Star Wars The Mandalorian from Disney+ that's unavailable in South Africa tops the list of 2020's illegally most-watched TV show. Here is the Top 10 list:

by Thinus Ferreira

It is the show you've been looking for: The show most-watched TV show through illegal means in 2020 is a show and a service that isn't available through any pay-TV option in South Africa with Star Wars: The Mandalorian series on Disney+ that has dethroned Game of Thrones.

According to TorrentFreak that researches and compiles an annual list, The Mandalorian on Disney+ is now the most sought-after TV series to watch globally - whether through legitimate channels or pirate viewing.

That is followed by the subversive superhero series The Boys on Amazon Prime Video, and with HBO's Westworld, seen on M-Net (DSv 101) and Showmax, in third place.

Noteworthy is that no show from Netflix appears on 2020's Top 10 list. 

The force powers of Baby Yoda (real name: Grogu) has overpowered HBO's fantasy series Game of Thrones that for years dominated the annual post-pirated TV show list. The Mandalorian has jumped from third most-downloaded series in 2019 and is now in first place.

Disney+ that has rolled out in several comparable TV markets to South Africa, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South America, several countries in Europe and Australia and New Zealand remains unavailable in the country or anywhere else in sub-Saharan Africa.

While Disney isn't making it possible for South African to watch The Mandalorian and forcing them to pirate-view the show, The Walt Disney Company is oddly licensing, distributing and selling The Mandalorian merchandise like clothes in South African retail stores.

Disney has not announced any possible Disney+ roll-out date for South Africa, fuelling in the lexicon of The Mandalorian "the way": growing consumer interest in illegal downloads and sharing of its content across Africa. 

As Disney+ remains unavailable although consumers would pay for legal access, more people over time will use torrents and other illegal download methods to watch The Mandalorian as well as other Disney+ content, which means that Disney will lose more money and revenue from content monetisation from consumers who would have paid to watch it.    

New shows on the Top 10 most-downloaded list for 2020 include Star Trek: Picard available on Amazon Prime Video that is available as a subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service in South Africa, and the HBO Stephen King-based mini-series Outsider that was on M-Net and Showmax.

"The top three nicely shows how fragmented the online entertainment industry has become. In order to watch all three series, one needs three separate subscriptions. That's a cost not everyone may be able to afford, which can explain part of the piracy problem," TorrentFreak says.

Other shows on 2020's Top 10 most-watched list are traditional pay-TV series, including Vikings on M-Net City (DStv 115) and Showmax, Rick and Morty on TNT Africa (DStv 137) and Showmax, The Walking Dead on FOX (DStv 125 / StarSat 131) and Arrow on M-Net and Flash on M-Net City.

This is the 10 top ranking:

                                            2019

1.    The Mandalorian        3

2.    The Boys                    none

3.    Westworld                 none

4.    Vikings                         4

5.    Star Trek: Picard       none

6.    Rick and Morty           8

7.    The Walking Dead      6

8.    Outsider                     none

9.    Arrow                          10

10.    The Flash                   7

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 29 December 2020.

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

■ ViacomCBS CEO's plan for its global Paramount+ video streaming service: Breaking news, live sports and a mountain of entertainment content.

■ Donald Trump plans to wreck Fox News (StarSat 261) with his own MAGA digital channel.

"He plans to wreck Fox," says insiders, revealing that the reality TV star wants to start a digital media channel that would stream online since starting a traditional pay-TV channel would be expensive and time-consuming.

■ The new third episode of the 2nd season of Star Wars: The Mandalorian just fixed a major plot hole.

- SEE: Sets in Los Angeles almost completed for season 3.

- Second season of The Mandalorian sets a new standard in phallic symbols.

■ How Bridgerton on Netflix wants to revolutionise romance on TV.

■ Fox News (StarSat 261) identity crisis: Indulge Donald Trump election claims or reject it and watch viewers flee.

■ The film crews being directed from a continent away.

■ Will Disney+ ever be as big as Netflix?

■ CNN (DStv 401) ratings surge as boss Jeff Zucker's fate is uncertain.

■ Deadliest Catch fisherman star Nick McGlashan dead at 33. His cause of death is unknown but he has been struggling with drugs and alcohol for years.

■ When every set looks like Contagion: Inside Hollywood's pandemic year.

■ Apple TV+ was making a new TV show about Gawker. Then CEO Tim Cook found out and canned it.

■ The SABC's Monday meeting with the trade unions Bemawu and CWU over retrenchments has been postponed.

■ PODCAST - Access denied: Like in the industries its reporters cover, the lack of black representation in financial media has created blind spots where predominantly white newsrooms often miss stories about systemic racism or fail to reach an audience of more than one demographic.

■ MUST READ: How America's Trump administration suppresses photography of the Covid-19 pandemic.

How America's government reinforced media restrictions at hospitals to curb the media's ability to show disturbing images from inside hospitals and from preventing journalists from getting access.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 31 October 2020.

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

■ Cheating scandal of Outsurance frontman and SABC3 Expresso presenter Katlego Maboe:

- Close confidant dishes to YOU magazine in cover story: "The person you see on TV isn't the real Katlego". (subscription required)

-  Monique Muller reveals: Katlego Maboe allegedly infected her with the sexually-transmitted disease (STD) HPV after a trip to the Ukraine sponsored by Lay's Chips for which he was a brand ambassador.

- Monique Muller now has a protection order against Katlego Maboe who isn't allowed to come anywhere close to the Seapoint flat where they lived.

- A week after teasing a teary sit-down, GoBinge interview on YouTube with Monique Muller fails to materialise.

■ BBC orders staffers "not to express personal opinion" on politics, public policy or controversial subjects on social media.

- BBC journalists question, poke fun at BBC over tougher rules - including Huw Edwards.

- BBC journalists no longer allowed to "virtue signal" in social media crackdown.

- Confusion as new BBC boss Tim Davie says BBC staff can attend Pride marches after all.

- Tim Davie: "No ban on attending Pride parades."

■ Star Wars: The Mandalorian a Disney+ hit - but the streamer has little else.

Because of Covid-19 the Disney+ streamer would have had a lot of other new TV series by now ... all delayed.

- Ending of season 2's first episode explained.

- Second season "won't move far, far away from what worked last year."

- Is that Boba Fett??

- Timothy Olyphant's perfect, perfect haircut.

- How Baby Yoda became the biggest meme star in the galaxy.

More Star Wars: The Mandalorian reviews:

- "Writer-director Jon Favreau simply giving audiences what they want"

- "Fine but not great; a hologram of what it could be"

- Ongoing discovery of the Star Wars universe with spectacular results"

- "A metaphor for parenthood as well as old-fashioned science-fiction entertainment"

- "Even if the story is relatively small in scope, the visuals and effects are huge and spectacular"

- "A ton of fun"

- "A very good episode"

■ Fox News (StarSat 261) expands its Fox News International video streaming service to Ireland, Norway, Czech Republic.

■ WATCH: Entertainment Weekly staffers on how American TV will be reshaped by 2020 and challenges that shows might face down the road.

■ CNN International (DStv 401) PR division lashes out at Kirstie Alley in ugly fight over its 2020 American election coverage:

"Kirstie, you are welcome to change the channel – just like countless viewers did every time Veronica’s Closet came on TV."

■ Netflix's strategy: More of its own original content but much shorter runs.

■ MGM's costly dilemma as it considered selling its No Time to Die James Bond film to video streaming services.

■ Ultimate Love reality TV wedding on the rocks that MultiChoice Nigeria would have bankrolled.

Rosemary "Rosie" Afuwape and "Kachi" Ucheagwu split which means an end to million naira TV wedding: "I don't need a man that is flippant at every slight provocation, behaving like a woman and wants to show me he is a man in a wrong way."

■  More South Africans unimpressed with the SABC's idea of wanting DStv and Netflix subscribers as well as smartphone owners forced to pay SABC TV Licence fees.

■ The South African public broadcaster officially puts out a request for information (RFI) for a company to provide the SABC with an over-the-top video streaming service.

The closing date is 30 November 2020.

■ YouTubers reimagine new game Among Us as a reality TV show.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 30 October 2020.

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

■ Andisa Ndlovu leaves eNCA (DStv 403)
... while Zoe Brown pops back up at SABC3's Expresso.

■ Outsurance edits SABC3 Expresso presenter Katlego Maboe out of its TV commercials after his cheating.

- Katlego Maboe's "wife abuse storm" story also news across Southern Africa.

■ Season 2 of Star Wars: The Mandalorian starts on Disney+ that is NOT available on South Africa or Africa - a favourite character makes a cameo!

- Star Wars: The Mandalorian: Disney's biggest blockbuster of 2020 returns with a new mission.

- Who is Cobb Vanth?

- A Star Wars lore cheat sheet for season 2.

- Star Wars: The Mandalorian season 2 makes Disney+ the lead streamer.

- But perhaps again the most pirated TV show of 2020  as it was in 2019?

Disney refused to preview or make screeners of the second season available to TV critics.

■ Star Wars: The Mandalorian reviews: 

- "A smorgasbord of action and Easter eggs"

- "A fun return"

- "Creators have started to think bigger"

- The best episode yet? Season 2 premiere was amazing"

- Season 2 kicks off in the best way"

■ CNN International (DStv 401) contributor lied on CNN.

■ Fox News (StarSat 261) Tucker Carlson claims; proof lost in the mail.

■ What happens to Fox News (StarSat 261) if Donald Trump loses the 2020 American election? Rupert Murdoch is prepared.

■ Angry South African artists in potential hostage situation demand answers from the country's incompetent Gauteng Arts and Culture department over Covid-19 relief funds.

■ As expected, Netflix hikes prices in America.

■ Amazon Prime Video: The consumer doesn't own the series and films they buy to watch.

■ How will Disney's experiment making its big-screen Mulan available on its Disney+ streamer affect the VOD business?

■ South Africans are tired of "doing the right thing" when it comes to paying their SABC TV Licence fees and won't stand for being taxed more to fund the SABC simply by watching MultiChoice's DStv or Netflix SA.

- There are a lot of challenges around the SABC and department of communications' idea to have private companies like MultiChoice and Netflix collect and pay SABC TV Licence fees on behalf of their customers.

■ The Masked Singer is getting a spinoff: The Masked Dancer.

■ NBCUniversal is apparently done with creating content and shows for a specific pay-TV channel.

What will happen to American-produced linear pay-TV channels like E!, Universal TV, Studio Universal and others carried on platforms like DStv in Africa?

■ See and hear Gillian Anderson and her stunning transformation into Margaret Thatcher in the trailer for the 4th season of The Crown on Netflix.

■ Sky gives carpentry show The Chop on Sky History channel the chop after Nazi scandal.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 24 October 2020.

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

■ Reputation in tatters: SABC3's Expresso presenter Katlego Maboe's affair reveals shocking revelations.

A golden couple, seemingly living an idyllic life - until Monique Muller accuses the Outsurance TV commercials frontman of giving her a sexually transmitted disease that could lead to cancer.

■ Celeb endorsement gone bad: Lessons to learn from Katlego Maboe's cheating scandal.

Katlego Maboe removed from Expresso and Outsurance is all about reputation. The same way Expresso would get more viewers had he been a hero, the same way they will lose viewers if they keep him on. His image represents brands.

■ Katlego Maboe's wife Monique slammed as he loses endorsements" - The actual headline from Zalebs!

- "Other woman" hasn't worked for Outsurance in 2 years.  - Pleads for video to be taken down.

- Friday's episode of Trending SA on SABC3 ignores the "trending" TV star scandal.

- What's next? Katlego Maboe faces "uncertain future".

- Katlego Maboe's Wikipedia page now reflects infidelity, pulled from TV jobs.

■ Secrets and betrayals upend a seemingly perfect life in new drama series The Undoing.

■ MUST READ: Barbara Blake Hannah - The first black reporter on British TV.

■ Security?? Fake Borat reporter makes it into White House, meets Donald Trump.

■ Lawyers of trade union Bemawu gives SABC execs ultimatum over retrenchment process.

Bemawu demands SABC return to consultation process and that no Bemawu staffers are dismissed.

■ Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts(Scopa) identifies problems at the SABC.

Discrepancies in information from SABC management and in its annual financial statement, as well as financial problems in supply chain management.

■ Is Jeff Zucker on his way out as president of CNN (DStv 401)?

- Also: CNN could be an AT&T spinoff target.

- Get ready for Trump TV, America.

■ The reality of Reality TV: Can cause viewers to become more aggressive in life and relationships.

■ Why the reviews for Netflix's Rebecca remake are so negative.

Main roles all miscast, film lacks bite. - "Awful, rushed, confusing"

■ New Zealand's film and TV industry booming thanks to it being a Covid-19 safe-haven.

■ When good clothes happen to bad TV shows. (subscription required).

TV has become the new medium for great fashion, but is that good news for TV?

■ Take a Jedi to Work Day: Ewan McGregor wore his old Jedi robes on the set of Disney's Star Wars: The Mandalorian.

■ How man rescued his wife Tope Mark Odigie who is a co-anchor at the TVC News channel in Nigeria when protesters stormed and started burning the Television Continental building in Lagos, Nigeria during #EndSARS protests.

■ Namibia: Royalty payments will be a record-low for 2021.

■ Why are such a lot of people binge-watching such a lot of terrible TV like Emily in Paris on Netflix, causing more bad shows to be made? (subscription required)

■ Covid quarantine and social distancing shows are causing Zoom fatigue.

TV NEWS ROUND-UP. Today's interesting TV stories to read - 18 September 2020.

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

■ Do you speak Fox News (StarSat 261)?
How Donald Trump's favourite TV channel became a language.

■ Pedro Pascal allegedly went cray-cray during filming of season 2 of Disney+'s Star Wars The Mandalorian and suddenly demanded to film scenes without his helmet on so that he can be seen.

- Has "difficult" Pedro Pascal quit Star Wars The Mandalorian?

- "Big change" coming halfway through season 2 as season "shifts away from Mando".

■ Netflix's Cheer star Jerry Harris arrested by FBI, charged with producing child porn.

■ Reality TV space series wants to send contestants to space in 2023.

■ The darkness of American daytime TV: It's awful at Ellen and other Telepictures produced shows:

Staffers who worked for Ellen DeGeneres detail how they had to sign contracts from which they couldn't quit, had to work until 11pm and weekends, were "blacklisted and fired" if they complained, extra freebies for top execs.

■ Damaged WarnerMedia is still playing catch-up with the Ellen scandal as Warner Bros executives on Thursday continued to be "concerned and disappointed" by ongoing reports of abusive workplace behaviour.

■ Poverty in South Africa - and the fear of jailing TV owners - is why the SABC struggles to collect SABC TV licence fees.

■ Celebreality was already on the decline. The cancellation of Keeping Up with the Kardashians on E! (DStv 124) just put it out if its misery.

- Nene Leakes is done with The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Again.

■ Is Netflix losing subscribers over the shocking Cuties scandal?

■ More and more Disney content is disappearing from MultiChoice's Showmax streaming service. Is it because Disney plans to eventually launch Disney+ in South Africa?

■ Research: Producers of high-end TV series face delays of up to 12 months because of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

Reality TV used as filler on TV channel's schedules.

■ Netflix CEO Reed Hastings rejects demands for streaming content quotas in Australia.

- Netflix hikes subscription fees in Australia.

■ Trash-TV returns: Nigeria's shocking sham, TStv is once again attempting to launch as a pay-TV service despite countless lies and content theft in the past, setting 1 October 2020 as its latest launch date.

■ Prince William is livid over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Netflix deal.

■ MultiChoice's temperamental and constantly broken DStv Now streaming service has some unexplained "temporary service outage" problem again.

■ Netflix can show gay content in Saudi Arabia. Just not anything that criticises Mohammad Bin Salman.

■ Fox News (StarSat 261) fires staff in restructuring, but not because of Covid-19.

No more hair and make-up for guests.

■ Bloomberg plans a video streaming relaunch.

Says Bloomberg TV (DStv 411 / StarSat 264) still has value but that business viewers have moved away from linear pay-TV.

■ Netflix tells Britain's parliament it doesn't want to destroy the BBC.

■ Everyone thought appointment television was dead but in 2020 with a global pandemic it's thriving as a weekly collective viewing of a show helps bring structure to people's lives.

■ The Game of Thrones sex scene that was ruined by a "visible excited" horse.

■ Samsung South Africa keeps churning out press releases about TV but PRs can't bother to actually send it out to media.

■ Uganda loses 110 000 pay-TV subscribers because of Covid-19.