Today's interesting TV stories to read from TV with Thinus - 4 June 2015.

Why more is never enough with DStv.
DStv subscribers across Africa keep complaining about repeats although MultiChoice keeps adding TV channels to DStv.


SABC's famously matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng says degrees and diplomas mean nothing.
He says you need brains. The SABC's beleaguered chief operating officer (COO) says "it is no use to have papers without brains". Hlaudi Motsoeneng boasts that "you see in my meetings the SABC financial officer James Aguma who has so many degrees, knows that I beat him left and right with my questions".

Why would anybody want to be on the SABC in such a toxic environment? asks Business Day in an editorial. And the SABC desperately looking for new board members after they constantly get fired.

Britain's Got Talent on M-Net (DStv 101) in scandalous dog switcheroo.
Producers blatantly switched dog Matisse in the final for another new stuntdog. Viewers go: Uhm, the dog now looks different. Producers apologise. And now the British broadcasting regulator is looking at it after viewers complained.

Jerry Munthali is out as the head of MultiChoice Zambia.
Jerry Munthali is no longer the general manager of MultiChoice Zambia; finance manager Ngoza Matakala is taking over as the acting general manager.


Sports and live sports might not be able to save the pay-TV bundle.
New research shows pay-TV subscribers wouldn't pay to stream sports over the internet without a pay-TV subscription to a bundled product. Sport content cost pay-TV operators the most but viewers won't pay for it according to the new study and it won't prevent churn. Sport is no longer the saviour of big pay-TV subscriptions.


The SABC wants to replace its old gym with a new "wellness studio".
New gym at the public broadcaster's Auckland Park head office will cost millions; new tender closes on 23 June.

The Teletubbies return to television with touch screens in their tummies.
Back on the BBC 20 years after they first appeared.

China is clamping down on reality TV shows that's hugely popular there.

Universal Channel on DStv gets new sci-fi spaceship drama, Dark Matter; also adds new crime drama Bosch.

You're reading it here first.

The Universal Channel (DStv 117) is advancing with first-run content in high definition with the brand-new science fiction spaceship drama Dark Matter which will start on the channel on Thursday 30 July at 20:00.

Meanwhile Bosch, another brand-new crime series with Titus Welliver, is coming to Universal Channel in July although the starting date is unclear.

NBCUniversal Networks International says the new drama based on Michael Connelly's books about the Los Angeles detective Harry Bosch is starting 1 July at 20:50 and will be on Wednesdays.

Dark Matter, based on the comic series of the same name, starts in America on 12 June for a first season of 13 hour long episodes. 

Dark Matter, filmed in Toronto in Canada, revolves around the crew of a spaceship adrift in deep space who wakes up with amnesia and no memories of who they are, what their mission is, or what happened to them.

As the six strangers and one android go about figuring out who they are and what their purpose is, they have to work together as they discover hidden secrets about themselves, space and the spaceship.

Dark Matter, from the writers of Stargate SG-1, will be shown in 86 countries by NBCUniversal Networks International on the Syfy channel, or on the Universal Channel in places like South Africa where MultiChoice doesn't carry Syfy as a TV channel on DStv.

"Dark Matter is a refreshing and entertaining space opera that blends an intriguing premise with fast-paced suspense," said Chris Regina, the senior vice president for programming at Syfy.

Tangled to become a Disney Channel animation TV series in 2017, set after the events of the movie and before the wedding day short film.

The popular Disney movie Tangled is being turned into an animation TV series for The Disney Channel (DStv 303) and will start in 2017 with Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi reprising their voice roles as Rapunzel and Eugene (or Flynn Rider).

Disney's Tangled TV series will be set in the period after the end of the 2010 movie, and before the wedding day short film Tangled Ever After which was released in 2012.

As Rapunzel gets to know her real parents, the king and queen, as well as her kingdom and the people of Corona, she realises that there's much more that she needs to learn before she can truly accept her royal destiny.

She puts her impending marriage on hold (the wedding is later seen in the short film) to seek out epic adventures.

Accompanying Rapunzel on her journey is Eugene; the chameleon sidekick Pascal; the horse Maximus; the Snuggly Duckling Pub Thugs; as well as newcomer Cassandra, a tough-as-nails handmaiden who becomes Rapunzel's confidant.

The TV series will be produced by Disney Television Animation and will start globally on The Disney Channel in 2017.

"The genius of the original movie was its seamless blending of cinematic adventure, character-driven comedy and touching emotion," says Gary Marsh, president and chief creative officer at Disney Channels Worldwide.

"We are fortunate to have several of the creative talent from that movie on board with this new production. With the addition of Chris Sonnenburg and Shane Prigmore as executive producers, we have the perfect team in place to create a series worthy of the original film."

SABC's Hlaudi Motsoeneng prepared to go all the way to South Africa's Constitutional Court to set aside his court ordered suspension.

The SABC's embattled and highly controversial chief operating officer (COO) Hlaudi Motsoeneng is set and prepared to take the case against his High Court ordered suspension all the way to South Africa's Constitutional Court.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) political party on the one side, and the SABC with Hlaudi Motsoeneng and the minister of communications, Faith Muthambi on the other, all agreed on Wednesday to send the Western Cape High Court case straight to the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein in September.

Should the Supreme Court of Appeal however find against Hlaudi Motsoeneng, the public broadcaster's famously matricless boss is already prepared to take the case even further to the country's Constitutional Court.

Zola Majavu, Hlaudi Motsoeneng's lawyer, told ANN7 (DStv 405) that "if the Supreme Court of Appeal decision does not go his way, we'll then trot all the way to the Constitutional Court".

"And if the Constitutional Court then decides against him, that is the end of the matter, we all have to lick our wounds and accept the decision of the Constitutional Court. But this is not over, not by a long shot".

On Wednesday all the parties decided to postpone the case against Hlaudi Motsoeneng and to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA). The effect is that the case will actually be heard by the SCA much sooner than what would have been the case - likely in August or September - where it would usually have taken 12 to 18 months to reach that court.

More than just Hlaudi Motsoeneng's court ordered suspension hinges on the case.

It actually speaks to the powers of the Public Protector and the enforcement or not of the findings of the Public Protector's reports which go beyond the SABC and Hlaudi Motsoeneng and will also have broad and significant impact on president Jacob Zuma and the Nkandlagate scandal over which the Public Protector also issued a report in February 2014.

When the Supreme Court of Appeal decide on whether Hlaudi Motsoeneng should be suspended at the SABC in accordance with the Public Protector's report and recommendation made in March 2014, the SCA will actually pronounce whether the Public Protector's findings are binding on organs of the state.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, in a scathing report on the "dishonest" Hlaudi Motsoeneng last year said that he should be suspended immediately and a disciplinary process started after finding that "Hlaudi Motsoeneng should never have been appointed at the SABC".

In a recorded interview with her Hlaudi Motsoeneng admitted that he lied about his qualifications and having matric and that he made up symbols for a matric certificate he knew he couldn't produce.

The report entitled "When governance and ethics fail" found "abuse of power and improper conduct" and implicated Hlaudi Motsoeneng in maladministration. The report found that he irregularly and rapidly increased the salaries of various SABC staff members which ballooned the SABC's salary bill. His own salary also increased three times in one year with 63% to R2.4 million at the beleaguered public broadcaster.

According to the Public Protector's report further found that Hlaudi Motsoeneng was directly involved in purging all the SABC staff who testified against him in an earlier disciplinary hearing, and that the "dysfunctional" SABC board is part of "pathological corporate governance deficiencies at the SABC".

"Hlaudi Motsoeneng has been allowed by successive SABC boards to operate above the law," the Public Protector's report found.

When the SABC failed to suspend Hlaudi Motsoeneng in line with the Public Protector's recommendation and report and in fact permanently appointed him in the position of COO at the SABC, the DA went to court.

Judge Ashton Schippers in the Western Cape High Court ruled that Hlaudi Motsoeneng be suspended and that the SABC institute disciplinary charges against him in line with the Public Protector's report, but Hlaudi Motsoeneng appealed the ruling.

Hlaudi Motsoeneng's appeal was unsuccessful, but Judge Ashton Schippers granted Hlaudi Motsoeneng leave to appeal to the SCA - which is where the case is indeed now heading next - and with Hlaudi Motsoeneng's lawyer indicating that should that be unsuccessful, the SABC's COO is ready to go to the Constitutional Court.

SABC boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng says 'SABC is rocking all the way'; vows public broadcaster will 'have better pictures than MultiChoice'.

The SABC boss Hlaudi Motsoeneng says "SABC is rocking all the way" and that soon "we'll even beat MultiChoice", vowing that the SABC will have "better pictures" than DStv when South Africa switches from analogue to digital broadcasting.

The SABC's controversial and famously matricless chief operating officer (COO) spoke at the latest The New Age breakfast briefing in Fourways, telling the audience that "SABC is rocking all the way" and that "SABC is superb".

Hlaudi Motsoeneng was adamant that "SABC is not going to collapse".

He again used the platform, with a lot of physical finger-pointing, to slam South African journalists and politicians for the "propaganda" they're making out of reporting on and mentioning alleged irregular and wasteful expenditure at the SABC. "Some people they are making propaganda out of that," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

Speaking at the latest breakfast briefing and sitting next to the minister of communications, Faith Muthambi on the stage, Hlaudi Motsoeneng said SABC viewers will get SABC channels that have better image quality once the long-delayed switch-over happens from analogue broadcasting to digital terrestrial television (DTT).

"The picture that you see on television will be better pictures across the board. Whether you're from QwaQwa, whether you're from Venda, you'll see everything the same. The pictures will be okay. We'll even beat that MultiChoice," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng to audience laughter.

"SABC is not going to collapse," admonished Hlaudi Motsoeneng. "When you go to SABC, people within SABC they're very happy. Because today they know that they are getting paid. They also know that if they do well, the company is doing well, we also reward them. We give them bonus," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

"For the first time we have put more than R600 million to put on local content. That shows the growth of the SABC and the sustainability of the organisation."

"There is this notion that when you pay TV licence, you are paying the salaries of the employees of the organisation. When you pay TV licence you pay for content. So that we are able to contribute to producing content," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

"Let me come to the propaganda of some people, who always mislead the country about the SABC," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

"If you are saying SABC is collapsing, which means you always you are collapsing where you are, now. Not the SABC. And the SABC will never collapse under this leadership. I just want to clear that. We have put a good strategy to deal with issues," said Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

"We need to ask the question: Who is the public? Because always people are saying the views of the public. The public are not happy about the SABC. The fact of the matter. Those people who are competing with the SABC, they are not happy because they see SABC is doing well."

"Generations is doing well now. Doing very, very well now, Generations. When you talk about commercial archives, there is no way where we can't licence commercial archives. How are we going to pay those actors? How are we going to pay the production house if we don't licence to other broadcasters?" said Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

"That is business of all broadcasters. If you see the soapies that people are complaining about, those soapies from international, what you call it? It's commercial archives."

"We also get licence from those broadcasters to broadcast those soapies or dramas. So if you don't have knowledge, don't deal with these issues."

SABC3 botches The Good Wife's 4th season with ongoing wrong episode order - starts with episode 6, then 7, and then suddenly episode 1.

The SABC is unable to show any episodes of the American drama The Good Wife in the right order, with SABC3 which started the 4th season with episode 6, then broadcast episode 7 last week and last night suddenly stunned viewers with episode 1.

The inability of the public broadcaster's only commercial TV channel to follow the correct basic episode order for the Julianna Margulies drama has confused and angered viewers who are tuning out from The Good Wife on Tuesdays and away from SABC3.

Viewers are saying it is impossible to make heads or tails from the show and that they've given up on trying to watch or follow the drama on SABC3. 

While the channel is struggling to regain its former higher ratings from a decade ago, playing out wrong episodes of shows and angering viewers is not likely to lead to an increase in viewership.

It's not just The Good Wife. On Monday night SABC3 inexplicably replayed the same NCIS episode of a week before. On Monday night SABC3 also quietly cancelled Sportswrap, the weekday late-night sports news segment which was moved to a later timeslot in April 2013 and is now gone.

Zandile Nkonyeni, head publicist of SABC TV channels, didn't respond to a media enquiry from on Tuesday night about The Good Wife and why the drama's episodes are being broadcast out of order.

All material for broadcast on all of the SABC's TV channels are supposed to be watched for various quality controls as well as content before playout. It's unclear why SABC3 started with episode 6, continued with episode 7 and then went back to the first episode after three weeks.

"For the last two weeks the incorrect episodes of The Good Wife have been broadcast – 6 and 7 and this week we're watching episode 1. What is going on?" asked SABC3 viewer Colin Corbett on Tuesday.

"Thanks SABC for The Good Wife. What cretin is in charge of programming and can they read and count?" asked Hilary Mowatt. "Wrong episode last week and tonight they now play episode one. Any comment? I am not holding my breath."

"The exact same episode of NCIS of last week Monday. Oh my word. Don’t the people at the SABC keep track of what must be broadcast or must we watch repeats of the same episode every week until you decide now you're ready to play the proper episode?" asked Zulfa van Diemen.

In April 2012 SABC3 messed up the American reality show Survivor: Samoa by broadcasting a wrong promo too soon but it paled in comparison to September 2009 when SABC3 completely messed up the broadcasting order of the episodes for the Survivor China finale which led to massive viewer outrage.

Advertisers and the main sponsor demanded their money back and the final control worker was immediately sent home and later disciplined.

On Monday night M-Net (DStv 101) invoked viewers' chagrin when the commercial pay-TV broadcaster shockingly broadcast an erroneous Grey’s Anatomy promo for a future episode showing characters reacting to the death of dr Derek Sheperd – before the episode in which the death actually occurs had even been shown.

M-Net said it doesn't know what went wrong and who is to blame and that it is investigating the mistake which caused the channel to spoil the show for M-Net and DStv subscribers.

CNN turns 35 years old, celebrates with bloopers and a TV special (which CNN International couldn't be bothered to tell African viewers to watch).

CNN turned 35 years old on Monday, and the 24-hour TV news channel which stands for "Cable News Network" celebrated with bloopers from its storied past, as well as a TV special looking back at its history and the how it's covered some of the big stories.

Co-incidentally, eNCA (DStv 403) turned seven years old on Monday in South Africa, and CNBC Africa (DStv 410) turned eight. Both channels are carried by MultiChoice in its DStv satellite pay-TV platform in Africa.

In an internal memo send to staff by Jeff Zucker, president of CNN Worldwide, wrote "Thirty five years ago today, Ted Turner and CNN made history.It was 1 June, 1980".

"Before anyone else, he realised there was a market, and a need, for a television network devoted to news and information, 24 hours a day. It was brilliant and radical."

"Thirty five years later, we are still making history, every day. In a world that changes so fast you can now get the news on your wrist, one thing remains constant: CNN is always there".

"The world relies on CNN, so it matters that CNN is good," wrote Jeff Zucker. "We take our work seriously, because we know we have a responsibility to maintain the standards that Ted set 35 years ago."

"He founded CNN to act upon our convictions, to be a positive force in a world where cynics abound, and to provide information to people where it isn't readily available. We live up to those ambitious goals every day – whether we are covering a story, moderating a debate, pushing an interview subject just a bit harder, developing a new way to get our reporting to the people who want it."

To celebrate its 35th anniversary, CNN put together a 4 minute blooper reel filled with gaffes from its past. It contains funny moments of anchors and correspondents laughing, having to respond to technical mistakes and studio problems, awkward silences, technology not working, and being unable to remember what month follows July.

On Monday night CNN International (DStv 401) also had a TV special, Thirty Five Years of CNN but did little to tell and inform Africa's viewers that it would be on and when to watch it. The special wasn't recordable; CNN International's electronic programme guide (EPG) on DStv never listed the programme. It's not known when the special would be repeated this week, if at all.

Thirty Five Years of CNN which has been uploaded to YouTube and other video viewing sites, looks back as anchors and correspondents over the years reflect on big stories CNN covered over the past decades, ranging from 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, to the OJ Simpson chase and trial, the first Iraq war, the Challenger disaster, the Boston Marathon bombing and the Haiti earthquake among others.

SHOCKING FAIL. M-Net mess up Grey's Anatomy by showing the trailer of the characters dealing with the aftermath of his death ... but before McDreamy dies.

How pathetic can you get? M-Net and DStv subscribers who didn't know that Patrick Dempsey's character of McDreamy is getting killed off in Grey's Anatomy got the sad shock of their lives when M-Net (DStv 101) ridiculously started broadcasting the trailer for the next episode before even airing the actual episode in which the character got killed off.

M-Net started marketing and promoting the episode of the characters dealing with the shocking fall-out of Derek Shepard's untimely death - but showing it before the episode on Monday night in which the character dies.

Suddenly viewers were treated to sobbing, sad and shocked people at the Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital in the teaser who are bereaved over McDreamy who died - before M-Net actually ran the episode of the character dying.

"Epic fail," wrote Raksha Nagaser. "Thanks for the spoiler about Grey's Anatomy before we even watched tonight's episode".

M-Net is now apologising for error. "M-Net apologises for incorrectly screening next week's Grey's Anatomy teaser before tonight's show. We are investigating and will feed back," says the South African pay-TV broadcaster.

EXCLUSIVE. The 10 South African celebrities taking part in the 8th season of Strictly Come Dancing South Africa on SABC3 are ...

Bridget Masinga, Nkuli Tshirumbula, Slikour, Stanton Fredericks, Gary Botha, Jason Goliath, Leigh-Anne Williams, Karlien van Jaarsveld, Pearl Modiadie and Sureshnie Rider will put their dancing shoes on this Friday when the 8^th season of Strictly Come Dancing SA starts at 19:30 on SABC3.

Zandile Nkonyeni, SABC TV head publicist didn't respond to a media enquiry about the reality dance format show starting in just four days and the broadcaster failed to released any information to the press a week ahead of time, but I can reveal, according to several SABC sources, that this season will include celebrity contestants ranging from a soccer star and a comedian to TV presenters, a musician and a soap star.

Contrary to TV biz rumours, socialiste Pearl Thusi will definitely not be a part of this season of Strictly Come Dancing SA which is once again produced by production company Rapid Blue, although SABC1's Zaziwa presenter and 5FM DJ Pearl Modiadie will be dancing.

The successful and dynamic presenting duo of Katlego Maboe and Roxy Burger will both be back for the show which is ditching the Saturday elimination episode from this season and condensing the format to Friday nights for both the live dance performances and the evictions.

Kicking off the new season on Friday night on SABC3, and starting off with waltzing and cha cha-ing across the dance floor will be former Bafana Bafana and national under-23 midfield soccer player Stanton "Stiga" Fredericks, Expresso presenter Leigh-Anne Williams, comedian Jason Goliath, SABC2 Muvhango soap star Nkuli Tshirumbula and TV presenter Bridget Masinga.

The former Springbok rugby player and Bulls hooker Gary Botha is also dancing and according to sources who've seen him "putting in 120%".

Also forming a part of the new group are singers Slikour and Karlien van Jaarsveld. 

Although she's already one of the busiest people working in South Africa’s electronic entertainment industry, 5FM DJ Sureshnie Rider, has somehow rejigged her incredibly full diary to fit in hours of dancing rehearsals and the Friday dance floor spectaculars.

According to sources who've seen it, Friday's debut episode of the 8^th season of Strictly Come Dancing on SABC3 will also include a spectacular group dance, choreographed by Tebogo Kgobokoe.