HGTV channel added to DStv for 3 weeks as a programming block on Travel Channel from 6 November.

The HGTV channel, a home and lifestyle programmng TV channel is getting added to DStv but only for 3 weeks and in the form of a programming block on The Travel Channel from 6 November.

HGTV will be available to DStv Premium, DStv Compact Plus, DStv Compact and DStv Family subscribers on channel 179 where The Travel Channel is broadcast.

HGTV will run from 6 to 26 November and will replace The Travel Channel during prime time between 18:00 and 23:00, and on weekends between 15:00 and 20:00 with American home and decor shows.

HGTV, that originally stood for "Home and Garden Television", will be competition for The Home Channel (DStv 176) from the Tiso Blackstar Group, that ironically has already been showing programming from HGTV like the Property Brothers, Drew and Jonathan, for years and will now also be on HGTV.

The HGTV prime time and weekend replacement on The Travel Channel is possibly a trial period, similar to when BET and other channels were first temporarily tested before added permanently.

The currently programming on The Travel Channel like Ultimate Braai Master, Bizarre Foods and Mysteries at the Museum will continue to be shown.

"HGTV is one of the most viewed channels for women in the United States, and we are excited to be bringing this popular content to South African audiences," says Phillip Luff, the managing director for Scripps Networks Interactive for the United Kingdom and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions.

"We are certain viewers will be inspired by HGTV, and come away with practical ideas to make their homes beautiful."

The HGTV programming block will bring viewers shows like Brothers Take New Orleans, Fixer Upper, Tiny House Hunters and Flip or Flop.

In Brothers Take New Orleans Jonathan and Drew Scott compete to remodel rundown homes.

In Fixer Upper Chip and Joanna Gaines renovate rundown properties, as does Tarek and Christina El Moussa in Flip or Flop.

Anthony Bourdain trashes Scripps Networks' Food Network and Travel Channel: 'Must be hard to make Burger World or World's Best Roller Coasters year after year after year'.

The caustic chef and telenality Anthony Bourdain now seen on CNN International (DStv 401) was full of praise for CNN but totally trashed The Food Network (DStv 175) and The Travel Channel (DStv 179) from Scripps Networks from the stage at this weekend's Produced By Conference New York.

Although he didn't have to, Anthony Bourdain slammed The Food Network and The Travel Channel where he previously did TV shows like No Reservations, and he had no reservation in telling the public exactly what he thinks of these channels.

No doing Parts Unknown on CNN International, Anthony Bourdain pushed the butcher's knife in to the hilt, saying executives at Scripps Networks, The Food Network and The Travel Channel "have this perverse desire to undermine their brands and saw us as a way to do that".

"In the Food Network's case, to do penance for some of the utter shit they've been unloading for years," Anthony Bourdain said.

"And with The Travel Channel, it must be hard to make Burger World or World’s Best Roller Coasters year after year after year. We went in assuming the worst and knowing it was going to be war."

In South Africa and across Africa The Food Network and The Travel Channel are seen on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform, packaged and distributed by Scripps Networks Interactive.

The ultimate braai master of the universe: Justin Bonello's Ultimate Braai Master going global as the 4th season starts on the Travel Channel and beyond.

South Africa's ultimate braai master Justin Bonello is the king of the grill, but he's actually the king of the world.

The presenter and producer of Ultimate Braai Master which has seen seasons of his braai competition show on SABC3, then e.tv, and now also on the Travel Channel (DStv 179) on MultiChoice's DStv platform is going global: Discovery Networks International bought it as well and the format rights have been sold to Canada and America.

With the fourth season of Ultimate Braai Master starting on the Travel Channel on Tuesday 29 March (the season that recently was shown and concluded on e.tv), Justin Bonello is already working on the 5th season that will be broadcast later this year on e.tv.

Viewers who haven't seen the 4th season can now catch up and watch it on the Travel Channel from 29 March at 21:00 and see 15 teams of two, pitted against each other, competing in grueling outdoor braai challenges over the course of 52 days and 8 000 km through South Africa.

Sourcing all their own ingredients, their skills are pushed to the limits who will be crowned king of the grill. What am I saying? The king of the grill is Justin Bonello.

"This is our 4th season of Ultimate Braai Master and we're really privileged to be having it on air on the Travel Channel again," says Justin Bonello.

Discovery Networks International bought it as well; it's going to be on air in South America and the Caribbean. The first format rights are up in Canada and the United States so you're going to see an international version of Ultimate Braai Master," says Justin Bonello, adding: "but they're never going to be able to do what we do!"

"It's going to be quite interesting to see how they tackle a homegrown reality show. It's a format that was created by South Africans, with South Africans, with the South African psyche. And hopefully it will be doing the same for those countries as well."

"I'm still looking forward to hearing myself in German, and Mandarin!"

"I created this show and literally the day we finish shooting one season we start pre-production on the next one; it's a 12-month cycle for me," he says. 

This year the 5th season of Ultimate Braai Master has been delayed until June because Coca-Cola that was onboard as a sponsor unexpectedly pulled out.

"Coca-Cola changing global strategy told us that they're not taking part this year. A lot of people in the media game understand that the media spend is completely different from what it used to be a year ago and we're all fighting much harder for that. And sadly Ultimate Braai Master is reliant on sponsors to get the show on air."

"We are still really proud of the show, it stars South Africans and celebrates who we are as a people featuring some of the most beautiful landscapes," says Justin Bonello.

I asked him about the creative evolution of Ultimate Braai Master from the first season to now, and how the challenges, design and places evolved. Does he know beforehand how many things he want to change every season and then pace and limit himself to rather add some of it to future seasons?

"Every year you change what you know," says Justin Bonello.

"I'm so embarrassed when I look back at season one of any show I've every shot. I looked at the first season of Cooked the other day and on a production level I thought 'Did you really do that? Did you really say that? How did you edit that so badly?"

"So for me there's a lovely evolution with any show you do. There's always a lovely evolution with shows you produce. And when you sit down in your editing suite at the end of the day you really beat yourself over the head because you say 'I could have made this so much better."

"And I feel sometimes quite sad in South Africa that because the budgets are so restricted, what happens is that producers must make their money from the production, and what happens is that the production suffers."

"So we've always looked at it from the other level, where you go out and create the best content that you can, with everything that you can. Nowadays I also watch Netflix where I choose what I want to watch when I want to watch."

"And that selection is going to become bigger and bigger in our mindsets. So why would you watch a substandard locally produced South African show when you can choose from anything available in the world?" says Justin Bonello.

"You get local broadcasters, putting schlock up there that no-one watches and it's happening already - I've seen some of your scathing articles of the SABC - and it shouldn't be like that."

"We all watch the best content that we can. You go and see a movie, it's a Hollywood blockbuster, then we must go home and watch drivel produced. It's not right. As producers we should produce great content."

"South Africa is really blessed with great film crews; Cape Town has Black Sails [Starz produced drama on History, DStv 186) under produced - that's a world-standard series being produced in Cape Town."

"We need to keep pushing boundaries. I will die before I put sh*t content on TV," said Justin Bonello.

I also wondered why he shoots every season during winter. And then once it starts its almost two months of producing a non-stop show. How challenging is that in terms of weather and the multitude of places the show visits?

"It's cheaper for us to shoot Ultimate Braai Master out of season," Justin Bonello reveals.

"We have 30 contestants, 70 crew and go all around the country. We must accommodate those people everywhere. If we did it in high season, we wouldn't be able to go to some of the places that we're at. In terms of content? We have a rule on the road: Come rain or shine, we braai."

"With Ultimate Braai Master we've had snow in the Drakensberg, hail, you name it, it's happened to us and we just carry on."

Ultimate Braai Master has been nominated for a South African Film and Television Award (Safta) and I wondered how Justin Bonello feels it.

"It's its second year that it's up for a Safta. It won last year. It's nice to be recognised always by your peers for the work that you produce."

"I'd rather be standing there with an Emmy - we entered it for the International Emmys as well - but I'm very proud that we got nominated for the Saftas again this year and recognised for our production," says Justin Bonello.

The 4th season of Ultimate Braai Master starts on the Travel Channel (DStv 179) on 29 March at 21:00.

Burton Jablin appointed as COO of Scripps Networks Interactive; Kathleen Finch appointed chief of programming and content officer.

In the United States Scripps Networks Interactive has promoted Burton Jablin (left) to chief operating officer (COO), while Kathleen Finch has been appointed chief programming, content and brand officer.

Scripps Networks Interactive runs channels like The Travel Channel and The Food Network which are available through Scripps Networks International on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform, and Fine Living Network (FLN) on On Digital Media (ODM) and StarTimes Media SA's StarSat satellite pay-TV platform.

Burton Jablin who will report to Scripps Networks Interactive CEO Kenneth Lowe, will be overseeing sales, distribution, programming, digital and strategic planning for the company.

Burton Jablin will have to look at greater coordination and cooperation between Scripps Networks' programming in the United States and its international programming as seen for instance in South Africa and elsewhere around the world as the group continues to expand internationally.

Kathleen Finch will now be responsible for content in the United States - a lot of which filters through and is seen internationally on the international versions of these channels like The Travel Channel and The Food Network.

"As Scripps Networks Interactive continues to grow, both in the United States and internationally, it's important that we take a more coordinated approach to how we operate our business and create content," says Kenneth Lowe.

Discovery Communications considering buying TV channels such as Food Network, Travel Channel.

Discovery Communications is reportedly considering buying satellite pay-TV channels such as Food Network and the Travel Channel as ongoing consolidation is taking place in the pay-TV industry, according to the trade publication Variety.

Food Network and Travel Channel are part of a group of TV channels belonging to Scripps Networks Interactive which is looking for a possible buyer.

According to Variety, the possibility of Discovery Communications putting in a bid to buy Scripps Networks was discussed at a Discovery board meeting on Tuesday.

According to Variety, Scripps Networks Interactive's set of channels which include other channels not seen in South Africa or Africa, would make "a natural fit" for Discovery which already has channels such as TLC, Animal Planet and TLC Entertainment with an OWN block of programming..

BUSY TUESDAY. South Africa's TV critics kept busy by broadcasters in a week brimming with programming upfront events and info sessions.

National South African TV critics haven't had it so busy today - in fact this week - in a long time, with BBC Worldwide, e.tv, The Travel Channel and even M-Net all having events talking and showcasing programming in presentations.

Today in Cape Town sees duelling big events - both at the same time - also both competing with yet another big event - also at the same time - in Johannesburg.

Although invited to all - as were other journalists and TV critics, I can only be in one place at one time. That goes for all the other TV critics and writers and journalists covering television in this country as well - creating a lot of diary insanity and anxiety.

And then there's still a Los Angeles TV junket this week for a brand-new show I could have gone on which didn't work out this time. How to comprehensively cover everything - and report it - when it's all happening at the same time? That's the vexing question journalists will try to answer as news about South African television comes in fast and furious today and during the week.

Today e.tv is presenting its e.tv Update Session to media and critics where e.tv management will reveal amongst other things its worst kept secret (its primetime soap Scandal! going from 4 days to 5) as well as more details surrounding several other local productions as e.tv ramps up its local content quota in a significant way.

Less than a kilometre away, at the same time on Tuesday, The Travel Channel is having a media launch for the show Bizarre Foods America.

I told both e.tv and The Travel Channel jointly that their events on the same day and same time are clashing and whether one could possibly move so that TV critics can attend and give attention to both equally. Neither budged.

Also today in Johannesburg - with some British TV stars flown in - BBC Worldwide management will present the next BBC Worldwide Winter Upfront at Summerplace with a champagne reception (and promising "delicious food") which I was invited to last week.

BBC Worldwide will reveal to critics and TV writers, ad buyers, media strategist and ad sales specialists the upcoming programming which DStv subscribers will be seeing in the upcoming months on the BBC Entertainment, BBC Knowledge, BBC Lifestyle and CBeebies channels.

M-Net is meanwhile having a media roadshow for the pay-TV broadcaster on Friday, the third in a series of national visits to press in Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town.

M-Net will be revealing more about M-Net's new M-Net Series channels, M-Net Series Showcase, M-Net Series Reality and M-Net Series Zone as well as a lot of other M-Net related information and show announcements, and information from all of the growing number of TV channels which M-Net supplies to DStv.