SABC a sponsor of the 15th Cape Town Jazz Festival; goes big with exposure on multiple shows covering it on SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3.

The SABC is a sponsor of the 15th Cape Town Jazz Festival and will have coverage of this annual arts and music event on all three of the SABC's TV channels.

The 15th Cape Town Jazz Festival is taking place on 28 and 29 March at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) and the SABC is investing in the music event through broadcasting exposure, as well as training and development.

"The SABC is proud to yet again be the co-sponsor of the 15th Cape Town Jazz Festival's training and development programme," says Kaizer Kganyago, SABC spokesperson.

The SABC also helps to sponsor a Community Jazz Concert of the 15th Cape Town Jazz Festival which this year will take place at the Greenmarket Square in Cape Town on 26 March.

Besides radio coverage the SABC will cover the 15th Cape Town Jazz Festival on SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3.

Here is a basic run-down:

SABC1: The channel will broadcast eight 40 minute jazz programmes during the rest of 2014 and in December.

SABC1's Live AMP will be doing interviews with the artists which will be shown on Friday 11 April from 21:00 to 22:00.

Mzansi Insider will also do interviews with the artists. This will be shown between 09:00 and 10:00 on both Saturday 12 April and Sunday 13 April.

Selimathunzi will interview artists on the red carpet during the main event. This will be broadcast on Tuesday 8 April from 19:00 to 19:30.

SABC1 will also broadcast a special 96 minute jazz programme on Sunday 30 March.


SABC2: The channel's Afro Cafe will cover performances and do interviews with local and international artists and will broadcast this 48 minute special on Wednesday 9 April at 22:00 to 23:00.

SABC2 will also broadcast four 48 minute programmes and will also broadcast the 96 minute jazz programme (which is also shown on SABC1).


SABC3: The channel's weekday morning show Expresso will run stories from the 15th Cape Town Jazz Festival during the week of 24 to 28 March between 06:00 and 07:00.

Expresso will also be filming at the main jazz event and this package will be shown on Monday 30 March.

Top Billing will do interviews with artists from the jazz festival which will be shown during that weekly lifestyle magazine show in episodes shown during April.

Macfarlane Moleli returns to the e.tv fold after leaving eNCA in May; will now anchor eNews Prime Time on Mondays and Wednesdays at 19:00.

Macfarlane Moleli, the longtime morning news anchor on eNCA (DStv 403) who left the 24-hour TV news channel in 2013 is returning to e.tv and this time to the e.tv TV channel's primetime nightly news bulletin eNews Prime Time.

eNews Prime Time continues its reign as the most watched English news bulletin on television in South Africa.

Macfarlane Moleli who left eNCA at the end of May 2013 will now be seen on eNews Prime Time at 19:00, alternating on some evenings with that news bulletin's longtime anchor, Pat Pillai.

Macfarlane Moleli who also does radio news on Kaya FM will anchor eNews Prime Time on e.tv on Monday and Wednesday evenings.

"We are delighted to have someone of Macfarlane Moleli's caliber back on our team," says Phathiswa Magopeni, the head of terrestrial news services at e.tv.

Russia Today's mind-boggling, rolling propaganda is placed in stark contrast when RT's Thabang Motsei comes up against CNN's Christiane Amanpour.

While Christiane Amanpour of Amanpour on CNN International (DStv 401) showed global TV viewers on Monday night with honest facts and insight exactly how Russia is going to get damaged economically and politically through imposed sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine's Crimea ...

... at the exact same time South Africa's Thabang Motsei on Russia's RT (DStv 407) was spouting insane propaganda-driven drivel not just damaging her and RT's credibility, but making for hilarious viewing for anyone interested in media studies.

RT's ongoing laughably one-sided broadcasting favouring Russia and nothing else and not giving any other side of the story, came into sharp contrast on Monday night when the once-respected anchor Thabang Motsei inflicted further serious career-damage to her name and journalism brand.

Thabang Motsei came across as a sad, light-weight, and out of her depth propaganda TV drone when she presented RT's nightly newscast directly opposite the best, the most informed, and the most respected global TV news woman, Christiane Amanpour.

Never in the history of Russia Today has the 24-hour TV news channel been so utterly blatantly propagandist and one-sided.

The trust and credibility RT had, has now surely completely evaporated as global viewers will definitely not see Russia Today any longer as a news channel but as a direct propaganda communication tool for Russian president Vladimir Putin.

RT's shocking lack of balance, avalanche of spin and propaganda, and unbelievable bad presentation in terms of covering Russia's invasion and annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region came into stark clarity and contrast on Monday when RT's propaganda pandering played out at the same time against a show such as Amanpour.

Christiane Amanpour showed in a clear, concise and full perspective how Russia is getting, and going to get damaged economically and politically, and explained why, and also showed how the damage and fallout is and will be much greater for Russia.

On RT, viewers waited for Thabang Motsei to tell then that Hobbits really do exist, that dragons really do exist, and that dwarfes (that really do exist) have started a fight with a dragon.

Thabang Motsei's unrelenting and insanely dished up news melodrama on Russia Today was headshakingly odd. It seems as if RT is clueless or deliberately oblivious that global TV news viewers (and RT is made and broadcast specifically for global viewers) also have access to other TV news channels.

Cold War type trashaganza only works and worked due to the absence of other knowledge or information or the deliberate drowning out of other points of view. But Russia Today is surrounded by multiple TV news channels on the pay-TV platforms in countries such as South Africa and elsewhere.

If RT remained more subtle in its approach, more restrained and more cleverly in its presentation and "facts" perhaps it wouldn't have been so jarring.

Watching RT and its unrelenting Russian propaganda on full display, is like watching a temporal worm hole broadcasting a modern-day, yet 80s inspired version of what a 24-hour global TV news channel would have been if it existed then - but done looking like Russia today.

BREAKING. 'The SABC is in a sorry state; says SABC trade unions Bemawu and Communication Workers Union (CWU).

Two of the SABC's trade unions are calling on the minister of communications Yunus Carrim to "urgently order a proper investigation and decisive action", saying "the SABC in a sorry state".

The trade unions' urgent plea follows exactly a month after the SABC and the SABC board have taken no clear and decisive actions the past four weeks, with no suspensions and no announcements, over a shocking independent PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on the lack of skills at the SABC and a damning report by the Public Protector's office over the matricless liar and acting chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng, as well as maladministration at the SABC

"We request the urgent intervention of a competent management team to take over the management of the SABC as the current management has failed to do so," says Bemawu and the Communication Workers Union (CWU) in a jointly issued statement.

The SABC is without a CEO after Lulama Mokhobo quit last month, and the next highest executive, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, is implicated in maladministration, abuse of power and of lying about his qualifications according to the Public Protector's report.

The SABC has also not yet moved to advertise for the permanent position of COO at the SABC.

"Currently the SABC is without a CEO, which is unacceptable, irresponsible and a transgression of the Broadcasting Act," says Bemawu and the CWU.

"We also demand a full and proper investigation of the allegations made by PriceWaterhouseCoopers auditors in respect of the skills audit done on SABC top and executive management".

"The SABC is in a sorry state, with repeats being broadcast, even on news, and millions of rands are pushed into new projects like the 24 hour news channel broadcast on a not free-to-air channel and only accessible to the few privileged who can afford a DStv subscription".

Bemawu and the CWU is also calling on the SABC board to "suspend all those executives found to be responsible for abuse of power and maladministration, so as to prevent manipulation and tampering with evidence".

The trade unions also demand that the SABC board "fill all acting positions at executive level without delay, by employees of the SABC capable of managing these departments".

"Lastly it has been brought to the attention that a SABC board member is to act in the position of group chief executive officer. If this is confirmed, unions will fiercely oppose such a move as it will be in conflict with the corporate governance principles, since board members are not employees of the SABC, as such do not qualify to fill positions of executives in whatever capacity".

Oprah Winfrey sells Harpo Studios, the longtime home of The Oprah Winfrey Show, for $32 million.

Oprah Winfrey is selling Harpo Studios in Chicago, the longtime home of The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Harpo is Oprah spelled backwards.  "We have entered into a purchasing agreement with Sterling Bay for the four-building Harpo Studios campus in Chicago's West Loop," says Harpo in a statement.

"We expect the transaction to be closed in 30 days. The property will be leased back to Harpo for two years and the studio will continue to produce programming for OWN".

OWN is Oprah Winfrey's Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), the programming of which can be seen in South Africa on Discovery Networks International's TLC Entertainment (DStv 172) channel.

INTERVIEW. 'I like people to dance beautifully', says Craig Revel Horwood, judge on Strictly Come Dancing on BBC Entertainment.

The 11th season of the British Strictly Come Dancing is on BBC Entertainment (DStv 120) on Sundays at 19:19 and recently I spoke with one of the charismatic judges, Craig Revel Horwood whose been with the dancing floor format show since the very first series.

I asked him about his recent hip operation he underwent in October, and Craig Revel Horwood told me why dancing is an "adventure". He reveals what he thinks Strictly Come Dancing has meant for the world so far, that he has paddles for scoring from 1 to 10 and that he likes using from 1 to 10 - and what the true beauty of the show is.


What do you enjoy the most about being a part of Strictly Come Dancing?
What I enjoy the most is the dancing obviously because I come from a dance background. I started and trained as a dancer for 15 years professionally and then I became a director and choreographer and that's how I then became a judge on Strictly Come Dancing.

That of course was 11 series ago which is absolutely incredible. When we first started the series Len Goodman  -who is head judge - and myself, really gave it three weeks. And how wrong we were. This has gone on to literally 49 countries worldwide now and is the most produced television show format in the world. Its in the Guinness Book of World Records for that very reason. Incredible.

The enjoyment not only I get but I think the audience, is incredible.It has changed the hearts and minds of certainly this nation and nations all around the world.

Dance is one of those things that humanity finds necessary. You can go back thousands of years and people were dancing. So Strictly Come Dancing has brought a bit of that dance passion back to the world.

It has changed my life considerably and it certainly changed the life of many people in the audience due to the fact that they're now inspired to want to go and learn to dance. It has become a trend. Its amazing. And every years I get more and more enjoyment out of it.


Craig it actually leads me into my next question. We see your version, we just saw a new South African season of Strictly Come Dancing. We see the American version. 
How do you think the awareness of dancing has changed and is there a particular dance style that people are more exposed or more willing to try?
The world has taken dance to its heart most definitely because of Strictly Come Dancing. It shows people that you can have two left feet and can still do 30 seconds of great dancing. We've had some terrible, terrible dancers on the show with the celebrities that people love to watch.

That in itself inspires normal people at home who've never done it to want to get up and try it. My favourite dance I suppose has to be the tango because its a little bit more improvised than the ballroom. It also is a close contact hold and also has fantastic music.

Of course music plays an enormous part in people's lives. If you want to dance as well its just a wonderful thing to do. You get fantastic exercise which is great for your heart and health and you're also having fun. I think that's why people have gone on to learn and dance.

Most people I speak to in the streets absolutely love the show and have started dancing because of it. So that can only be a good thing.

Are there parts of the show that - I mean from a viewer's perspective its all glitz and glam - that's actually deceptively more difficult in real life to produce?
Strictly Come Dancing has taught many nations the rules and regulations of dance. That in a waltz you have three steps. And that the timing is in three four. So people have learnt all of that. So I think That is significant in itself.

I really think the beauty of this particular programme is that people can consider a life of dance. And you don't have to be a good dancer to do it. Yes, its a lot more involved, obviously, that the viewer may realise, but it shouldn't put anyone off from learning.

The celebrities who come on the show haven't dance before. We've had boxers, we've had people who are famous for running or rugby players who have never danced before, but you can see their journey from beginning to end. You can see them learn and the enjoyment they get out of it.

And after three weeks most of the celebs can pull a routine together and put the one foot in front of the other, which is amazing.

Obviously we've had people, like politicians, who many people said just polished the floor with their backside, which is amusing and great fun. Anybody who is willing can do it. If you can walk you can dance. Its just a matter of timing which people sometimes find difficult.

Dance is an adventure because you don't have to get it right all the time and you can put a bit of self expression into it. You're telling a story, you're having a great time.


I wanted to ask you  - last year my dad had a hip replacement - and I think you had one very recently but were almost back on your feet the next day, which is out of the ordinary. Do you have any advice from your personal experience for other people going through that?
The thing to do is, number one, have it done and not be scared to have it done because it will change your life.

Not to be nervous about it because hip replacements - so many people have it done, they do so many a day. Don't put it off. That's why I had mine done. You have to look after yourself. Because I'm a professional dancer, of course I have a lot more at stake.

So they wanted me on my feet as soon as possible. So I literally had the operation and two hours after the operation I was standing. And then 5 hours after the operation I was doing exercises. It is an incredible procedure. Its a huge operation but its nothing to be nervous about. And it will change your life.

I'm walking without anything, doing hydrotherapy. Its the muscle which is the difficult thing to repair and which is why it takes up to 6 weeks to repair but of course I've got to dance so I have to make sure all the muscles are strong.

You have to treat yourself professionally and treat yourself like a sports person in order to keep it there and keep it solid. I'm very lucky to have an amazing surgeon and an incredible team behind me supporting me and that includes friends and family. Its the best thing I could have done in my life.

I see a Doctor Who poster behind you on the wall, and forgive me, I know its not your show, but I want to ask are you a fan of Doctor Who which we also see here in South Africa on BBC Entertainment?
Doctor Who! I don't watch Doctor Who but I used to watch it as a child. I remember one Doctor Who and that is Tom Baker. Its amazing that the show has a 50th anniversary and ratings are soaring and there are millions and million and millions of Doctor Who fans out there.


Do you have a second voice, or have you by now switched that off, when you have to hand out your criticism? Is there a second voice that keeps you back of harshness or level of praise? How do you decide how far and how honest and how truthful you can be?

Scoring is really important. I have paddles ranging from 1 to 10 and I like using from 1 to 10.

Some judges only like using between 6 and 10 who will remain nameless ... Len Goodman.

Ha ha ha.

I find it very easy to see what's wrong with a dance. I think its very important that the celebrity knows what's wrong in order that they can fix it for the next week.

I think it would be terrible to tell someone they're fantastic and not be honest with them and tell the truth.

Otherwise they will go away and repeat the same mistakes over and over again. I generally go on about the hands because I don't like nasty, spastulistic hands.

Ha ha.

I like them to be shaped. I like people to dance beautifully. And in order to dance beautifully you need to know what's wrong with you. Like any teacher, if you go to a dance school, the teacher will not be saying "oh that's wonderful" because you will never work as a professional dancer if you're not pushed and you have to be corrected.

I think of them as just directions. Obviously, some celebrities take that personally. Usually the actors and actresses because they're highly emotional.

Sports people take correction in a proper professional fashion and they take that idea of what what is wrong with their dancing and they usually fix it the following week and then you see improvement.

That's the only reason why I'm so critical I suppose. Do I have two voices? Yes. But one is a judge voice and one is me as a person. If I'm out and about with celebs I'm not going to be judging them. But I put a judge's hat on when I judge and that is the critical one.

And then when I'm at the BBC bar I'm as lovely ...

Ha ha ha.

... and as nice a person as you will ever meet. All loving, all giving, all embracing. Because when I am judging I think its important to be honest and to give them a mark out of 10 that they deserve.

Craig, I know exactly what you mean and you say it so succinctly. 
Thank you so very much for your time.


Strictly Come Dancing UK XI is on Sundays on BBC Entertainment (DStv 120) at 19:19

BREAKING. South Africa's TV industry begs government and minister Yunus Carrim to launch digital public TV and without encryption.

South Africa's community TV stations, the satellite pay-TV platform MultiChoice and The National Association of Manufacturers in Electronic Components (Namec) in a joint open letter to the South African government is begging the minister of communications and the department of communications to please urgently launch and start "free, unencrypted digital terrestrial television (DDT)" in South Africa "without any further delay".

South Africa's switch from analogue to digital terrestrial television, a process known as digital migration has been delayed for years and is vastly behind schedule; the country has been passed by almost all African countries including Rwanda and Zimbabwe and South Africa has become the laughing stock of the African continent as far as digital public television is concerned.

The Association of Community Television South Africa (Act-SA), MultiChoice and Namec who are also supported by the SABC and the Black Business Council (BBC) in their stance on DTT, want DTT to be launched in South Africa and without the inclusion of a Conditional Access (CA) system.

They say that a CA system - basically an encryption system built into set top boxes (STBs) which South Africans will have to buy - are unnecessary for open, public broadcasting.

They say it will make STBs more expensive, more complex and will lock South Africa into a digital TV system from which the country will never be able to escape.

The group says a Conditional Access (CA) in a STB for public broadcasting and free-to-air TV channels "has been almost universally rejected internationally, it will make the migration process more expensive and it is opposed by most South African broadcasters".

The group is begging Yunis Carrim, the minister of communications to start DTT and not to allow the inclusion of a CA system which will be detrimental to public broadcasting in South Africa, bad to the poorest TV households in South Africa, with a CA system which will only "advance narrow commercial interests".

The ongoing DTT delay and the highly-contentious and controversial in-fighting over CA inclusion or not in STBs is the latest stumbling block hampering South Africa's digital television migration.

Previously the South African government suddenly wanted to change the best, and agreed upon, digital broadcasting standard before finally confirming DBV-T2 and the broadcasting regulator the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) kept changing and re-issuing digital TV regulations over and over with vastly changed specifications.

The government disbanded the Digital Broadcasting Advisory Board (DBAB) or Digital Dzonga advisory board twice and then scrapped it.

Here is the open letter to the South African government and minister Yunis Carrim from the highly concerned group within South Africa's TV industry:

Dear Minister Carrim

For some time now, we have been involved in discussions with you and other stakeholders around your policy which seeks to regulate the migration of TV services from the current analogue broadcast system to digital.

Digital migration marks an exciting new phase in broadcasting (with great opportunities) and will have far reaching consequences for consumers, Government and broadcasters. The major impact will be on South African consumers.

Nearly 8 million analogue TV households will need a set-top box (“STB”) to allow older TV sets to receive the new digital signals.

Your position is that set-top boxes must include technology which is unnecessary and expensive, specifically encryption technology which is used to control access to TV services. 

We have serious reservations about this – it has been almost universally rejected internationally, it will make the migration process more expensive and it is opposed by most South African broadcasters.

Including this technology in every free-to-air STB will:
1. Harm consumers by raising the cost of digital migration and binding consumers to an STB forever; Over time all TV sets will be digital, which in other countries do not need set-top boxes. However, if the current proposals are implemented, in South Africa (almost alone in the world) even consumers with digital TV sets will be forced to buy a completely unnecessary set-top box, because the free TV signal will be encrypted.
2. Harm free-to-air broadcasting by increasing the cost of free-to-air television for broadcasters;
3. Disadvantage emerging black manufacturers;
4. Increase the costs of migration for Government, which has already committed itself to subsidizing STBs for the poorest 5 million TV households. Unlike in other countries, this need to subsidise will continue forever because free TV signals will be encrypted here; and
5. Make the migration process complex and result in further delays.
We dispute this aspect of your policy and believe the costs greatly outweigh any supposed benefits.
Your current proposals advance certain narrow commercial interests – rather than being in the interests of our nation.

We appeal to you to allow free, unencrypted digital terrestrial television to launch without any further delay.

BREAKING. South Africa's Thabang Motsei on Russia's RT goes on a jaw-droppingly one-sided, Russian propaganda-fuelled news rambling.

South Africa's anchor and reporter on RT (DStv 407) Thabang Motsei is shockingly going along and damaging her own brand and credibility anchoring the one one-sided, Russian propaganda-filled story after another on the RT news channel - which has seemingly overnight changed into a heavy slanted, extremely biased 24-hour TV news channel.

The once highly respected Thabang Motsei who knows the history of, and comes from South Africa where an apartheid government used extreme nationalist and media propaganda to destroy a nation and its people, is now spouting eye-popping rhetoric, slanted and biased stories, and jaw-dropping unproven statements suddenly masqueraded and presented as "news" in surreal TV broadcasts on RT.

Her shocking behaviour - coming across as a puppet saying whatever she is told to say - is evaporating Thabang Motsei's reputation and credibility as a real journalist and TV reporter.

At issue is wall-to-wall coverage on RT about Russia's military invasion of the Ukraine, and the region of Crimea which will soon "belong" to Russia after residents in Crimea vote in a "referendum" to join Russia. No "no" vote can be marked on referendum ballots.

RT's shocking sudden change in hardline propagandist news coverage favouring Russia and trashing Western Ukraine and Kiev since a week ago is breathtaking to watch in South Africa as reporters and anchors like Thabang Motsei suddenly turned into on-air robots, saying the most unbelievable things.

Anchoring RT's news coverage on Saturday night, Thabang Motsei, usually level-headed, informed and impartial, anchored, read and talked for story after story after story about Russia and Crimea - all with the same narrative refrain: the Ukraine and the rest of the world is bad and Russia is standing and helping residents in Crimea.

The news coverage and the words coming out of Thabang Motsei's mouth, smiling and friendly - yet blatantly one-sided - is clearly helping to incite division in Crimea and the Ukraine (and possibly even violence) as she says unsubstantiated and unproved things.

Watching RT the past week it is as if somebody has flipped a switch editorially and turned RT into an English speaking propaganda TV channel for a specific subject (Ukraine and Crimea region) for Russia. 

The interesting part is how blatantly obvious it is, moreover due to the lack of basically any stories positive about West Ukraine or telling the other side of a story, and with the abundant availability of other 24-hour TV news channels covering the same story with wide additional perspective.

It is as if RT wants to convince somebody that Russia is justified to invade an annex a certain part of another country. 

Yet RT's global audience - viewers for instance who can watch RT in South Africa - can very plainly see through the shocking and badly done propaganda slant - since RT is flanked by numerous other TV news channels to the left and the right of it on the channel line-up grid. 

It's surprising how quickly RT which used to be much more balanced and fair in terms of stories, suddenly took a sharp and blatantly biased editorial position, one of being pro-Russia and is demonising everything and anything regarding the Ukraine "which is a state falling apart", except for Crimea wanting to be a part of Russia - its the same refrain, the same narrative, the same theme in basically every story.

Looking viewers straight in the eye, Thabang Motsei tells them about neo-Nazis from Kiev threatening lives in Crimea and post-revolt Ukraine, how "Russian reporters are coming under attack from radicals", and how "satellite providers have refused to work with RT over anonymous threats".

It's unbelievable, yet really happening. 

South African academics and lecturers should watch and record RT and anchors such as Thabang Motsei to show their students in media and TV studies how once credible reporters have become - seemingly overnight - part of a vast propaganda machine. It is jarring to watch.

The low-rated Piers Morgan Live on CNN International will end on 28 March with its last episode.

The low-rated and cancelled Piers Morgan Live (formerly Piers Morgan Tonight) will have its last episode on 28 March, The Hollywood Reporter reports.

After that, four people - Don Lemon, Jake Tapper, Michael Smerconish and Bill Weir - will be seen trying out a TV talk show hour.

Its not clear whether that will be seen on CNN International, or whether the 24-hour TV news channel will replace the timeslot with more relevant content for an international audience.

Next week CNN International viewers will however see Bill Weir in Piers Morgan Live. Piers Morgan is taking a week long vacation before his last week of the show, with Bill Weir who will be sitting in for Piers Morgan.

Last month news broke that the three year old Piers Morgan Live is over. Piers Morgan Live is seen in South Africa at 01:00 - banished to a later and later timeslot on the CNN International schedule since its debut three years ago.