Randburg water woes: MultiChoice City building operational with water but non-essential staff working from home with car wash and gym closed.

by Thinus Ferreira

With Johannesburg's water supply woes stretching into a second week and hitting the Randburg area especially hard where pay-TV operator MultiChoice as well as M-Net and SuperSport are headquartered, I'm told the buildings remain operational although non-essential staff are working remotely with some in-building staff perks like the car wash and gum shuttered.

Johannesburg's crippled and imploding water supply system broke down completely this past weekend a week ago, leaving reservoirs across the city empty and with homes and businesses without water in taps for days and counting.

By Sunday at least seven reservoirs across Johannesburg remain empty after a week - with more than 300 000 people in homes and businesses without running water - including large parts of Randburg and surrounding areas.

MultiChoice City, the pan-African pay-TV operator's main building in Bram Fischer Drive, is located inside the water-depleted area in Randburg, with the original MultiChoice building and annexed M-Net and SuperSport complex across the road, also affected. 

TVwithThinus has been told that MultiChoice told non-essential staff to work from home - which they are since last week and will continue to this week - for both the MultiChoice City as well as adjacent buildings.

The MultiChoice City building has some sustainable building features, like using grey water collection from the gym reused for toilet and urinal flushing.

The remaining MultiChoice, M-Net and SuperSport staff working within the buildings are fine, with water reserves continuously being delivered to the offices - both drinking water and grey water. 

I'm told the building is quieter than usual but that there have been no issues with using either the restroom or kitchen facilities within the building.

Some staff perks like the car wash at the MultiChoice City premises and the use of the gym within the building have been suspended.

CORONAVIRUS. MultiChoice opens a building basement Covid-19 vaccination site at its Randburg complex for pay-TV group's Gauteng staffers.

by Thinus Ferreira

MultiChoice in South Africa has started a Covid-19 vaccination programme for its South African employees and has created a vaccination site in the basement of its MultiChoice Explora building in Randburg for staffers of the pay-TV company who want to get vaccinated there.

South Africa is battling a devastating third wave of the global Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic with the country that shifted back to an adjusted Lockdown level 3 since Monday this week.

MultiChoice's vaccination site in Randburg is staffed by health professionals from the Wits Health Consortium.

"The goal of the national vaccine campaign is to significantly reduce the spread of the virus in a bid to return our society to normality. Vaccinating our employees will help increase the number of South Africans that are vaccinated and make a meaningful contribution to this goal. We want to play our part in the fight against COVID-19," says Nyiko Shiburi, MultiChoice SA CEO.

MultiChoice's vaccination site follows the South African government's age group-based rollout, starting with people aged 35 years and older. 

MultiChoice staffers who have already received their first Pfizer jab as part of the government rollout can receive their second jab at the MultiChoice vaccination site. MultiChoice will also make regional vaccination sites available later in provinces outside of Gauteng.

MultiChoice shutters its main MultiChoice City campus in Randburg, closes walk-in service centres in KZN and Gauteng as a precaution following unrest.

by Thinus Ferreira

The pay-TV operator MultiChoice has closed all of its walk-in branches and service centres in KwaZulu-Natal, as well as in parts of Gauteng, and has also shut down its MultiChoice City campus complex in Randburg as a precaution, due to ongoing unrest and looting in these two South African provinces.

MultiChoice told TVwithThinus on Tuesday that its MultiChoice City complex in Randburg is closed.

DStv subscribers in KwaZulu-Natal and parts of Gauteng can now only be helped online.

"We have closed all branches in the KwaZulu-Natal region and parts of Gauteng," MultiChoice said. "We apologise for the inconvenience caused, however the safety of our customers and employees is imperative. In the interim please use our digital platforms and portals for any queries you may have," MultiChoice said.

ALSO READ: LG Electronics South Africa's warehouse and factory in Durban looted and destroyed after building is set alight by criminals.

ALSO READ: Samsung South Africa's biggest warehouse in Durban and several of its service centres in KZN looted and destroyed after building is set alight by criminals.

ALSO READ: Telkom has closed all South African stores indefinitely after after violence and looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

MULTICHOICE STRIKE. Tyres burnt, police called, extra security guards deployed and the gates locked as MultiChoice staffers start an unprotected strike that they say will continue on Monday.

Tyres were burnt, gates were locked, and the police and extra security guards were called in as furious MultiChoice call centre staffers on Friday morning started their unexpected and unprotected strike action following growing anger over MultiChoice top management's plan to get rid of thousands of workers at the pay-TV operator in a strike that a union said would continue on Monday.

On Thursday the Information Communication Technology Union (ICTU) announced that it would start with a "historic strike" at MultiChoice because the "the grossly underpaid and most vulnerable workers of MultiChoice South Africa have drawn a line in the sand".

In June 2019 MultiChoice announced that it was planning to fire up to 2 194 of its workers as part of a massive retrenchment plan to get rid of thousands of staffers in its call centre division and walk-in centres because the Randburg-based pay-TV operator is restructuring its "customer service delivery model".

MultiChoice at the time said the "realignment" had to be made because of the "changing behaviour of customers, who are increasingly moving away from traditional voice calls and visits to Walk-in Centres and adopting new self-service and digital technologies to engage with the company".

The ICTU said on Thursday that "This strike comes at the time when MultiChoice has deployed a new integrated billing system on 21 August and it is experiencing its own failures," the ICTU revealed in a statement.

"It is expected that the strike action will be adding fuel to the fire," said the trade union but what burnt on Friday at MultiChoice were car tyres.

On Friday the ITCU in a statement slammed MultiChoice after workers went on strike, saying in a statement that the strike would continue on Monday and that "today, 23 August MultiChoice South Africa has deployed a lunatic, charlatan of the highest order Nonhlanhla Sibanda, to intimidate and harass workers and tell them that they will be dismissed with immediate effect if they join the strike".

"We have been informed that MultiChoice South Africa will deploy extra security guards to intimidate workers internally and lock doors."

On Friday MultiChoice closed the gates for the anticipated public picketing during the afternoon with the police that was apparently called in for security purposes.

After car tyres were burnt at the MultiChoice City headquarters in Randburg, Johannesburg, ICTU spokesperson Thabang Mothelo blamed the tyre burning on MultiChoice executives or other instigators and said that its union members are innocent.

"We see this as an action that is sponsored either directly by management or by opportunist unions. As ICTU, we condemn this act and we say none of the people who have done this are from ICTU."

MultiChoice in response to a media enquiry told TVwithThinus on Thursday night that "MultiChoice is disappointed at the call for a strike by the ICTU".

"We remain committed to continue to consult with labour on the proposed restructure in our customer care division under the guidance of the CCMA appointed commissioner in line with the Labour Relations Act," said Joe Heshu, the MultiChoice Group's executive for corporate affairs.

"The threatened strike action is not only unprotected, it is also illegal. We call on all parties to act in a manner that will ensure the best outcome for impacted employees."

MultiChoice was part of Naspers until it was spun off and listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) at the end of February 2019.

There's an amazing M-Net golden decoder locked in a transparent box inside the MultiChoice City headquarters - and if you're lucky you might just get to see it.

It's no urban myth - there's a golden decoder inside the MultiChoice City headquarters in Randburg and if you're lucky, really lucky, you might just get a chance to see it as part of an excellent interactive exhibition about the history of pay-TV in South Africa that is truly Smithsonian level great.

MultiChoice recently - and quietly - repurposed one of its ground floor meeting rooms in its MultiChoice City headquarters in Bram Fischer Drive in Johannesburg into an astounding walk-through exhibition detailing the history of subscription television broadcasting in South Africa that has of course been spearheaded by Naspers, and its pay-TV arms M-Net and MultiChoice.

Tucked away to the right behind the MultiChoice City reception desk and access gates of the airy lobby, the astounding exhibition isn't open to the general public or DStv subscribers although visitors, business people and MultiChoice, SuperSport and M-Net staffers can visit and experience the incredibly detailed and wonderfully interactive exhibition.

Few people at first glance will realise or even recognise that the "premium museum"-level standard of this TV history exhibition, tucked away in the southern most country of Africa, is actually as good, informative, and as well conceptualised as the best of American TV exhibitions that you get and is being done by the Smithsonian in the United States.

True lovers of television and television history in South Africa will get a huge kick out of entering the cleverly conceptualised, windy pathway whisking people past a colourful array of newspaper clippings, TV screens looping endless and memorable South African video-nostalgia, M-Net and DStv decoders, and walls adorned with fascinating facts.

The amazing audio-visual exhibition offers a look back at past and current iconic TV shows from across M-Net's range of TV channels since the starting days of Front Row, Carte Blanche, Egoli and others, and visitors can even enter an interactive booth to experience a virtual 4D TV satellite launch experience.

"Welcome! This is our story" beckons the front wall of the exhibit, that exits at the end with a "cast" photo mosaic wall of MultiChoice staffers' faces.

Along the walls are mounted transparent perspex cases each with various M-Net and DStv decoders showing the rapid evolution over the past two decades of the various set-top boxes since M-Net introduced the very first one in 1986  (yes, it's part of the exhibition too!).

Included and on show in the exhibition is a "C-3PO" decoder - M-Net's millionth decoder it made in 1993.

This 24-carat gold plated beauty can't translate languages as part of human-cyborg relations, but once upon a time unscrambled satellite signals into a profusion of M-Net TV channel choices.

In mid-October TVwithThinus was inside MultiChoice City for the media event of one of M-Net's new shows, when an M-Net publicist asked if I was aware of it, and maybe wanted to walk through - which I did along with another journalist. We were both astounded and completely blown away.

Afterwards I asked MultiChoice about the beautiful exhibition.

MultiChoice says that due to security reasons people can unfortunately not just walk in and see and experience the exhibition but that MultiChoice does have "open days" for various groups like DStv installers, agencies and customers during which it might be possible to experience the exhibition.

The best media green room in the biz? MultiChoice once again makes the media go 'mmm' with delectable delicatessen before the DStv Delicious Food Festival presser.

Who runs the best media green room in the biz? Most definitely MultiChoice with its "Lufthansa business class lounge" type boudoir.

At most press events or press conferences, there's usually the feeding frenzy of the press, preceded or followed by another type of a feeding frenzy: hungry journalists foraging for food.

I didn't attend the DStv Delicious International Food & Music Festival this past weekend but I was invited to, and decided to attend, Friday morning's press conference about it at MultiChoice City in Randburg.

Before the press conference in one of auditoriums at MultiChoice's new headquarters started, media were ushered, as usual, first to a holding pen the media green room where I took this photo, and where a coffee barista and juice bar served the press, along with white-tabled breakfast d'oeuvres.

I didn't actually eat any of the food - I just had two black coffees and a lemon juice - but the food and the presentation looked absolutely terrific.

I instantly thought that I had to remark on it, because I appreciated the thought to do it, the huge effort that went into it, and the intention, impression and expectation that it created.

It's also not the first time the media green room (the walls are literally green) at DStv for press visiting MultiChoice City looks this great - it's actually every time I've been there as a TV critic, just this year, for various press conferences or background meet-and-greet's like what M-Net Movies did a few months ago with the press.

Compared with the throwaway snacks the SABC dish up to the media at Auckland Park and the unappetising spreads several other TV channels find themselves worthy to take out the tin box from time to time for ravenous reporters, the MultiChoice amuse-bouche towers head and shoulders above anyone else.

A few observations:

Firstly, media are not royalty and shouldn't be treated as such (although a lot of them think they are, with over-inflated superego's who want to be endulged).

Food offered and looking like it's straight out of a Downton Abbey garden tea party, should never become a standard expectation for the media.

I and others can go without food or snacks at a media event or press conference - I have no expectation that there must be food, I don't go to things because of food, but I do love it when there's the availability of food.

However, when there are food and drinks offered, the way it looks (even more than how it taste) is part of what actually helps to set the atmosphere.

It signals to journalists (or at least to me) the perceived level of importance of an event and the seriousness (even for something fun) that the news, announcements or press conference is regarded by the news maker.

MultiChoice constantly gets this right.

Having a proper media green room with not just good food on display but a very professional display, shows to media that they didn't take waste their day to go to some namby-pamby time-waster.

This year I was at the MultiChoice City building for things like a MultiChoice programming media showcase, a FOX DStv Empire presser and a M-Net Movies educational media session for instance.

Every single time there was a media green room area, and every single time without fail the food was top notch and presented without fault.

Secondly, there's the service. On Friday after my first black coffee, I returned to the green room barista to get another.

Keep in mind the place is filled with a lot of journalists and nobody's special.

I went: "Please may I have ... " and the barista jumped in, saying "for you, another black coffee? Can I fill this one up for you and in a large cup?"

I was speechless for a moment and said yes. He actually remembered how I took my first one half an hour earlier. Needless to say, I was very, very impressed because I doubt that I'd be able to be like that to people.

And it's not just me it happened to. A diminutive mediarette walked over and joined my side and just as she started her order of "Can I please get ..." the barista handed her a cuppaccino.

It's what she wanted, but she was instantly both amazed and suspicious.

Of course the media is a haughty, cynical bunch and she asked: "Is this now someone else's old one?"

The barista smiled: "No I made it just now."

"And if I didn't ask for a cuppaccino?"

"Then I would have made for you just whatever else you ask for."

Finding the answer acceptable - and what was actually super service - agreeable; mademoiselle took a sip and glided away back to the tables with white roses and white tulips and snacks on silver trays.

MultiChoice's media green room on Friday for the DStv Delicious Food Festival was great. I didn't actually eat anything but the moment I stepped inside I saw and appreciated the effort.

It's something TV channels and productions doing press conferences shouldn't under-estimate, but also something that the media types who go to pressers shouldn't ever take for granted.

Today's interesting TV stories to read from TV with Thinus - 24 September 2015

Scream Queens on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131) also a flop.
The second new FOX drama is also a loser and follows Minority Report as a ratings failure.

Meanwhile the new procedural thriller Limitless is solid and it will be available on your DStv Explora from Thursday instantly and later on M-Net (DStv 101) so you can watch it - the show won't go away or be cancelled.

Donald Trump slams FOX News (StarSat 261).
"FOX News has been treating me unfairly," says the Republican Party candidate in America; says he won't be doing any interviews with any FOX News shows in the future.
FOX News hits back and says Donald Trump's attacks are "stale and tiresome".

Egypt's president pardons Al Jazeera journalists.
After months in prison Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed of Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / StarSat 257) are freed from jail. Peter Greste says the fight is not over despite Al Jazeera colleagues' release from prison.

New MultiChoice headquarters in Johannesburg is green.
The new MultiChoice City complex in Randburg - complete with an artificial lawn and 15 real trees in the atrium - is turning heads and showing how corporations can create greener, healthier spaces for employees in South Africa.

The HBO Now account the Emmy's gave out has been deactivated.
Emmy host Andy Samberg told millions of viewers worldwide on TV to log in to the HBO Now streaming service. It has now been deactivated.


Trevor Noah: "There's been an epidemic of blackness on The Daily Show since I took over".
The new South African host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central (DStv 122) tells The New York Times that there was a "racial blindspot" with Jon Stewart at The Daily Show. "Since I've joined, blackness has tremendously increased on the show".


BBC to turn 3 J.K. Rowling novels into a new TV series.
Will adapt The Cuckoo's Calling, The Silkworm and the upcoming thriller Career of Evil into a new crime series called The Cormoran Strike Mysteries.

Netflix knows exactly what episode of what show can trigger binge-viewing.
The global streaming video-on-demand service knows precisely what shows and what episodes of a show will likely trigger binge-watching - and its not necessarily the pilot episode.
Netflix is now offering audio description - which proves that journalism (covering television) can still change the world.

TV's reality craze is over 15 years after Survivor started it.
Viewers are fatigued and tired of reality TV shows of the American kind. The reality genre has become stale and there's been too much reliance on "gimmicks". Of course totally faking things like South Africa's Oulap se Rooi on kykNET (DStv 144) helps to erode and break viewers' trust in the fake TV trash programming.

After that Robert Downey Jr. junket went wrong, yet another press junket interview blows up with Robert De Niro.
Another massive film publicity press junket makes headlines for all the wrong reasons as the difficult and condescending Robert De Niro walks out.

In Cuba there's barely internet - but they watch everything.
Fascinating insight in this article about how Cubans watch all the American TV shows and movies and read The New York Times through a vast underground system of distributing TV shows and publications through the entire country for their "subscribers".