ADVISORY. Recommendations on Sentech and SABC made public tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be an interesting news day with lots of buzz (of the negative kind) that will be generated for the public broadcaster SABC, as well as the state-owned signal distributor Sentech.

A long-awaited report, containing recommendations on both will be released on Thursday, 11 February. A ministerial task team was set up last year to investigate the SABC and Sentech and that findings - together with recommendations - will be made public at a press conference on Thursday.

BREAKING. SABC2's Morning Live in Cape Town, 7de Laan dumped for State of Nation speech.

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I can exclusively first reveal that SABC2's Morning Live will be in Cape Town next week and that SABC2's flagship breakfast show will be covering the opening of parliament.

In another huge twist SABC2 will be broadcasting president Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation address LIVE, but on Thursday evening at 19:00 on 11 February 2010.  This year, for the first time ever, the opening of parliament will take place in the evening.

SABC2 will be carrying the proceedings live from 18:00 on Thursday (11 Feb) next week, which means the schedule will be adjusted. Opening of Parliament starts LIVE at 18:00, with Zuma's speech at 19:00. The Afrikaans news (usually called Nuus om 7) follows at 20:30. This means that next Thursday's episode of the soap opera 7de Laan will bite the dust.

Izak Davel on his red speedo: ''Everything stayed in place.''

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Celebrities usual fear over-exposure. Not Izak Davel. If there is one contestant on Survivor SA Santa Carolina (Wednesdays at 19:30 on M-Net) who's choice of skimpy swimwear is raising eyebrows, it's Izak Davel itsy bitsy teeny-weeny all red barely there speedo. He calls it a ''smart choice''.

I asked him why he chose to take that to the island to cover-up his man bits, whether he had any, uhm (cough-cough) ''wardrobe malfunctions'', whether he usually take to the water wearing that, where he got it, and of course . . .what his tribemates thought of his revealing show-and-tell.

Click on READ MORE below for ONE MORE pic of Izak in his red swimwear and his revealing answers.

BREAKING. ''It's always been the intention to continue with the character of Parsons'' - SABC3

SABC3 and Endemol SA, the company that produces the TV channel's long-running soap opera Isidingo took the drastic step of issuing a press release after the scandalous news I told you about on Thursday RIGHT HERE  regarding actor Tshepo Maseko and his character Parsons Matabane who will get a lot less screen time in the year.

''It has always been the intention of the producers and broadcaster of Isidingo to continue with the character of Parsons Matabane,'' Endemol and SABC3 says in a jointly released statement.

''In spite of what has been incorrectly alleged, the producers and the actor's agent have already discussed the terms of a new contract for 2010. The actor's agent had indicated that the actor would accept this contract. It has come as a surprise to us that dissatisfaction has been expressed by the actor in a public forum, and we hope to resolve this matter in a private and professional manner.
SABC3 would like to assure all Isidingo viewers that the character of Parsons Matabane will still be a huge part of the soapies' vision going forward. It is important to note that Tshepo Maseko's contract has been amended and not terminated, which reiterates the significance of his role and the commitment that he has shown to both his trade and Isidingo.''

BREAKING. DStv to add a new channel: Discovery World.

I can be exclusively first to break the news that DStv will be adding Discovery World as a new TV channel in March 2010 in South Africa.

DStv already has Discovery (which will now move to channel 121 from March - see my previous post) and Discovery HD Showcase. Now it seems there's a 3rd Discovery channel on the way.

No word from DStv yet on this news. I just got an email - not from DStv - that only very enigmatically says about the move of the Discovery channel - starting in big red letters with the words ''Please note'':
''The move has opened up an exciting opportunity for Discovery to strengthen its local portfolio, and its stronghold as the leader in factual content, through the 1 March 2010 launch in South Africa of the premium factual brand, Discovery World.''

Discovery World is a TV channel. Discovery World also just launched in the East and West African countries of Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria and Kenya last month.

BREAKING. DStv moves Discovery Channel to Channel 121.

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I can be exclusively first with the breaking news that DStv is bumping the Discovery Channel from Channel 250 to the brand-new position of Channel 121 from 1 March!

No word from DStv themselves yet on this development.

''Discovery Channel, previously on DStv channel 250, has moved up the rankings to channel 121,'' says an email I just got. ''This will be effective from 1st March.''

Vuzu boss: ''We want to bring people the best shows as quickly as possible.''

Yet another high-buzz, super-youth show is starting tonight on Vuzu (DStv 123) (The Vampire Diaries which in October I was first to tell you about RIGHT HERE). Here's the kick: South African viewers will be a mere 12 episodes behind America.

Vuzu launched The Vampire Diaries at the youth TV channel's 2010 first quarter preview at Melrose Arch which is where I spoke to Yolisa Phahle, channel director, special interests at M-Net. Yolisa is in charge of Vuzu and I asked her more about Vuzu's broadcasting strategy, how Vuzu has been performing since it replaced GO last year, and V Entertainment - Vuzu's daily, local entertainment news show.

For the full interview and her very interesting answers, you can click on READ MORE below.

BREAKING. Iman jetting in to judge the live Face of Africa reality show finale.

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I can exclusively and first reveal the super news that supermodel Iman will be at the live finale of the Face of Africa reality TV show this Saturday, 6 February a6 21:30 on M-Net Series (DStv 110).

In August last year I told you RIGHT HERE that she decided to partner with the reality show looking for a new modelling face and now she will be here on the continent on Saturday in Lagos to be a judge for the final live episode. Her company IMAN Cosmetics has partnered with Face of Africa this season as one of the big sponsors.

The other judges are Oluchi, the first winner of the Face of Africa competition, South Africa's supermodel Josie Borain, fashion show producer and director of The Skin Group, Megan Kruger, the Kenian designer John Kaveke, the South African designer David Tlale, Nigeria's THISDAY editor in chief Nduka Obaigbena and ARISE editor Helen Jennings.

The Kenian Fareed Khimani will be the presenter.

A new Universal channel for DStv?

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DStv will announce something regarding a TV channel - most probably a NEW ONE or a change to an existing one - on 18 February 2010.

DStv has just set before me a TV puzzle by sending me the image above: I just received an invitation looking like this. The TV universe is big, but not that big. And since I'm using the ''universe'' word, check out the logo of UNIVERSAL below.

The iconography of the invitation definitely contains traces of it. Are South African viewers getting a Universal channel or something distributed by NBC Universal that is in the process of being acquired by Comcast? Mmm. Let the speculation begin.