TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 11 August 2020.

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


■ BBC News finally apologises over its use of the "N"-word racial slur in a report - after 18600 complaints - and after a black BBC radio presenter had to quit.....
- After first defending the decision, outgoing BBC director-general now admits: "We should have taken a different approach". "We are very sorry for that".


■ South Africa's parliament again asks the SABC to stop its retrenchment plan at the South African public broadcaster.

■ Netflix is killing Christianity.
Instead of being out and about missionaries are sitting home binge-watching.

■ SABC foreign editor Sophie Mokoena accused of bribery and taking American money to tarnish Zimbabwe's image.

■ Meet the fund manager who doesn't like Netflix and won't touch it with investments.
"While Netflix can continue to add paying subscribers, they will never be able to deliver a high level of return on investment capital because a lot of that money is going to buy up new content."


■ Nigeria's disastrous and destructive National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) does propaganda for its controversial changes to the country's broadcasting code and banning pay-TV operators from acquiring exclusive content.
- Incompetence will destroy pay-TV in Nigeria.
- Confused director-general Armstrong Idachaba goes on a crazy rant against Iroko.
-  Armstrong Idachaba doesn't understand how English Premier League (EPL) rights work and are sold globally; gives non-sensical answer when confronted and told why pay-TV operators like MultiChoice and Supersport buy sports content in the first place.


■ There are 42 Easter eggs hidden in the second season of an Umbrella Academy on Netflix.
- Show creator responds over Umbrella Academy anti-Semitism claims.

■ Kenya DStv subscribers and GOtv subscribers furious at MultiChoice Kenya after shocking DStv price hike.

■ After both The Good Doctor and Grey's Anatomy will prominently address the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic in storylines in their upcoming new seasons, New Amsterdam will now as well.
All three American medical drama series seen on M-Net (DStv 101) will now incorporate Covid-19. The New Amsterdam change comes after the series pulled an unaired flu pandemic episode from broadcast earlier this year.

■ Netflix subscribers complain that there's nothing really worth watching (subscription required).
Video streaming services like Netflix promised near-endless choice. So why are viewers complaining and finding that there's nothing left worth watching?

■ The reality real estate star Ryan Serhant of Million Dollar Listing New York on VUZU (DStv 116 / Lifetime 131) turns to New Zealand after New York's housing market tanks because of Covid-19.

■ "Here's a question you shouldn't be able to answer: Computer, what is the nature of the universe?"
Voice search becomes more conversational.

■ MultiChoice's problem isn't going away as angry DStv Premium subscribers say the offering continues to be diluted and continue to flee DStv in droves.
"I'll soon wave goodbye to DStv."

■ Is Uyajola 9/9 on Moja Love (DStv 157) perpetuating negative stereotypes around black love?

■ Christopher Eccleston returns as BBC's Doctor Who - in radio stories.

■ Pakistan TV is changing: Lesbian lovers and a boxer in a burqa.

■ Disney is making its first Southeast Asia launch of its Disney+ streaming service.
Disney+ will launch on 5 September 2020 in Indonesia as Disney+ Hotstar.
- And: How Netflix went from foe to friend in Indonesia (subscription required).

■ Sundance, sunset: Is it over for independent film festivals?

■ Americans who no longer pay their monthly bills because of Covid-19 say they no longer pay their pay-TV account.

■ Creative TV creators should use the Covid-19 lockdown period as their moment to reinvent.

■ Formula 1 CEO confirms there will be a third season of the F1 reality documentary series Drive to Survive on Netflix.

■ South Africa's disgraced minister of communications, Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, responds to photo of barefoot man in Eastern Cape kneeling in front of her as she wears Nike.


■ Global media and video streaming giants are putting the squeeze on smaller local media's plans for their own streamers.
As international TV business companies start to keep their library content for themselves and put new content on their own video streaming services, localised country and territory streaming services will have to evolve fast if they want to continue to try and compete against the world’s most powerful technology and entertainment companies.

■ Dan Levy says that his work as a red carpet correspondent was soul-crushing (starts at minute 5:35).
"It takes a very particular person to not be soul-crushed by the experience of interviewing on the red carpet. You're inherently not the person that the person answering questions wants to talk to."

Coronavirus: Ryan Serhant of Million Dollar Listing NY shares Covid-19 advice: 'The world right now is in a storm, go into the waves the same way professional swimmers do'.

by Thinus Ferreira

New York is eerily quiet and from the deserted middle of the city that used to never sleep, the real estate broker Ryan Serhant of the reality series Million Dollar Listing: New York is sharing very important advice as the global Covid-19 pandemic is shutting down the world as we knew it: Don't panic

While production on his show has shut down similar to basically all TV shows in the United States, the United Kingdom and even South Africa, sitting in his empty real estate office in Manhattan, the star of MDL: NY decided to share advice on how he weathers adversity in life for people who are scared, panicked, uncertain and who feel unhinged about what's going on and what they're supposed to do.



"I swim through the waves. Every time there is market movement, ruffles, downturns."

"There are a lot of waves in the oceans. The idea of a professional swimmer, swimming through the open ocean. Everyone swims well when there are no waves. Everyone's a great swimmer. Everyone can make perfect time. Everyone's awesome."

"But all of a sudden there's a storm. All of a sudden there are lots of waves. And a lot of those swimmers bounce out. A lot of those swimmers start flailing, losing energy, and they're going under the water."

"A lot of those swimmers try to go over the waves; they don't know what to do. They go underwater."

"The world right now is in a storm," says Ryan Serhant.

"We're in this insane storm and most people don't know what to do, so most people panic. And they are freaking out. Schools shut down, restaurants shut down, everywhere. People are getting sick. This is very real. This isn't a fake thing."

"Stay productive. The worst thing we can do right now is literally just staying on the couch and watch Netflix," he says.

"Anyone who's going to come out of this storm better than they were before the storm even hit, are going to go into the waves the same way professional swimmers do."

"What do the best professional swimmers do who swim in rough seas in the middle of a storm? They do 3 things. The first thing is they regulate their breathing. They make sure that they're not ha-ha-ha-ha-ha in a panic all the time."

"If the waves are coming from the right, they make sure they breathe to the left. If the waves are coming at them from the left they make sure they breathe to the right."

"They swim in accordance with the waves and they make sure that their breathing is okay - because if their breathing isn't okay, what happens when you're swimming into the waves, swimming into the storm? You end up with a stomach full of salt water."

"The second thing best swimmers do when they swim in a storm with huge waves is staying calm, keeping control of their breathing and treading water slowly, until they can figure out what to do, or until help comes to find them."

"If everyone is flailing their arms, what does that do? You can't control your breathing. Two - you lose all of your energy."

"The third thing is you have to keep moving. Keep control of your breathing, stay calm, and the way you swim through the waves is like a dolphin: You swim under the waves."

"That's what I'm doing here. I'm in the service industry. I'm a real estate broker. How many people do you think want to see homes right now? Not a lot. How many do you think are so excited that interest rates are so low right now that they want to go and spend money that they don't have?"

"How many people do you think are excited to be quarantined at home? Not a whole lot. It's a scary, scary time but I can't panic, I can't flail, I have to swim underneath the waves."

Vuzu grabs Million Dollar Listing New York; the new spin-off jumps from Universal Channel to Vuzu to start on 29 December.

You're reading it here first. 

Million Dollar Listing New York is coming to Vuzu (DStv 116) and I can reveal that the estate agent reality show spin-off with three new estate agents is set to start on Saturday, 29 December.

South African viewers of course saw the first three seasons of the original, Million Dollar Listing, now retitled Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles on The Universal Channel since 2010.

The fourth season of Million Dollar Listing Los Angeles, the first one with the longer name, has not started on The Universal Channel (yet), and whether that show might now also move house to a new chnnel such as Vuzu is not know.

Million Dollar Listing New York is the spin-off which was commissioned and filmed at the beginning of this year and which has been renewed for a second season. Similar to the original, it follows three real estate agents in the Big Apple, selling and buying expensive properties for clients.

The first season, which is incredibly funny and has several jaw-dropping must-see moments, follows the quirky yet cutthroat (well, at least two of them are) Ryan Serhant, Fredrik Eklund and Michael Lorber as they buy and sell properties for clients throughout New York.