Veteran producer Mfundi Vundla to receive the Order of Ikhamanga in silver for work on SABC1's Generations.

by Thinus Ferreira

Veteran TV producer Mfundi Vundla (76) who created Generations: The Legacy, will receive the Order of Ikhamanga in silver from South Africa's presidency on 28 April for his work on the long-running SABC1 weekday prime-time soap opera.

The Order of Ikhamanga is a National Order granted by the country's president for achievements in arts and culture, journalism, sports, literature and music.

"Generations: The Legacy is proud to celebrate and congratulate our creator, Mfundi Vundla, being bestowed the Order of Ikhamanga in silver in recognition of his contribution to the arts and culture in South Africa," Morula Pictures says in a statement.

"Since the dawn of democracy Mfundi Vundla has been a stalwart and consistent creator of impactful stories that have shaped the aspirations and hopes of South Africans."

"His immense contributions a pioneer of uniquely South African soapies is being duly recognised and as Generations: The Legacy we cannot be prouder to be associated with such an iconic figure in the history of arts and culture," the production company says.

Recipients including Mfundi Vundla will receive their honours on 28 April 2023.

As Netflix expands its password crackdown the streamer admits that it sees 'a cancel reaction'.

by Thinus Ferreira

As Netflix expands its password crackdown process to further countries, including soon the United States, the global video streaming service admitted on Tuesday night that there is "a cancel reaction" as subscribers drop the service, although some account borrowers are moved to sign up for their own accounts.

In its first quarter 2023 earnings report released on Tuesday night, Netflix said that it is expanding its password crackdown initiative to further countries during the second quarter (April to June) of this year, and implementing what it has learned from the process in countries where it has cracked down on password sharing so far.

In order to try and boost revenue as the global acquisition of streaming subscribers for all streamers are slowing, Netflix is blocking devices where the streamer believes that a Netflix-subscribed household is sharing passwords outside of family members, forcing them to sign up for their own accounts. 

In January Netflix said that it believes password sharing is taking place through at least 100 million of Netflix households.

"In the first quarter we launched paid sharing in four countries and are pleased with the results. We are planning on a broad rollout, including in the United States in the second quarter" and in the vast majority of countries where it's operating, Netflix said in its Q1 shareholder letter.

Netflix started with password crackdown testing last year in the Latin American countries of Chile, Costa Rica and Peru, after it introduced its password crackdown process - something it calls "paid sharing" in February in Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain, and admitted that the step leads to an increase in the volume of Netflix subscribers who cancel every quarter.

"As with Latin America, we see a cancel reaction in each market when we announce, which impacts near-term member growth," Netflix stated in its first quarter shareholder letter, noting however that "as borrowers start to activate their own accounts and existing members add 'extra member' accounts, we see increased acquisition and revenue."

"With each launch, we learn more about how best to roll out these changes and what matters to members the most, in particular maintaining travel/watching on the go and the ability for people to better control access to their accounts as well as transfer profiles to separate accounts."

Netflix said it "found enough improvement opportunities in these areas to shift a broad launch to the second quarter to implement those changes" and that "Longer term, paid sharing will ensure a bigger revenue base from which we can grow as we improve our service".

Greg Peters, Netflix co-CEO, in the first quarter earnings video, said that "Obviously we tested different pricing in these last rollouts than we tested in Latin America and that gives you a sense about how we're thinking about what is optimal pricing, especially in more affluent countries".

Netflix rival MultiChoice started its own password crackdown process in March 2022, limiting DStv subscribers to just one online watch stream from an account, in a move that was met with heavy criticism and backlash by customers. 

Later in 2022, MultiChoice said it had been rethinking its password-sharing strategy but the Randburg-based pay-TV operator is yet to introduce or announce any changes.

TV CRITIC's NOTEBOOK. e.tv's latest publicity failure for new local shows underscores South African television's growing PR disaster as global players (rightly) do the proper work and get the attention.

by Thinus Ferreira

This past Sunday e.tv had the time, money and made the effort for a drone to fly above the Joburg Theatre in Johannesburg for a so-called "glitzy" launch of two new local prime-time shows. 

What e.tv apparently couldn't bother with was actually properly communicating with the media, and trying to get any media coverage from the dedicated group of journalists and publications covering television.

Whether it's laziness, ineptitude, incompetence, a lack of understanding basic PR best practice and how the media functions - or some type of combination of these - it remains baffling and downright shocking how e.tv once again massively dropped the ball as it chose to apparently exclude the bulk of the country's media and journalists covering television, from anything around Sunday's event for Smoke & Mirrors and Nikiwe. 

e.tv's problem in my opinion - its dismal PR failure - to once again even just alert media and journalists that something like Sunday's event would be taking place (let alone invite!) and e.tv's publicity department's utter lack of even the most basic, bare-bones communication about the event to keep media informed, is not unique to eMedia.

It does however once again underscores how horrifically amateurish and bad South African broadcasters and South African streaming services are.

e.tv, as well as the SABC, VIU and MultiChoice's Mzansi Magic, M-Net, Showmax and SuperSport - all to differing degrees - compare quite badly to their international counterparts who are doing a much - much - better job at communicating with the press and building actual professional and proper PR relationships with journalists covering them and their content.

As shows like Nikiwe, from Parental Advisory Productions' Thomas Gumede and Lungile Radu, and Smoke & Mirrors replace Durban Gen and Imbewu: The Seed, e.tv couldn't be bothered in the slightest to reach out to media beforehand to set up any physical or virtual panel sessions for one-on-one or group media interviews.

e.tv - that doesn't have any online press room for publicity materials (neither does the SABC) and doesn't use any screener site - couldn't be bothered in the slightest to send media digital screeners in advance to build excitement or for review purposes, and never asked media if they would like to see an episode or more of Nikiwe or Smoke & Mirrors.

e.tv couldn't bother to provide a transcript, readout or recording of what was said by cast and crew at the event, which might yield coverage in the form of stories and reportage. 

e.tv failed to stream or do any kind of online video link for the stage proceedings to stakeholders, like journalists, who were not invited, couldn't attend or might be in other cities who are interested in hearing what is being said about e.tv's new TV shows. 

And make no mistake: This is basic, basic-level must-do's and must-haves. Why is it so difficult to pick up a phone and call journalists when you work in PR and communications, to say "We are having an engagement around show X" or to send any personalised email about it? 

Why are basic things, which are so simple, apparently so difficult and seemingly undoable?

While those in e.tv's publicity division presumably get paid to get coverage for e.tv programming, they succeeded in achieving the exact opposite: media apathy and irritation. 

e.tv also sends a very clear and powerful message: We're showing you that we don't care about getting you as media to care about our content and engaging with it, so don't. 

This is how much/little we value you and the value and importance we place on our own content and in specifically getting you to give time to this, so feel free not to bother with it, and rather go and give your time and attention to those who are making an actual effort with their content.

The work week remains 7 days and the hours in a week remain fixed for journalists to cover television.

Yet, now, there are many more TV places courting South Africa's media and doing the right things, and making the right moves to get the media's attention and - even more importantly - their time. 

That leaves less (or no) time for lazy, incompetent and amateur PR players who don't know the game and who don't bother about putting in the proper effort to level up to an international standard when it comes to getting coverage for local TV content.

If South African media are attending a Netflix media event, partaking in a Disney+ virtual panel session online organised for international press for new shows, or if they are watching screeners from the BBC or Discovery or HBO or Paramount or National Geographic, or doing Zoom or phone interviews and are writing and doing articles about international content, guess what?

They are not writing and not covering and not giving time to you - the local broadcaster and local TV channel and local streamer who can't bother with any proper PR effort.

Sadly, it appears that a lot of South African PR people there to promote television, still think the job is fine if they send out one-size-fits-all email blast press releases, that it's fine not to respond to media queries, that it's okay to never call, have media "events" where they are themselves in attendance but can't tell the media, and still thinks "influencers" is a substitute for press.

They are wholly clueless about much larger - and growing - circles being run around them by the international PR set.

It's utterly unconscionable that e.tv publicity - tasked to communicate with media - utterly failed to do so for Sunday's event for Nikiwe and Smoke & Mirrors, that e.tv doesn't have any press publicity site, couldn't bother with digital screeners, couldn't/didn't want longtime members of the press at the event and couldn't do any Q&A media sessions either physical or virtual. 

On Sunday night, e.tv - which clearly has the media's email addresses - had the audacity to send them a download link for event-taken photographs - an event e.tv publicity didn't tell them would take place, didn't invite them to, but now thinks media will suddenly publish photos of.

Ever not been invited to a wedding or engagement party of a "friend" on Facebook, and then discovering about it through seeing wedding or engagement photos a day or days later? What does that say about the relationship? 

Bizarrely, e.tv seems to want a wedding gift in the form of media coverage, for a wedding there was no invitation to, and something e.tv publicity deliberately didn't even want to, or bothered to, communicate to say that it would be taking place. How cringe.   

When (or if) South African publicists working in television eventually wake up, start to do research, start to ask the media what's going on and what rival TV places are doing, they will discover that they've been left behind and fell behind with what's been happening and what's being done and what has been made accessible to South African journalists.

Local South African television deserves better and more media coverage. 

Unfortunately, that requires the publicists who are sleeping at the job to wake up, to improve, to do the actual work, and to level up to the standard where the international publicity machine for television continues to operate, properly and consistently. With much better communication.  

South Africa's public broadcaster finally gets a new SABC board after 6 months after president Cyril Ramaphosa is threatened with Constitutional Court.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's struggling public broadcaster finally got a new SABC board on Tuesday after the country's recalcitrant president Cyril Ramaphosa bowed under increasing pressure and signed the list of names sent to him months ago, in an overdue process he delayed even further. 

In a statement from the presidency, issued on Tuesday, it said that "In terms of section 13(3) of the Broadcasting Act president Ramaphosa designated Khathutshelo Ramukumba as chairperson and Nomvuyiso Batyi as the deputy chairperson of the SABC board".

The statement noted that "The SABC is a vital institution of our constitutional democracy. I trust the newly appointed board members will work hard at ensuring that South Africa continues to benefit from a stable, independent and effective national public broadcaster."

Cyril Ramaphosa was forced to rubberstamp the names on his desk after growing pressure from public broadcasting lobby groups like the SOS Coalition and Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) who said they won't stop even if its required to take the president and the delay with the SABC board appointments all the way to South Africa's Constitutional Court.

Besides Khathutshelo Ramukumba and Nomvuyiso Batyi, the people forming part of the new SABC board are Dr Renee Horne, Adv Tseliso Thipanyane, Aifheli Makhwanya, Phathiswa Magopeni, Magdalene Moonsamy, Rearabetsoe Motaung, David Maimela, Dinkwanyane Mohuba, Mpho Tsedu and Palesa Kadi.

The inclusion of the highly respected Phathiswa Magopeni is noteworthy since she is the former head of SABC News who was fired after she revealed shocking allegations of ANC political interference in the SABC News newsroom by former SABC chairman Bongumusa Makhathini and SABC CEO Madoda Mxakwe.

The distressed SABC is facing gargantuan challenges - both financial, management, corporate governance and ratings-wise, with the SABC hurtling to yet another financial loss during this financial year projected at R608 million.

The contracts of the top executives like SABC CEO, COO and CFO all are expiring at the end of June and all of these appointments require SABC board approval.

In addition, the SABC which launched its own SABC+ streamer in November, continues to face the relentless onslaught of global streamers like Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video exerting their dominance in South Africa while gobbling up subscribers as they fortify their staffing ranks with South Africa's top film and TV executives in their plans to ramp up local content production output.

The broadcaster's desperate top executives have so far tried in vain since late-2022 to implement some financial turnaround strategies for which they have been unable to get board approval for since the SABC has been limping along with any board for over half a year.

Marciel Hopkins joins kykNET's Bravo! as presenter.

by Thinus Ferreira

The Boer Soek 'n Vrou presenter Marciel Hopkins who has crisscrossed South Africa for three years interviewing farmers and their potential love interests has joined the Afrikaans magazine show Bravo! on kykNET (DStv 144) as a presenter.

kykNET issued no announcement or press release but Marciel Hopkins made her first appearance on Sunday night's edition of the Homebrew Films produced entertainment magazine show.

Marciel Hopkins replaces the spot left vacant by Tracey Lange who exited Bravo! in March, with the show that also makes use of Ewan Strydom and Reynard Slabbert, which has one vacant spot left after the exit of Robbie Kruse in May 2022.

Netflix forced to cancel experimental live season 4 Love is Blind reunion: 'We're filming it now and we'll have it as soon as humanly possible'.

by Thinus Ferreira

On Sunday Netflix was forced to cancel its season 4 live Love is Blind reunion, with Netflix customers who only got a "Pardon the interruption, we're having trouble playing Netflix message".

The Netflix reality series with hosts Nick and Vanessa Lachey was the second experimental Netflix show ever to try traditional live "broadcasting" after Chris Rock's Selective Outrage stand-up comedy special on 4 March, but Netflix failed to do it successfully and had to give up and record the episode. 

Thousands of Netflix customers worldwide, including in South Africa, were left angry and frustrated after Netflix initially announced a delay of 15 minutes, and the reunion then got delayed by another 45 minutes, turning into a 75 minute delay.

Netflix didn't give any explanation or reason about the technical failures that led to why the Love is Blind reunion couldn't take place, and said "To everyone who stayed up late, woke up early, gave up ther Sunday afternoon, we are incredibly sorry that the Love is Blind Live Reunion did not turn out as we had planned".

"We're filming it now and we'll have it on Netflix as soon as humanly possible. Again, thank you and sorry".

Netflix faced an avalanche of complaints and mockery on social media for its embarrassing live reunion failure of Love is Blind.

Jan du Plessis to lead Primedia Studios.

by Thinus Ferreira

South Africa's Primedia is creating Primedia Studios which will be headed up by the South African TV veteran Jan du Plessis as Primedia Studios president, who just retired from M-Net and MultiChoice after almost three decades.

Jan du Plessis will be responsible for oversight of Primedia Studios' strategy around the licensing, creation, development, localisation and distribution of entertainment shows and content like Primedia's content deal with the SABC for format shows like Deal or No Deal SA and The Masked Singer SA for SABC1 and SABC3.

Jan du Plessis joins Lindile Xoko, chief revenue officer and Primedia Broadcasting CEO, as well  as Victoria Ramabulana, showrunner and project manager, who will report directly to Jonathan Procter, Primedia Group CEO.

Jan du Plessis says "We're confident that international format rights-holders, studios and indies will share our excitement at the launch of Primedia Studios".

"Our clients and advertisers can expect the best local content, including new and revitalised formats and dedicated marketing support. Marvel discovered that Africa has superheroes, too, and Wakanda can be forever."

"We want the real character and stories of Africa to infuse everything we do, and we will invest all available resources in the intellectual property that brings these stories to life. By harnessing the power and reach of the Primedia Group, Primedia Studios will be the home of premium-quality Africa-inspired content that will resonate with audiences around the world."

Jonathan Proctor says "Jan is an exceptionally talented professional who will inspire our company's next generation of young people as well as our industry's next generation of leaders. His innovation has created countless opportunities for both audiences and advertisers. For Primedia and the rest of the African continent, this will be a pivotal moment in our industry's development".

WarnerBros. Discovery relaunches HBO Max as just Max as the streamer announces new Harry Potter and Game of Thrones prequel series with a glimmer of hope for a South African launch date.

by Thinus Ferreira

On Wednesday night WarnerBros. Discovery made the expected announcement that it's renaming its HBO Max video streaming service to just Max, together with new TV show announcements like another Game of Thrones prequel series and a Harry Potter TV drama series which will last a decade, with Max that might finally be launching in South Africa sometime in 2024 as part of "new markets".

At a glitzy "Streaming Product Press Event" WarnerBros. Discovery held on Wednesday night inside Stage 14 on its Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, Los Angeles for journalists and investors and streamed globally for media, WBD CEO David Zaslav announced that HBO Max is being shortened to just Max from 23 May.

HBO Max - now just Max - as well as the company's discovery+ streamer from the merged WBD are not yet available in South Africa.

Max will however likely - like Paramount+ which is also not yet available in South Africa - eventually join the flurry of existing streamers like MultiChoice and NBCUniversal's Showmax, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Disney+, BritBox, eMedia's eVOD, VIU, TruthTV, WOW Presents Plus and MarqueeTV.

JB Perrette, president and CEO of global streaming and games for WarnerBros. Discovery, said that HBO Max will be changing to Max in the United States first, followed by Latin America later this year and Europe next year.

South Africa might get Max sometime in 2024, with Perrette who said that WBD will look to expand and launch Max into "new markets" around the world next year. 

"From the biggest superheroes to real-life champions; from culture-shaping dramas to taste-shaping entertainment; from fantastical realms to the realest of worlds, Max will offer an unrivalled range of choice,” said JB Perrette.

"This new brand signals an important change from two narrower products, HBO Max and discovery+, to our broader content offering and consumer proposition. While each product offered something for some people, Max will have a broad array of quality choices for everybody."

Perrette said that in the global streaming war where services chased subscribers and have a "subscriber growth at all cost mentality", consumers are overwhelmed by content and content choices.

"We suddenly find ourselves in the fog of what many people have dubbed, the era of peak confusion," Perrette said. "The result is that consumers are overloaded. So, in this era of peak confusion, we're trying to simplify and improve the experience for consumers focusing on quality not just quantity."

David Zaslav said that "Max is the one to watch because we have the largest TV library in the world, thousands of shows Including shows that are loved everywhere like Friends, ER and The Big Bang Theory. And we have a number of the biggest quality makers of content that will feed and grow Max in the years ahead. They're ours."

Similar to how Disney+ has various content verticals known as tiles, Max will house HBO originals, Warner Bros. films, Max Originals, the DC universe, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, kids content, and Discovery content across food, home, reality, lifestyle and documentaries from HGTV, Food Network, Discovery Channel, TLC and ID. The relaunched Max will roll out roughly 40 new titles monthly. 

During the press event, WBD made announcements about new TV shows which will be made for Max. 

It's not yet clear whether these might remain exclusive to Max, or might become available through international distribution like some HBO content have been for MultiChoice's linear M-Net (DStv 101) channel and Showmax, until such time as Max launches in South Africa.

The new Max series are:

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight  

This second HBO prequel series of Game of Thrones is based on George R.R. Martin's Dun and Egg books and will be based on the series of fantasy novellas which follows the story of Ser Duncan the Tall known as Dunk and the young Aegon V Targaryen known as Egg. It is set 90 years before the events transpiring in the book A Song of Ice and Fire.

HBO released an official logline for the series, saying "A century before the events of Game of Thrones, two unlikely heroes wandered Westeros… a young, naïve but courageous knight, Ser Duncan the Tall, and his diminutive squire, Egg. Set in an age when the Targaryen line still holds the Iron Throne and the memory of the last dragon has not yet passed from living memory, great destinies, powerful foes, and dangerous exploits all await these improbable and incomparable friends."

George R.R. Martin will be the writer and executive producer along with Ira Parker who was a co-executive producer on the first season of House of the Dragon which just started filming its second season in the United Kingdom. Ryan Condal and Vince Gerardis will also be co-executive producers.

Harry Potter TV drama series

WBD announced it is turning J.K. Rowling's entire 7-book Harry Potter series, already made into a film franchise, into a TV drama series, which will be rolled out over the course of a decade, with a new cast and with each book being a season.

J.K. Rowling will be an executive producer, with David Heyman who produced all eight films, in negotiations to become co-executive producer, with the production looking for a writer and a showrunner. 

The series will be produced by Warner Bros. Television in association with Brontë Film and TV, with Neil Blair and Ruth Kenley-Letts as co-executive producers. 

In the press release, WBD says "The stories from each of Rowling's Harry Potter books will become a decade-long series produced with the same epic craft, love and care this global franchise is known for".

"The series will feature a new cast to lead a new generation of fandom, full of the fantastic detail, much loved characters and dramatic locations that Harry Potter fans have loved for over 25 years."

"Each season will be authentic to the original books and bring Harry Potter and these incredible adventures to new audiences around the world, while the original, classic and beloved films will remain at the core of the franchise and available to watch globally."

Casey Bloys, chairman and CEO, HBO & Max content, says "We are delighted to give audiences the opportunity to discover Hogwarts in a whole new way".

According to Bloys the budget for the Harry Potter series will be "on the scale or higher" than Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon and "whatever it takes to make a quality show". 

"Harry Potter is a cultural phenomenon and it is clear there is such an enduring love and thirst for the Wizarding World. In partnership with Warner Bros. Television and J.K. Rowling, this new Max Original series will dive deep into each of the iconic books that fans have continued to enjoy for all of these years."

J.K. Rowling says "Max's commitment to preserving the integrity of my books is important to me, and I'm looking forward to being part of this new adaptation which will allow for a degree of depth and detail only afforded by a long-form television series".

WBD says the "Max Original series will be available on Max in the United States and globally once produced".

Another Big Bang Theory spinoff series

Casey Bloys announced that a new Big Bang Theory spinoff series is being developed by Chuck Lorre who created The Big Bang Theory and the first spinoff Young Sheldon.

A The Conjuring TV series

Also announced at the event is that New Line Cinema's The Conjuring film franchise is being turned into a TV drama series.

According to Warner Bros. Discovery, The Conjuring TV series will continue the story and world established within the six existing films with a 7th - The Nun 2 - which will be released in September. 

The TV series is produced by Atomic Monsters Productions, Warner Bros. Television and Safran Company, with Peter Safran as executive producer. James Wan who served as producer and director on several of the films is in negotiations to be co-executive producer.

eMedia's Openview add Bollywood bouquet of Star Select and Zee Family channels to its Ultraview pay-option.

by Thinus Ferreira

eMedia's Openview has now added the expected Bollywood package to its new Ultraview pay-TV decoder offering.

The Bollywood pay-offering is the second self-contained, pay-per-package option after Ultraview launched with a so-called "Pride bouquet" of gay TV channels at the beginning of March.

The so-called "Spice bouquet" with a variety of Hindi content has launched with two TV channels - Star Select and Zee Family - which has a monthly subscription price of R120 per month. The OUTtv and FUSE channels in the Pride package cost R75 monthly.

The Star Select channel is a premium, customised Hindi general entertainment TV channel curated for South Africa's Hindi speaking viewers, with a selection of romantic dramas, comedies, reality shows and Bollywood blockbuster.

Some of the shows on Star Select include drama series like Banni Chow Home Delivery and Saubhagyavati Bhava, reality shows like Swayamvar: Mika Di Vohti, romantic series like Pyar Ka Dard Hai Meetha Meetha Pyara Pyara, and comedy like May I Come In Madam?.

Zee Family has entertainment content from India in Hindi with English subtitles, with the general entertainment TV channel showing romance and drama series, comedies, blockbuster movies, lifestyle, cooking and reality shows ranging from Baal Shiv, Ghar Ek Mandir, Kripa Agrasen Maharaj, Ki Ek Mahanayak Dr. BR Ambedkar, and Main Bhi Ardhangini to the reality singing competition, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa.

ALSO READ: e.tv enters traditional pay-TV space with new Openview Ultra service, launches Pride gay bouquet at R75 monthly.

ALSO READ: e.tv to launch Openview Ultra as a pay-TV service with Bollywood and gay bouquets.