SABC staffer Philani Mkhize (38) dies in horrific motorcycle crash on Sunday after the video editor on his motorbike hit a barrier.

The SABC staffer Philani Mkhize (38) is dead after he crashed on Sunday morning and died in a horrific motorcycle crash.

SABC News on Sunday night first reported the news about the death of the SABC employee that happened earlier today after Philani Mkhize was involved in a motorcycle crash in the south of Johannesburg when his motorbike hit an Armco barrier.

There's not yet been any statement from the SABC.

Philani Mkhize who joined the SABC in 2004 was a video editor at the South African public broadcaster.

Philani Mkhize edited inserts for among others the Afrikaans actuality programme Fokus on SABC2 - which still did a story on motorcycle safety in February of this this year.

SABC to get rid of 10 senior general managers across TV and radio divisions whose contracts have expired; will be replaced by 'capable' stand-in execs in acting capacity.

The SABC is to get rid of 10 general managers across its TV, radio and sales divisions as top executives' contracts won't be renewed.

The Sunday World newspaper on Sunday reported that the South African public broadcaster plans to axe 10 senior top executives whose contracts have run out and who won't see it renewed.

The bloated and top-heavy SABC has placed a moratorium on new appointments at the cash-strapped broadcaster.

SABC spokesperson Vuyo Mthembu says "capable and qualified staff members would be appointed in an acting capacity".

"The truth of the matter is that last year the SABC issued a moratorium internally around the filling of vacancies, as well as the advertising of positions, even those which were critical for the organisation."

"The SABC is currently undergoing a skills audit and critical vacancies which need to be filled will be done by appointing staff members who are capable and qualified in an acting capacity," says Vuyo Mthembu.

Apple set to join the video streaming TV wars as it gets ready to announce its original content plans at Monday's 'Show Time' event.

Apple is finally set to join the video streaming TV wars as Apple Inc. gets ready to announce its original content plans on Monday at its "Show Time" event.

Apple Inc. is joining the subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) race that will add yet another option for video content consumers globally and in a market like South Africa and Africa where video streaming services like MultiChoice's Showmax, Netflix South Africa, Amazon Prime Video,Viu, Cell C black, Acorn TV, TV2GO and others are battling it out to attract subscribers, with more waiting in the wings like Disney+

Apple sent out invitations to the press for a "special event" on 25 March it calls "Show Time" that will take place inside its Steve Jobs Theater at its Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, California, strongly hinting that it will be about Apple's video content service.

Please join us for an Apple special event
at the Steve Jobs Theater in Cupertino.

March 25, 2019
10:00 a.m.

The email played a short film reel countdown animation on opening. pic.twitter.com/a2COFjMIpA

— Matthew Panzarino (@panzer) March 11, 2019

Monday morning's event at 10:00 in California will be live-streamed globally from 19:00 South African time.

Apple has invested over $1 billion the past year in commissioning original TV shows, chasing Netflix and Amazon Studios is ramping up the production of TV series and attaching big name producers from Steven Spielberg to Oprah Winfrey.

Apple has already announced projects and investments in a flurry of over 20 brand-new scripted TV shows that will add to the avalanche of content on existing SVOD services and the TV channels carried on the services of traditional pay-TV operators.

Nobody knows exactly what Apple's video content streaming strategy is and whether Apple will announce a Netflix-like service for Apple TV or a pay-TV service, whether TV shows will be made available for free for users of Apple devices, or how its distribution will work - through its own apps or using existing pay-TV services and platforms.

If Apple is launching it's own streaming service, what will it look like, and how much will it cost?

Here is what Apple has already poured money into - and up until this point, Apple has not publicly released a single on-set still, show publicity photo, image teaser trailer or a second of footage of any of these TV series in development and in production:

Amazing Stories: A new reboot of the science fiction anthology series, again with Steven Spielberg as executive producers.
Are You Sleeping?: A crime series about podcasts of true crime cases with Octavia Spencer and with Reese Witherspoon as executive producers.
Calls: An adaptation of a short-form French series where the emphasis is on audio storytelling.
Central Park: An animated musical comedy.
Defending Jacob: A thriller-adaptation of William Landay's novel with Chris Evans.
Dickson: A growing-up series about the life of the poet Emily Dickinson, with Hailee Steinfeld.
For All Mankind: A science fiction series set in space from Ronald D. Moore.
Foundation: A science fiction series based on the novel series of Isaac Asimov, produced by David S. Goyer and Josh Friedman.
Home: A documentary series about exceptional homes.
Little America: An anthology series revolving around immigrants.
Little Voice: A romantic dramedy series with J.J. Abrams as executive producer.
Losing Earth: A series based on the story of Nathaniel Rich published in The New York Times magazine and as a book about the history of climate activism.
Magic Hour: A mystery series loosely based on the real-life story of Hilde Lysiak.
My Glory Was I Had Such Friends: Jennifer Garner and J.J. Abrams reteam for the first time after Alias for this series based on the life of Amy Silverstein.
Pachinko: A series spanning several generations following a Korean family, based on the novel by Min Jin Lee.
See: A science fiction drama series.
Shantaram: A series based on Gregory David Robert's novel about a man's life in Bombay.
Swagger: A drama series inspired by the life of basketball player Kevin Durant.
The Morning Show: A backstage drama series set behind-the-scenes at a fictional American morning show with Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell.
Time Bandits: A reboot of the classic film by Terry Gilliam.
Untitled Brie Larson series: A drama series based on the life of the undercover CIA-agent Amaryllis Fox.
Untitled Colleen McGuinness series: A comedy series based on Curtis Sittenfeld's You Think It, I'll Say It short story collection.
Untitled Damien Chazelle series.
Untitled M. Night Shyamalan series: M. Night Shyamalan is the executive producer and will be writing the first episode of this thriller-series that will undoubtedly incorporate weird twists.
Untitled Oprah projects: Oprah Winfrey closed a multi-year partnership with Apple to produce an array of original content.
Untitled Snoopy series: Short-form animation series based on the dog character from Peanuts.
Untitled Richard Gere series: A drama series based on the Israeli show Nevelot.
Untitled Rob McElhenny and Charlie Day series: A comedy series revolving around a worker at a video game studio.
Untitled Simon Kinberg and David Weil series: A science fiction series.

eNCA spreads completely 'fake news' as it wrongly reports that 'Trevor Noah might be out of his job'; TV news channel erroneously claims that The Daily Show on Comedy Central could be cancelled.

The South African TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403) on Saturday spread "fake news", erroneously and wrongly reporting as a breaking news "top story" that "Trevor Noah might be out of a job" and wrongly claiming that The Daily Show on Comedy Central (DStv 122) could be cancelled with its "future hanging in the balance".

None of it is true.

Sadly and shockingly, neither the clueless and incompetent weekend worker at eNCA who cobbled together the report from false facts without attribution to any actual original news sources, nor any information checkers, online editors or other gatekeepers at eNCA saw or bothered to check and first verify any of the false information before publishing it.

eNCA with a fake headline "Trevor Noah might be out of a job" that is devoid from all truth, reported wrongly to news consumers that "the future of Comedy Central's Daily Show hangs in the balance".

That is not true and neither is or will Trevor Noah be out of a job, nor does the future of The Daily Show "hang in the balance".

eNCA wrongly reported fake news, saying "This could mean the end of one of the most watched and beloved parody news shows" - again a completely false assumption since The Daily Show isn't and won't be ending.

eNCA wrongly reported that "authorities, AT&T-DIRECTTV plans to drop 22 channels".

Nothing like AT&T-DIRECTV exists.

DirecTV is an American satellite pay-TV service, "DirecTV" is its brand name, and is a subsidiary of AT&T (U-verse is another such similar service from AT&T).

DirecTV is also not an "authority" or "authorities" - it is a commercial pay-TV service, one of about 26 in America.

What is happening but that eNCA doesn't understand nor bothered to, is that DirecTV is in negotiations with Viacom at the moment, with Viacom that provides TV channels to all pay-TV providers in America and worldwide, like South Africa, for the continuation of its channels on DirecTV.

The suppliers of channels - like Viacom - sign what is called channel carriage agreements. This is a contract lasting for a specific period, for instance 5 years, with a pay-TV service that then pays the supplier an amount (usually a few cents per subscriber per month).

This contract for Comedy Central and a dozen other channels from Viacom delivered to DirecTV is now expiring. The two sides are busy negotiating a new possible contract.

If there isn't a new contract between Viacom and DirecTV, Viacom's Comedy Central will continue to exist,it just won't be available on DirecTV anymore.

Comedy Central will continue to be available to subscribers and viewers of more than 20 pay-TV services in America, as well as globally, as well as Comedy Central Africa carried and available in South Africa and Africa on MultiChoice's DStv and provided by Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa).

The same with The Daily Show and the same with Trevor Noah.

Just because it might no longer be on "the authorities" DirecTV, doesn't mean Comedy Central as a TV channel, The Daily Show or Trevor Noah is in any danger, has a "future in the balance" or "might be out of a job".

It is the same as if MultiChoice decided to drop e.tv as a channel from its line-up on DStv.

e.tv would still be available on the satellite TV services of StarSat and on Openview. The future of shows like Scandal! and Rhythm City wouldn't "hang in the balance", they would just not be on DStv anymore, they wouldn't be cancelled, and the soap stars in these shows won't be at risk of a "might be out of a job".

It's absolutely shocking that eNCA would produce and run fake trash like this.

eNCA ended up deleting its Tweet linking to its fake news reporting on Saturday afternoon after TVwithThinus noted the horrific fake news from eNCA.

Later eNCA did another Tweet after altering its fake news story and making the headline "Trevor Noah's Daily Show up in the air at AT&T" - still a clickbait headline and false news.

eNCA also altered and edited its original fake news report, without adding any editorial note that the article has been changed since it was first published and explaining why - something legitimate news sources do when changing and updating stories and correcting mistakes.

eNCA kept the mistake "AT&T-DIRECTV" but took out that it is "authorities", added that it could mean the end of the show for "AT&T-DIRECTV customers" at the end of a sentence and wholly deleted wrong sentences.

On Twitter readers criticised eNCA, saying it's "still a very misleading headline". "Noah's show is perfectly safe. One US TV provider out of many that is making (idle) threats because of a contract dispute. #clickbait".

Another said "This is not accurate. There are middle school papers with better editors".

Africa's Chinese pay-TV operator StarTimes adds on-demand Fox+ Series to its StarTimes ON app in Africa and South Africa; StarSat and Fox Africa silent about the video-on-demand extension.

Africa's Chinese pay-TV operator StarTimes has added video-on-demand Fox+ Series content from the Fox Networks Group (FNG) to its StarTimes ON app in Africa and in South Africa, with StarSat and Fox Networks Group Africa (FNG Africa) that have remained silent about the VOD content deal and extension.

Since Friday 22 March, FOX+ is available as a separate section on StarTimes' StarTimes ON app in sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa with a range of drama and comedy series from FOX that are available to stream through the StarTimes ON app.

FOX+ is already available on the Cell C black subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) service in South Africa, but not on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

For more than a week before the inclusion of FOX+ on the StarTimes ON app, TVwithThinus asked On Digital Media (ODM) and StarTimes South Africa's StarSat for information and comment multiple times, but StarSat's publicist Luyanda Cele didn't respond with anything.

TVwithThinus also asked Fox Networks Group Africa for comment but FNG Africa didn't respond with anything.

Now StarTimes has added FOX+ since yesterday, where users can stream some current and library TV series ranging from The Walking Dead and Empire to 24, The X-Files, Outcast, Bones, American Dad, Modern Family, Ghosted, Chance, Star and Family Guy.

StarTimes will add more series ranging from Legion, Prison Break, Homeland, Atlanta, American Horror Story, Wayward Pines, Da Vinci's Demons, Futurama, The Americans, Sleepy Hollow, Bob's Burger, Scream Queens, Rosewood, Baskets, 24 Legacy, Son of Zorn and The Gifted to StarTimes ON in April, May and June.

"We are very happy to bring Fox+ Series to our users and I'm sure that fans of American television series will fully enjoy themselves with StarTimes ON," says Ariel Wang, StarTimes ON operation director, in a one-sentence quote in a statement issued in some other African countries.

Supernatural, seen on M-Net City and SABC2, ending after 15 seasons.

The drama series Supernatural with Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins, seen in South Africa and across Africa on M-Net City (DStv 115) and in South Africa on SABC2, is ending with the upcoming 15th season that will be its last.

That makes Supernatural the longest-running fantasy American TV series in history.

Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins made the announcement late on Friday on social media that the drama series shown on the CW in the United States is coming to an end.

The upcoming 15th season of Supernatural will still have 20 episodes, similar to recent seasons. M-Net City is in the 13th season while SABC2 reached the 11th season.

"Firstly, we would like to thank all the people who have been involved with the show both in front of and behind the camera. For us it has been an experience of a lifetime. The support we have had from both Warner Bros Television and The CW has been incredible," said Robert Singer and Andrew Dabb, Supernatural's executive producers, in a statement.

"We'd like to give special thanks to Jensen, Jared and Misha for making this journey so special. It is now most important to us to give these characters that we love the sendoff they deserve".

Jensen Ackles wrote "Well, it’s official. One more round for the Winchester brothers. Though nothing ever really ends in Supernatural...does it?" with a video that the three Supernatural stars posted on Friday.

View this post on Instagram

Well, it’s official. One more round for the Winchester brothers. Though nothing ever really ends in Supernatural...does it? 😉

A post shared by Jensen Ackles (@jensenackles) on Mar 22, 2019 at 1:32pm PDT

In the video, Jensen Ackles says "We just told the crew that though we're very very excited about moving into our 15th season, it will be our last - 15 years of a show that has certainly changed my life, I know it's changed these two guys' life."

"And we just wanted you to hear from us that though we're excited about next year, it will be the finale. The big, grand finale of an institution. I will say this, a little word from Eric Kripke, the creator about this world and these characters, that in a show about family, it is amazing and it is the pride of his life that it became a family. So thank you guys for that."

Jared Padalecki says "We've cried some tears and we'll cry some more, but we're grateful and we're going to work all that emotion into next season."

Misha Collins says "this family is not going anywhere even though the show will come to an end".

Supernatural was created by Eric Kripke and produced by Warner Bros. Television in association with Wonderland Sound and Vision; with Robert Singer, Andrew Dabb, Phil Sgriccia, Jeremy Carver, Eugenie Ross-Leming, and Brad Buckner as executive producers. At its conclusion, it will have produced 327 episodes.

Haunting. Moving. Emotional. M-Net Movies Epic pop-up channel starts on DStv with 70 must-see battle films.

The M-Net Movies Epic (DStv 109) pop-up channel will launch at 13:00 today and run for 24 days until 14 April with more than 70 war and battle films for DStv subscribers.

The M-Net Movies Epic channel has been curated as a showcase of "the greatest war stories ever told and battles that shaped human history for more than two millennia", says M-Net. "You can almost smell the cordite of the trenches, or feel the earth move as a tank brigade rumbles towards enemy lines."

Films will range from harrowing and disturbing yet must-see stark reality like Saving Private Ryan and Apocalypse Now, to fantasy battle stories like Independence Day and Lord of the Rings, to heroic and moving like Braveheart and Heartbreak Ridge. 

All of them elicit an emotional cinematic response whether you watch them for the first time or settle in for a rewatch - on some level they change you and how you see and what you want for the world.

Here is the list of titles that will be shown on M-Net Movies Epic:

• The Longest Day
• Red Tails
• Elizabeth: The Golden Age
• 300
• Apocalypse Now
• Platoon
• Spartacus
• Cutthroat Island
• Kingdom Of Heaven
• 300: Rise Of An Empire
• The Deer Hunter
• Brothers In Arms
• Dunkirk
• Letters From Iwo Jima
• The Three Musketeers
• Troy
• Full Metal Jacket
• The Siege Of Firebase Gloria
• Flags Of Our Fathers
• Master & Commander: The Far Side Of The World
• Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl
• Transformers
• Spartacus
• Band Of Brothers
• Empire Of The Sun
• Fury
• Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
• Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen
• The Battle Of Britain
• Zero Dark Thirty
• Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End
• Das Boot (Director's Cut)
• Pearl Harbor
• The Last Samurai
• Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
• Glory
• King Arthur
• The Hunt For Red October
• Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
• Transformers: The Last Knight
• War Of The Worlds
• Gone With The Wind
• U-571
• Tobruk
• Saving Private Ryan
• Battle Los Angeles
• Independence Day
• Gettysburg
• The Battle Of The Bulge
• Predator
• Edge Of Tomorrow
• Gods And Generals
• Raid On Rommel
• Starship Troopers
• War Horse
• Hobbit, The: An Unexpected Journey
• Memphis Belle
• Tora! Tora! Tora!
• Pacific Rim
• Pacific Rim: Uprising
• The Water Diviner
• Hobbit, The: The Desolation Of Smaug
• Transformers: Dark Of The Moon
• Gone With The Wind
• Lord Of The Rings, The: The Fellowship Of The Ring
• Hobbit, The: The Battle Of The Five Armies
• Transformers: Age Of Extinction
• Lord Of The Rings, The: The Return Of The King
• The Thin Red Line
• Hurt Locker, The
• Lone Survivor
• The Pacific
• Beach Red
• Enemy At The Gates
• Heartbreak Ridge
• Empire Of The Sun
• Braveheart
• Flags Of Our Father
• Rob Roy
• We Were Soldiers

TV CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK. eNCA and SABC News' disturbing failure and hugely inadequate coverage of the humanitarian disaster of Cyclone Idai in Mozambique speak volumes about their TV news priorities and lack of capability and capacity to really cover Africa.

Where on earth is eNCA (DStv 403) and SABC News (DStv 404), their teams of correspondents that should be on-the-ground in Mozambique (Zimbabwe and Malawi) and the rolling, comprehensive and high-news agenda TV news coverage it should be doing and that viewers rightfully expect in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai?

Why after the biggest natural disaster to hit Southern Africa and the Southern Hemisphere in two decades is it barely getting coverage on eNCA and SABC News, with somewhat more and better-done coverage on international TV news channels?

That is what viewers and TV news watchers are wondering about the shockingly inadequate, superficial, limited, short duration, low-agenda and wholly inept coverage of Cyclone Idai and its terrible aftermath seen on eMedia Investments' eNCA and the South African public broadcaster's SABC News channel.

Once again South African viewers and viewers watching elsewhere in Africa and the world are getting a screen-by-screen comparison of how embarrassingly and severely truncated, underwhelming, limited and incomplete the coverage on both eNCA and SABC News are, compared with other TV news channels when it comes to televised reporting of a big disaster.

Neither eNCA nor SABC News apparently has the will, resources, skill, capability and know-how to actually cover news, dispatch teams of their own correspondents and to properly report on something like an unfolding disaster in a closeby neighbouring country.

Meanwhile the coverage on BBC World News (DStv 400 / StarSat 256 / Cell C black 501 / Openview 121), Sky News (DStv 402), Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / StarSat 257 / Cell C black 503) and CGTN  (DStv 409 / StarSat 266) - although not excellent - have been much more and much better than eNCA and SABC News.

Strikingly, CNN International (DStv 401) - for once - is also part of the eNCA and SABC News failure box this time.

CNN International - usually much better than this - has a lack of on-the-ground and rolling coverage of the horrific disaster in which up to a 1 000 people or more are feared dead with an area the size of Johannesburg in South Africa still flooded and underwater in Mozambique.

Where are the multiple, ongoing reports and first-person stories from reporters and correspondents in Beira? Where are the on-the-ground TV news interviews with victims and correspondents fanning out to show the extent of the devastation?

Why does eNCA and SABC News not have correspondents there and why is the story not the top story every hour with rolling special coverage?

Why do TV news viewers who want to get a (better) sense of what is actually happening in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe after the devastation of Cyclone Idai have to tune to BBC World News, Al Jazeera and other international TV channels to see and hear reporting, and first-hand reporting, of the devastation and what is happening?

Why is SABC News and eNCA doing prompter live-read and recorded voice-overs with 2-minute wire-services visuals reserved for foreign disaster stories happening a world away?

Why does SABC News and eNCA not have teams of reporters on the ground in Beira and across Mozambique? Both reporting the oncoming cyclone and knew days in advance it's approaching. What plans exactly were made to dispatch and have people there in time before the storm hit?

Why are international TV news channel correspondents once again telling Africa and the world about a big and harrowing African story as parents dig through the mud looking for their dead children; as women, children and babies are trapped in trees; and as rescuers scramble to try and save people trapped by floodwaters?

This is unacceptable. SABC News and eNCA claim that they're news services and news channels in Africa. Sadly they don't behave that way if you look at the TV news coverage they produce and put out during times where and when it really matters.

Sadly they're once again short on incisively, comprehensively and adequately telling and reporting on an African story - one happening very close to their Johannesburg news headquarters.

eNCA stands for "eNews Channel Africa". If it can't or doesn't want to do the "Africa" part, it should remove the "A" because its inclusion alludes and creates a perception that it will cover news from Africa which it doesn't really live up to.

The SABC chose to expand the footprint of its SABC News channel on DStv beyond South Africa into the rest of sub-Saharan Africa on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform.

That brings more viewers and exposure for the SABC and SABC News, but the bigger broadcasting footprint also means that the SABC has a bigger responsibility to actually really cover and do real news coverage from the geographical area besides South Africa where it is available in when there is big news happening.

eNCA has reporter Dasen Thathiah in Mozambique. Only him. Doing some stories. Of course as a single correspondent he can only do so much. SABC News has nobody and plays wire news agency clips as coverage.

Stories are run not top-of-the-hour, and neither is there rolling coverage and neither eNCA nor SABC News can, or seems interested in doing any type of comprehensive live coverage of the unfolding natural and humanitarian disaster happening right now.

The SABC's foreign editor Sophie Mokoena sits under studio lights in the SABC News studio to "unpack" the "damage caused by Cyclone Idai" in Mozambique while the SABC plays United Nations video clips of the devastation, while Ephert Musekiwa does phone-in's from Harare, Zimbabwe.

This is simply not good enough. South African TV news is failing their audience in doing what their news services purport to be.

Meanwhile the BBC's Pumza Fihlani in Beira, Al Jazeera's Fahmida Miller also in Beira, Sky News' Africa correspondent John Sparks also in Beira and other correspondents are telling the stories, moving around and interviewing people in Mozambique.

"The situation in Mozambique is "a major humanitarian emergency that is getting bigger by the hour", according to the World Food Programme.

Why is the coverage of Cyclone Idai's aftermath in Mozambique not getting bigger by the hour on SABC News and eNCA? And where is CNN International this time with no on-the-ground reporting in Mozambique but doing reporting from Lagos, Nigeria? Really?

More than 400 000 people have been left homeless. At least 98 people have died in Zimbabwe, 56 in Malawi, and 217 in Mozambique, with thousands missing in all three countries.

The SABC and eNCA should send correspondents - plural - there. They should have been there days ago. They should stay there. They should tell the story(ies) and not leave it to wire news service footage to provide footage for cobbled-together clips to fill a throwaway-minute with a voice-over. It's disgusting.

All of the puff press releases from TV news channels who have a presence in Africa and their verbose statements about "telling the African story" falls completely flat and means nothing when it's time to actually really show and tell the "African story" - and then there's no real showing nor any real telling.

M-Net deletes The Bachelor South Africa's first episode from YouTube after making it available for free to watch online.

M-Net (DStv 101) has abruptly deleted the first episode of The Bachelor South Africa from YouTube that it didn't need to make freely available as a pay-TV broadcaster.

M-Net removing the free content that lured hundreds of thousands of views and terrific sampling of the new localised version produced by Rapid Blue of the Warner Bros. International Television Production (WBITP) format show, has people wondering why M-Net deleted something it didn't have to make available in the first place but chose to share freely and now took away.

Gone with The Bachelor SA episode that pulled over 322 000 views on YouTube is the entire public record for history of viewers who chose to engage and gave their time to engage with M-Net and the show and to type comments and share reactions.

M-Net unexpectedly yanking The Bachelor SA episode also leaves a destructive score of dead text hyperlinks in its wake across the internet on a range of sites in the stories and reports of various publications on the internet that reported on the episode being made available and linked readers to it, doing so in the belief that the content would be permanently available and therefore made the effort to direct readers to it.

Besides dead links sites now also sit with gaping black holes where the YouTube video was embedded that no longer works or play.

M-Net's deletion of The Bachelor SA episode damages the credibility of sites and articles about it including links ranging from All4Women, 2OceansVibe, GoodThingsGuy and The Citizen to StageAndScreen, TVwithThinus, Yahoo News and many more - even M-Net's own website where M-Net encourages people to "watch the first episode on YouTube here" leading to YouTube now saying "that video is unavailable".

Readers think that it's a publication or site that is at fault and that made a link or video embed coding error while it's actually the underlying content it directs to that has been scrubbed from the internet.

M-Net never said that The Bachelor SA debut episode would only be made available on YouTube for a limited period in a press release, and neither did the episode's YouTube description underneath the full-length video.

After removing the episode M-Net made no announcement as to why people would now find a black block on YouTube, and has nothing redirecting them to where to actually find and discover the content they went looking for.

M-Net in response to a media enquiry from TVwithThinus about the episode's sudden removal now says that "due to a format restriction we could only make the first episode available on YouTube for 28 days".

"There will still be short clips and other highlights from all the episodes on YouTube."

It's not clear whether M-Net will also remove this other The Bachelor SA clips and content after a certain time period.