StarSat adds its first local South African drama, Maseko Ties, as a telenovela on StarTimes One; hopes to lure viewers with its feuding Maseko Hospital family.

Grey's Anatomy meets Generations as StarSat is unveiling its first local South African drama series - a half hour hospital drama telenovela entitled Maseko Ties - that will start tonight (Monday) on StarTimes One (StarSat 120) at 20:30.

The three day a week telenovela that wasn't specifically commissioned but picked up by On Digital Media (ODM) and StarTimes Media South Africa for its satellite pay-TV platform, will run on StarSat from Mondays to Wednesdays and has 26 licenced episodes revolving around the Maseko family and their Maseko Hospital.

Described by StarSat as "Grey's Anatomy meets Generations", Maseko Ties is StarSat's first proper and new local South African drama series.

It's the first new longform local drama production broadcast on StarSat since the failed TopTV brand imploded and with it its fledgling local content commissioning plans that never properly got off the ground and produced a few short-lived local shows like Top Entertainment.

While China's StarTimes has made bigger inroads the past three years in producing local African content for some of its StarTimes channels elsewhere in Africa, it has done nothing for specifically StarSat in South Africa that has been in business rescue since the end of 2012 until last month.

StarTimes is now looking to change that through a new focus on local South African television content investment, adding to shows like Puppet Nation and Point of Order.

Filming on Maseko Ties, produced by KMP Productions, started in October 2015, with the first season's 26 episodes that was filmed at Le Chatelat Boutique Hotel in Sandhurst in Johannesburg.

In its tough 20:00 timeslot, Maseko Ties will go up against the SABC1 soap Generations - The Legacy and the e.tv telenovela Gold Diggers. The show has no publicity cast picture.

The story of Maseko Ties is set around the Masekos who has doctors in the family - a bit like kykNET's (DStv 144) longrunning Binnelanders soap and the German series Die Schwarzwalkklinik that the SABC dubbed into Afrikaans as Die Swartwoudkliniek on TV1 during the 1990's.

In classic telenovela style, Maseko Ties sees Dr. John Maseko (Amos Ketlele) fighting to preserve the Maseko legacy and his idea of the perfect family as jealousy, secrets, dangerous ambition and manipulation start to unravel the medical clan.

The Maseko Ties cast includes Samela Tyelbooi as eldest daughter Grace Maseko who falls in love with a "Ben 10" photographer ten years younger than her, while her dad wants her to become the next chief of staff.

Other actors include Yonda Thomas, Monnye Kunupi, Tshepo Desando, Nina Marais, Sibusisiwe Jili and Mpho Mabaso, playing characters ranging from one with a vendetta against the family named Sydney who wants to take over the hospital, to Molly, the youngest sibling who resents Grace.

Meanwhile Aunt Rose is a Sally Spectra type aunt who influences people from the sidelines.

"We believe that Maseko Ties will fast become a firm favourite with our viewers," says Mike Dearham, the vice president of StarTimes.

"At StarSat we are committed to growing local content and enabling producers to provide high quality local programmes for the pay-TV industry. The appetite for local content continues to grow and we will constantly search for new local content to meet the viewing preferences of our subscribers."

Here is a promo for the show (and no, it's not you, it's them: a lot of the acting in it looks cardboard and stilted):

StarTimes secures tennis TV rights for 2016 Hopman Cup, Fast 4 Tennis and World Tennis Cup in January.

StarTimes has secured tennis TV rights with StarSat in South Africa that is broadcasting the 2016 Hopman Cup live until Saturday 9 January and will also have Fast 4 Tennis from 11 January and the World Tennis Cup from 12 January.

StarTimes and StarSat didn't indicate on what channel or channels StarSat subscribers will be able to see the tennis coverage and no schedule with times was released.

StarTimes brought all platform rights in sub-Saharan Africa for 2016 and will show this tennis coverage exclusively.

"Bringing such high quality tennis to our subscribers is evidence of our commitment to meet our subscribers' diverse viewing requirements," says Mike Dearham, the managing director of the media department and the vice president of the StarTimes group.

"StarTimes will remain focused on ensuring our valued clients get to enjoy some of the best sporting events from across the world."

StarTimes' coverage of the 2016 Hopman Cup live from Perth in Australia started on Sunday 3 January already and will continue until 9 January.

Fast 4 Tennis will be broadcast on StarSat on 11 January live from Sydney, Australia.

The World Tennis Cup from Adelaide will be broadcast on StarSat from 12 to 14 January.

BREAKING. StarTimes South Africa running StarSat set to retrench staff; must take 'drastic measures' due to financial 'predicament' the pay-TV operator is facing.

StarTimes South Africa and On Digital Media (ODM) is set to retrench staff as part of "drastic measures" to help with the financial "predicament" of the beleaguered Woodmead based pay-TV company which runs the StarSat satellite pay-TV service in South Africa.

Following its commercial launch in May 2010, after a string of bad decisions, technical mistakes, poor customer service and subscriber uptake, the TopTV brand flamed out and was relaunched under the StarSat brand.

Meanwhile ODM, still mired in a business rescue process since April 2013, got a lifeline in the form of China's StarTimes operating elsewhere on the African continent since 2007, that took a 20% equity stake in ODM but gets 65% of the profits.

While the latest research shows that the pay-TV market on the African continent is set for a boom time, StarTimes South Africa is struggling and now retrenchments are looming. Rounds of retrenchments and a process of voluntary severance packages happened at ODM before.

Now CIO reports that StarTimes South Africa is telling workers that the company is facing a predicament due to increased pressure on the financial position of the company.

In an internal letter send to StarTimes South Africa staff on 10 September, StarTimes South Africa CEO Mike Dearham says that "difficult economic circumstances being experienced in the broadcasting industry have had an adverse effect on the operations of StarTimes".

"This has resulted I some increased pressure on the financial position of the company. Most of the employees are already aware of the situation," according to Mike Dearham.

"This situation has led to a decision being taken by the Board of the company to investigate possible solutions to the predicament the company is facing. Unfortunately, StarTimes cannot carry on indefinitely in this manner and in order to stabilize the financial position of the company, certain measures will have to be taken as soon as possible".

"Various methods to increase revenue and to cut costs have already been considered, but the stage has now been reached where other, more drastic measures have to be considered and which will mean that some positions may be affected."

StarTimes South Africa is going to have a meeting with workers to discuss how many workers in what departments could be retrenched and the timetable and what the severance pay will be.

It's not clear how many StarTimes South Africa workers are affected by the news of possible looming retrenchments.

Times have been tough for sectors of the South African broadcasting and telecommunications industry this year.

Sabido's TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403) for instance gutted and shuttered its entire African news division this year which saw an exodus of on-air talent and executive leave for rivals broadcasters, while several current affairs programmes continue to be cancelled.

Altron is shutting down its disastrous Altech Node video-on-demand (VOD) service at the end of October after a year, and Telkom is shedding thousands of jobs.

M-Net sells 4 shows - All Access Mzansi, Cooking with Siba, Tinsel and Naija Sings to Africa HD for broadcast in America.

M-Net has licensed over 300 hours of the pay broadcaster's high definition (HD) TV shows to the new TV channel Africa HD that will be broadcasting in America and the Carribean from 2012.

M-Net has licensed the two Mzansi Magic shows Cooking with Siba and the entertainment magazine show All Access Mzansi to Africa HD, as well as two Nigerian soaps - Tinsel and the reality show Naija Sings.

''This partnership reflects M-Net's global strategy supporting the expansion of our HD programming  library into territories worldwide,'' says Mike Dearham, M-Net's head of sales and library. ''These shows are a true reflection of the diverse array of programming that is currently being produced on the African continent.''

Africa HD says the nascent broadcaster is looking forward to possibly expanding the number of M-Net shows on the channel in future. "We look forward to a long and mutually rewarding relationship as Africa HD expands its global footprint,'' says James Makawa, CEO of Africa HD.