Political parties demand parliamentary inquiry into MultiChoice's allegedly 'corrupt' and 'unethical' dealings with Gupta-linked ANN7 and Faith Muthambi.

Political parties are demanding a parliamentary inquiry into MultiChoice's allegedly "corrupt" and "unethical" dealings with the controversial Gupta family and its highly-criticised ANN7 channel, as well as the controversial former minister of communications, Faith Muthambi.

Both the Economic Freedom Front (EFF) and Democratic Alliance (DA) reacted swiftly to fresh revelations that MultiChoice is paying ANN7 a staggering R141 380 000 per year for the low-rated and little watched channel.

ANN7 has been much criticised for its ongoing mistakes, biased coverage and for allegedly inciting racial discord in South Africa using DStv's platform to do so.

MultiChoice also made a dubious R25 million once-off payment to the Guptas for ANN7.

Both the Economic Freedom Front (EFF) and Democratic Alliance (DA) political parties on Friday called for a parliamentary inquiry into MultiChoice's allegedly "corrupt" dealings with the Guptas and politicians over the ANN7 channel.

The DA's member of parliament Phumzile Van Damme told TVwithThinus that "we believe that this issue be investigated by parliament, as part of the broader State Capture inquiries undertaken by the different committees in Parliament."

"We are in particular seriously concerned about MultiChoice, and what appears to be unethical conduct in this regard relating to the Gupta family. We intend on getting to the bottom of this."

The EFF's member of parliament Mbuyiseni Ndlozi in a statement says "The EFF condemns the corrupt relations of MultiChoice and Faith Muthambi which suppressed competition within the pay-TV industry with disgust".

"The recent revelations in the #GuptaLeaks show how Faith Muthambi as minister of communications worked with the Guptas to solicit bribes in exchange for protection of MultiChoice from the competition".

"Koos Bekker's company, MultiChoice, paid millions to the Guptas, through ANN7, in exchange for Faith Muthambi to adopt the policy of unencryption in the set-top boxes for digital terrestrial television (DTT) migration."

"The Guptas, through their influence on Jacob Zuma and Faith Muthambi, managed to guarantee their stay on the DStv platform whilst being remunerated unreasonable amounts of money despite their low audience numbers," says Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.

"It is clear that MultiChoice was paying them for securing a DTT policy in relation to set-top boxes that would maintain them as the sole players in the pay-TV space."

'The EFF calls on parliament to hold an inquiry into the Gupta influence over Faith Muthambi. In this inquiry, companies like MultiChoice must be held accountable publicly for their criminal activities in the sector, suppressing competition in favour of their domination."

"The EFF will also be reporting MultiChoice to the Competition Commission to investigate how they influenced the policy on set-top boxes in favour of their market domination."

More #GuptaLeaks engulfs MultiChoice in growing scandal over its controversial ANN7 contract; says there's nothing wrong paying ANN7 R141 380 000 per year.

More #GuptaLeaks revelations are engulfing MultiChoice in a growing scandal over its controversial ANN7 contract with the Guptas, with MultiChoice saying there's nothing wrong with paying ANN7 an eye-watering R141 380 000 per year for the low-rated, highly criticised and mistake-filled channel.

MultiChoice brand damage continues to increase as MultiChoice is being battered by ongoing new shocking revelations regarding its ANN7 (DStv 405) contract with the controversial Gupta family who are embroiled in State Capture claims.

MultiChoice itself is now being accused of corruption and collusion with the Guptas and tainted politicians like Faith Muthambi, by a growing chorus of the public and political parties.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) political party has given MultiChoice an ultimatum, saying DStv has 48 hours to make its contracts and prior negotiations with the Guptas over ANN7 public, or the DA will request the broadcasting regulator, Icasa, to compel MultiChoice to do so.

The Democratic Alliance and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) political parties are also calling for a public parliamentary inquiry into MultiChoice, its dealings and contracts with the Guptas over ANN7, and the former minister of communications, Faith Muthambi.

In shocking new #GuptaLeaks, News24 on Friday dropped a bombshell email trove, showing how MultiChoice made a dubious R25 million payment to the Guptas for its low-rated, biased and mistake-filled trash channel, in addition to upping the money MultiChoice pays to ANN7 from R50 million to a whopping R141 million per year.

The emails revealed that MultiChoice is paying ANN7 R141.38 million as part of its contract for the channel, a channel that stands accused of fostering racial discord, biased and unbalanced coverage and targeting politicians who are against president Jacob Zuma.

According to a 4th channel amendment agreement signed by Glen Marques in September 2015, MultiChoice upped its payment from R50 million to R100 million to a staggering R141 380 000 per year although ANN7 is the least watched of the three local TV news channels with SABC News and eNCA as rivals.

Ironically MultiChoice is splurging more money on ANN7 - although it only has a fraction of the viewership in the form of a paltry 8.9% news audience share - that what DStv is paying eMedia Investment's eNCA (DStv 403) that is now only getting R140.8 million from MultiChoice although it is the most watched TV news channel on all of DStv's platform with over 50% news audience share.

MultiChoice told News24 that when it decided to add ANN7 from the Gupas' Infinity Media Network, "the only other channel on the DStv platform at that stage was eNCA".

MultiChoice then says "The eNCA contract was up for renewal, and there were signs that it was not going to be renewed".

Also raising eyebrows in the latest #GuptaLeaks regarding ANN7 is how a MultiChoice executive, Clarissa Mack - now gone from DStv - directly sent policy documents - a "Effect of presidential proclamation"document in July 2014 to the then minister of communications Faith Muthambi about government policy.

Faith Muthambi, shockingly, then sent this MultiChoice document to Ashu Chawla of the Guptas, detailing how to give Faith Muthambi control over broadcasting in South Africa.

Clarissa Mack also created another document about signal distributors Sentech and Infraco that she sent from MultiChoice to Faith Muthambi - a document Faith Muthambi shockingly also sent to Ashu Chawla.

"See attached Proclamation that President must sign," Faith Muthambi wrote to Ashu Chawla, who then forwarded it to Tony Gupta.

In another eye-popping revelation, the then MultiChoice CEO Imtiaz Patel suddenly got listed as a director, along with Tony Gupta, and Jacob Zuma's son, Duduzane, in the same company, IslandsiteInvestments 255.

MultiChoice says it was only for a day, happened without Imtiaz Patel's knowledge and that he resigned and removed his name from the company register on the very same day he was appointed.


MultiChoice: Nothing unusual about paying ANN7 R141 380 000 per year
After the News24 story, TVwithThinus asked MultiChoice why Clarissa Mack while she worked for MultiChoice sent documents directly to Faith Muthambi and why MultiChoice increased the ANN7 payment from R50 million, then R100 million, to R141.38 million if ANN7 under-performed and received widespread criticism for its content.

MultiChoice was asked why the then CEO Imtiaz Patel was listed as director of a company with Tony Gupta and Jacob Zuma's son Duduzane Zuma and why MultiChoice made a once-off payment of R25 million to the Guptas for ANN7.

MultiChoice says "the fee structure for the ANN7 contract is in line with the costs of developing and running such a channel, and ANN7 is definitely not the highest-paid local news channel on the DStv platform".

"The R25 million fee is also not unusual. In this case, it was a pro rata payment in terms of an amendment agreement."

 The fee structure for the ANN7 contract is in line with the costs of developing and running such a channel, and ANN7 is definitely not the highest-paid local news channel on the DStv platform."

"Regarding our submission to Faith Muthabi: The Presidential Proclamation creating two new ministries didn't make sense to a number of stakeholders in the broadcasting sector," says MultiChoice.

"Several of these stakeholders made submissions to the minister suggesting it be corrected. MultiChoice was one of these, and many of its proposals were rejected."

MultiChoice says "it is standard practice for companies to interact with the industry regulator and government on policy matters, including making proposals on regulatory or legislative issues. There is nothing wrong with that."

MultiChoice didn't specify what it makes of Faith Muthambi sending MultiChoice's policy documents to the Guptas.

"There is absolutely no relationship between our submission on the proclamation, the channel supply agreement for ANN7, and any fees or increase in feed paid for that channel," says MultiChoice.

MultiChoice says "Imtiaz Patel was NOT involved in any business partnership with the Guptas and Duduzane Zuma in IslandsiteInvestments 255. The CIPC records reflect that he was appointed and resigned as a director on the very same day in 2009 - 8 years ago."

Earlier this week MultiChoice said it is not negotiating with ANN7 for a contract extension when the existing contract ends in June 2018.

Political parties demand parliamentary inquiry into MultiChoice's "corrupt" and "unethical" ANN7 deal with Guptas

Both the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and Democratic Alliance (DA) political parties on Friday called for a parliamentary inquiry into MultiChoice's allegedly "corrupt" dealings with the Guptas and politicians over the ANN7 channel.

The DA's member of parliament Phumzile Van Damme told TVwithThinus that "we believe that this issue be investigated by parliament, as part of the broader State Capture inquiries undertaken by the different committees in Parliament."

"We are in particular seriously concerned about MultiChoice, and what appears to be unethical conduct in this regard relating to the Gupta family. We intend on getting to the bottom of this."

The EFF's member of parliament Mbuyiseni Ndlozi in a statement says "The EFF condemns the corrupt relations of MultiChoice and Faith Muthambi which suppressed competition within the pay-TV industry with disgust".

"The recent revelations in the #GuptaLeaks show how Faith Muthambi as minister of communications worked with the Guptas to solicit bribes in exchange for protection of MultiChoice from the competition".

"Koos Bekker's company, MultiChoice, paid millions to the Guptas, through ANN7, in exchange for Faith Muthambi to adopt the policy of unencryption in the set-top boxes for digital terrestrial television (DTT) migration."

"The Guptas, through their influence on Jacob Zuma and Faith Muthambi, managed to guarantee their stay on the DStv platform whilst being remunerated unreasonable amounts of money despite their low audience numbers," says Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.

"It is clear that MultiChoice was paying them for securing a DTT policy in relation to set-top boxes that would maintain them as the sole players in the pay-TV space."

'The EFF calls on parliament to hold an inquiry into the Gupta influence over Faith Muthambi. In this inquiry, companies like MultiChoice must be held accountable publicly for their criminal activities in the sector, suppressing competition in favour of their domination."

"The EFF will also be reporting MultiChoice to the Competition Commission to investigate how they influenced the policy on set-top boxes in favour of their market domination."

MultiChoice sympathetic to the SABC's money mess but slams SABC for being 'opportunistic' and disingenuous for now wanting change to 'must carry' rules to get paid.

The pay-TV operator MultiChoice says its sympathetic to the South African public broadcaster's money mess but has slammed the SABC for being "opportunistic" and disingenuous for suddenly wanting the broadcasting regulator to change the so-called "must carry" regulations under which pay-TV operators are forced to carry the SABC's TV channels but in exchange get them for free.

The SABC has written to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), requesting an "urgent public review" of the country's so-called "must carry" regulations.

The SABC urgently wants a change to the must carry regulations under which pay-TV operators like MultiChoice's DStv and StarTimes Media SA and On Digital Media's (ODM) StarSat are forced to carry the SABC's TV channels, SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3, but then get these channels for free.

The SABC wants pay-TV operators to pay for these channels.

In response to the SABC's letter to the regulator, MultiChoice responded, also with a letter to the regulator and also responded to media enquiries asking for MultiChoice's comments on the SABC's sudden about-turn regarding the almost decade-old "must carry regulations.

MultiChoice says it's opportunistic for the SABC to use its financial problems to suddenly want an urgent change to the "must carry" regulations.

What "must carry" has meant is that the SABC that provides public access channels for the public, has been able to get the public to see these public channels - with the help of satellite pay-TV services, all over South Africa, especially in a lot of places where the SABC's individual, still-analogue transmitted, SABC channels don't reach.

People living in places where they can't get SABC1, SABC2, SABC3 or a combination of these channels - something they're supposed to as part of the SABC's public access mandate - have been able to see SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3 through a service like DStv, StarSat, OpenView HD (OVHD) since these digital satellite TV services cover the whole of South Africa.

In exchange for being forced to carry these public channels, the pay-TV operators are not asked to pay for these channels.

MultiChoice told TVwithThinus that it has taken note of the SABC letter and that MultiChoice "doesn't agree with the SABC that the must carry regulations have failed to protect the integrity and viability of public broadcasting services, or that MultiChoice has commercially benefited from the regulations at the expense of the public broadcaster".

"The regulations had great benefit to the public broadcaster and the public at large as SABC channels were made available nationwide on all pay-TV platforms, including DStv, to fulfill the SABC's universal access mandate."

MultiChoice says "the must carry regulations were debated extensively during the integrated ICT white paper review process".

"The draft white paper on audio-visual and content services is currently before cabinet. It addresses, amongst other issues, the must carry regulations and the funding of the public broadcaster."

"We believe this matter should be dealt with in this policy process. The white paper process will most likely consider the changing nature of television and whether new over-the-top (OTT) operators should also be subjected to regulations, including the must carry regulations".

MultiChoice says it believes that any stakeholder, including the SABC "that does not agree with Icasa or think the regulator acted outside of its powers, can have the process reviewed through the courts."

"The SABC chose not to do so when the regulations were made 9 years ago."

In its letter to Icasa, MultiChoice says "MultiChoice is sympathetic to the financial difficulties currently faced by the SABC".

"However we believe it is opportunistic for the SABC to use these difficulties to motivate now for the urgent amendment of regulations which have after all, been in force for some time."

"As the SABC itself acknowledges, the main causes of its current financial crisis lies elsewhere."

"It is also disingenuous for the SABC to seek an urgent amendment of the regulations on the basis that they are ultra vires, 9 years after their coming into operation, in circumstances where the SABC failed to review them in the courts of law."

MultiChoice says "further we take exception to the singling out of MultiChoice ... as having commercially benefited from the regulations at the expense of the public broadcaster. The must carry regulations govern all pay-TV broadcasters that carry 30 or more channels.

"Globally the purpose of must carry obligations is to extend universal access to public interest content."

"As the regulator and various policy documents have stated, the must carry obligation is critical to universal access and the objective of providing public broadcasting services to all citizens, rather than for the purpose of funding the public broadcaster."

MultiChoice told Icasa that "In South Africa, there has undoubtedly been great benefit both to the public at large and to the public broadcaster, from having the SABC channels available countrywide on pay-TV platforms, including on DStv".

"Carriage of the public broadcasting services in terms of the regulations gives the SABC 100% geographical cover and service availability throughout South Africa. Not only do consumers benefit from this, but the SABC benefits from extended coverage, larger television audiences and increased advertising revenue at no extra cost."

MultiChoice says the must carry regulations "create the appropriate balance between ensuring universal access to public broadcasting services by all and the imposition of carriage obligations on subscription broadcasting services, and we do not believe that an amendment of the regulations is necessary."

Broadcasting regulator Icasa says the SABC's urgent request for a public review of the 'must carry' rules won't be happening anytime soon.

South Africa's broadcasting regulator, Icasa, has poured cold water over the SABC's request for an "urgent public review" of the country's so-called "must carry" regulations, telling TVwithThinus that the regulator's must carry rules won't be reviewed soon.

The SABC urgently wants a change to the must carry regulations under which pay-TV operators like MultiChoice's DStv and StarTimes Media SA and On Digital Media's (ODM) StarSat are forced to carry the SABC's TV channels, SABC1, SABC2 and SABC3, but then get these channels for free.

The SABC wants pay-TV operators to pay for these channels.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) said in response to the SABC board's letter to the regulator that the SABC's urgent request won't be considered any time soon.

Icasa said it "noted the contents of the letter received from the SABC on 21 November 2017 in respect of the impact of the must carry regulations" and that any process to change regulations "must involve engagement of all stakeholders through public consultation to afford all affected and impacted parties an opportunity to be heard".

Icasa says "the same process was followed during the development and implementation of the current must carry regulations, and the SABC participated fully in that process".

According to Icasa the SABC won't get an urgent public review of the must carry regulations anytime soon.

"The review of the must carry regulations is not in the plan for the current financial year," says Icasa.

"Therefore the SABC's request for this review can only be considered in line with the regulator's future planned programmes of performance and delivery of its mandate."

e.tv's worse MultiChoice carriage deal for eNCA and the 5 other OpenView HD channels on DStv sees eMedia record an interim loss of R729 000.

e.tv's worse carriage deal for eNCA and the other e.tv packaged channels on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV platform - lessened by almost half - pushed eMedia Investments into a loss of R729 000 for the half year to end-September.

eMedia Investments, the TV business division of Hosken Consolidated Investments, reported in its interim results for the 6 months to the end of September that its interim revenue declined by 5% to R1.2 billion.

What contributed to the decline in revenue is increased programming spend, as well as the drop by almost half in the carriage deal income that eMedia Investments now gets from MultiChoice after signing a new carriage deal for its channels like eNCA and others to be carried on DStv.

Earlier this year eMedia Investments and MultiChoice signed a contract extension for eNCA but is now also including 5 other e.tv packaged channels from its Platco Digital run OpenView HD (OVHD) free-to-air satellite platform.

Until mid-2017 these additional 5 channels were only available on OpenView HD but has now been included in the packaged deal of the eNCA carriage contract.

eMedia Investments is however getting less money than before despite providing more channels to MultiChoice.

The carriage fee eNCA gets from MultiChoice was almost halved to R140.8 million from R266.6 million

"The decrease is attributable to the renegotiated DStv contract, which showed a significant decline in the licence fee revenue the group receives from MultiChoice for the supply of eNCA and five other channels," says André van der Veen, eMedia Investments CEO in the results statement.

eMedia Investments however did manage to make up some of this loss by growing adverting revenue by 16% from R45 million to R52 million.

Taking over the TV licensing rights from Sony Pictures of the weekday soap Days of Our Lives this year from the SABC's SABC3 that is now broadcast on e.tv also came with a hefty sticker price and saw eMedia Investments' content costs increase by 34% to R929 million.

Programming and other costs at e.tv increased by 7% to R359 million.

e.tv however did manage to grow its advertising revenue by 4% to R689 million.

e.tv was able to keep its TV audience market share basically stable, "but has seen a decline in the key revenue drivers of LSM5 to LSM7".

O Sole Mio! MultiChoice's DStv is available 'everywhere' - just not in Italy.

MultiChoice's DStv is available "everywhere" ... just not in Italy - and that is just not right according to a consumer who complained to the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (Asasa).

A consumer Manlio Molino lodged a complaint with Advertising Standards Authority because MultiChoice advertised that on DStv you can "enjoy your favourite TV programs anytime, anywhere, stream live TV, and stay up to date with the biggest shows on Catch Up".

Molino was upset and lodged a complaint with Asasa over MultiChoice's "Enjoy your favourite TV programs anytime, anywhere" claim and said the advertising is misleading as he could not access the service whilst in Italy.

He wanted to stream and watch soccer while in Italy and was told that the service is not available.

MultiChoice told the Advertising Standards Authority that the "anywhere" claim in regards to its "DStv Now" product is actually meant in relation to DStv subscribers who are interested in receiving DStv services in different devices other than decoder and a television.

MultiChoice said that the phrase "Anytime, Anywhere” refers to convenience rather than geographic location. In other words, subscribers who have access to "DStv Now" may access DStv anywhere outside their homes.

The Asasa directorate was divided on the matter. The minority of the directorate thought that in this day and age, with the internet and live streaming, it is not unreasonable to expect to be able to live stream or access a service globally, and that the DStv commercial should have been more clear on this issue.

The majority of the directorate however didn't consider the matter misleading. The majority felt that the hypothetical reasonable consumer would understand that licencing laws would limit international dissemination of content.

Therefore Asasa found that the commercial contains no content that suggests that the word "anywhere" applies to the whole world and the complaint was dismissed.

Ken Baker gone from E! Entertainment and E! News after sexual harassment claims; investigation ongoing.

Ken Baker is gone from E! Entertainment (DStv 124) where he was a correspondent for E! News after three women brought sexual harassment claims against him.

E! and E! News pulled Ken Baker off-air immediately at the end of October when sexual harassment claims surfaced and said he would remain off-air indefinitely as an investigation started.

Ken Baker frequently appeared on E! News on E! since he joined in 2008 and also appeared on E!'s digital social media series Live from E!.

E! in a statement now says the channel and Ken Baker have parted ways. E! says the severance is unrelated to the sexual harassment claims against Ken Baker. E! says the investigation into sexual harassment claims against him continues although he isn't at E! anymore.

"The investigation into the recent allegations relating to Ken Baker is still ongoing. However, unrelated to the investigation, the network and Ken Baker have mutually agreed that he will not be returning to his role on E! News. We will not be commenting further."

Cloistered Idols 'sore loser' Mthokozisi Ndaba under medical professionals' care.

The Idols runner-up and “sore loser" Mthokozisi Ndaba (25) remains cloistered in Johannesburg and is under the care of medical professionals after struggling to deal with his bitter defeat against winner Paxton Fielies.

M-Net’s Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) channel that broadcast Idols has no idea when Mthokozisi Ndaba from KwaMashu, Durban who has gone to ground, will be doing interviews, with all media appearances and interviews this week that abruptly got canned.

Mthokozisi Ndaba has been branded a "sore loser" by the viewing public after blatantly storming off the stage at the Big Top Arena at Carnival City in the East Rand after Paxton Fielies (17) from Bishop Lavis in Cape Town was announced the winner at the end of Sunday night’s 13th season finale and sang her closing song surrounded by the rest of the top contestants.

He suddenly refused to attend the post-show press conference, the VIP prize-giving after party usually held in the Mardi Gras room at Carnival City, and declined to do any media interviews.

It's the first time in the history of the reality singing competition show that the runner-up refused to attend the post-show press conference and to appear supportive of the winner with Mthokozisi Ndaba’s behaviour, resulting in dueling negative headlines, that has so far somehow overshadowed what is supposed to be Paxton Fielies’ victory lap week.

According to reports Mthokozisi Ndaba already said before the start of Sunday’s finale that if he didn’t win, he wasn’t going to do media interviews.

After throwing open his life to the public and courting their attention, votes and engagement, he now wants privacy.

There are now fears that Idols possibly “broke” Mthokozisi Ndaba who is coming down from lofty expectations back to reality after a magical high-life in fame’s spotlight the past few weeks and that involved things like being surrounded by fluttering stylists, circling producers and cameramen helping to make him and the other contestants look and feel good and even a whirlwind tour to London.

In pre-finale interviews he already spoke of what he was going to do with his winnings only to see Paxton Fielies win the majority of the over 30 million votes cast during the final week of the show to take home the prize package worth over R1.5 million.

Brand damage setting in for no-show artist

On Tuesday an unverified “press statement” emerged allegedly from Mthokozisi Ndaba saying his behaviour was “a moment of weakness since I had wanted and needed this so badly, not just for me but for my family” and that he felt like he had let down those closest to him.

Nobody close to Mthokozisi Ndaba knows where the mystery “press statement” comes from that started circulating on social media and its authenticity couldn’t be verified.

Meanwhile brand damage is setting in for Mthokozisi Ndaba with potential clients and corporates who would have booked him for performances who will now think twice about whether they want a no-show artist who is seemingly unable to life up to the showbiz world’s golden mantra for stage performers of “the show must go on”.

With the runner-up getting prizes worth over R150 000, sponsors will also be privately miffed with Mthokozisi Ndaba since they’ve already lost out of the much-needed tit-for-tat exposure that comes from things like hand-over ceremonies, photos and interviews the runner-up does that include thanking sponsors.

Mthokozisi Ndaba’s manager, Kim Coppen, referred media enquiries to Mzansi Magic, saying the TV channel is responsible for his publicity until next week.

Nondumiso Mabece, head of publicity at M-Net for local entertainment channels, told TVwithThinus in response to a media enquiry that Mthokozisi Ndaba has not returned to KwaMashu but remains in Johannesburg and is being cared for by medical professionals.

“Mthokozisi is still in Johannesburg and under the care of medical professionals and the support of his family.”

“It is currently not clear when he will be conducting interviews and we ask that he be provided the space and privacy to come to terms with the show results”.

Mzansi Magic was asked when the channel realised that Mthokozisi Ndaba wasn’t going to attend the post-show press conference and if it’s true that he said he wasn’t going to talk to the media if he loses.

“Mzansi Magic realised at the point when the press conference was meant to commence that Mthokozisi is requesting to be excused,” says Nondumiso Mabece. 

About the mystery statement purportedly from Mthokozisi Ndaba the channel says “we are aware of a statement that was supposedly from Mthokozisi but we cannot confirm this”.

Asked if Mthokozisi Ndaba is aware of how his behaviour is impacting on Idols, Mzansi Magic and detracting from Paxton Fielies’ winning moment but above all impacting on his own brand as a stage artist, Mzansi Magic says that the channel “works with all the Idols contestants from the audition phase until the end of the show, on how to conduct themselves, especially during interviews and how to represent their respective brands”.

"Paxton Fielies has been enjoying her first few days as an Idols winner and has spent time conducting interviews, meeting with her agent and will be meeting with her recording label before she travels to Port Elizabeth where she will be performing at the end of the week," says Mzansi Magic.

M-Net stocks up on the latest new crop of American patriotic TV dramas; adds The Brave, Valor and SEAL Team.

M-Net (DStv 101) has locked and loaded up on the latest new crop of American patriotic TV dramas, filling the channel's schedule with patriotic red, white and blue military dramas like SEAL Team, Valor and The Brave.

As Americans feel increasingly under siege - unsure of their place in the world where its world dominance as a super power is being challenged by China and others, and with acerbic "America first" rhetoric from its incompetent president Donald Trump in an ongoing scare-mongering campaign - there's a new surge of patriotic programming flowing from Hollywood, trying to reaffirm its military might and capabilities in the world.

Hollywood studios are aware that the "hard power" overly patriotic shows might not sell well or perform well in foreign distribution and has actually toned down some of the shows.

In September The Hollywood Reporter reported how the extremely patriotic shows, The Brave, Valor and SEAL Team, all now on M-Net, could be hampered when it comes to international sales to international TV channels and broadcasters.

"These shows are all really well made and the production values are great, but some of it is pretty jingoistic: lots of breast-beating and flag-flying," said the head of acquisitions at Sweden's public broadcaster.

Already on M-Net on Wednesdays at 20:00 is SEAL Team, a new drama series with David Boreanaz as Jason Hayes, the leader of a specialised unit of American Navy SEALs.

Jason Hayes and his squad train, plan and execute the most dangerous military missions while each have personal problems.

"A tight-knit team with personal demons, checkered pasts and unwavering patriotic, this is one unit determined to take down the bad guys in the face of overwhelming odds," says M-Net.

On Tuesday 21 November at 20:00 The Brave started on M-Net (DStv 101), following the heart-pounding missions of America's elite undercover military heroes.

These agents try to save the lives of innocent people in some of the most dangerous places in the world, led by DIA deputy director Patricia Campbell (Anne Heche), and her team of analysts.

Also in The Brave is Mike Vogel that M-Net viewers last saw in Under the Dome and Bates Motel.

On Saturday 25 November at 20:00 the new drama series Valor will be starting on M-Net (DStv 101).

In Valor, an elite group of helicopter pilots take to the skies, but things go terribly wrong for the team of soldiers on a covert mission to Somalia.

Only two members of the squad make it back to America alive: Warrant Officer Nora Madani (Christina Ochoa) and her commanding officer Captain Leland Gallo (Matt Barr).

It quickly becomes clear that the two are hiding the truth about what had happened from everybody - their friends, loved ones and even their superiors.

It's discovered that their fellow soldier Jimmy Kam is alive but captured and the two are determined to rescue him.

There's however dangerous secrets, unknown enemies and suspicious colleagues that all threaten to jeopardise their new mission.