ANN7 Turns 1

On August 21st, 2013 at [slightly after] 6pm, Chantal Rutter-Dros welcomed viewers to South Africa's third news channel, ANN7.

Moegsien Williams (ANN7 Editor in Chief) with then Minister of Communications Yunus Carriem

 Launch
The channel was shrouded in a cloud of controversy even before it launched. This was mainly due to it being owned by the Gupta family that allegedly has close ties to President Zuma. The Gupta plane saga that occurred not too long before launch, too, did no favours for the channel. Then a rumour, that unto this day has neither been confirmed or denied, surfaced that President Zuma got a tour of their headquarters before launch and was promised that the channel would be pro-ANC, damaging credibility that the channel did not even have at that point.
The channel also did not try to get into the good books with those that cover the industry due to their total lack of programming information before launch, not inviting most of the press that cover things like tv channels to their launch function and just ignoring requests for tours of their facility beofre the channel went live.
Many also questioned whether the country needed yet another news channel after the SABC News channel launched a few weeks prior, joining longrunning local news channels eNCA, CNBC Africa and BDTV.

As the only of the three general news channels (the other two being eNCA and SABC News) to not have a sister television channel on the air prior to launch (eNCA has etv and SABC News has the rest of the SABC's tv channels), the channel needed to do what neither of the other two had to do, truly start from scratch (Which also meant that they had to work much harder than the other two as they did not have a brand name like eNews or SABC News behind their name).

This led to a major hiring spree of more than 150 people in the news industry, most fresh from college. The channel was also able to draw some big names to the channel, including then Carte Blanche investigative reporter, Chantal Rutter-Dros, who was also an anchor at etv's eNews when that channel started, to be the host of the channel's primetime show, Prime. Her morning counterpart, Gerry Rantseli-Elsdon, wasn't unkown to viewers either. Other big names the channel signed at launch, and as time progressed, includes eNCA's Hajra Omarjee to be their their Chief Politcal Correspondent, and eNCA's Peter Stemmet, to be their prime time sports anchor, among others.

Finally on air, but...
The channel went live and what followed was nothing short of total comedy: untrained staff, incompotent newsreaders (who were mostly models before joining the channel) and major technical errors which became the topic of conversation far and wide. The error-prone channel was the topic of many coversations, from being blasted on internet radio station Ballz Radio to being spoofed by eNCA's Late Night News (though they referred to it as "ANN8"). People even joked that DStv placed the channel on the wrong number as it should have been placed closer to the comedy channel.
All the criticism led Sheena Deepnarain, who was part of the channel at launch though left not too lonmg after to persue acting, to go on a now infamous rant on Facebook that was covered in many publications and blogs(Google her, it is all you will see).

The channel also struggled in the ratings, only getting a mere 2% audience share in their first few months on air and to this day struggle to attract commercial advertising (try finding an advert on the channel not about ANN7, The New Age, DStv or Sahara Computers).

Developing an identity, a unique selling point
Nevertheless, the channel pushed on and continued to evolve as their first year progressed. Their all out coverage on the passing of former president Nelson Mandela was noticed by many viewers for their on-the-ground perspective. Events like these led the channel to discover one if its niches, covering live events (their other selling points include "information and analysis"). So now whenever there is major news happening, including events like the elections, the opening of parliament, other major parliamentary events, the Marikana enquiry, COSATU events, the BRICS Summit, or the Oscar trial, among others, you can expect the likes of Hajra Omarjee or Chantal Rutter-Dros to be providing live commentary to the live picture.

Other than their live coverage, they say their main selling point is being the information and analysis channel. This is evident when one considers how their schedule has evolved to include less straight news casts and more magazine shows and chat shows covering a wider range of topics than the considerably fewer magazine and chat shows on the other channels, including topics like cars, entertainment news, health & fitness, and even Bollywood.[The only problem I have with these shows is that their production values aren't exactly up to standard]. These shows are presented mainly by presenters who were previously tested as news anchors (or weather girls) on the channel, but did not exactly make the cut.

ANN7's anchor team after a training session. Seated is main anchor Chantal Rutter-Dros, surrounding by the likes of breakfast show anchor Peter van Onselen, mid morning anchor Abigail Visagie, afternoon anchor Nzinga Qunta, sports anchor Peter Stemmet and ANN7 Buzz anchor Liezle Wilson, among others(some I have not mentioned have left the channel, like Nadine Johnson, who left broadcasting entirely).

ANN7 Today
 Eventually, the amount of anchors actually doing news on the channel decreased to a talented small group that are no longer making the bloopers seen on the channel at launch. They include breakfast host Peter van Onselen (who took over the show after Gerry left after not even half a year), Abigail Visagie (who was an absolute pro when the building was evacuated while she was still on air due to the recent earthquake),  Gladys Sithole, who also rotates with weekend and late night anchors occasionally, and the ever talented Chantal Rutter Dros doing prime time.
The better chat shows on the schedule includes Between the Lines and also Political Edge hosted by Hajra Omarjee, both on Sundays.

Another thing that has become a staple part of their schedule is having a daily live show dedicated bigger news topics, including a one hour world cup show for the duration of the tournament, and SA Decides in the buildup to the elections. Now, while there are no major events to cover, the channel decided to create its on event, The South African of the Year Awards, along with its excellent companion show, I Am South African, which though seems to slowly drift away from its initial purpose, is developing into one of the country's better talk shows.

By far, the best program on the channel's schedule is ANN7 Prime, which is hosted by Chantal Rutter Dros, who is joined by a sports anchor, Peter Stemmet, an entertainment anchor, and also a business anchor, Tirrin Cosway. The show includes segments covering things like top Google search terms and Twitter hashtags, among others. It also involved analysis on all of the days top stories, not just reporting them.

With shows like I Am South African, Political Edge and Ann7 Prime all depending heavily on getting a large amount of guests on the shows, I have been surprised by the channel's ability to attract top guests in fields ranging from entertainment to politics (though politics these days seem to resemble entertainment).

One thing they can improve on greatly is their studio. Though it is quite interesting to have a news channel whose set is in the actual newsroom, it has become very tired after just one year due to it being shown none stop.
One thing I personally dislike about the channel's evolution is that they canned their weather girls, now doing just a uncommentated weather, which has terrible graphics as well.

Speaking on the occasion, ANN7 editor-in-chief Moegsien Williams said: “We have been constantly augmenting our resources to enhance our reach to smaller towns and to make our content relevant for the man on the street and we will continue to do so.

“ANN7 survives as a positive voice against all odds, and is here to stay.”

Looking at the blooper videos  from the channel's earlier days, one can clearly see ANN7 has come a long way in its first year as South Africa's only news channel not part of a larger broadcast corporation with a pre-established news brand. As their on air quality has steadily improved, viewers have been taking notice: The channel's audience share has grown from 2% to 7% in its first year. Consisting mainly of young talent, the channel has so much potential to grow in the years to come.