TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 27 July 2020.

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


■ Political interference increasing at the South African public broadcaster.
The SABC doesn't have enough money but politicians want to prevent the struggling and bloated SABC from firing staffers. The SABC says "this is a political issue and this is a repeat of what happened in 2018".
- 45% of the SABC's expenditure is on salaries and only 21% on content, compared to eMedia Holdings spending 11% on staff and MultiChoice spending 15% on staffers and 43% on content.


■ Nigeria's minister of information, Lai Mohammed who doesn't like MultiChoice allegedly plots to get the latest season of Big Brother Naija on DStv cancelled and shut down.
Told the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to take Big Brother Nigeria off the air so that it doesn't look as if it's his plan, and using Covid-19 as the excuse.
- Lai Mohammed says he didn't ask the NBC in a memo to suspend Big Brother Naija.

■ The former Disney actress Maitland Ward claims pornography saved her from Hollywood.

■ With almost no other live sports on TV, the start of baseball in America with MLB lifts the ratings of ESPN in the United States by 232%.

■ O, is it Over? After Associated Magazines ended O, The Oprah Magazine in South Africa, is it over for Oprah'sprint magazine in the United States after 20 years as well?
 - Ebony magazine is also forced into bankruptcy.

■ Mangaliso Ngema names himself as the actor who was fired from Quizzical Pictures' set of Lithapo after sexual harassment allegations at the SABC2 drama.
The actor claims he was adjusting himself in front of the actress and touched himself inappropriately because his costume was too tight.

■ Tarek El Moussa of Flip and Flop on HGTV (DStv 177) and Heather Rae Young are engaged.

■ Why so many WWE wrestling stars have lost their last names.

■ Cecil Sunkwa-Mills, MultChoice Ghana managing director, says cinemas in the country must open despite the shutdown of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"I know there’s Covid-19, but I think we need to bring cinemas back; with some hand sanitisers and so on. Cinemas provide the first revenue for filmmakers."

■ How the world turned on celebrities.

■ Trolls, tweets and famous friends: The vicious PR war between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.

■ A curious Broadcasting Code.
Nigeria is changing that country's broadcasting code with new amendments after having changed it in 2019. Lai Mohammed (who else?) plans to take broadcaster's and pay-TV operator's exclusive content away.

■ Zambia's government has demanded that the private commercial broadcaster in that country, Prime TV, broadcast Covid-19 TV commercials for free.

■ No, Paw Patrol on Nickelodeon (DStv 305) with a police dog isn't cancelled despite the White House publicst Kayleigh McEanany claiming it is.

Nickelodeon renews PAW Patrol, Bubble Guppies, Abby Hatcher and Butterbean's Café for further seasons.

Viacom's Nickelodeon (DStv 305) has renewed four of its preschool animation series PAW Patrol, Bubble Guppies, Abby Hatcher and Butterbean's Café for further seasons.

PAW Patrol gets a 7th season, Bubble Guppies is renewed for a 5th season, and Abby Hatcher and Butterbean's Café both get second seasons.

In the seventh season of PAW Patrol with 26 half-hour episodes, produced by Spin Master Entertainment, the heroic pack of pups - Chase, Marshall, Rubble, Skye, Rocky, Zuma, Everest and Tracker - go on super-charged adventures after receiving all-new abilities when a super-power replicating baddie, the Copycat, arrives in Adventure Bay.

Then, the PAW Patrol travel to Dino Land where they meet new pup and dinosaur expert, Rex. With brand-new rugged Dino Rescue gear, heavy-duty vehicles and tools, the pups are ready for action-packed prehistoric rescue missions. PAW Patrol features a curriculum that focuses on citizenship, social skills and problem-solving.

The fifth season of Bubble Guppies with 26 half-hour episodes will introduce brand-new guppy Zooli, a spunky and smart student, animal expert and fin-tastic friend to the guppies' school class.

Together, the guppies will dance, sing, play and learn valuable lessons as they embark on all-new underwater adventures. Set to a soundtrack of catchy, educational pop songs, Bubble Guppies features a curriculum that infuses the core elements of kindergarten readiness, including math, literacy, the arts, science and socio-emotional development.

In the second season of Abby Hatcher with 26 half-hour episodes, produced by Spin Master Entertainment, Abby and her best Fuzzly friend Bozzly lend a helping hand to some new Fuzzly pals as they explore their incredible hotel home, encounter a shuttle bus full of surprises and zoom off to new locations with Abby's souped-up bike and Fuzzly-finding gear.

Abby Hatcher features a social-emotional curriculum highlighting empathy, compassion and problem-solving skills.

The second season of Butterbean's Café with 20 half-hour episodes will continue to follow Butterbean, her fairy friends - Dazzle, Poppy, and Jasper - and her little sister Cricket, as they use teamwork to successfully run their neighbourhood cafe and whip up healthy snacks and sweet treats for the citizens of Puddlebrook.

Butterbean's Café showcases creative cooking and features a curriculum with social-emotional lessons that highlight kindness and gratitude, and leadership skills.