BREAKING. All DStv BoxOffice movies that have been rented up until Tuesday 2 August at 12:00 will now all be free.

Due to technical problems from its commercial launch day on Friday 22 July, DStv BoxOffice just announced that all movies that was rented by subscribers who tried the service up until Tuesday 2 Augst at 12:00, will be free.

MultiChoice initially offered the first movie a subscriber tries for free, an ''introductory offer'' that is still valid, but has decided to ''back reimburse'' subscribers who did try DStv BoxOffice since last weekend. MultiChoice is making a goodwill gesture due to the problems subscribers were experiencing with the new video-on-demand (VOD) service when a core system failed.

''We know we've had some teething problems with the DStv BoxOffice service, so we decided not to charge you until we were confident that you would have a great experience. This means that all movies rented up to noon Tue 2 Aug 2011 are on us,'' says MultiChoice.

BREAKING. Traumatised SABC workers crying foul; airing their unhappiness over the unbearable lightness of being stuck in stench.

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Oh SABC. Where would we be without you?

It seems the SABC is being visited by Mister Hankey the Christmas poo. No, the SABC didn't sign the rights to South Park - SABC workers are crying foul and claim that they're subjected to the unbearable stench of - to put it nicely - ''pungent sewer-effluence in the air''.

The Media Workers Association of South Africa (Mwasa), one of the unions representing SABC workers, now claim that traumatised workers in the SABC's rented offices in Nelspruit can't cope with the foul smell of the you-know-what odours they have to endure. For weeks Mwasa has claimed - and continues to - that the SABC's Nelspruit offices is simply not fit for human habitation while extensive construction work is taking place in and around the building.

Last week SABC staff refused to enter the SABC building in Nelspruit with Mwasa calling it ''a deathtrap'' and Mwasa saying it could ''collapse any time''. Mwasa general secretary Tuwani Gumani said the building was ''rotten'' and a ''mining site''.

Last week the SABC issued a press release responding to the claims of the building's unsafety during construction and said ''a structural engineer has confirmed that the building has no structural defects and is therefore considered safe''. That's after the department of labour in Mpumalanga did a routine inspection in June ''and indentified issues inside and outside the building'' which is not getting attention in the form of construction on the premises. The SABC says that according to the department of labour there is now ''nothing structurally wrong with the building. Entrance with the scaffolding did not pose a danger and it's safe.

SABC workers are not happy and are now kicking up a stench about the stench, calling the SABC ''uncaring'' and promising ''strong action'' over ''the experiences of the pungent sewer-effluence hanging in the air inside and outside the building''. ''We just cannot allow anybody to be subjected to this state of affairs whilst we squander money to celebrate the SABC's 75 years,'' says Mwasa.

The SABC has so far not responded about the workers' airing their complaint about the air quality.

SHOCKER! The credibility lacking South African Film and Television Awards now appointing previous winners and nominees as judges!

That badly organized, atrociously botched, and complete credibility lacking South African Film and Television Awards known as the Saftas (that couldn't even find a broadcaster for the 5th Saftas earlier this year) is upping the preposterousness of what I regard as nothing more than a shallow awards function.

The Saftas is now planning to appoint previous winners and nominees as the judging panels. Can you say conflict of interest? Besides the possibility that previous winners and nominees might actually want to enter, its difficut to see how previous winners and nominees can actually be truly independent, how they would be in a position to really accurately judge film and television work and how they can be impartial since they're judging competitors.

It's ridiculous that the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) continues to refuse to engage with or ask respected writers and journalists and critics writing about film and television in South Africa (who actually knows and writes and can accurately judge and compare the work) to actually help. Without credible industry observers to judge these awards, the Saftas, in my opinion is and will continue to completely lack any form of credibility.

''The judging panels will this year be made up of previous Saftas winners and nominees from the past 5 years,'' says the NFVF about the 6th Sadtas that will be taking place in February 2012. ''This is in a bid to begin the development of the South African Film and TV Academy,'' says the NFVF.

The NFVF claims that the Saftas ''honour, celebrate and promote the creativity, quality and excellence of South African film and television talent and productions, and encourage entrepreneurship and the development of new talent within the industry'' The irony however is that in my opinion that's not what happens in reality because the NFVF refuses to consult on how to make this awards ceremony really credible, really better and really something where entries and categories are first of all compiled, and then judged by real independent people who has an overall grasp and opinion of what is good film and television, and who is in a position to truly and accurately choose winnerss.

The NFVF didn't respond yet on whether its actually managed to secure a broadcaster for the ceremony of the 6th Saftas which is is planning now. The 5th Saftas wasn't even shown on television, previous ceremonies had some of the most atrocious and shoddy television production values (that's ironically supposed to celebrate good television).

In a badly done press release issued today, the NFVF could hardly spell any broadcasters' names correct. TopTV is Top TV, M-Net is Mnet, and e.tv is anything from ETV and E.tv - everything except the right name. Even 7de Laan - the previous year's viewer vote winner for best soap is Seve de Laan (instead of 7de Laan). It's mind-boggling (and partly indicative) of why the Saftas from an outside perspective is such a mess.

I strongly feel that the Saftas needs to change. The NFVF needs to heed the criticism, needs to reach out and ask for help and needs to change the Saftas drastically if it wants this awards ceremony to be taken credibly. Appointing previous winners and nominees as judges is not a step forward but yet another step backwards - and barely one that the credibility suffering Saftas can afford.

Programming note: The Health Show on BBC World News looking at the big health challenges and medical advances of our age.

The Health Show is brand-new on BBC World News (TopTV 400 / DStv 400) and is a new weekly magazine programme on Saturdays at 11:10 and 21:10 with repeats on Sundays at 08:10 and 00:10.

The Health Show that will run for half a year is looking at important global health issues and will be looking at the latest scientific and technological advances and new medical insight into the biggest health challenges and dilemmas of our age.

The Health Show is presented by dr Ayan Panja and dr Shini Somara, and they're talking to key players in global health as they explore the most important and intriguing new medical devices and innovations.

''Health is an area that we know our global audience wants more of, so we're really excited to have this new weekly show coming to BBC World News,'' says Emma De'Ath, commissioning editor for BBC World News. ''The team will be actively seeking the audience's response to these health stories which have global relevance and offer a window into the future of medicine.''

FIRST LOOK! Brand-new poster key art for Steven Spielberg's Terra Nova starting in early 2012 on M-Net.

A brand-new, what we call ''key art'', promotional poster has just been released for Terra Nova.

The new upcoming Steven Spielberg adventure time-traveling drama will be starting next month in America and, as I broke the news in June, will start in early 2012 on M-Net after the pay broadcaster acquired the licensing rights for South Africa.

The new Terra Nova image shows the Shannon family with the dad Jim Shannon (Jason O'Mara) in front and pterodactyls flying overhead. The rest of the Shannon family who time-travels back 85 million years into Earth's prehistoric past is to the right in the back and Commander Nathan Taylor (Stephen Lang) who stands behind Jim with a weapon. One of the heavy terrain vehicles that feature prominently in the first Terra Nova episodes also made the poster.

Just over a week ago I spoke to a high ranking South African TV executive within our television industry, someone who I have a lot of respect for, in an off-the-record conversation, and who saw the 2 hour pilot episode in Los Angeles a few months ago, what the executive's thoughts were of Terra Nova.

I asked the executive about the 3 dinosaurs I've seen in the teaser promo trailer for Terra Nova and whether there's more. The executive told me there's more dinosaurs, but at the stage of Fox showing the episode they were ''not done yet'' [so you see stand-in animation in scenes where the dinosaurs haven't been fully CGI rendered yet].

Of course I asked the executive what the person thinks of Terra Nova. (Science fiction is not the person's most favourite genre.) The executive smiled and told me that after seeing Terra Nova ''it didn't make me think that it's bad and won't make it. It had legs. These days there's so much bad [shows], that if you pass the bar of not being in that category it's already an achievement.'' Translated: Terra Nova seems that it might be dino-mite.

BREAKING. Sports Fan replaced with Inside Sport on the eNews Channel; new sports magazine show to start on Monday 8 August at 21:30.

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A new sports magazine show Inside Sport is replacing Sports Fan and will start on the eNews Channel (DStv 403) on Monday 8 August at 21:30.

Inside Sport seems like a soft reset of Sports Fan that was presented by Robin Adams who've left the eNews Channel for Al Jazeera in Doha a few months ago. Inside Sport has the same premise by doing profile interviews and news with sports stars and will have a new presenter (no, I don't know who it is).

No. With less than week to go, neither e.tv nor the eNews Channel has bothered to tell the press anything about Inside Sport or to alert journalists that the new show exists and is starting.

MultiChoice is planning bigger PVRs with larger hard drives to increase the amount of video-on-demand content available to subscribers.

With its newly-launched commercial video-on-demand (VOD) service, DStv BoxOffice, now operational, MultiChoice is planning to bring personal digital video recorders (PVRs) with bigger hard drives to the consumer market so that more VOD content will be immediately available to subscribers.

DStv BoxOffice currently offers a rolling selection of 15 movies, priced at R25 each, to DStv Premium subscribers who get 48 hours to watch it after payment confirmation. DStv BoxOffice will be extended to the internet by the end of the year, similar in the way that DStv on Demand is available with a Catch Up service on decoders storing programming, but also an internet version.

When DStv BoxOffice is extended to the internet at the end of 2011 which will be available to both PC and Apple Mac users, MultiChoice plans to offer 40 movies as part of the VOD service through the online version because the service is somewhat less dependent on hard drive space and more limited by broadband connectivity.

MultiChoice is envisioning bringing PVRs to market with larger hard drives so that more VOD content for DStv BoxOffice can be downloaded to decoders, transmitted in space capacity overnight or all day long at low bandwidth.

Here's some interesting facts:

In America, both EchoStar/Dish Network and DirecTV offer VOD services through satellite to subscribers with a PVR.

In Britain Sky Movies Box Office's limited movie choices and relatively high prices have increasingly left it suffering in comparison to online DVD rental systems.

Virgin Media ranks as Britain's largest provider of VOD content, with over 3 million video-on-demand customers. Virgin media offers a ''true'' VOD system, where the content isn't downloaded onto the decoder but starts playing from servers. Half of all Virgin Media subscribers regularly use the VOD service.

BREAKING. Esta TerBlanche, South Africa's original Bienkie in Egoli, returning to All My Children for several episodes a decade later.

South Africa's Esta TerBlanche is returning to the American soap All My Children as princess Gillian Andrassy Lavery and the big love of Ryan (Cameron Mathison) life.

Esta TerBlanche who became famous for her role of the original Bienkie in the canceled M-Net soap Egoli, left for America where she appeared in the soap until her character was killed off a few years ago. But what is a little death in soap world?

ABC Soaps In Depth just broke the news that Esta TerBlanche is set to return to All My Children before that soap, which has been canceled, goes off the air within a few months in America. All My Children confirmed that Esta Terblanche will be back a decade later after the character died when Ryan took her off of life-support and her heart was donated. The actress has already picked up her first script.

Several former All My Children stars are returning before the soap goes off the air on 23 September in America with Josh Duhamel who've also agreed to return.

BREAKING. 3 players are in the mix: TopTV, SABC and SuperSport all competing for the Premier Soccer League rights.

You won't, sadly, find the full, comprehensive story in any newspaper or in any single story about the Premier Soccer League (PSL) broadcasting rights up for grabs for the first time since 2007, so let me give it.

It's not just the SABC, and not just SuperSport on DStv but also On Digital Media's TopTV who received bid documentation for the PSL rights. So it's not just a two player game. In fact, it would have been 4 because of e.tv, but as broke the news HERE, e.tv isn't interested in becoming embroiled in what the broadcaster calls ''a bidding war''.

TopTV is definitely considering a PSL bid as well, although you wouldn't see that being written anywhere. Thus there is now 3 players in the mix since the SABC lost the PSL rights to SuperSport three years ago for R1,6 billion in 2007.

''TopTV is in the process of considering the tender that has been issued by the PSL,'' TopTV tells me.

The R4 billion to R6 billion amount whispered that the PSL wants for the new contract for the successful bidder is mere posturing (and frankly preposterous) in my opinion. The SABC and the two pay TV platforms have until 22 August to decide if they want to submit a bid for the rights. The successful bidder will have to fork out more than R1,6 million but I would warrant a guess that it won't go anywhere near the R4 billion to R6 billion. The PSL after all aint Oprah.

With digital terrestrial television (DTT) coming to South Africa, the SABC will start its own free, 24 hour sports channel, SABC Sport, in 2012 available to everyone, so the PSL would be a nice proposition and a platform where it would be able to get value for the rights. It would have space to do justice to the PSL.

Another possibility is that TopTV could also work together with the SABC just to get the rights away from SuperSport. TopTV promised some kind of additional new sports channel and sports coverage by the end of the year.

Of course SuperSport is not going to sit back. Its latest and last annual financial report clearly states that DStv Compact is its fastest growing bouquet and that that is helped along by sports rights and especially soccer (although the escalating price of sports broadcast licensing costs are singled out as something with a growing impact).

ALSO READ: e.tv not bidding for Premier Soccer League (PSL) rights; broadcaster not willing to be a part of a ''bidding war''.