv 404) news channel or the show but has quietly introduced the new show On the Record with Vuyo Mvoko in mid-January on weeknights at 21:00.
Vuyo Mvoko as SABC contributing editor, is one of the SABC staffers who got mugged on live television in March last year. The addition of the hour long current affairs show means that Your World got cut by an hour to two hours in duration, now starting at 22:00 on weeknights.


On Tuesday night SABC News reported about the public broadcaster's schedule changes in its various TV news bulletins, but didn't tell viewers anything about any of the specific changes on any of the channels,simply noting that the schedules are changing in order for the SABC to "continue to entrech its dominance in this competitive environment and meet the set business requirements".

SABC dumps Eastern Mosaic; beloved Indian entertainment and lifestyle magazine show on SABC2 cancelled after 14 years.

You're reading it here first.

The SABC has dumped yet another iconic brand with the long-running Eastern Mosaic on SABC2 which has been quietly cancelled after almost 14 years on the air.

A new show for Indian viewers, Mela - named after the Sanskrit word for market or fair - was supposed to start this past Sunday 31 August as a new Indian entertainment and lifestyle show on SABC2 but didn't and will now start this coming Sunday, 7 September at 10:30.

There's been no notification from SABC2 that Eastern Mosaic had been cancelled, nor any explanation as to why the storied brandname has been dumped.

Although Eastern Mosaic has been cancelled and no further season or new episodes have been commissioned, SABC2 is not using the word cancelled.

SABC2 told TV with Thinus on Thursday in response to a media enquiry that "Eastern Mosaic was not cancelled, the season ended and therefore the channel took the decision to commission a brand-new lifestyle-inspired magazine show called Mela".

For nearly 14 years Eastern Mosaic, produced by Saira Essa and Mark Corlett from Red Carpet Productions, was the voice of South Africa's Indian community, with viewers tuning in for presenters Imraan Vagar and Candice Moodley who became households names.

Several new presenters were added during presenter searches in later years and last year Imraan Vagar left as anchor of Eastern Mosaic but remained involved as creative director behind the scenes.

Eastern Mosaic was actually much older than 14 years, following a reset in 2000 to rejuvenate the show into what viewers knew it as over the past years.

Like a lot of the few remaining longrunning SABC programming, Eastern Mosaic was also subject to the vagaries of the SABC's programming department. The show was moved and shunted between various timeslots and eventually also moved from SABC1 to SABC2.

In a Facebook posting Imraan Vagar noted the cancellation of the show, saying "Eastern Mosaic was of great significance to me personally, but I also feel that it was an important show to countless others because it did so much to celebrate and highlight the Indian community in South Africa - a community that had felt largely overlooked and marginalised by the mainstream media and the broader South African public in general".

"Naturally it's always sad to see an iconic brand reach the end of its run but I believe that the show's goodwill will live on in the memory of the people who welcomed it into their homes and hears - and the benchmark that it has set for similar shows in the future".