BREAKING NEWS. All TopTV decoders - 50 000 - SOLD OUT in one day. TopTV ''overwhelmed''.

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I can break the news that all 50 000 available TopTV decoders - stock that was supposed to be month's supply, has sold out IN ONE DAY, today.

Selling out every single decoder they had today has even surprised TopTV themselves, catching shop owners by surprise and stunning TopTV that's now scrambling to find more decoders and move them into stores. 

Getting more TopTV decoders into stores will take a few days for On Digital Media (ODM) which has now shifted into crisis mode to try and get more decoders to clamouring customers nationwide and is telling shops to now start taking orders. All TopTV decoders that went on sale today at R499 that include free installation, has been sold out and will now silence even the harshest critics who had doubts about TopTV succeeding in the South African pay TV marketplace dominated by MultiChoice's DStv the past 15 years. The 50 000 brand new subscribers signed up in one day today, already represent 10% of the 500 000 subscribers that On Digital Media (ODM) needs in order to run a profitable pay TV business.

I just spoke to TopTV who tells me ''TopTV is completely overwhelmed''. Elouise Kelly, chief marketing officer tells me ''this has absolutely shattered our wildest expectations. In just one day we've sold our entire month's supply of set top boxes.''

TopTV decoders that were distributed nationwide and went on sale today with strict instructions to stores as well as a confidentiality clause not to unpack or display them before today, started selling out at 12:30 - some stores even early Saturday morning - as customers beset stores to find the set top box that comes with a free satellite dish and installation. Subscribers will pay between R99 and R249 once the decoder is installed and the pay TV service activated, depending on the number of TopTV TV channels they want to receive.

''The 50 000 was supposed to last us the first few weeks,'' Elouise Kelly tells me. ''We knew there was a lot of interest, but this is incredible and unbelievable.'' This creates an immediate dilemma for TopTV - how to get decoders to potential subscribers when you don't have any. The initial batch of TopTV set top boxes were manufactured outside of South Africa, but TopTV is now looking at South African decoder suppliers to help out.

''We don't want to turn anyone away and have arranged with stores that people can come in and place orders for a decoder,'' says Elouise Kelly. ''What stores will do is take their details and call them when new TopTV decoders arrive in stock which will hopefully be within days.'' ''We're looking at local solutions,'' she said when asked where TopTV will be sourcing additional set top boxes so quickly.

FIRST LOOK! Summit starts a new morning show, Summit AM, in May.

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Come Monday morning, the South African business channel Summit (DStv 412) will debut a brand-new morning show geared towards business news and I can give you the very first glimpse at the new Summit AM logo and how the show will look.

Summit  is beefing up its business coverage while rival CNBC Africa (DStv 410) is doing very little to pull the TV business news channel out of an ongoing credibility crisis. Summit AM will be a two hour weekday show between 08:00 and 10:00, with the producers promising ''breaking breakfast news and market information, plus the analysis viewers need to make sense of it all.''

''Our research shows viewers want a credible, relevant, and concise morning business show with news they can use - and trust,'' says Jane Viedge, Summit's head of programming. ''Summit AM will have all the qualities our viewers have come to expect from us.'' Summit pulls in about 200 000 viewers per week.

BREAKING. M-Net Series attempting a new ''starting on the half hour'' TV schedule.

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M-Net Series (DStv 110) is embarking on a seemingly daft and half-baked plan: the TV channel intends to move it's whole schedule line-up from the top of the hour, to the half hour - starting this Monday.

How is this for TV idiosyncrasy: M-Net Series will now single-handedly attempt to influence and change South African TV viewers' viewing habits where shows starting at the top of the hour have been entrenched since television began in 1976. M-Net Series, saying the ''move is necessary'' has now decided that prime time slots on the channel will no longer start at 17:00, but at 17:30.

''Moving prime time to start at 17:30 on M-Net Series was a strategic decision to ensure that M-Net Series continues to cater for viewers' needs in order to meet their busy schedules,'' says Khosi Khanyile, M-Net Series channel manager.

Sky Sports coming to Cape Town for World Cup soccer.

Sky Sports, sister channel of Sky News (DStv 402) is now also coming to Cape Town for the football World Cup in June and July with their own studio at the V&A Waterfront - not very far from the BBC's new glass studio on the roof of the Someret hospital about which I told you RIGHT HERE in December.

Sky Sports who would be able to do reports for Sky News, will use a three camera studio at the V&A Waterfront at the World Media & Legacy Centre in Granger Bay.

Programming note: Mighty Ships on Discovery on Tuesday features a South African sea giant.

A programming note for South African viewers that Mighty Ships is starting Tuesday, May 4 at 20:00 on Discovery Channel (DStv 121).

During the week I went to a press conference with a live satellite link-up that put me in contact with the diamond mining vessel Peace in Africa in the Atlantic Ocean. It was awesome and I asked a lot of questions! Check back on Tuesday for my fascinating Q&A if you want to find out more about the show, the ship and what the film crew shot on the Peace in Africa ship.

In the launch episode of Mighty Ships on Discovery Channel, the MV Peace in Africa is the subject of the first episode which was filmed off the West Coast of South Africa. De Beers Marine which owns and operates The Peace in Africa has never allowed film access to the ship before. The episode takes viewers into the heart of the ship and explores the incredible process of how the ship and crew, often in extremely hazardous circumstances, extract diamonds from the seabed.

Mighty Ships form part of Discovery Channel's ''Big Stuff Month'' theme, with an hour long show going out from Monday to Friday at 20:00 (with another hour between 20:00 and 21:00 on Fridays) during May.

25 Idols contestants make it through to the theatre round in Johannesburg auditions.

I can tell you that 25 people have made it through the Johannesburg audition process of the new sixth season of Idols. One who didn't make it through was Philip De Gouveia (17) from Germiston who turned up in a Tin Man costume from The Wizard of Oz. But it wasn't enough to get him through.

Out of the over 2 100 contestants who showed up in Johannesburg, 25 have made it through the tough Idols judges and will be going through to the theatre round that will be held at Sun City this year. They all received Golden Tickets to perform in group selection once they're joined by the rest of the lucky ones. Cape Town yielded 27 contestants from the audition process there, Durban 20 which means that with Johannesburg's 25, 72 contestants are now guaranteed a place so far in the theatre round.

Idols' national audition process continues tomorrow in Port Elizabeth at the fourth nationwide auditionday at the Boardwalk shopping centre.

ALSO READ: Idols audition day in Cape Town.
ALSO READ: Idols audition day in Durban.
ALSO READ: Idols audition day in Johannesburg.

BREAKING. A sea monster returns to the telly! Wielie Walie, Interster back on South African television with TopTV.

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Look who's back! Beloved by generations of TV viewers who grew up as television grew up in South Africa, TopTV is turning on the nostalgia tap big time by bringing back South African TV classics such as Wielie Walie, Interster and many more.

TopTV which is launching today in South Africa as the new pay TV operator - the first since MultiChoice started DStv 15 years ago - has in its bouquet of 52 TV channels Top One (TopTV 150) (see how Top One is looking HERE) and Top Junior (TopTV 250).

TopTV has culled the SABC's TV archives and will now broadcast top and iconic shows from South Africa's heydeys, but only brought TV shows which have stood the test of time beautifully. Wielie Walie, the kids show with a sea monster named Sarel Seemonster and a know-better crow, Karel Kraai is back. Also back on South African TV screens is the ground-breaking South African produced science fiction puppet show Interster, which was light years ahead of anything else at the time in the world regarding TV puppet artistry and animatronics.

CBNC Africa drops The NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.

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CNBC Africa (DStv 410) has quietly dropped The NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams furthering weaking its late night line-up.

The South African business channel mired in controversy regarding parastatal sponsorship agreements it didn't declare upfront, has done away with the nightly half hour American news show. A while ago CNBC Africa also did away with syndicated The McLaughlin Group half hour.

What has happened is that CNBC Africa is largely dependend on the CNBC Europe feed. CNBC Europe has nixed The NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams because of too much content within the news bulletin that was with increasing regularity not sourced by NBC News directly and which CNBC Europe then had to literally black out too often. CNBC Europe decided to discard The Nightly News and left CNBC Africa with no alternative but to also do away with, and replace the half hour.

FIRST LOOK! Promo clip of the Current TV channel on TopTV.

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Current TV (TopTV 406) is launching today, Saturday, May 1, as one of the TV channels on the new TopTV satellite TV subscription service in South Africa. I can exclusively show you this one minute promo clip of Current TV, which give you a bit of an idea what Current TV on the TopTV platform will be about.

This clip was show to TV critics and writers at a press conference yesterday with Al Gore, chairman of Current TV, who spoke about his news channel. Current TV is the fastest growing satellite TV news channel in the world, making use of, and broadcasting, user content generated news.