eNCA shifts Dan Moyane and Masego Rahlaga to co-anchor The South African Morning timeslot.

by Thinus Ferreira

eMedia's eNCA (DStv 403) TV news channel once again did a line-up change on Monday this week with Dan Moyane and Masego Rahlaga replacing Gareth Edwards and Thami Ngubeni as the hosts of eNCA's The South African Morning timeslot.

Dan Moyane and Masego Rahlaga are now anchoring The South African Morning on eNCA between 06:00 and 09:00 on weekdays, with Gareth Edwards moved to and now anchoring the 12:00 to 15:00 timeslot.

In response to a media query, eNCA tells TVwithThinus that "eNCA has made some major changes to the morning news show, which was previously anchored by Gareth Edwards and Thami Ngubeni".

Dan Moyane says "It's a privilege for me to be back again in morning news. In a fast-paced world of news, I am excited to have the opportunity to deliver fresh news content every weekday morning".

Masego Rahlaga says "I'm truly humbled by this opportunity to work with Bra Dan bringing news and a bit of fun to our viewers every morning. Thank you to the eNCA management for trusting me with such an important role".

About why eNCA once again changed its timeslot anchor line-up and moved Dan Moyane and Masego Rahlaga to its morning slot, Norman Munzhelele, eNCA managing director, says "Many viewers have been asking us as a channel, to create a combo between Masego and Dan".

"When they have appeared on screen together for minor projects, their energy has been unmatched.  And now, when the people spoke, we listened and acted".

Here's is how eNCA's anchor line-up looks during the day on the TV news channel looks now:

TOLDJA! New TV news channel, Newzroom Afrika, to oddly launch on 2 May on MultiChoice's DStv with some familiar TV and radio names.

Exactly as TV biz insiders whispered, the new South African TV news channel Newzroom Afrika plans to launch on Thursday 2 May with news talent including the former eNCA stars Cathy Mohlahlana, Thulasizwe Simelane and Karyn Maughan who have jumped to front-face the new channel.

While MultiChoice and Newzroom Afrika executives in August 2018 when they announced the successful news channel bidder promised to keep the media updated on the channel's progress towards its "early-2019" launch, nothing had been forthcoming.

"We'll be sharing further details about the channel in the coming weeks," said Thabile Ngwato in the MultiChoice press release that was issued on 28 August 2018 but that was 8 months ago and Newzroom Afrika failed to share details with the media.

Thabile Ngwato's Rapid Innovation and Thokozani Nkosi's Eclipse TV are behind Newzroom Afrika that will directly compete against rivals like eNCA (DStv 403) and SABC News (DStv 404) in a highly-contested TV space for eyeballs and advertising rands and where eNCA lures more than 50% of the combined and existing TV news channels' audience on DStv.

Last week when asking MultiChoice in a media enquiry whether Newzroom Afrika will be launching on 2 May, Benedict Maaga, MultiChoice spokesperson, said MultiChoice can't confirm any dates.

Newzroom Afrika suddenly announced on Monday evening that it will be going live on Thursday late-afternoon.

Although missing its "early-2019" launch date, its second quarter activation means that Newzroom Afrika will try to gain viewers in the few days remaining to do pre-election coverage in the lead up to South Africa's national elections on 8 May.

On Thursday Newzroom Afrika, will take over the open channel spot on channel 405 on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service left vacant after it axed the controversial Gupta family's ANN7 channel that was acquired by Mzwanele Manyi and rebranded as Afro Worldview until it shut down in August last year.

While the programming line-up, content and on-air talent of Newzroom Afrika isn't known, other media talent who will be involved with Newzroom Afrika include some established radio and TV voices and faces including several Power FM name-brands.

Newzroom Afrika on Monday night listed Liezle Wilson, Thami Ngubeni, Sizwe Dhlomo, Gugulethu Mhlungu, Natasha Thorp, Thabo Mdluli, JJ Tabane, Aubrey Masango, Marc Lewis, Jacob Moshokoa, Bongiwe Zwane, and the former Afro Worldview editor Mpho Sithole as now being a part of the TV news channel.

Journalist Karyn Maughan has also been hired, as well as Ayabonga Cawe. 

According to the DStv electronic programme guide (EPG), none of the information which has been shared with the media, Newzroom Afrika programming will include a morning news show, Breaking Dawn, with presenters Sizwe Dhlomo, Carmen Reddy and Gugu Mhlungu.

Other programming will be shows like Newzfeed and Business Unusual.

Newzroom Afrika's flagship news show will be Newz@Prime (or NewsAtPrime) anchored by Cathy Mohlahlana and Marc Lewis as sports editor.

As Thursday's 2 May launch date looms for Newzroom Afrika, DStv Media Sales, MultiChoice's advertising selling arm, apparently entered into a commercial partnership with Newzroom Afrika from 24 April to sell on-air advertising on behalf of the channel.

In March 2019 Newzroom Afrika started a recruitment process looking for reporters, producers, editors and people to fill various other positions.

Insiders last week said they hope that Newzroom Afrika will be able to sidestep the mistakes of ANN7's disastrous on-air launch that immediately went viral with lasting damage to that channel's credibility.

With Wednesday's Workers' Day as a public holiday in South Africa and the odd launch date the day after, there's been no word from either MultiChoice that was asked, nor Newzroom Afrika about a possible press briefing about the news channel, or of a media launch event to mark its start on DStv as usually happens when new TV channels launch.

Newzroom Afrika will be available to all DStv subscribers from DStv Premium to DStv Access.

SABC2's latest strange scheduling moves are again set to irritate viewers - coming just 7 months after the previous changes.

The latest scheduling moves for SABC2 coming into effect from this coming Monday is set to confuse and irritate viewers as the SABC once again moves programming like the Afrikaans soap 7de Laan and the Afrikaans news to new timeslots following timeslot changes to these and other shows just months ago.

Exactly as TVwithThinus reported last week will happen, SABC2 announced on Wednesday all of the channel's latest new permanent scheduling changes coming into effect from Monday 6 February after the broadcaster's AFCON 2017 coverage.

Last week SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said the new set of changes, like 7de Laan moving, is (still) part of the AFCON 2017 coverage changes.

Viewers commuting and not home yet, old age residents eating dinner and working families preparing dinner will now have to watch 7de Laan in the inconvenient and now its third new timeslot of 18:00 after the the 18:30 soap produced by Danie Odendaal Productions was moved in July 2016 to 19:00.

As TVwithThinus reported, viewers of the SABC's daily Setswana and Sotho TV news bulletin will now have to watch it no longer at 18:00 but at 20:00 on SABC2 opposite the SABC1 soap Generations, while the Afrikaans TV news that's seen several timeslot changes the past two years is once again moving – this time to 18:30, now opposite e.tv's eNews Direct and SABC3's English TV news bulletin.

SABC TV head publicist Zandile Nkonyeni didn't respond to media enquiries asking about the programming changes and the reasons for shows that are moving. SABC2 has seen ongoing viewership declines for shows like 7de Laan, the Afrikaans news and the Sesotho news the past few months with falling ratings.

The SABC said "SABC2 is stepping up to the needs of our ever-evolving world with brand new shows, new seasons and new timeslots". 

In a new official and public promo that contains mistakes, SABC2 struggles to keep its new shows separate, for instance saying Tumi Morake and Rocco de Villiers are in a show together as presenters [they're not]. 

Fighting on 3

In another programming change, the SABC signed a multi-year agreement with Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) to broadcast mixed martial arts (MMA) on Saturday nights on SABC3, starting 11 February at 21:00. 

This content will be repeated on Mondays at 14:00 replacing the local kids time slot Fun-Natix where the fighting contact sport content might be in breach of the broadcasting code.

Other changes include SABC2's breakfast show Morning Live that will from this Monday onwards show the additional hour that until now had been broadcast between 08:00 to 09:00 on SABC News (DStv 404) only. The programming change will will effectively extend Morning Live to three hours on SABC2 from 06:00 to 09:00.

Talk show Motswako gets moved to Wednesdays at 20:30. Local sitcom Skwizas is moved to Sundays at 20:30. A new season of environmental magazine show 50/50 will start on Sunday 9 April at19:00.

More details have been released about the shows that TVwithThinus last week reported is being added to the SABC2 schedule.

The former SABC2 continuity presenter Derrick Gardner and SABC radio station RSG presenter is returning to television as presenter of the new Afrikaans music show Kliphard from Monday at 19:30.

Tumi Morake and Alan Committee will host the talk show Red Cake, starting Friday 10 February at 19:30. 

Thami Ngubeni will host a new lifestyle talk show on Saturdays on SABC2, Life with Thami, starting on Saturday 11 February at 18:00. Music show Soul’d Out Sessions will start on Sunday 12 February at 14:00.

While the SABC2 schedule remains peppered with old content and rebroadcasts that's years old like Afrikaans sitcom Vetkoekpaleis starting yet another rerun on Monday at 19:00, SABC2 says it wants producers to bring the channel quality shows and new ideas.

Programming note: New talk show The Scarlet Lounge on Mondays on ONE Gospel marks Thami Ngubeni's return to South African television.

The Scarlet Lounge is a brand-new local talk and magazine show on Mondays at 21:00 on ONE Gospel (DStv 331) and marks Thami Ngubeni return to South African television as a presenter.

The Scarlet Lounge on the Christian music TV channel is aimed at women and the challenges they face. Thami Ngubeni interviews worship leaders, songwriters, ministers and inspirational speakers.

''I hope The Scarlet Lounge will speak life, freedom and realization to women that will be a part of it,'' Thami Ngubeni says. ''I'm beyond excited about sharing this platform with other women and having fun. Life is as it is but how we choose to experience the journey is entirely up to us.''