Mariah Carey reality series coming to E! Entertainment on DStv as cameras roll behind the scenes of her performances and wedding planning.

The cameras are set to roll behind the scenes to capture the drama, diva demands and private moments of songstress Mariah Carey for a new reality show on E! Entertainment (DStv 124) entitled Mariah's World.

The 8-episode reality series that will be shown on E! Entertainment on MultiChoice's DStv in South Africa as well as in 152 other countries, will have cameras following her on her tour in the United Kingdom, Europe, Asia and Africa while she's planning her wedding to the Australian business mogul, James Packer.

The series, produced by Bunim/Murray Productions, will follow Mariah Carey, who refuses to call it a reality show. She calls it a "documentary" about her life moments and has banned the cameras from filming her 4-year old twins Morocco and Monroe.

The reality show will focus on her and her inner circle as they deal with her Sweet Fantasy Tour

The diva is known for her antics and outrageous demands: she just send her people to the grocery store at 03:00 in the morning in Glasgow for Coca-Cola (in bottles), Oreo cookies and a case of Moët & Chandon champagne for her backup dancers and previously requested "adorable puppies" and white flowers.

On her previous tour she requested vitamin water to wash her dogs. Last month a video leaked of how she refuses to walk at her Las Vegas residency and gets wheeled in a customised chair from her room to the stage while her entourage hovers around her to do her hair and make-up at Ceasars Palace.

In 2002 on MTV in an episode of Cribs, the Mimi climbed a Stairmaster in high heels whilst showing off her one bathroom in Hello Kitty wallpaper.

"I'm already having so much fun with this documentary and I know you will too," says Mariah Carey. "I'm excited to to bring my fans into my life for the next journey I'm about to embark on".

"We're excited to partner with Bunim/Murray Productions and Mariah to offer our viewers exclusive access into her private world," says Jeff Olde, E!'s executive vice president for programming and development.

"The series will present a unique, vulnerable and surprisingly humorous side to Mariah that her fans have never before seen while showcasing her unparalleled celebrity lifestyle filled with true glamour, maximum luxury and ultimate stardom".

South Africa's Eleni Giokos steps up as fill-in anchor for the week on Quest Means Business in CNN International's New York studios.

Eleni Giokos stepped up as fill-in anchor on Monday night for the week on CNN International's Quest Means Business in a move that could indicate a looming shift in her on-air status as a South African correspondent at the Turner Broadcasting news channel.

Despite mistakes and delivery problems, Eleni Giokos - formerly a financial correspondent and anchor at CNBC Africa, eNCA and Bloomberg Television - made it through her first edition behind the transparent desk in CNN's New York studios.

She is filling in for Richard Quest until Friday who is on assignment for his monthly CNN Business Traveller segment, trying to fly around the world in 8 days using only low-cost airlines. The two first met in May 2013 when Richard Quest visited eNCA (DStv 403) in Hyde Park, Johannesburg.

Eleni Giokos joined CNN International (DStv 401) in October 2015 as Africa business correspondent after a short stint at Bloomberg Television.

With Eleni Giokos sitting in as anchor for Quest Means Business at the Time Warner Center it means that viewers this week can see two South Africans anchoring programming blocks on CNN International, the other being Robyn Curnow as the face of International Desk.

The move also signals that Eleni Giokos' status at the news channel could possibly once again be changing soon.

She was flown all the way to New York to specifically anchor the show which has a well-stocked existing reserve bench of accomplished substitutes in the form of Maggie Lake, Poppy Harlow and London-based anchors.

Before fellow South African Robyn Curnow in mid-2014 was announced as a new CNN International anchor and moved from the Johannesburg bureau to Atlanta, she also flew to the CNN headquarters for several meetings, screen tests and then mentoring and training before settling in behind the International Desk.

It's very likely that Eleni Giokos' anchoring stint this week at 23:00 South African time on CNN International is a try-out for a bigger on-screen role as CNN management gets a first-hand look and sense of her capabilities.

The Monday night episode was marred by ongoing reading difficulties and mistakes throughout, as well as lots of "uhm's" and a staccato presentation - most likely due to uneven teleprompter scrolling that's not yet attuned to Eleni Giokos' delivery style, as well as too many voices through the earpiece to give attention to whilst reading.

A live interview with a rambling Maria Ramos as Barclays Africa CEO was a disaster, at least two guests had visible earpiece problems, and an esoteric Anbang Starwood Hotels report was extremely difficult to follow.

Her Monday night debut in the faux library loft that ran a few minutes over time at the end wasn't Eleni Giokos at her self-assured best although her presentation will very likely improve in the way she excelled at CNBC Africa and especially eNCA where she brought viewers much more than just financial news with aplomb.

MultiChoice opening 5 premium TV channels for Easter for more than half a month from 18 March for DStv Compact; 2 channels for DStv Extra subscribers.

Five Easter eggs are coming to lower-tiered DStv subscribers when MultiChoice will open 5 TV channels for more than half a month from 18 March.

E! Entertainment (DStv 124), Nickelodeon (DStv 305), Comedy Central (DStv 122), Lifetime (DStv 131) and Nick Jr. (DStv 307) will be opened to DStv Compact subscribers from 18 March to 4 April.

Lifetime and Nick Jr. will also be opened to DStv Extra subscribers as well during the same period.

The five channels that's only available for the top-tiered DStv Premium package, will be unencoded for 18 days for what MultiChoice describes as "bumper Easter entertainment".

E! is provided by NBCUniversal Networks International, Lifetime is from A+E Networks UK, and Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. are supplied by Viacom International Media Networks.

During the period lower-tiered DStv subscribers will be able to see the Beyond the Red Carpet local special on E! Entertainment, the channel's first local red carpet coverage broadcast two days after the South African Film and Television Awards, on 22 March at 20:00.

Nickelodeon has programming during Easter to keep kids entertained ranging from Spongebob Squarepants and Breadwinners to Nicky, Dicky & Dawn. Nick Jr. has Dora the Explorer, Team Umizoomi, Paw Patrol, BubbleGuppies and Blaze.

Comedy Central has The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.

Lifetime has the reality show The Jacksons: Next Generation, the movie Toni Braxton: Unbreak My Heart and the Bill Cosby accusers documentary, Cosby: The Women Speak.

The ultimate braai master of the universe: Justin Bonello's Ultimate Braai Master going global as the 4th season starts on the Travel Channel and beyond.

South Africa's ultimate braai master Justin Bonello is the king of the grill, but he's actually the king of the world.

The presenter and producer of Ultimate Braai Master which has seen seasons of his braai competition show on SABC3, then e.tv, and now also on the Travel Channel (DStv 179) on MultiChoice's DStv platform is going global: Discovery Networks International bought it as well and the format rights have been sold to Canada and America.

With the fourth season of Ultimate Braai Master starting on the Travel Channel on Tuesday 29 March (the season that recently was shown and concluded on e.tv), Justin Bonello is already working on the 5th season that will be broadcast later this year on e.tv.

Viewers who haven't seen the 4th season can now catch up and watch it on the Travel Channel from 29 March at 21:00 and see 15 teams of two, pitted against each other, competing in grueling outdoor braai challenges over the course of 52 days and 8 000 km through South Africa.

Sourcing all their own ingredients, their skills are pushed to the limits who will be crowned king of the grill. What am I saying? The king of the grill is Justin Bonello.

"This is our 4th season of Ultimate Braai Master and we're really privileged to be having it on air on the Travel Channel again," says Justin Bonello.

Discovery Networks International bought it as well; it's going to be on air in South America and the Caribbean. The first format rights are up in Canada and the United States so you're going to see an international version of Ultimate Braai Master," says Justin Bonello, adding: "but they're never going to be able to do what we do!"

"It's going to be quite interesting to see how they tackle a homegrown reality show. It's a format that was created by South Africans, with South Africans, with the South African psyche. And hopefully it will be doing the same for those countries as well."

"I'm still looking forward to hearing myself in German, and Mandarin!"

"I created this show and literally the day we finish shooting one season we start pre-production on the next one; it's a 12-month cycle for me," he says. 

This year the 5th season of Ultimate Braai Master has been delayed until June because Coca-Cola that was onboard as a sponsor unexpectedly pulled out.

"Coca-Cola changing global strategy told us that they're not taking part this year. A lot of people in the media game understand that the media spend is completely different from what it used to be a year ago and we're all fighting much harder for that. And sadly Ultimate Braai Master is reliant on sponsors to get the show on air."

"We are still really proud of the show, it stars South Africans and celebrates who we are as a people featuring some of the most beautiful landscapes," says Justin Bonello.

I asked him about the creative evolution of Ultimate Braai Master from the first season to now, and how the challenges, design and places evolved. Does he know beforehand how many things he want to change every season and then pace and limit himself to rather add some of it to future seasons?

"Every year you change what you know," says Justin Bonello.

"I'm so embarrassed when I look back at season one of any show I've every shot. I looked at the first season of Cooked the other day and on a production level I thought 'Did you really do that? Did you really say that? How did you edit that so badly?"

"So for me there's a lovely evolution with any show you do. There's always a lovely evolution with shows you produce. And when you sit down in your editing suite at the end of the day you really beat yourself over the head because you say 'I could have made this so much better."

"And I feel sometimes quite sad in South Africa that because the budgets are so restricted, what happens is that producers must make their money from the production, and what happens is that the production suffers."

"So we've always looked at it from the other level, where you go out and create the best content that you can, with everything that you can. Nowadays I also watch Netflix where I choose what I want to watch when I want to watch."

"And that selection is going to become bigger and bigger in our mindsets. So why would you watch a substandard locally produced South African show when you can choose from anything available in the world?" says Justin Bonello.

"You get local broadcasters, putting schlock up there that no-one watches and it's happening already - I've seen some of your scathing articles of the SABC - and it shouldn't be like that."

"We all watch the best content that we can. You go and see a movie, it's a Hollywood blockbuster, then we must go home and watch drivel produced. It's not right. As producers we should produce great content."

"South Africa is really blessed with great film crews; Cape Town has Black Sails [Starz produced drama on History, DStv 186) under produced - that's a world-standard series being produced in Cape Town."

"We need to keep pushing boundaries. I will die before I put sh*t content on TV," said Justin Bonello.

I also wondered why he shoots every season during winter. And then once it starts its almost two months of producing a non-stop show. How challenging is that in terms of weather and the multitude of places the show visits?

"It's cheaper for us to shoot Ultimate Braai Master out of season," Justin Bonello reveals.

"We have 30 contestants, 70 crew and go all around the country. We must accommodate those people everywhere. If we did it in high season, we wouldn't be able to go to some of the places that we're at. In terms of content? We have a rule on the road: Come rain or shine, we braai."

"With Ultimate Braai Master we've had snow in the Drakensberg, hail, you name it, it's happened to us and we just carry on."

Ultimate Braai Master has been nominated for a South African Film and Television Award (Safta) and I wondered how Justin Bonello feels it.

"It's its second year that it's up for a Safta. It won last year. It's nice to be recognised always by your peers for the work that you produce."

"I'd rather be standing there with an Emmy - we entered it for the International Emmys as well - but I'm very proud that we got nominated for the Saftas again this year and recognised for our production," says Justin Bonello.

The 4th season of Ultimate Braai Master starts on the Travel Channel (DStv 179) on 29 March at 21:00.

e.tv's Rhythm City guilty of broadcasting 'shockingly inappropriate' woman abuse and strangulation scene too early with 'entirely inadequate' warning.

The Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) has slammed e.tv and the channel's local soap Rhythm City for broadcasting a "shockingly inappropriate" strangulation scene with woman abuse too early without adequate warning.

The BCCSA ruled that a Rhythm City episode depicting domestic violence and violence against a woman failed to give viewers adequate warning during a time when children could be watching.

Following a viewer complaint about Rhythm City in which a woman was strangled in the context of extensive verbal abuse, the BCCSA ruled that e.tv failed to properly warn viewers and that the Rhythm City content isn't appropriate for the timeslot before the so-called "watershed period" when large numbers of children could be watching.

e.tv argued that Rhythm City, produced by Quizzical Pictures, is "mainly targeted at a mature audience" in which the character of Lerato was strangled from behind with a piano wire by Jim Jam.

"Contextually speaking, the episode presents an educational narrative about the trajectories of patriarchy," e.tv argued, saying that the constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression and that it includes the right to offend, shock and disturb.

The broadcaster said the violence depicted "only lasted for a seconds" and was within reasonable bounds.

e.tv said "the episode had a PG13 rating and it neither contained violence nor grossly offensive language".

The BCCSA ruled there's no objection to the episode being shown to mature audiences and that the graphic scenes of woman abuse portrayed are violent and that the strangling interaction around it amounts to scenes of torture in a domestic violence context.

The BCCSA said the Rhythm City scenes would be disturbing for children. "Parents do not expect their children to be exposed to such violence under the advisory of PG13".

The BCCSA said the visual advisory of PG13 for the Rhythm City episode "was entirely inadequate". "Even if parents or caregivers were present, the material would still have been harmful".

"E.tv transgressed the Broadcasting Code by broadcasting strangulation scenes in Rhythm City at a time when large numbers of children were likely to be among the audience. According to the broadcaster Rhythm City always bears a PG13 visual advisory."

"The fact that all episodes have this advisory - combined with the fact that PG is routinely used for innocuous material by all broadcasters - makes the broadcast more shockingly inappropriate and more unexpected for caregivers," the BCCSA found.

"The advisory is unsuitable for this material and in practice the advisory would have been completely ineffective".

The broadcaster wasn't fined but e.tv was ordered to broadcast an on-screen message during Rhythm City stating the transgression with a voice-over that it violated the Broadcasting Code and that the audience advisory of PG13 was insufficient for the episode.

(LAND OF) OOO: The Marceline vamps it up in her own new Cartoon Network miniseries, Stakes, with the first 2 episodes already on DStv Catch Up as a sneak peek.

I have a niece and a nephew, who, everytime I speak to them on the phone, I go "Yes. Marceline. Can I please speak to Marceline. The Vaaaampire Queeen."

Then they laugh. "No, it's Chelsea", and, "No, it's Luke".

Together we've watched more Adventure Time on the Cartoon Network (DStv 301) than what I've ever watched Kideo, Pumpkin Patch and Cedric the Crow combined, while I sit in constant mock-shock and make comments like "This is too much!", "This show is too scary!", "No, we can't watch this" and "Why does that one have such sharp teeth?"

Now one of the more cray-cray animation shows for kids on television has done a spin-off about probably the most intriguing character of all: the Marceline, the Vaaampire Queeen.

Stakes is a brand-new 8-part miniseries on the Cartoon Network with the entire miniseries that will be broadcast on Saturday 19 March and Sunday 20 March with 4 episodes each day starting at 09:20.

The first two episodes of Stakes are already available on MultiChoice's DStv Catch Up service as a type of "sneak peek".

In the new Stakes miniseries, Princess Bubblegum removes Marceline's vampire side. It however unleashes five recently resurrected vampires in the Land of Ooo, and just guess who has to deal with the problem.

The miniseries for the first time and very cleverly, explores and explains the personality and history of this complex character who is the frenemy of Finn the human and Jake the shape-shifting dog.

Watching the show, clever and perhaps more adult viewers might recognise or guess that vampirism is actually symbolic and a metaphor of depression.

Look out for a (great!) somber song Marceline's mom sings to her in Stakes, and that Marceline sings again herself later - as well as absolutely fascinating flashbacks to Marceline's past viewers have never seen.

New episodes from the 6th season of Adventure Time also just started on Cartoon Network, returning viewers to the Land of Ooo and Marceline... Marceline the Vaaaampire Queeen.

The 7th season of Adventure Time will start on Cartoon Network on DStv around November.

eNCA remains the most watched TV news channel on DStv; now also has a bigger overall viewership share at 51% than all other news channels combined.

The South African TV news channel eNCA (DStv 403) remains by far the most watched TV news channel in South Africa but its eyeball draw on MultiChoice's DStv platform now comes with another feather in the cap: at 51.45% it has a bigger overall viewership share than all of the other TV news channels combined.

While the eMedia Investments news channel on MultiChoice's satellite pay-TV platform is by far eclipsing much smaller rivals like SABC News (DStv 404) and ANN7 (DStv 405), eNCA in February 2016 managed to lure more viewers than all of the other available TV news channels on DStv combined.

Based on the February 2016 viewership share figures, eNCA, now with the journalism professor Anton Harber as new editor-in-chief since the beginning of March, is now larger in terms of the news audience share on DStv than all the other TV news channels put together.

With 51.45% of the total news audience share, it means that more DStv subscribers are watching eNCA than what are watching Sky News, CNN International, CNBC Africa, Al Jazeera, BBC World News, SABC News, ANN7 and BusinessDay TV combined.

Besides eNCA towering above everyone else, the other two local South African TV channels are struggling with traction.

While the SABC receives millions of rand from MultiChoice to provide the SABC News channel exclusively to the DStv platform, it only had a 20.37% audience share in February 2016 - down in fact from a year ago in February 2015 when it stood at 23.33%.

Infinity Media's ANN7 from the Gupta family in February stood at a very low 10.66% share, slightly up from a 10.15% share a year ago.

Tracked over a 12-month period from February 2015, BBC World News celebrating its 25th anniversary, as well as the Al Jazeera, BusinessDayTV and CNBC Africa channels all lost audience share over the past year.

Besides eNCA and its big lead, CNN International (DStv 401) and Sky News (DStv 402) were the only other two TV news channel that managed to marginally increase its audience share the past year.

Sky News (7.24%) and CNN International (4.40%) also happen to be the most watched out of the international TV news channels on DStv.

'THE BIG SWITCH-OFF': StarSat switching off black TopTV decoder from the end of this month; subscribers urged to swop their old decoder out for free.

StarSat subscribers using TopTV decoders will lose their viewing from the end of this month when these black boxes are switched off, with subscribers who have to upgrade and migrate to the new StarSat branded decoders if they want to continue receiving channels.

These original black TopTV decoders will no longer work properly after the end of March StarSat tells TVwithThinus, with subscribers who will have to swop decoders or lose their TV channels in what the pay-TV service calls "The Big Switch-Off".

The past few months the Woodmead-based On Digital Media (ODM) and StarTimes Media South Africa has been on a drive to rid the market from the original black TopTV decoders that were introduced in May 2010 when ODM launched TopTV as South Africa's second satellite pay-TV service.

When China's StarTimes can onboard to bail-out the struggling pay-TV-operator in business rescue, the new, HD-enabled and StarSat branded white decoders manufactured in China, were introduced to South Africa in November 2013 as part of a process to move away from the damaged "TopTV" brand.

TopTV subscribers, now StarSat subscribers, could however continue to use the original black decoders.

In August 2015 ODM started a free "decoder exchange programme" in a subsidised campaign to get the black decoders out of the market.

As part of the soft phase-out approach the past seven months, StarSat subscribers could turn in their "old" TopTV branded black decoders and  switch to the white boxes for free by taking their old set-top boxes to certain retail stores and pay R99 for which they got a R99 credit on their StarSat account.

Now as part of a hard-swap, StarSat says all old decoders must be replaced and that subscribers who don't switch by the end of this month will see their service start to go dark.

"The Big Switch-Off starts on 1 April," StarSat tells TVwithThinus. Three TV channels will go dark at a time, weekly, from 1 April for subscribers with the black TopTV boxes. "By 30 April all channels will be cut off and no longer be available on the old black decoder".

StarSat says that "from 30 April, the old standard definition (SD) black TopTV decoders will no longer be in use as the software will be outdated and subscribers have to swop to get a new HD decoder for free."

"Subscribers need to bring their TopTV smartcard to their nearest customer experience centre to receive their new free HD decoder," says StarSat.

"To make the process more accessible, subscribers can call our call centre on 0860 867 827, or SMS the word 'swop' to 40003 and we will arrange to have their new HD decoder couriered to them nationwide. If they swop before 30 April they get one month's subscription for free".

Since its introduction, StarSat subscribers however continue to complain about the new decoder. The design and functionality of the decoder's electronic programme guide (EPG) is worse compared to the black box.

StarSat subscribers also continue to say that they struggle with channel reset and channel signal issues, that the box has poor functionality, and that even though they want one, it's out of stock at some places.

StarSat subscribers continue to say that once they switch to and use the new decoder, it loses signal reception and that they constantly have to try and "reset" the box due to unexplained signal loss issues.

SABC insists it is correct to censor and ban all politico talk from callers outside of current affairs shows; threatens workers who help political parties in programmes.

South Africa's public broadcaster insists it's correct: The SABC says will stick with, and is right by censoring and banning all political talk from callers outside of news and current affairs.

The SABC is also threatening workers that if they don't adher there will be consequences, warning SABC staff that it will "strongly deal" with employees who help political parties to use SABC programmes for political gain.

The SABC is reacting to reports, after City Press and The Sunday Times on Sunday reported that the SABC ordered staff to censor listeners' comments and not to allow people calling in to do "electioneering".

In written instructions the SABC said "Communication has been sent to all radio stations to stop having open lines for this current period before the local government elections" and that this is done to protect "the SABC against anybody who could potentially use the platform for their own benefit and also use it for electioneering".

The South African broadcasting regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) has now been asked to investigate.

In a statement the SABC says the public broadcaster believes in the "correctness of the decision that the SABC has taken to the effect that political discussions should only be dealt with in the news and current affairs programmes only".

The SABC says in the statement that "the decision was made to make sure that political parties do no misuse entertainment, religious and sports programmes for their political expediency".

"The SABC would like to strongly warn political parties against misusing our programmes that are meant for other purposes either than news and current affairs".

The SABC is also warning SABC workers, saying "we will also strongly deal with our employees who will assist any political parties to use their programmes for political expediency".