The SABC says its SABC Encore channel on DStv wasn't axed over its failure to pay artists residuals but that MultiChoice in 2018 already decided to can the channel in 2020.

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African public broadcaster's SABC Encore channel on MultiChoice's DStv is going dark at the end of the month but its demise doesn't have to do with the SABC's alleged failure to properly pay artists residuals and repeat fees - the satellite pay-TV service already decided to kill off SABC Encore two years ago when it pulled the plug in 2018 during the last channel carriage renewal.

MultiChoice is getting rid of ITV's ITV Choice (DStv 123), AMC Networks International's Sundance TV (DStv 108) and SABC Encore (DStv 156) at the end of May with all three channels being removed after TV Mall was also taken away at the end of April from DStv subscribers in the latest DStv bouquet content culling.

The SABC has said that performers are being paid residuals for the rebroadcast of shows from the SABC archives on the rerun channel that has been packaged with library series for and carried on MultiChoice's DStv.

Yet artists and actor organisations have been vocal and insistent that they haven't been paid or shared in any of the millions of rand that MultiChoice has been paying the SABC for SABC Encore over the past half a decade.

SABC Encore launched in mid-May 2015 on DStv with big fanfare from the SABC and a bizarre SABC Encore launch event where the then SABC boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng ranted that "MultiChoice must pay" and that the "SABC is coming for pay-TV".

It's not yet clear whether SABC Encore will continue to run as a TV channel despite its removal from MultiChoice DStv and whether it might become a stand-alone digital terrestrial television (DTT) channel only.

MultiChoice says that its contract "with the SABC for SABC Encore will not be renewed – as agreed by both respective parties, as per their contract which included a non-renewal option."

On Tuesday night Madoda Mxakwe, SABC CEO, told parliament's portfolio committee on communications that the SABC already knew in 2018 that SABC Encore would not survive on DStv past 2020 and get axed.

The SABC is however looking to possibly continue SABC Encore as a channel on possible other platforms.

"The reason for SABC Encore being cancelled has nothing to do with royalties but it's because DStv indicated in the new agreement that we signed in 2018 that they would not extend it beyond a further 2 years which expires this year," Madoda Mxakwe said.

"We are exploring other venues in terms of continuing with that channel."

MultiChoice is axing the SABC Encore and Sundance TV film channel as well from the end of May after carriage contracts with the SABC and AMC Networks International are not renewed.

by Thinus Ferreira

At the end of this month DStv subscribers are losing the SABC Encore (DStv 156) rerun channel from the South African public broadcaster after 5 years and the Sundance TV (DStv 108) film channel from AMC Networks International after 3 years after MultiChoice decided not to renew the respective channel carriage contracts.

SABC Encore, a rerun channel programmed with old library stock from the SABC archives, was originally part of a 2-channel deal that later became hugely controversial between MultiChoice and the South African public broadcaster over alleged digital TV policy influence peddling.

The SABC agreed to launch a new SABC News (DStv 404) channel exclusively on DStv to replace the shuttered SABC News International, but with SABC Encore tacked on as a second TV channel only if the SABC in a signed contract supported MultiChoice's policy stance regarding broader digital terrestrial television (DTT) encryption in the country.

SABC Encore launched in mid-May 2015 on DStv with big fanfare from the SABC and a bizarre SABC Encore launch event where the then SABC boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng ranted that "MultiChoice must pay" and that the "SABC is coming for pay-TV".

It's not yet clear whether SABC Encore will continue to run as a TV channel despite its removal from MultiChoice DStv and whether it might become a stand-alone digital terrestrial television (DTT) channel only.

The SABC hasn't yet responded to a media enquiry that was made on Tuesday morning but the response will be added here once received. See UPDATE below.

Sundance TV launched with fanfare in mid-May 2017 on DStv as a replacement for the removed AMC channel, but remained a niche film channel destination with low viewership.

AMCNI UK hasn't yet responded with an answer to a media enquiry that was made on Tuesday morning but the response will be added here once received. See UPDATE below.

MultiChoice was likewise asked on Tuesday morning about the channel terminations of SABC Encore and Sundance TV on its DStv platform but hasn't yet responded. See UPDATE below.

With less than a month's notice, on the DStv i-plate electronic programme guide (EPG), DStv subscribers are now told that "Dear viewer. Please note that Sundance TV will no longer be on air from 1 June 2020. You can find movies on M-Net 101, M-Net Movies channels, Catch Up and DStv Now. Thank you."

About the axing of SABC Encore the MultiChoice EPG now says "Dear viewer, please note that SABC Encore will stop airing on 31 May 2020. Thank you for watching."

MultiChoice's removal of SABC Encore and Sundance TV follows after the axing of the British entertainment channel from ITV, ITV Choice that is also going dark on DStv at the end of May after 5 years.

UPDATE Tuesday 19 May 2020 - 17:37: The SABC tells TVwithThinus that "The SABC can confirm that SABC Encore, which was launched on the DStv platform channel 156 on 11 May 2015, is coming to an end at the end of this month".

"The corporation is at this stage exploring more avenues to ensure that our audiences continue to enjoy the broadcast of SABC’s premium vintage programmes on alternative platforms."

UPDATE Tuesday 19 May 2020 - 1845: MultiChoice in a response says that "The MultiChoice Group can confirm that SABC Encore and AMC Networks' Sundance TV will no longer be available on the DStv platform from 1 June 2020".

"MultiChoice’s contract with the SABC for SABC Encore will not be renewed – as agreed by both respective parties, as per their contract which included a non-renewal option. Sundance TV will no longer be broadcast by MultiChoice as the contract between MultiChoice and the channel providers AMC Networks has come to an end."

UPDATE Wednesday 20 May 2020 - 10:09: AMC Networks International UK says "AMC Networks International UK can confirm that SundanceTV will no longer be available on the DStv platform from 1 June".

ALSO READ: The SABC says its SABC Encore channel on DStv wasn't axed over its failure to pay artists residuals but that MultiChoice in 2018 already decided to can the channel in 2020.

Competition Commission rules that MultiChoice and the SABC's TV channels contract for SABC News and SABC Encore amounts to a notifiable merger and should be declared.

South Africa's Competition Commission on Friday ruled that the highly-controversial TV channels contract for SABC News (DStv 404) and SABC Encore (DStv 156) between Naspers' pay-TV arm, MultiChoice and the South African public broadcaster constitutes a merger and should be declared as such.

The Competition Commission ruled that the controversial channel distribution agreement between MultiChoice and the SABC amounting to hundreds of millions of rand first signed in 2013 constitutes a notifiable merger, and has ordered MultiChoice and the SABC to register the transaction as a merger or be in breach of South Africa's competition laws.

It recently emerged that MultiChoice allegedly placed pressure on the SABC to, as a prerequisite for signing the deal, back MultiChoice's position on the encryption standard to be used for set-top boxes (STBs) in South Africa's switch from analogue to digital terrestrial television (DTT).

After the signing of the extremely controversial deal, the SABC paid its controversial famously matricless and now fired former chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng a massive R11 million "signing bonus".

The Competition Commission's ruling comes after the Caxton media group and the public broadcasting and media freedom pressure groups SOS Coalition and Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) appealed against a ruling of the Competition Appeals Court at the Constitutional Court and won, granting the Competition Commission the right to investigate whether the channel carriage agreement constituted a notifiable merger.

The Competition Commission has now ruled that while the agreement for the TV channels provided by the SABC to MultiChoice doesn't constitute a merger between MultiChoice and the SABC, that MultiChoice's role in influencing the SABC's stance on the government and public policy regarding STB encryption does represent a notifiable merger between Naspers' MultiChoice and the South African public broadcaster.

"The commission will call upon MultiChoice and the SABC to file the transaction in terms of 13A(1) of the Act as a merger," says the Competition Commission.

"If the parties fail to notify the transaction as a merger, the commission will exercise its rights in terms of the Act to refer the matter as a contravention [of the Act]."

"The SABC categorically and unequivocally undertook in favour of MultiChoice not to encrypt all of its channel signals in respect of its free-to-air channels transmitted on its digital TV platform."

"The commission found that the encryption of SABC's free-to-air channels, including STB control, would have enabled new entrants into the market and that the agreement had the effect of protecting MultiChoice's dominance in the pay-TV market."

"In terms of the Competition Act, the ability by one company to materially influence the policy of another company through various legal instruments, including an agreement, constitutes a notifiable merger transaction which must first be approved by competition authorities before it is implemented."

"The reason why the Competition Act requires that such agreements should first be scrutinised by the competition authorities before they are implemented is because they could have a significant impact on the competitive process and raise significant public interest issues, which ought to be investigated by competition authorities."

"In this case, the SABC and MultiChoice failed to seek prior approval of the commission before implementing the agreement."

The Competition Commission has filed a report with this finding with the Competition Tribunal.


SABC 'concerned'
The SABC's spokesperson Neo Momodu on Monday in a statement in response to a written media enquiry from TVwithThinus said that "the SABC has noted with concern the Competition Commission's ruling on the SABC and MultiChoice agreement entered into in July 2013 and which has since expired".

"The SABC has since entered into a new commercial channel supply agreement with MultiChoice which in the SABC's understanding, does not constitute a merger."

"The SABC board is reviewing the Commission's recommendations in relation to the encryption part of the 2013 agreement and will respond appropriately in due course. The SABC remains committed to ensure compliance with applicable competition laws".


MultiChoice says it's not a merger
Joe Heshu, MultiChoice's group executive for corporate affairs didn't respond to a written media enquiry TVwithThinus made on Monday about the ruling.

Joe Heshu told Business Day that "we've noted the recommendation of the Competition Commission".

"Our view remains that the 2013 agreement between MultiChoice and the SABC was not a merger but a standard channel supply agreement."

"We have not been presented with the new facts to which the commission refers, nor the opportunity to refute them. We will make further representations in the process to be conducted before the Competition Tribunal."

With Afro Worldview’s DStv days numbered, the future of the South African public broadcaster's SABC News is also up in the air.

As MultiChoice gets ready to dump the Afro Worldview channel from its DStv service on 20 August, the SABC News channel could also go dark at the end of this month when that contract expires, with MultiChoice that will have to make announcements about SABC News as well as what channel is replacing Afro Worldview soon.

MultiChoice remains in the process to find and appoint a new channel to replace Afro Worldview - formerly known as the notorious Gupta family's ANN7 channel and belonging to Mzwanele Manyi and his Afrotone Media Holdings.

Afro Worldview is coming to an end on DStv on 20 August exactly five years after its hurried and disastrous launch.

MultiChoice is yet to make an announcement about which group out of the shortlisted candidates that applied earlier this year before the cut-off date at the end of April.

The new TV news channel will be given the opportunity to start a news service in DStv set's of news channels as a new majority black-owned TV news channel, to rival and compete with eMedia Investment's eNCA (DStv 403) as well as the public broadcaster's SABC News as a new local news channel ahead of South Africa's general election in 2019.

MultiChoice has steadfastly refused to divulge the names of shortlisted bidders and consortiums after over 60 groups and individuals applied, although the local TV biz and news industry haven't been shy about gossiping after hours about who might be in the running.

Unconfirmed names and places bandied about to replace Afro Worldview have so far ranged from Justice Malala that abruptly left eNCA earlier this month, to the Tiso Blackstar group, Primedia and MSG Afrika.

In late-June Calvo Mawela, MultiChoice SA CEO, said that Naspers's pay-TV arm wants to make an announcement about the successful bidder replacing Afro Worldview before that channel goes dark on DStv, saying "we are targeting to make an announcement before the expiry of the current contract so that we can give people an opportunity to know exactly what's coming next".

Now MultiChoice, as it told the industry in January, has started to tell DStv subscribers on Afro Worldview's i-plate on DStv that Afro Worldview is being removed with less than two weeks' time remaining for the channel on the operator's channel line-up.

"Dear viewer, please note that Afro Worldview will stop airing on 20 August 2018. You can find local news on eNCA 403) and SABC News (404)," says DStv in the advisory.

Afro Worldview's already low viewership has been on an ongoing ratings slide the past few months, with viewership on DStv that has kept dropping from 9.89% of the total TV news audience in April to 9% in May and 4.22% in June.  

MultiChoice on Monday in response to a media enquiry asking about the new channel replacement process, told TVwithThinus that "the process to appoint the successful bidder for the news channel has not been concluded. Once this process is completed, we will make all necessary announcements".

Future of SABC News channel up in the air

Meanwhile there is a possibility that DStv subscribers and South African viewers could lose more than Afro Worldview, with the SABC and MultiChoice that are yet to conclude a new possible contract agreement for the SABC News channel that could also go dark when its existing contract expires at the end of this month.

SABC News, part of a bundled channels agreement that sees it being provided exclusively to MultiChoice together with the library rerun channel SABC Encore (DStv 156), could go dark if a new contract isn't signed between the MultiChoice and the public broadcaster.

If MultiChoice doesn't extend the channel carriage agreement for SABC News, the channel will presumably have to shutter just like SABC News International, the public broadcaster's first try at a 24-hour TV news channel that bled the corporation dry and was terminated after bleeding millions of rand after just three years at the end of March 2010.

Although a public TV channel and packaged and operated from inside its the South African Broadcasting Corporation's Auckland Park headquarters, the SABC isn't able to keep the expensive SABC News channel running without the hundreds of millions of rand MultiChoice pays the SABC for the channel as part of the controversial channels deal that has given MultiChoice exclusive access to the SABC archives the past few years.

In addition, the cash-strapped SABC that is now playing hardball in negotiations, now wants payment for its SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 channels from MultiChoice as well as a possible "new revenue stream", although the broadcasting regulator, Icasa, under the country's so-called "must-carry" regulations, have mandated that the public broadcaster's terrestrial TV channels must be carried by satellite operators to help with wider availability, but free of charge.

Both the SABC and MultiChoice in response to a media enquiry told TVwithThinus that discussions are ongoing and that SABC News and SABC Encore will stay on the air on DStv for the time being.

"The SABC and MultiChoice are currently in discussions to carry the SABC News and SABC Encore channels on DStv. We will communicate the outcome once the discussions have been finalised. The channels will continue to air on DStv whilst the discussions are ongoing," both said.

Earlier this year the new SABC board told parliament's portfolio committee on communications that it would like to see the SABC News channel continue.

SABC News and SABC Encore - although they're content from and created by the public broadcaster - are not available to other satellite TV platforms like StarSat operated by China's StarTimes, e.tv's Openview or Deukom in the way that SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 are.

Madoda Mxakwe, SABC CEO, told SABC News in a TV interview last week that negotiations around the possible renewal of the SABC News channel carriage agreement is "at a very sensitive stage".

Madoda Mxakwe said the SABC will make an announcement about the future of the SABC News channel before the end of August. He said "we are busy engaging with different partners, including MultiChoice, in terms of ensuring that there is a different revenue stream into the business."

SABC CEO Madoda Mxakwe says the South African public broadcaster 'is actually in a very difficult financial position'; SABC News channel carriage contract renewal with MultiChoice 'at a very sensitive stage'.

The new SABC CEO Madoda Mxakwe says the South African public broadcaster that is unable to pay local TV producers and owes service providers millions of rand is "in a very difficult position" and that there's no signed deal yet in place with MultiChoice to keep the SABC News channel running on DStv in a contract that expires at the end of this month.

Madoda Mxakwe gave his first on camera interview as new SABC CEO to SABC News, with one broadcast on Morning Live and the other during prime time.

With the embattled SABC mired in a debilitating cash-crunch, still waiting on a possible R3 billion bailout from Treasury in the form of a government-guaranteed loan, Madoda Mxakwe said in the past month he developed "a very strong strategic roadmap as well as a turnaround plan that will help us to transform the SABC into a viable organisation, financially, but also a high-performing organisation".

Madoda Mxakwe admitted that the SABC "is actually in a very difficult financial position" and that "we are not in a good situation".

While local production companies supplying content to the SABC are collectively owed tens of millions of rand after the SABC told them on 30 July a day before they're supposed to get paid on 31 July that the broadcaster can't and won't pay them, Madoda Mxakwe admitted that "in the past three years if you look at the trend of expenditure, we find ourselves in a situation where the expenditure far exceeds the income that we're getting".

The SABC's latest crisis being unable to pay producers follows the cash-strapped broadcaster's previous inability to pay producers in mid-2017. Once again however the SABC wants unpaid producers to keep supplying it with TV content to ensure "a seamless broadcast".

Madoda Mxakwe revealed that the SABC has been served by different letters of demand and notices of breach of contracts for not paying production companies and service providers.

He told SABC News anchor Bongani Binga that "if you look at the evolution of our financials in the past three years, it's only now that it's hit really a crisis point".

Asked where the money will come from to pay TV producers by mid-August, Madoda Mxakwe said "we have accelerated our plans to ensure that we increase revenue-generation".


CEO not getting involved in SABC newsroom
Under the current SABC's editorial policy, the SABC CEO doubles as the public broadcaster's editor-in-chief. Madoda Mxakwe however said that as SABC top boss he won't and isn't getting involved in SABC newsroom editorial decisions.

"The newsroom, I'm not even there. I don't interfere, they're the ones making the decisions. So really my focus is to run the organisation and let the newsroom decide editorially what is right for the organisation."

He promised that "I will never get involved in editorial decisions. It will not be right."


New MultiChoice contract down to the wire
Regarding the contract dealing between the SABC and Naspers' pay-TV arm, MultiChoice, Madoda Mxakwe said "the negotiations and engagements with MultiChoice are at a very sensitive stage".

The SABC and MultiChoice's existing contract for the SABC News (DStv 404) and SABC Encore (DStv 156) library rerun channels expire at the end of August.

So far there no new signed deal in place. The SABC doesn't have the resources to run SABC News without the money it receives from MultiChoice.

If there's no no deal, SABC News could go off the air on DStv with less than a month's notice, with the public broadcaster's 24-hour TV news channel produced by the SABC with public broadcasting resources that is done exclusively for DStv.

The SABC now however is adamant and also wants MultiChoice to pay for its carriage of SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 - something that MultiChoice SA CEO Calvo Mawela has publicly said MultiChoice won't do.

Satellite TV operators in South Africa are compelled by the broadcasting regulator, Icasa, to carry the public broadcaster's channels under so-called "must-carry regulations", but do so free of charge.

While operators have to use their satellite transponder bandwidth they get the channels without having to pay, while the SABC gets access to a larger audience that in turn allows the SABC to get more revenue from advertising due to higher spot price ad rates.

The SABC however now wants operators to carry the SABC's public channels as part of carriage agreements but also pay for them.

Madoda Mxakwe said the SABC will make an announcement about the channels' future before the end of August.

He said "we are busy engaging with different partners, including MultiChoice, in terms of ensuring that there is a different revenue stream into the business."

Asked about possible staff retrenchments at the SABC since fixed-term contract workers at the SABC have been receiving notices, Madoda Mxakwe said: "I would not even want to preempt a discussion on retrenchments or whether jobs are safe but all I can tell you is that we have a committed, skilled set of people that are here who are committed in ensuring that we fulfill our mandate".

The future of SABC News channel in doubt, will continue on DStv while discussions between the SABC and MultiChoice continue.

Not only will Afro Worldview disappear on 20 August from MultiChoice's DStv but the future of a second channel in the news block is now in doubt: the South African public broadcaster's SABC News channel could soon be a gonner too since the SABC and MultiChoice haven't signed a new contract.

The struggling and cash-strapped SABC doesn't have the money to fund and run SABC News (DStv 404) on its own although it is supposed to be one of the SABC's envisioned, freely available TV channels for digital terrestrial television (DTT).

If MultiChoice doesn't extend the contract for SABC News, the channel will presumably have to shutter just like SABC News International, the public broadcaster's first try at a 24-hour TV news channel that bled the corporation dry and was terminated after bleeding millions of rand after just three years at the end of March 2010.

Ironically the fate of a public broadcasting TV news channel lies squarely in the hands of a commercial company, in this case Naspers' pay-TV arm, MultiChoice.

According to insider sources who asked for anonymity because they're not allowed to speak directly to media, SABC managers allegedly had a meeting with fixed-term producers for the SABC News channel on Monday, informing them that the SABC has not reached an agreement with MultiChoice for the renewal of SABC News.

There's now growing buzz that producers will apparently receive letters this week informing them that production on SABC News will stop, although producer contracts allegedly still run until the end of August.

The SABC was asked whether this is accurate and whether the broadcaster can confirm a meeting with producers in which they were told that the channel won't be continuing, but the SABC declined to answer the question.

The SABC and MultiChoice were both asked, separately, about the future of the SABC News channel and whether it's accurate that the channel on DStv channel 404 will not be renewed and end during July.

Both the SABC and MultiChoice responded on Tuesday afternoon at 16:00 within minutes of each other, and with the exact same holding statement, saying that discussions are ongoing and that SABC News and SABC Encore will stay on the air on DStv for the time being.

"The SABC and MultiChoice are currently in discussions to carry the SABC News and SABC Encore channels on DStv. We will communicate the outcome once the discussions have been finalised. The channels will continue to air on DStv whilst the discussions are ongoing," said the SABC and MultiChoice.

Earlier this year the new SABC board told parliament's portfolio committee on communications that it would like to see the SABC News channel continue.

The SABC started SABC News (DStv 404) in August 2013, along with SABC Encore (DStv 156) as a placeholder rerun channel in May 2015. Both channels were part of an exclusive two-channel packaged deal with MultiChoice. In May 2015 the footprint of the SABC News channel was extended beyond South Africa into several other African countries on DStv.

These two channels - although they're content from and created by the public broadcaster - are however not available to other satellite TV platforms like StarSat, e.tv's Openview or Deukom in the way that SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 are.

In November 2017 explosive, leaked meeting transcripts between MultiChoice and the SABC, as well as #GuptaLeaks contracts between MultiChoice and the controversial ANN7 (DStv 405) channel, now renamed Afro Worldview, became public, showing massive payments from MultiChoice to the Guptas.

These payments not only raised multiple serious questions over possible corporate impropriety, but also over TV news channel carriage deals and payments for these channels, as well as raising eyebrows over a private pay-TV company's possible undue influence in the country's switch from analogue to digital TV broadcasting.

MultiChoice told the SABC it would pay the broadcaster R100 million for the SABC News channel but but only on the strict must-have contract clause condition that the SABC must support MultiChoice's stance on conditional access (CA) for digital television.

MultiChoice also dramatically upped its payments from R50 million per year to R100 million per year and then R141 million per year, as well as a questionable, additional R25 million payment to the Guptas for the low-rated, mistake-filled and often criticised ANN7.

It means that MultiChoice has been paying ANN7, now Afro Worldview owned by Mzwanele Manyi, more money despite its very low ratings than what MultiChoice has been paying eNCA (DStv 403) that has more than 50% of the overall TV news audience share on DStv. eMedia Investments will now start a second TV news channel, OpenNews, within months on its own Openview platform as a backup if eNCA were to discontinue on DStv.

Since November 2017 the SABC is aware of how much more money MultiChoice is paying Afro Worldview, although the SABC in May 2018 had 25.23% of the overall TV news channel audience share, compared to Afro Worldview's paltry and sliding 9%.

Meanwhile MultiChoice is finalising the shortlist for a new black-owned local TV news channel to replace Afro Worldview with 24 applications from various consortiums that were received.

MultiChoice doesn't want to announce any of the names of the applicants for public scrutiny and will only communicate who the successful TV news channel bidder is after a new channel carriage contract has been signed.

BREAKING. Maijang Mpherwane out at SABC after 13 years as struggling public broadcaster loses yet another TV executive that resigns.

The exodus of talent and experienced executives at the South African public broadcaster is continuing unabated with TV boss Maijang Sam Mpherwane who has resigned and is leaving the SABC after 13 years.

The SABC's already gutted TV division is losing another high-level executive with Maijang Mpherwane who is exiting the cash-strapped and struggling public broadcaster at the end of July.

Maijang Mpherwane who served as a commissioning editor at the SABC's SABC Education division and then SABC1 programming manager for a long time, became acting SABC1 channel head in 2013, was appointed SABC1 channel head in April 2014, and then became the SABC's general manager for TV channels in February 2016.

During his barely year and a half in the position where he oversaw SABC1, SABC2, SABC3 and the rerun channel SABC Encore packaged for MultiChoice's DStv, Maijang Mpherwane found himself in the midst of unending upheaval and a never-ending litany of problems and crises.

Maijang Mpherwane tried to keep the SABC's TV channels on the air amidst massive executive upheaval and in-fighting behind the scenes at the SABC that saw a slew of high-level firings and resignations in the TV division under then chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng who has now himself been fired last month following a disciplinary hearing.

Before the disastrous period of 2016 under Maijang Mpherwane's tenure that saw the SABC's TV division experience extreme internal turmoil and erratic commissioning procedures, abrupt orders for 80% local content on SABC3 and falling ratings for the SABC's TV channels - all the result of Hlaudi Motsoeneng's dictatorial and highly abrasive management style - Maijang Mpherwane also had to deal with problems as SABC1 channel head.

He barely became SABC1 channel head when the entire principal Generations soap cast went on strike and were all fired under his watch in August 2014 on Hlaudi Motsoeneng's orders,  something that saw the soap - the SABC's most watched programme at the time, completely disappear from the public broadcaster's airwaves for months.

In late-April this year Maijang Mpherwane and Nomsa Philiso both came in for severe public criticism after they jetted off to Los Angeles for a meet-and-greet set visit and cast party with the American day time soap The Bold and the Beautiful.

Both had lunch at a luxury beach house as part of a jet-set press junket while the out-of-cash SABC is struggling and not able to pay local South African TV producers the money they're owed for programming delivered to the public broadcaster.

"It is indeed a bittersweet moment for us as the SABC. His departure comes at an exciting time for us as we are starting to see the fruits of our repositioning as a division, a project that Maijang Mpherwane contributed immensely to," says Nomsa Philiso, SABC TV group executive in a statement.

"We are proud that the SABC had an opportunity to guide and shape Maijang Mpherwane who came into the organisation as an intern in 2004, and leaves today as a general manager with a broad skill set across content and channel management. He now has an opportunity to further make a meaningful contribution to the broader production industry."

The SABC doesn't have a replacement for Maijang Mpherwane and will start a recruitment process to fill the position.

"We will be starting the recruitment process with immediate effect and we would like to assure the production industry of a seamless transition," says Nomsa Philiso.

SABC, 'limping from day to day', owes artists millions of rand in unpaid royalties; blames its financial crisis for its failure to pay.

The SABC owes singers and musicians millions of rand in unpaid royalties and more millions in residuals to actors, with the struggling public broadcaster on the brink of financial collapse, blaming its severe money woes for its failure to pay.

The SABC on Wednesday told parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) that the SABC "is behind with royalty payments" and owes artists at least R75.4 million.

The SABC owes the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (Samro) R14.5 million, the SA Music Performance Rights Association (Sampra) R52.7 million, the Association of Independent Record Companies (ARIC) R2.8 million, the Composers Authors and Publishers Association (Capasso) R3 million and the Recording Industry of South Africa (Risa) R2.4 million.

The SABC didn't provide any numbers for the outstanding millions it owes actors and writers for residuals for the rebroadcasts and repeats of TV shows like Sgudi 'Snaysi on SABC1 and the library shows broadcast on its SABC Encore channel on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

The SABC told parliament that the last time it paid any royalties to artists was in December 2016 but didn't specify an amount, and blames the public broadcaster's cash-strapped status.

The SABC also failed to pay all artists, winners and contributors for the 2017 Metro FM Awards held months ago.

Bessie Tugwana, acting COO, blamed the SABC's non-payment of artists on a "struggle to get verified documentation so we could pay" and the SABC's "cash-flow problem". She told parliament that everyone will be paid at the end of May.

A year ago, in May 2016, SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago announced that the SABC will immediately increase the royalty tariff paid to artists for music content played on the SABC's 18 radio stations and TV channels from 3.2% to 4% - but nothing came of that, with the SABC unable to even pay the 3.2%.

The SABC referring to its situation as "dire" and saying it's "limping from day to day", told parliament on Wednesday that the "90% local content" decree for local music airplay on radio and "80% local content" on SABC TV ordered by the former chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng has destroyed the public broadcaster and is threatening the very existence of the SABC that doesn't have the money to pay for it.

New SABC interim deputy chairperson Mathatha Tshedu revealed that the SABC blew an additional R72 million on new local content to replace other local content no longer deemed suitable, for the 90% local content policy.

"We are looking at taking back detrimental consequences of some decisions. We are looking at the 90% which saw both the television and radio losing millions. It's implementation has to take cognisance of the fact that it mustn't threaten the existence of the SABC itself, which is what it is doing."

The SABC revealed that it wasted another R74 million in TV content it bought but never showed, marked as fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

The SABC, now struggling to pay staff and producers, further spent hundreds of millions of rand on irregular content buying, for instance R63 million in 2016/17 and R240 million in 2015/16.

Already owing them millions of rand in outstanding payments, last week the SABC told South African producers going forward that it only wants to pay them 25% monthly of the money they're due although they're expected to keep delivering 100% of the content the SABC requires to keep its TV channels on the air.

Communications minister Ayanda Dlodlo told parliament that "the dire state of the SABC wasn't brought to us voluntarily by executives. We had to dig".

Ayanda Dlodlo said the SABC's initial bailout request to treasury was inadequate. "It was like putting an Elastoplast on a wound instead of treating the wound".

After getting a bailout in the form of a R1.47 billion government-guaranteed Nedbank loan in 2009 during its previous bailout when the SABC teetered on the brink of collapse eight years ago, it's not yet known what amount in another government-guaranteed loan the SABC is seeking this time in its next bailout.

SHOCKER. SABC admits its facing a new cash crisis, says SABC staff could be retrenched, SABC News and SABC Encore channels on DStv now 'jeopardised'.

The beleaguered SABC is suddenly admitting that it's facing a new cash crisis and warns in a statement that staff retrenchments could be on the cards at the public broadcaster that now admits that it is funding operations out of its already low cash reserves that’s dwindling fast.

The SABC is also warning that the sustainability of its controversial SABC News and SABC Encore channels it supplies to MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform is now suddenly "jeopardised".

The struggling SABC is mired in allegations of mismanagement, maladministration and corruption and largely rudderless after the gutting of the SABC board and the firing of swathes of top executives with no permanent CEO or COO.

The SABC is now blaming its cauldron's brew of negative and sensational news bubbling forth since late December in parliament's ad hoc committee investigating the SABC for a drop in revenue and the SABC's cash balance that's supposed to be held steady at R650 million per month.

The shocking and lurid stories coming from those who testified before parliament's ad hoc committee, apparently scared not just advertisers away, but jeopardised deals being negotiated and caused fewer people to pay their SABC TV licences.

The inquiry's final report that was adopted last week Tuesday, found that all of the SABC's "questionable transactions" should be investigated and probed by forensic audit like the SABC MultiChoice deal, and for a review of the feasibility of The New Age breakfast briefings.

By December the loss-making SABC's cash reserves plunged to just R174 million, with the SABC now saying that it had warned the government repeatedly that it's not getting enough money from the government.

The SABC now confirms a new cash crisis as Auckland Park’s Fawlty Towers is once again hovering close to the financial crisis in 2009 that saw the SABC come to the brink of financial collapse. 

This crisis triggered a government bail-out in the form of a R1.4 billion government guaranteed Nedbank bank loan. Now the SABC’s is once again dangerously close to running out of money.

'Activities now funded from reserves’

SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago admitted in a press statement on Thursday that the SABC's revenue is "under pressure with the SABC now funding its activities from its reserves".

Kaizer Kganyago now says that "the SABC cautioned that the collapse of its finances was imminent if due care was not exercised in dealing with the confidentiality of contracts with its strategic partners".

Kaizer Kganyago says that "continuous attacks on the SABC" could now lead to retrenchment of SABC staff and that the SABC suffered a significant drop in advertising income.

The sustainability of the SABC News and SABC Encore channels on DStv are now also "jeopardised" according to the SABC, meaning the future fate of these controversial channels are uncertain.

The SABC's new interim board, their appointment waiting to be rubber-stamped by president Jacob Zuma, will have to try and save the sinking public broadcasting ship.

The SABC recorded yet another – and growing – loss of R411 in the 2015/2016 financial year and posted a loss of R256 million for the second quarter of 2016. The SABC is on track to likely post yet another annual loss later this year.

The SABC's SABC Encore channel on DStv is ONCE AGAIN in breach of its MultiChoice contract as it fails to provide proper programming information.

It's no secret that the beleaguered South African Broadcasting Corporation is the problem child sitting in the back of the class struggling to keep up.

2017 is starting off awkwardly for the SABC due to utter laziness and incompetence, with the SABC once again in blatant breach of its MultiChoice contract for SABC Encore (DStv 156) - the apartheid era library channel it supplies to DStv.

Paying DStv subscribers who want to know what is showing on SABC Encore and want actual programme and episode information can't get it for a string of shows since the SABC failed to give that information to MultiChoice, although MultiChoice is paying the SABC to do so.

Once again the SABC Encore programming schedule on the DStv electronic programme guide (EPG) for 2017 simply shows "Channel did not supply programme information".

Keep in mind that this is not new content - it's old stuff. The SABC's programming, library and publicity staff can't even bother to watch their own programming to write short synopsis and programming info, or can't be bothered to provide and send it through.

The result is of course that the SABC shows just how much little it values its own channel and how dismissive it is of SABC Encore - it's own product.

While the SABC treats SABC Encore like irrelevant trash it presumably wants viewers and DStv subscribers to care about the channel that MultiChoice is paying the SABC millions of rands for. Yet it can't bother to do the very basics of providing apt programming descriptions and episode synopsis.

The SABC's incompetence icon and famously matricless boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng signed the MultiChoice contract in which the SABC undertook as part of the contract, to provide programming information for SABC Encore.

On page 25 of the controversial MultiChoice SABC contract, the SABC signed and agreed that "the SABC shall provide MultiChoice South Africa at the SABC's cost with monthly programming highlights and programme information on the channels, including the programme sequence, title, synopsis, duration and details of the programme production" at least 90 days before the start of the month in which it will be shown.

Clearly the SABC isn't doing this and is in breach of its contract with MultiChoice - even on the very day of broadcast, MultiChoice is forced to tell DStv subscribers the SABC "did not supply programme information".

According to the MultiChoice SABC contract, Hlaudi Motsoeneng and the SABC signed that it will ensure its programming information the broadcaster provides to MultiChoice "shall be as accurate as possible".

While the SABC is in breach of its contract with MultiChoice, DStv subscribers who has to pay for it and casually scroll through the line-up, just want to know Mokgonyana Mmatswale is about and what the specific prime time episode will be about - but they can't because the SABC fails to do its job.  

Acting SABC CEO James Aguma gives Hlaudi Motsoeneng a secret R11.4 million bonus not approved by board as some SABC board members plan to 're-appoint' Hlaudi.

The acting SABC CEO James Aguma this week paid the controversial and famously matricless executive Hlaudi Motsoeneng a shocking and secret R11.4 million bonus that wasn't approved by the full SABC board as plans are underway to "re-appoint" Hlaudi Motsoeneng as "acting chief operating officer after the Supreme Court of Appeal on Monday found his appointment as COO invalid.

The shocking R11.4 million bonus James Aguma secretly authorised and paid to Hlaudi Motsoeneng - two payments of R5.7 million - is for "securing" the highly controversial MultiChoice deal for the SABC to provide the little-watched SABC News and SABC Encore channels to DStv.

The eye-popping R11.4 million payment James Aguma ordered the SABC to make to Hlaudi Motsoeneng comes as the SABC in this coming week will declare yet another loss of hundreds of millions of rand in its latest financial report.

Meanwhile some members of the SABC board in a plan that doesn't have full SABC board approval, is seeking the "re-appointment" of Hlaudi Motsoeneng as "acting chief operating officer (COO).

"Acting COO" is a job title Hlaudi Motsoeneng has had several times before - after the Supreme Court of Appeal on Monday found his permanent appointment as COO invalid after a protracted court case the SABC and Hlaudi Motsoeneng dragged out as long as it could.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) political party in a statement on Sunday says it will "take the re-appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng as 'acting' COO back to court. We have been left with no other option following the deplorable decision taken by the SABC to undermine the Western Cape High Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal."

"This decision is a slap in the face of the rule of law and is a desperate attempt to allow the Hlaudi Motsoeneng 'wrecking ball' to continue his disastrous reign at the public broadcaster." 

"This madness needs to be stopped," says the DA. "Our precious public resources should be spent on building a reputable, fair and well-run public broadcaster and not on the propping up of its single greatest impediment."

The Sunday Times on Sunday reported that the secret R11.4 million bonus to Hlaudi Motsoeneng was "made without the knowledge of the SABC board" with some SABC board members calling the massive bonus pay-out "fraud".

James Aguma, Hlaudi Motsoeneng and SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago didn't respond to detailed questions.

Also on Sunday City Press reported on the bonus pay-out that the full SABC board "had never approved" any bonus for Hlaudi Motsoeneng for the controversial MultiChoice SABC channels contract, according to SABC board members speaking on condition of anonymity.

Again Hlaudi Motsoeneng and SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago declined to comment.

City Press also reported that, according to sources, Hlaudi Motsoeneng will be "re-appointed" as "acting" COO at the SABC and willalso replace Bessie Tugwana as the head of corporate affairs in the position she was just moved to a month ago.

The plan is apparently to move Bessie Tugwana to the newly created SABC position as group executive for special projects.

SABC's archive access and SABC Encore and SABC News channels provided to MultiChoice's DStv is not a merger rules Competition Tribunal.

The Competition Tribunal of the Competition Commission of South Africa has found that the exclusive deal between the SABC and MultiChoice for archive access and creating public broadcaster TV channels for the DStv service is not a merger.

Caxton, the public pressure group SOS Support Public Broadcasting Coalition and Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) brought the case to the Competition Commission.

MultiChoice pays the SABC millions of rand to provide the SABC News (DStv 404)  and SABC Encore (DStv 156) channels to the DStv platform and the group argued that the mega-millions deal between the public broadcaster and the pay-TV behemoth constituted a merger.

The Competition Tribunal found that the contract entered into on 3 July 2013 "did not give rise to a notifiable merger in terms of the Competition Act".

"It was a major part of Caxton's case that the SABC had given up the rights to broadcast its valuable archive to its own viewers, not to mention precluding itself from licensing it to other broadcasters," says the Competition Tribunal.

The Competition Tribunal found that the original contract was changed three times and lessened the constraints from MultiChoice in regards to SABC archives access and diluted certain rights mentioned in the original contract.

"The agreement is too limited in scope to justify a conclusion that MultiChoice was assuming control over the SABC's business".

In a statement the SABC's chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng says "we are delighted by the ruling of the Competition Commission of South Africa on this matter, as it negates the malicious allegations that were doing the rounds that the SABC has sold the SABC archives whilst this was not the case".

"The SABC remains committed to continuously establish cordial and mutually benefitting relations with key stakeholders as well as other broadcasters for the benefit of the SABC audiences".

40th BIRTHDAY: South African television marks its 40th anniversary today since the first nationwide TV broadcast of the SABC on 5 January 1976.

You're reading it here first.

Television in South Africa turns 40 years old today with the SABC TV service that marks its 40th anniversary since the very first nationwide broadcast on 5 January 1976 when Dorianne Berry and Heinrich Marnitz welcomed viewers to the "opening night" of TV in the country.

The past four decades saw the SABC's television offering going through various channel permutations with the South African public broadcaster currently providing 5 TV channels in the form of SABC1, SABC2, SABC3 and then two channels – SABC News and the archive rerun channel SABC Encore – produced exclusively for MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

The past 4 decades in South Africa also saw the launch of pay-TV with pay-TV broadcaster M-Net (that will be turning 30 years old in October), together with MultiChoice's DStv and StarTimes Media SA's StarSat as satellite pay-TV offerings.

Services like Platco Digital's OpenView HD free-to-air satellite service in addition to a growing plethora of video-on-demand (VoD) services like Naspers' ShowMax, Times Media’s struggling VIDI, MTN’s VU and PCCW Global's ONTAPtv.com are enhancing consumer choice in South Africa’s growing videosphere. 

Meanwhile the global streaming giant Netflix that told me that it will be launching in South Africa before the end of this year.

The 40^th anniversary milestone comes as the SABC that introduced television in South Africa continues to lurch from crisis to crisis four decades later.

Currently the largely rudderless South African Broadcasting Corporation sits with a suspended CEO off the job just 4 months after being appointed to a position that was vacant for a year and a half, a chief operating officer (COO) mired in protracted court cases and who wants journalists "licensed", a gutted SABC board, a reported loss of R403 million for the latest financial year, and with a looming controversial Broadcasting Amendment Bill set to change the SABC from a public broadcaster to a state broadcaster under the control of the minister of communications and the president.

The SABC isn't today celebrating the 40^th anniversary since its first national TV broadcast was done from Auckland Park – complete with studio curtains and in colour – but the milestone is highly significant as the South Africa's television industry is hovering on the verge of the biggest sea change since the introduction of what dr. Albert Hertzog, the then minister for posts and telegraphs, called "the devil's own box".

In 2016 the long-delayed commercial switch from analogue to digital terrestrial television (DTT) broadcasting will simply have to start in South Africa after the country missed the internationally agreed to deadline for the switch-off of analogue TV signals by June 2015.

Government incompetence over years, a lack of leadership with the process over the past decade, as well as a wayward department of communications are blamed for the shambolic DTT quagmire.

SA's digital TV challenges

While DTT will ring in the biggest sistemic change for South Africa’s television industry since the medium started in 1976 and will bring ordinary South African TV viewers access to many more TV channels from e.tv and M-Net in addition to the SABC's 5 existing channels, big problems and challenges await in South African television's 40th anniversary year.

While millions of poor South African TV viewers qualify to get a government-subsidised set-top box (STB) – a compulsory decoder necessary to receive and watch digital television – these TV households without a SABC TV licence and who can't pay for an annual licence are already being denied a STB.

This will see thousands of TV households cut off in a TV market where viewers can't get enough of their beloved local South Africa weekday soap operas, impacting things like TV ratings, audience measurement and advertising.

As channels and new broadcasters under DTT are rolled out it will also lead to the biggest demand for TV content since the start of TV in South Africa in four decades ago.

Lost in the squabble over STB contracts and tenders, numerous digital migration standards and regulation amendments, as well as industry infighting and broadcaster litigation, has been the discussion about the actual TV content – what it will be, the financial cost to produce and acquire it, and where it will come from to fill new schedules.

While broadcasters like the SABC, e.tv and M-Net will each transmit more channels leading to further fragmentation of the existing TV audience, advertisers, agencies and ad buyers will battle with having to slice their existing ad spend to try and capture ever thinning audiences spread out over more channels.

Meanwhile local broadcasters will have to pay for foreign content and produce more local content for new TV channels to try and entice South African viewers to switch to DTT – burning through content that will have to be good enough to make viewers feel they need to switch in order to make the digital migration process successful, although these channels will not initially have a lot of viewers to make its existence commercially feasible.

Digital television will ironically require a huge capital investment for South Africa's broadcasters in their own new TV content that won't be initially seen by a lot of viewers.

Broadcasters will also have to continue to pay for "dual illumination": broadcasting a DTT version of their existing and new TV channels' signals but also continuing to transmit in parallel, the analogue signals of existing TV channels for a period of a few years until these analogue signals can be switched off.

This switch-off can only take place when the bulk of millions of TV households have eventually bought or received a set-top box and switched over … in a country where roughly two-thirds of all TV households don't even have or pay for a SABC TV licence.

ANC: 'The SABC and MultiChoice deal is not in the best interest of the people of South Africa', keeps SABC 'a junior broadcaster to pay TV'.

The ANC is upset with its minister of communications Faith Muthambi and will meet with her today as the ruling political party in South Africa is now hugely concerned about about the highly controversial channels deal signed between MultiChoice and the SABC, saying "the SABC and MultiChoice deal is not in the best interest of the people of South Africa".

The ANC says the controversial deal forces the SABC to remain "a junior broadcaster".

The ANC also wants answers from Faith Muthambi and is hugely concerned about the minister's abrupt policy about-turn of non-encryption for the SABC in the looming switch to digital terrestrial television (DTT) in the country, saying the bad decision by Faith Muthambi will force the SABC to remain "a junior broadcaster to pay television" in South Africa.

On Monday night Jackson Mthembu, ANC National executive committee member and spokesperson, appeared on Justice Malala's The Justice Factor on eNCA (DStv 403), saying the ANC wants answers from Faith Muthambi on the controversial deal between MultiChoice and the SABC.

In the deal worth hundreds of millions of rand, MultiChoice pays the SABC to provide the SABC News (DStv 404) channel, now running just in English on DStv and no longer including other indigenous South African languages, as well as exclusive access to the SABC's archives for the library rerun channel SABC Encore (DStv 156) with old SABC shows.

The controversial MultiChoice and SABC deal is currently before the Competition Commission's tribunal, in a case brought by the public pressure group SOS Coalition, Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) and the media group Caxton arguing that the mega-millions deal between the public broadcaster and the pay-TV behemoth constitutes a merger.

"Why did the SABC agree on non-encryption in set-top boxes (STBs) for digital terrestrial television (DTT) with MultiChoice?" asked Jackson Mthembu on The Justice Factor.

"There's this agreement that is sitting between MultiChoice and the SABC. That agreement I can tell you is not in the best interest of the SABC itself."

"Because then the SABC will not have premium content, will not be able to compete at the same level with MultiChoice. Therefore the SABC will be a junior broadcaster to pay television. And I think that's not in the best interest of the people of South Africa. We don't," said Jackson Mthembu.

Although the embattled Faith Muthambi denied in a hastily released statement last week that it was discussed, Jackson Mthembu reiterated Monday night on eNCA that encryption of set-top boxes (STBs) was discussed and "extensively" at the recent ANC's NGC as well as the issue of digital TV migration.

"Definitely. It was discussed extensively," said Jackson Mthembu. He repeated that "equally the difficulties and challenges that the SABC is faced with" was also discussed.

Jackson Mthembu said earlier that the ANC had not been consulted by Faith Muthambi on the non-encryption aspect of the digital migration policy.

"If you don't have the instruments to assist you to protect those [content] rights, you won't get those broadcasting rights. You won't get wonderful films from Hollywood, you won't get wonderful rights to air sports. Therefore you will be a junior broadcaster to those that are able to protect their content," said Jackson Mthembu on Monday night.

"The government has been pursuing encryption [for free-to-air digital television signals] for some time, including the 2013 policy that government itself took," said Jackson Mthembu.

"After elaborate consultation with the industry where MultiChoice, e.tv and the SABC were consulted, those consultations concluded with a policy that said as government, on all those set-top boxes that we are going to subsidise, they will be encrypted. No question about it."

Also on Monday night Marian Shinn, the Democratic Alliance (DA) member of parliament tasked with telecommunications, appeared on Insig on kykNET (DStv 144) to discuss the same topic of the beleaguered Faith Muthambi and the ongoing quagmire of the South African government's acute and embarrassing failure with digital TV migration, calling it "a cesspit of intrigue and incompetence".

An avalanche of awesome coming your way on Thursday evening, 10 September - let those PVRs hum to try and catch all this new television.

Not even a DStv PVR or DStv Explora is going to help you cope with this - you'll need multiple DStv Explora decoders for the absolute avalanche of TV "homework" happening tomorrow, Thursday 10 September on South African television.

I'm trying to think when last I had to juggle keeping up with, and watching so many shows on one night, which will happen again on Thursday evening. Even if you try and set all the recordings, your technology is going to protest and refuse.

So, difficult choices - which is great! - and a lot of things to watch!

Here's your plethora of Thursday 10 September wanna-watch stuff:

M-Net (DStv 101) has the debut of Power Couple South Africa at 19:30, the brand-new reality show filmed in Cape Town in which 8 couples live in a villa and compete weekly while they try to complete daunting challenges. Afrokaans is producing and the production values look great.

M-Net (DStv 101) has the new second season of The Night Shift starting at 21:30.
If you haven't watched the first season, start watching now - the drama series is great.

Someone is placed on suspension (following the season finale's drama), a new surgeon joins and someone steps down.

Then you want to watch Top Billing on SABC3 at 19:30 to see how Chris Jaftha is doing as the latest new presenter joining the local glamorous entertainment magazine show with his first insert at the Durban Fashion Fair.

Top Billing calls Chris Jaftha a "super stud" but no, he won't be schmodeling at the Fashion Fair himself, but knowing the Top Billing producers' penchant for having the presenters bare their man flesh it probably won't be too long before viewers see this six pack on their screens.

E! Entertainment (DStv 124) has the must-watch Celebrating Joan on Thursday at 21:00, a half hour show presented by her daughter Melissa Rivers, a clip-show celebrating her best and funniest moments one year after her untimely passing.

You will laugh. A lot. See Joan Rivers' bloopers and funniest moments, as well as hilarious interactions with some guests over the years on E!'s Fashion Police, as well as a lot of bleeping when Joan uses her "favourite words" (which can't be said on television.

Just before it at 20:00 on Thursday, E! Entertainment and NBCUniversal Networks International is supposed to start with the very first episode of E! News Special, the the brand-new profile series interviewing local South African personalities.

The first E! News Special is supposed to be on Thursday at 20:00 - although it isn't showing at all on E! and DStv's channel schedule and also not on DStv's electronic programme guide (EPG), so it's not recordable and people won't know it will be on.

Bonang Matheba will be the first profile episode in this show produced by Brainstorm.

Colin McLeod‚ the managing director for emerging markets at NBC Universal International Networks last month said E! is "confident that the profiles of local celebrities will resonate well with our audience" and that the brand-new show will help to make "E! the TV destination for the pop of African culture".

Then History (DStv 186) has a new season (its 25th!) of car show Fifth Gear at 20:30. This episode is special  since Tiff Needell and Vicki Butler-Henderson visit sunny South Africa to drive everything from rally cars to military vehicles.

You'd think A+E Networks UK would make a much bigger fuss about this and actually let people know about it more, but at least now you know.

While BBC Brit (DStv 120) is suddenly showing shockingly old reruns of Top Gear (the second season of years and years ago) after that show's self-destruction earlier this year, Fifth Gear is brand-new.

The new series Expedition Unknown starts on the Travel Channel (DStv 179) at 20:00 on Thursday. The adventurer Josh Gates investigates unsolved iconic stories across the globe. Armed with a degree in archaeology and a passion for travel, Josh Gates begins by uncovering recent developments in the story, then springboards into a fully immersive exploration.

Of course it's way too much to expect that the SABC will ever actually do marketing or any publicity for its stocked with reruns channel SABC Encore (DStv 156) on DStv.

But on Thursday at 20:30 (yes, I'm not kidding) you can watch the first episode of the worthwile heydey local drama John Ross - An African Adventure - the first rebroadcast in many, many years.

In David Lister's highly acclaimed youth series first shown on TV1 in 1987, the British teenager (played by Darrel Robertson) is washed ashore in October 1825 off the coast of Zululand, and is escorted by a small band of Zulu tribesmen as John Ross sets out on foot from Durban to Delagoa Bay. It has 13 episodes.

If you know anything about Star Wars, you'd want to tune in on Thursday to M-Net Movies and Disney's Star Wars pop-up channel on MultiChoice's DStv on channel 109 at 17:55 for more on the dreaded "Order 66".

Order 66 of course is the secret order that was given by Senator Palpatine, who becomes/is the evil Emperor, for the Stormtroopers to assassinate all the Jedi in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

It's a really painful event and moment in the Star Wars narrative, and the fascinating Behind the Scenes featurette gives more background and an explainer of Order 66, what was shown - and not shown but created - for the movie.