DStv Media Sales to hold information sessions in Johannesburg and Cape Town about technology and how it impacts TV ad requirements.

DStv Media Sales will present an information session in Johannesburg (16 August) and Cape Town (18 August) for ad buyers, media planners, advertising executives and media houses on evolving TV technology and its impact on MultiChoice's commercial broadcast in terms of sound requirements and possibilities, high definition (HD), aspect ratios and material formats.

DStv Media Sales says ''the future of television is exciting and in constant change, which requires a collaborative effort to make it a success''. The information session (Johannesburg has two session times people can choose from on the day: 10:45 and 14:30 in Randburg; Cape Town has 14:30 in Newlands) will shed light on channel play-outs, aspect ratio challenges, timelines, HD requirements and more.

A panel of experts will also be on hand to answer questions at the end of the session.  Seating is limited and attendees need to RSVP. Fur more information and to book a seat, send email to Dotti Lai Lam at dotti.lailam@dstvmedia.com

BREAKING. Nolly aint going Holly. Noluthando Meje the first Idols contestant getting dumped from the top 10 in the reality show.

Noluthando Meje, also known as Nolly, got the least number of votes and was dumped from Idols on live television earlier this evening as the first contestant from the top 10 group to get the boot in the 7th season of the reality show on M-Net.

While Crushanda Forbes was placed 8th and Lefa Pike got the 9th least amount of votes, viewers and voters liked Noluthano Meje the least of all. The judges unanimously decided not to use their one ''save'' to keep her on the show and Noluthando Meje who bit her bottom lip as the news sunk in, is now out of the show.

ALSO READ: Idols contestant Dave van Vuuren is ''sex on fire'': gets a standing ovation and unanimous, glowing praise from the judges.
ALSO READ: A very glamorous top 10 contestants all posing together for the first time in glamour gear.

On hold on TopTV's customer call centre number for 21 minutes and 16 seconds. This is unacceptably BAD consumer service.

TopTV's customer call centre number is seemingly leaving subscribers and callers generally waiting, and on hold, for upwards of 15 minutes according to my own experiential research which is totally unacceptable, shoddy and very bad customer service.

TopTV's customer call centre number is 08600 86788. It's not a free call. Last week TV with Thinus called TopTV's customer call centre number once daily. In 100% of the time, with each call made during different parts of the day, I was kept on hold with ''We are currently experiencing high call volumes and will attend to your call shortly''.

That shortly turned into a very long time every single day. Would the time that TopTV subscribers are kept on hold, or that new potential new subscribers wanting to activate the service are waiting to get through to talk to someone be shorter if the number was toll free and TopTV actually paid for the call?

FIRST LOOK! Idols on M-Net shows a very glamorous top 10 contestants all posing together for the first time in glamour gear.

The top 10 contestants of the 7th season of Idols on M-Net appeared in tonight's episode for the first time all together in glamorous gear.

The reality competition showed all of the Top 10 contestants standing together in glamorous outfits in Sunday night's episode. The first contestant to be shown the door in a live elimination episode will take place this Tuesday. That's when the first live Tuesday elimination show of Idols takes place on M-Net at 19:30.

ALSO READ: Idols contestant Dave van Vuuren is ''sex on fire'': gets a standing ovation and unanimous, glowing praise from the Idols judges.

BREAKING. Idols contestant Dave van Vuuren is 'sex on fire': gets a standing ovation and unanimous, glowing praise from the judges.

The Idols contestant Dave van Vuuren in the 7th season of the reality show on M-Net is very clearly by far the frontrunner to win this season when it comes to talent.

Dave van Vuuren's rendition Sunday evening of Sex on Fire by Kings of Leon not only elicited effusive praise from all of the Idols judges but a massive crowd response including thundering applause, screams and a standing ovation from the in-studio audience.

ALSO READ: Elvis ... new: ''If you keep doing this, it's your competition to lose,'' the Idols judges tell Dave van Vuuren.

The 20 year old rock savant's performance and voice on Idols is in a completely different class and far outperforms any of the other 9 contestants now trailing far in Dave van Vuuren's wake.

''It's amazing,'' said a smiling Gareth Cliff of Dave van Vuuren's performance, that elicited massive screams and a standing ovation from the audience. ''It's kinda like Groundhog Day, it's kinda like deja vu; this is your competition to lose Davey Dave. The best!'' said Unathi Msengana. ''You did a brilliant job, you connected with the crowd so good. Beautiful job man,'' said guest judge Ziyon.

Even the harshest Idols judge Randall Abrahams had nothing but pure praise for Dave van Vuuren. ''Dave, there are some performers in the top 10 who tick all the boxes. They can sing, they look good, they choose the right song. But you and Kelly are in your own special boxes,'' Randall Abrahams told Dave van Vuuren. Idols presenter ProVerb called his performance ''electricity''.

The first top 10 contestant will be eliminated in the first live Tuesday Idols elimination results show this Tuesday at 19:30 on M-Net.

ALSO READ: Idols on M-Net shows a very glamorous top 10 contestants all posing together for the first time in glamour gear.

REVEALED! Nicky Greenwall on the red carpet, proudly showing her baby bump in public with Robin Fryer, for her new show The Close-Up.

There's that wonderful meta-media moment in Chicago where Roxy Hart completely steals the limelight when she's in Cook County Jail and goes: ''Oh no. Don't worry about me. Oh ... I only hope the fall didn't hurt ... the baby.'' Then cameras flash as reporters storm to Roxy and all the media attention returns to just her.

In a similar way entertainment journalists gaggled together and simply stormed the red carpet last night at the first sight of the pregnant Nicky Greenwall proudly showing off her beautiful baby bump for the first time in public with her boyfriend Robin Fryer. The radiant couple attended the perfectly organized and magnificently put-together press launch of her new celeb profile show The Close-Up starting on Saturday 20 August at 19:30 on e.tv.

In April I broke the news RIGHT HERE that the longtime blonde presenter of The Showbiz Reporter is expecting her first child.
Then at the beginning of last month I broke the news RIGHT HERE that she's working on The Close-Up to replace The Showbiz Report when she goes on maternity leave.

When Nicky Greenwall and Robin Fryer appeared on the red carpet at the lux 15 on Orange, the happy couple got totally swarmed as press jostled for space for photos of the couple. The event was organized perfectly with a VIP area, an open bar where celebrities mingled while the wine and beer flowed with free chocolates and even WebAfrica free internet vouchers, as well as a screening room where journalists and critics could watch The Close-Up and get a press disk. If only all launches for TV shows could be as well put together as Greenwall Productions and Marina's Little Black Book did perfectly.

''They look beautiful; beautiful together and so happy in love,'' said another red-carpet walker who almost got pushed aside as the seemingly-obsessed press flocked to catch Nicky Greenwall and her baby bump and trampled over each other as Nicky, baby bump and Robin were bathed in a daze of flashlights and snaparazzi who couldn't get enough.

Press watching in the screening room, personally taken and graciously led there by Nicky Greenwall were unanimously impressed with the quality of The Close-Up.

In The Close-Up Nicky Greenwall interviews a range of celebrities like Locnville, Tamara Dey, Kenneth Nkosi, Jack Parow. Episodes of The Close-Up contain remarkable personal, home video footage and a dazzling array of personal photographs from the private lives of the celebrities profiled that's striking to see, with surprisingly candid and very open moments in which the personalities share eye-opening revelations about their lives. Robin Fryer also did mesmerising black and white photo shoots of all, with the still photography that will appear in the opening title of The Close-Up.

New sports show Inside Sport on the eNews Channel with William Lehong an entertainment sports show for people who loves sports and its stars.

A brand-new sports magazine show Inside Sport is starting on the eNews Channel (DStv 403) this Monday, 8 August at 21:30 with presenter William Lehong as I revealed HERE on Tuesday.

Inside Sport which will have a first season of 13 episodes replaces the channel's Sports Fan that was presented by Robin Adams who left a few months ago to go and work for the Al Jazeera news channel in the Middle East.

''Sports lovers and even people casually interested in sport will love the show. We're really talking to sports personalities away from the field and viewers gain insight into their real lives,'' Inside Sport executive producer Dan Williams tells me.

''Episodes have regular features like for instance 60 second quizzes with sports stars on their careers but also unexpected questions. There's also an interactive element with viewers who will be able to send in some of the amazing 'sports' things their parents caught on videocamera,'' he says. ''Moments of sporting brilliance - or bloopers!''

''Inside Sport is a fun look at sport and somewhat different, with strong stories about sport personalities, as well as sport personalities from sports who don't get to feature so often in the limelight.'' Inside Sport will for instance profile Lucas Sithole who, when he was 10, lost both his legs and right arm in a train accident. Since then Lucas Sithole has become South Africa's top wheelchair tennis player.

Inside Sport will have a weekly look at some current sport stories taking place around South Africa and talk to amazing athletes, says Dan Williams and will reflect big sport, but will not be going to training grounds. ''Our aim is to take sports people away from that. That's what you see on the news and other shows. So many shows focus on them for a sound byte just on the training ground when they say 'We hope to win this game and it's so important'. We try to get beyond the mask of the sports people with Inside Sport. It's ultimately an entertainment sports show for people who loves sport and sports stars and want to get to know them better.''

I asked Dan Williams how difficult it was or is to get access to the sports stars who are sometimes reluctant to talk to the press - especially about their non-professional lives and who have strenous exercise and preparation regimes and diaries with little time. ''Access isn't too difficult. It's a bit of a rush once someone says yes but sports stars are surprisingly, fairly open to it. We're looking to get further behind the mask, like Oscar Pistorius on super bikes for instance. We'd like to do those kinds of shoots; paint balling with Natalie du Toit or some Springboks.''

About the presenter William Lehong who he describes as ''fun'', Dan Williams tells me they're trying to get William Lehong  ''to partake in events most presenters simply wouldn't. And he does!'' ''This weekend he was riding on a bike for 66km in a game reserve. He seems very happy and haven't complained too much!'' jokes Dan Williams.

BEAUTIFUL. Around the world in one minute in a beautifully filmed travel video.

This is beautiful. And it's not even an ad.

In this brand-new video, in exactly one minute, the viewer is taken across 38 thousands miles and 11 countries in 44 days.

The film director Rick Mereki and producer Tim White filmed Andrew Lees as he undertook 18 flights to compose this amazing and visually beautiful one minute video showing the world.

BREAKING. David Lyle appointed as the new CEO of National Geographic Channels.

David Lyle has been named the new CEO of National Geographic Channels under which falls channels subscribers see in South Africa on MultiChoice like National Geographic Channel (DStv 260) and Nat Geo Wild (DStv 261).

David Lyle's appointment as CEO is effective immediately. The National Geographic Channels are owned by Fox and the National Geographic Society.

''Heading up the National Geographic Channels is a dream job,'' says David Lyle in a press statement. ''I will be working with an extraordinary brand and a great team that I've come to know and respect over the past few months. I am fortunate to be able to lead a group that consistently delivers top-notch nonfiction programming that resonates with audiences.''

''David brings extensive creative experience and a strong international perspective to this critical role," says Tim Kelly, president of the National Geographic Society. "He will be focused on delivering compelling popular programming that reflects, enhances and delivers on the substance of the National Geographic brand and mission. We are delighted to have him on our team."