BREAKING. Joel Churcher is BBC Worldwide's new general manager for Africa in a newly created role to oversee BBC's commercial expansion.

In a very significant development for South Africa and Africa Joel Churcher will become the new country and continental manager for South Africa and Africa for BBC Worldwide from April.

Joel Churcher has been appointed as vice president and general manager for Africa at BBC Worldwide, following the announcement in November that BBC Worldwide is looking to appoint a person locally in South Africa to oversee BBC Worldwide's business expansion.

BBC Worldwide is responsible for a bouquet of pay-TV channels such as BBC Entertainment, BBC Lifestyle, BBC Knowledge and CBeebies on MultiChoice's DStv pay-TV platform.

Major changes are coming to this BBC Worldwide portfolio which will definitely have an impact on the South African and African market as well this year and in 2015, although those specific changes and the implementation are not clear yet.

The appointment of Joel Churcher is the second general manager appointment at BBC Worldwide inside the Central Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region in which South Africa falls.

Joel Churcher's appointment signals BBC Worldwide's importance of South Africa and the African continent as an earmarked growth region for television and pay-TV. Joel Churcher will be based in Johannesburg.

Fox International Channels (FIC) sent Alessesandro Tucci to Johannesburg as general manager for South Africa and Africa in 2011 to oversee FIC and FIC Africa's growing expansion locally.

Viacom International Media Networks Africa (VIMN Africa) which runs a number of channels from MTV Base to Comedy Central Africa, Nickelodeon and others is expanding its brands' presence from Johannesburg under senior vice president and director, Alex Okosi.

Joel Churcher has been account director for BBC Worldwide Channels across the EMEA region.

He will now be responsible from April for strategy and business development across all BBC Worldwide businesses in the region, and will oversee live events and the daily management of the BBC branded channels portfolio on DStv. He will be reporting directly to Ian McDonough, BBC Worldwide's executive president for the CEMA region.

"Joel is an outstanding executive who has a deep passion for our business in Africa," says Ian McDonough in a statement announcing the appointment. "He is the right person to build on the successful BBC business we have already established in Africa and take it to the next level".

"I am extremely excited about taking up this role," says Joel Churcher in the same statement. "Things are changing at a very fast pace in Africa, boasting 6 of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world. I am sure that working in such a fast paced and vibrant continent will be an incredible adventure".

"I am very much looking forward to leading and developing our footprint on the continent and working with new business partners in new markets," says Joel Churcher.

BREAKING. MultiChoice announces an increase to monthly DStv subscriber fees from April; why pay-TV in SA continues to grow.

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MultiChoice will increase the monthly cost of its various DStv bouquets from April with the satellite pay-TV platform's most expensive offering, DStv Premium, set to rise from R625 to R665, but with no increase and change to its two cheapest bouquets, DStv Access and DStv EasyView.

MultiChoice didn't make an announcement to press but posted the annual price increase to DStv subscribers which will come into effect from 1 April on its website over the weekend.

MultiChoice says that while the company wants to offer DStv subscribers affordable digital entertainment "we have to make sure our business can survive well into the future".

The satellite pay-TV operator, in response to DStv subscribers wondering why they can just pick and choose TV channels and pay for those, says that it will not cost subscribers cheaper.

"We understand that you feel you'd save more money if you could choose only the channels you want to watch. Unfortunately this is not the case. It's actually more cost effective to structure channels into packages".

"Choosing your own package with your own channel selection would mean you'd end up paying more than you are now (and for just a few channels). That's why we offer a range of packages with different fees and channel combinations – to cater for the viewing choice and pocket of a wide range of customers".

From April DStv Premium is set to increase from R625 to R665, DStv Extra will go from R380 to R399, DStv Compact will increase from R275 to R295, and the DStv Family and DStv Select bouquets are both going from R175 to R185.

M-Net subscribers will see a monthly increase of R300 to R315; the M-Net/CSN analogue channel offering interestingly costing more than some DStv bouquets and worth half as much as the most expensive bouquet.

Despite the increase, the pay-TV and satellite TV sector in the country continues to show strong growth as TV viewers shun the troubled South African public broadcaster with a mounted satellite dish - from the most affluent gated communities to the most rural dwelling - which is regarded as an aspiring status symbol in South Africa.

While consumers are re-evaluating what they're doing when it comes to discresionary spending, it has become clear that existing pay-TV subscribers are keeping their monthly pay-TV subscriptions despite tougher economic circumstances the past three years.

Although On Digital Media (ODM) has seen a decline in StarSat subscribers to between 100 000 and 120 000 subscribers, MultiChoice's DStv keeps growing and added 531 000 subscribers over the last year to 4,69 million South African subscribers.

The Sabido-owned Platco Digital also launched its OpenView HD (OVHD) satellite television offering late in 2013 which is also showing growth. Viewers pay around R1 600 once-off for a decoder and satellite dish installation and then get to watch 20 TV channels for free with more channels coming this year.

The independent South African broadcasting expert and researcher Kate Skinner tells TV with Thinus that pay-TV in South Africa continues to grow because "people are desperate for good content and they are prepared to spend money to get it".

"It is depressing that the free-to-air offerings are no longer seen as attractive. It is an indication that the SABC is not offering sufficiently interesting and attractive content".

"Overall you don't want a situation where only poor people are left watching free-to-air and public broadcasting because what that will mean is that we will start to develop a two-tier broadcasting system in our country where everyone who can afford pay-TV goes for that option, and only poor people are left with the rest," says Kate Skinner.

"All the resources and good programming will then be concentrated in the pay-TV market. In a country with the development challenges that we have, we need everyone to receive a great selection of TV programming - particularly news and current affairs and educational programming".

"If you are a middle class person with good broadband connectivity you will have content available on the internet, however if you are poorer you won't have many options," says Kate Skinner.

Sky News adds extensive Oscar Pistorius murder trial coverage with a special, daily Pistorius Trial review programme at 23:30 from Monday.

Sky News (DStv 402) will start with extensive coverage of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial on Monday 3 March and has added a daily, special Pistorius Trial review programme which will start on Monday at 23:30 (South African time).

From Monday Sky News will be reporting live from the Oscar Pistorius court case from the North Gauteng High Court in South Africa.

Sky News' Jeremy Thompson has flown from London to Pretoria and and will present the latest news and developments to a global audience, as well as interview a number of guests, including regular commentary from a South African lawyer and a forensic expert.

Alex Crawford, special correspondent; Martin Brunt, crime correspondent; and Emma Hurd as foreign correspondent will all join Jeremy Thompson in Pretoria and Alex Crawford will be reporting live from the Oscar Pistorius courtroom.

Sky News has created a 3D layout of the Oscar Pistorius apartment, there will be a live feed from a stenographer, a Twitter stream from the Sky News correspondents covering the murder trial, extensive image galleries and infographics on South Africa's legal system.

Sky News is also adding a live stream of the Oscar Pistorius trial on the Sky News channel on YouTube.

"Sky News has a strong history of delivering must-see coverage of courtroom trials," says John Ryley, the head of Sky News in a statement.

"Our special nightly programme will offer a succinct review of the day. Sky News customers will have every aspect of the trial available to them at their fingertips," says John Ryley.

CNN International will start its live special coverage of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial on Monday at 10:00.

CNN International (DStv 401) will start its live special coverage of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial on Monday morning at 10:00 (South African time), reporting from the North Gauteng High Court where the sensational court case is set to start on 3 March.

CNN International will be beaming the latest court case news as well as insight and analysis to viewers around the world as the international news media has descended on South Africa just months after covering the death, memorial and burial of former president Nelson Mandela.

Besides CNN International there's a massive influx of foreign TV reporters and international TV channels (as well as radio and print media) to South Africa to cover every smallest aspect and details of the court case and the story which has sparked continued global fascination and interest.

Besides TV reporters from the United States and TV channels such as NBC, CBS and ABC who got accredited, the United Kingdom's Sky News (DStv 402) will cover the Oscar Pistorius murder trial daily, as well as other British TV channels like ITV not seen in South Africa.

BBC World News (DStv 400 / StarSat 400) also sought accreditation, and Al Jazeera (DStv 406 / StarSat 401), and CCTV News (DStv 409 / StarSat 403) will be covering the court case as well.

M-Net now has a new daily Carte Blanche Oscar Pistorius Special Report from Monday 3 March on weekdays at 21:30.

South Africa now also have two 24-hour Oscar Pistorius trial TV channels: MultiChoice's Oscar Pistorius trial channel on channel 199 on DStv, and OpenView HD (OVHD) is running a Oscar Pistorius Trial TV channel on channel 119 on OVHD.

Besides just for television, more than 300 journalists - international and South African - will cover the Oscar Pistorius murder trial.

BREAKING. M-Net adds special daily Oscar Pistorius murder trial court coverage as Carte Blanche blocks on weekdays at 21:30 from Monday.

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Not a word about it from anyone, and you won't find it on any TV schedule or even MultiChoice's electronic programme guide (EPG) on DStv, but M-Net is adding daily Oscar Pistorius murder trial court coverage on weekdays from Monday 3 March at 21:30 to the M-Net (DStv 101) schedule.

Carte Blanche and M-Net will bring viewers a daily summary, insight, news and a court case wrap-up of the day's proceedings.

I'm told the content on the M-Net channel will be provided by MultiChoice's 24-hour Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel which is supplied to DStv by Combined Artistic Productions and which is also the production company behind M-Net's Sunday evening magazine show, Carte Blanche.

I'm told the daily weekday Carte Blanche Special Report on the Oscar Pistorius murder trial will be a short summary of 5 to 10 minutes of the day's events.

M-Net and the Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel have started running on-air promos about the daily Oscar Pistorius special reports which will be broadcast on the M-Net channel.

BREAKING. MultiChoice's Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel launches on DStv on Sunday night without a hitch; brimming with content.

MultiChoice's brand-new Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel launched on Sunday night at 20:00 on DStv on channel 199.

The DStv channel launched successfully and beautifully, without any evident on-air problems or unprofessional snafus, providing viewers with a slick, well-produced channel from a specially built set.

The Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel opened with a rousing intro, utilising the theme music from Carte Blanche on M-Net. The longtime Carte Blanche anchor Derek Watts appeared first.

Lter the new TV channel brought South African TV viewers another first: the Carte Blanche presenter Devi Sankaree Govender behind an anchor desk.

The lighting, makeup, presenting - the whole framing - was perfect.

The social media blocks on-screen - feeding in information from social media networks just as the TV executives running this new DStv channel said it would be doing in a new revolutionary way - are however too small and difficult to read, even on a very big flat screen television.

Notice in the background the motorised, aerial drone with mounted camera in the publicity shot on the roof of the various reporters who will be covering the Oscar Pistorius court case.

The amateurly done 13th Metro FM Awards is laughably bad and filled with on-air gaffes. Not filled ... the actual seats.

Not a white person in sight at the badly done 13th Metro FM Awards broadcast on SABC1 from Durban, but the really funny part is how with every award show done and shown by the SABC, the camera constantly always pans over the multiple empty seats in the audience.

It remains funny how an award show such as the 13th Metro FM Awards wants to show how the crowd is more interested in their phones than actually watching and being at a live awards ceremony.

The 13th Metro FM Awards saw several gaffes, like the minister of communications, Yunus Carrim, who called Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse standing next to him, "Hotstix Mabuse Sipho".

How about artist Mi Casa who had to start singing without a microphone that was actually on for viewers watching at home to hear. Or again when Vusi Nova, who also started singing with a microphone on, couldn't be heard from the beginning.

Bad production values like this is unforgivable, yet have become apparently, simply acceptable.

There were so many sound problems - which is ironic for a radio station doing an awards show on television.

For Luthando Shosha from Live Amp who did backstage coverage with one over-and-over question ("How are you feeling?") there is only one word: Awkward.

Luckily William Lehong who is more professional was able to maintain some semblance of control.

Co-host Pearl Thusi clearly has a hand problem and never learnt from the TV school she went to (or she simply doesn't care) about the "hand never above the shoulder" rule and constant wild waving on live television. You're not a windmill, love.

Pearl Thusi, if you want to make as if your handheld mic is an old cellphone and you hold it next to your ear as you did, the problem dear, is that in the world of television, your audience is actually not going to hear you. It is sound class 101 for TV presenters.

The face-pulling by the other co-host Phat Joe later in the show, made it clear that at least he himself recognised that the popping mic problems was due to his own bad mic handling.

The autocue should be in front of the podium or the "X" on the floor where presenters are supposed to stand.

If it's off to the left hand side of the stage you get what happens with the 13th Metro FM Awards where it breaks the illusion and becomes too obvious that your presenters are reading - and some badly - because their eyes are looking to the side and not straight forward.

Camera work? Bad. Especially when viewers are shown shaky camera shots to the ground of steadicam camera operators running to a next position such as during Danny K's acceptance speech and which should never be seen on television in the first place - live or otherwise.

Or how about those seated audience close-ups marred by people walking past in front of the camera. Hysterical.

Well done? The In Memoriam segment. Best-dressed? Aaron Moloisi (interestingly presenting the best styled artist.)

It's fascinating how the 13th Metro FM Awards also kept conjuring up the legacy of Nelson Mandela, but has in itself failed to actually transform - watching the awards show on television it's difficult to actually see the multicultural South Africa the hosts spoke of. Winner Danny K remarked how "13 years later this is my first Metro FM Music Awards".

How embarrassing was the completely messed up "Best Hit Single" category? No winner allowed on stage, no acceptance speech, no explanation why, and presenter Tbo Touch talking and talking but no sound at all. 

Another tell-tale sign of bad production is that the 13th Metro FM Awards was supposed to end at 22:00. 

Of course, like all bad South African TV awards shows that struggle to get a passing grade and end up giving viewers little more than trash television, the 13th Metro FM Awards didn't finish at 22:00, meaning that viewers who recorded it won't get to see any of the winners of any of the latter, more important categories.

The bad mess from SABC Airtime Outside Broadcasts and S'khonyana Productions finally ended more than half an hour over time at 22:37. 

BREAKING. Oscar Pistorius trial TV content to be pushed to MultiChoice's DStv Explora Catch Up; some content made available BEFORE its aired.

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You will need a DStv Explora for this: MultiChoice plans a TV content smorgasbord download of special Oscar Pistorius documentaries, interviews and inserts  - and not only that: MultiChoice will be making some of this Carte Blanche produced content accessible to DStv subscribers before it is actually broadcast on television.

MultiChoice and Carte Blanche will do a repeat of what it did at the end of 2013 after the death of Nelson Mandela when hours of dedicated, special content covering a wide aspect of the life and times of Nelson Mandela were pushed to DStv Explora decoders. DStv subscribers were able to access and watch it instantly and on their own time.

Now MultiChoice and Carte Blanche will do the same with the content that will be broadcast on the linear Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel which will run on channel 199 on DStv, making large chunks of that content also available to DStv subscribers on an on-demand basis on the DStv Explora.

No list of programming or schedule of the documentaries which will be broadcast on the DStv channel has been released or made available yet, but TV with Thinus can reveal that there will for instance be a documentary entitled (or in the style of) "The Real Reeva". It will be shown on Thursday 7 March at 19:00 on channel 199.

Other documentaries and inserts which will be shown on the channel and which will be pushed to the DStv Explora's Catch Up functionality include things like multiple Crime Scene: Pretoria inserts, Robert Shapiro: For the Defence and Burden of Truth.

What even more startling is that some of this content will also be made available to DStv subscribers on the DStv Explora even before it is broadcast on the linear channel 199.

With DStv Catch Up on the DStv Explora DStv subscribers will be able to watch documentaries, inserts and interviews from the DStv Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel hours before its shown in some cases.

FIRST LOOK! The white, beautiful, high-gloss set of MultiChoice's new Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel on DStv.

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This is your first glimpse of the new white, high-gloss, custom-built set that viewers will see on MultiChoice's new Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel on DStv on channel 199 for the month of March.

This set will be used and seen on the dedicated Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel on DStv when the court trial of Oscar Pistorius starts on Monday 3 March at the Pretoria High Court.

Who knew there would be a specifically designed and custom-built set? Look at the white - possible the most difficult colour to bring successfully to screen on television - both on people and in a set, but it looks as if whoever created this, mastered it perfectly.

Look at the curvature of the design - the circles, the ellipticals, the "roundedness" of it all. There is a high gloss surface white anchor desk with a gleaming black top, and to the right hand side a Dark tan, almost Chamoisee coloured couch.

The almost Arctic grey and silverish backdrop (look at the little transparent perspex pop-up "railing" fencing the circumference screams "television current affairs".

Pity that it will have to come down after this limited-run channel is done; having seen it, and not even knowing there would be one, I suddenly wish M-Net or DStv or someone can find an actual longer-life use for it beyond just the Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel.

It looks very sophisticated, is extremely well-designed to facilitate both solo anchoring from multiple angles, as well as in-studio and on-set discussion on the couch corner, but even clearly behind the anchor desk as well as other places on the set where two or three people can easily all talk in the same frame and still have a great set background.


ALSO READ: Televisionaries George Mazarakis and Aletta Alberts of MultiChoice talk content on DStv's Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel.
ALSO READ: Oscar Pistorius trial TV content to be pushed to MultiChoice's DStv Explora Catch Up service, some content made available BEFORE its aired.
ALSO READ: Carte Blanche's entire Sunday night edition on M-Net at 19:00 devoted to a special preview of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial.
ALSO READ: A SECOND dedicated Oscar Pistorius trial TV channel starting on OpenView HD (OVHD) on Monday with court coverage.
ALSO READ: Broadcast of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial on television is "a seminal moment in the history of television".
ALSO READ: eNCA going with "gavel-to-gavel" live coverage of the Oscar Pistorius murder trial on television; doing a special Sunday preview.