BREAKING. eNews adds another journalist to its eNuus staff in Cape Town office.

You're reading it here first.

I can exclusively reveal that André-Pierre du Plessis has joined e.tv's eNews team and will be working from e.tv's Cape Town offices for the new Afrikaans bulletin eNuus that eNews will be doing on behalf of kykNET (DStv 111) from August 2010.

I asked e.tv for confirmation about André-Pierre du Plessis joining the eNuus team, but the broadcaster didn't respond. e.tv also didn't respond to my other questions regarding eNuus, only saying that eNuus will be going out for seven days a week once the half hour bulletin starts on kykNET - most  probably sometime in August.

e.tv didn't answer me about the style and format of the bulletin and whether it would include just headlines, general news and sport (specific sport reporters were appointed), but also business news and weather.

ALSO READ: eNews reveals its eNuus team who will be doing a news bulletin for kykNET.
ALSO READ: Freek Robinson will anchor the new Afrikaans bulletin on kykNET that e.tv's eNews will be doing for kykNET.
ALSO READ: e.tv and kykNET talking about eNews supplying a daily Afrikaans news bulletin to rival SABC2.

EXCLUSIVE COMPETITION! Win a two night stay at the magnificent Royal Swazi Spa Hotel in Swaziland with Sun International.

One lucky reader of TV with Thinus can win a wonderful 2 night stay at the magnificent five star Royal Swazi Spa Hotel in Swaziland courtesy of Sun International.

I stayed at the Royal Swazi Spa Hotel in April and won this terrific prize after I played a mock version of The Amazing Race currently on Sony Entertainment Television (DStv 113) with DStv with a group of journalists and writers covering television.

To enter this amazing competition and for all the rules, click on READ MORE below.

INTERVIEW. Mark Bayly on All Access turning one: ''The show's given me more scope to be myself.''

You're reading it here first.

Over the course of more than a decade covering the South African television industry, if you were to ask me what on screen talent I like the most personally, I will tell you Mark Bayly from M-Net's All Access. Number one coolest guy when it comes to being famous - yet he's completely unpretentious, super funny, clever and just normal (in a mostly not normal environment). Just a guy's guy who does his work and smiles.

I spoke with the ever gracious Mark Bayly at the first birthday party of All Access when M-Net's weekly entertainment magazine show celebrated their first anniversary this past Friday in Johannesburg. Mark Bayly told me about ''the warmest, most heartfelt'' interview he's had the past year, why he's proud of being a part of All Access and who he'd still like to sit down with in the future.

See what he tells me that he now gets to do more, what side of him you won't/don't really see a lot of in the show and what he says about the huge growth curve of All Access.

For my full interview with Mark Bayly of M-Net's All Access click on READ MORE below.

FIRST LOOK! The logo for the fifth season of Big Brother Africa has a star in the eye - befitting the all star cast that will be in the house.

You're seeing it here first.

I can show you the brand-new logo of the fifth season of Big Brother Africa first that will debut on DStv 198 on Sunday, 18 July 2010.

I broke the news RIGHT HERE that the contestants of Big Brother Africa V will be made up out of an all-star cast from the previous four seasons that's set to get viewers wagging with even more of the absurb theatrics that made them famous in previous seasons.

According to the producers the new Big Brother Africa logo for the fifth season place an emphasis on ''light, reflection and shimmer'' with a boldly defined eye ''highlighted with moments of iridescent colour. ''Setting off the sophisticated design and central to the layout is the outline of a star, evocative of fame, showbiz and the classic Hollywood sense of lights, camera and action!''
Toldja . . . that is code for: expect some stars in that house just as I've told you - with supersized egos, megalomaniac behaviour and completely outrageous diva tantrums!

The fifth season of Big Brother Africa will run on DStv 198 for 91 days, 24 hours a day and viewers will get to choose between two feeds. Big Brother Africa will be available to both DStv Premium as well as DStv Compact subscribers.

FIRST LOOK! eNews reveals its eNuus team who will be doing a daily news bulletin for kykNET starting in August.

Here is your first look at eNews' new Afrikaans anchor, TV reporters and the team who will be responsible for doing a new daily Afrikaans news bulletin for kykNET (DStv 111) from most probably sometime in August. eNews just revealed that the bulletin will be called eNuus.

I told you RIGHT HERE in April that e.tv and kykNET is talking about e.tv possibly doing an Afrikaans news bulletin for kykNET and I was first RIGHT HERE to tell you that Freek Robinson from the SABC will be the anchor of the new Afrikaans daily bulletin that will be going out probably at 19:00 at the same time as SABC2's Nuus om 7.

''The Afrikaans news team will deliver an Afrikaans news service to kykNET,'' says e.tv. ''It will be an extension of the e trademark and will be called eNuus.''

eNuus will resort under the management and editorial control of eNews and will be led by Andries Cornelissen as news editor. The veteran broadcast journalist Freek Robinson will be the main anchor of the eNuus bulletin. The eNuus team consist out of LiMari Louw, Genee Heyl and Anina Peens with sport news covered by Jean-Paul Keyter and Francois Nolte.

''The team will start training in the eNews work system and get to know their colleagues better at eNews Prime Time, the eNews Channel (DStv 403) and eNews Africa,'' says Patrick Conroy, group head: eNews. e.tv says the exact launch date of eNuus will still be confirmed while the team focus on training and preparing for the new half hour Afrikaans news bulletin that is set to shake up the Afrikaans TV news business.

I just spoke to Haddad Viljoen, kykNET spokesperson who tells me: ''We're very excited. kykNET is immensely looking forward to working with the expertise of e.tv's eNews division and bringing their excellent news gathering skill to our channel. We're looking forward to this project since we're always looking at ways of enhancing our offering for our viewers - which we believe eNuus certainly will be doing.''

BREAKING. DStv's Dish magazine goes digital with a new digital presence and an interactive TV guide link.

Some cool news for DStv subscribers and TV viewers is that DStv's subscriber magazine, Dish, is now also available digitally.

Dish magazine - besides the monthly magazine mailed to DStv subscribers, will henceforth also be available as a digital magazine that you can read online RIGHT HERE at http://go.dstv.com/digimag/dish_digimag.html where you can scroll through the latest TV programming choices ranging from movies, series, documentaries, lifestyle shows and high definition (HD) TV choices.

Besides DStv's current weekly email newsletter, its now also possible to get an interactive TV guide link every two weeks that will direct you to the latest Dish digital magazine content. This email link will automatically be emailed to all DStv subscribers. TV fans and subscribers who want to subscribe to this email to get the link, can visit http://www.dstv.com/ and sign up.

BREAKING. Dr Stephen Mncube appointed as the new chairman of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).

Dr Stephen Mncube (70) has been appointed with immediate effect (and for a five year term) as the new chairman of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) - the body regulating the South African communications industry.

Dr Stephen Mncube replaces Paris Mashile. Dr Stephen Mncube was the previous chairman of the beleaguered state owned signal distributor Sentech as well as the National Information Technology Forum.

Icasa spokesperson Paseka Maleka confirmed to me that dr Stephen Mncube's appointment is effective from today.

BREAKING. Live broadcasts of 2010 FIFA World Cup matches have grown South African television audiences considerably.

South Africans are blatantly working much less and watching way more television as a result of the 2010 FIFA World Cup matches being screened live on SABC1 as well as SuperSport 3 nd SuperSport HD. South African television viewership has grown massively with matches being broadcast during the early afternoon, later afternoon and evenings.

According to the latest South African viewership figures tot total TV audience during afternoons have swelled by over 500 000 for the time period between 13:00 and 15:00. For the past six months the average audience was 5,1 million viewers which has now grown to 5,8 million which is massive for the South African television landscape.

Here is the top 10 2010 FIFA World Cup matches, based on total South African TV audience so far:
1. South Africa vs Uruguay 10 150 262
2. South Africa vs Mexico 10 064 326
3. Brazil vs Korea 7 301 500
4. Italy vs Paraguay 6 264 729
5. Spain vs Switzerland 5 610 619
6. Argentina vs Nigeria 5 529 627
7. Côte d'Ivoire vs Portugal 5 385 189
8. England vs USA 5 341 721
9. Serbia vs Ghana 5 291 560
10. Germany vs Australia 5 207 525 

EXCLUSIVE COMPETITION! Watch The Bridge and win a 2GB Walkman mp3/mp4 player with Sony Entertainment Television.

A great new TV drama in 13 episodes, The Bridge starts on Thursday, 1 July on Sony Entertainment Television (DStv 113) at 20:30.

I've watched the first two episodes already of this police drama with Aaron Douglas as Frank and Paul Popowich as his partner Tommy on the screener I was sent (really good, I promise). I liked this new show so much that I've decided to do a giveaway with The Bridge: one lucky TV with Thinus reader can win an amazing Sony 2GB Walkman mp3/mp4 player courtesy of Sony Entertainment Television.

Click on READ MORE below for a rundown on The Bridge starting on Thursday evening and my review, and all the details on how to enter the competition for the Sony Walkman player courtesy of Sony Entertainment Television!