Today's interesting TV stories to read from TV with Thinus - 21 September 2015

SABC's Hlaudi Motsoeneng embroiled in staff intimidation.
Case opened at Brixton police station last week. Nadiva Schraibman told to stay quiet and not talk to the media. Got a threatening message while working on documentary about Desmond Tutu, purportedly from the SABC's chief operating officer (COO).

StarSat will broadcast the FIFA Under/17 World Cup matches.
but can't bother to tell South Africa's TV critics or the press after StarTimes acquired the sport rights.

ITV's Downton Abbey draws lowest viewership ever for a season premiere episode.
The 6th and final season's first episode had 7.6 million viewers in the United Kingdom.

Jana Bennett now the president and general manager of A+E Networks' History (DStv 186).
The former BBC Worldwide president immediately promoted to being the boss of History, based in New York.

Trailer for The Unauthorized Melrose Place Story.
Flat acting but looks good. No broadcasting dates yet for this upcoming movie and the 90210 one on Lifetime (DStv 131) in South Africa.

Stop meddling with the BBC says Europe's media bosses.
Urge the United Kingdom to stop breaking the BBC and to protect its independence.

DStv subscribers flock to MultiChoice demanding compensation.
MultiChoice no longer repairs or supplies old SD PVRs or DualView decoders and won't repair or replace them. Tele marketing agency On Air takes weeks to help DStv subscribers and consumer columnist has to help.

Trevor Noah tells Stephen Colbert that Jon Stewart is "the Jewish Yoda".
"You can't live up to Jon Stewart. It's insane," says Trevor Noah who takes over The Daily Show next week on Comedy Central (DStv 122).

Jenna Coleman has dumped Doctor Who on the BBC.
Confirms that she has filmed her last scenes as Clara.

National Geographic Channel (DStv 181) will have a second season of
Years of Living Dangerously. Will play out in 171 countries, including South Africa.

Today's interesting TV stories to read from TV with Thinus - 8 September 2015.

Viacom reveals it will launch Viacom Play Plex.
Viacom Play Plex will launch at the end of the year as a global subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service in 180 countries where Viacom has channels including South Africa. VIMN Africa runs channels in South Africa and Africa on DStv like Nickelodeon, MTV, MTV Base, BET and Comedy Central.

Netflix says Jeremy Clarkson and his friends were "not worth the money".
Didn't pick up the former Top Gear presenters (the three went to Amazon) because "it wasn't worth it".

Isidingo on SABC3's attack on Christianity.
Endemol's logo is the Eye of Horus and an anagram for 'El Demon' and Isidingo's currenty storyline with Pastor Gabriel and his cult is "a full on attack on Christianity" says this essay.

Zuku TV is cutting down its packages to just 2.
The East African pay-TV operator is reconfiguring its 3 packages to just 2 as MultiChoice's DStv hikes its monthly subscriptions.

Problem with piracy of TV content is "bigger than ever"
Says A+E chief. Says the TV industry needs to keep up its efforts to tackle people illegally watching content.

DStv subscribers misled by MultiChoice's telesales people.
Consumer journalist Wendy Knowler details how telesales agents at On Air exploited subscribers and says complain if this also happened to you.

The lovely Larry King is preparing for the final cancellation.
Wonderful New York Times profile of Larry King obsessed with death.

Why Mr. Robot on M-Net (DStv 101) is not a great show yet.
Although the show is brilliant as a critique of what modern society has become. And without Rami Malek Mr Robot would have been a failure.

Queen Elizabeth II watches Downton Abbey ...
... and she points out the mistakes in the drama which will continue on BBC First on DStv.

Forbes on why Netflix should be afraid of ShowMax.
ShowMax has acquired video-on-demand rights Netflix now won't be able to get when it launches.

MSNBC (StarSat 263) pulls the plug on Al Sharpton's show.
Al Sharpton's daily, weeknight Politics Nation is dumped on weekends as part of the news channel's make-over.

The upcoming UnReal on Lifetime (DStv 131) renewed for a 2nd season.

Alessandra Stanley moving on after 12 years.
The New York Times' influential and often contentious TV critic is done covering TV and will now write about the world of the rich.

Adventure Time, Regular Show and 3 other Cartoon Network (DStv 301) shows renewed.
Adventure Time, Regular Show, Uncle Grandpa, Steven Universe and Clarence will all see further seasons on Cartoon Network.

Shonda Rhimes explains Grey's Anatomy's 1 year time-jump.
The 12th season will start on M-Net (DStv 101) very soon.