With breaking news of terror attacks coming out of Paris this past Friday night, November 13th, South African news channel, ANN7 (DStv 405), decided to carry the live feed of French news broadcaster, France24 for hours on end on Saturday.

France24, which is an international news channel based in France, is a free to air news channel in most countries and is available on South Afria's smaller paytv platform, StarSat.

It is not uncommon for news channels to carry the feed of another news channel for breaking news coverage. For example, CNN (DStv 401) frequently carries the feed of CNNUS during breaking news events, or carries eNCA's feed for breaking news events in South Africa (which happens rarely).

However, the problem with one channel carrying another's feed on theirs is that you now have two sets of graphics on screen, which becomes messy for viewers. In the above you can see the France24 graphics under the areafy big ANN7 graphics.

Carrying France24's feed is also a very safe bet by ANN7 on a Saturday when most of the channel's anchor lineup consists of models and aspiring actors, not journalists, who probably does not have the skills required to carry a breaking news broadcast like this that requires a firm grasp of the dynamics of terrorism. (Don't look for ANN7's weekend anchors at a journalism awards show soon, you will instead find them on a red carpet somewhere, or on Big Brother, or on BET)

The simulcast also replaces the channel's taped programming that would have aired. In contrast, both SABC News Channel and eNCA are carrying taped shows like eShibobo and Health Talk while all other news channels, including ANN7 now, are providing rolling coverage from Paris.

[Not a diss to anyone at ANN7, but this broadcast was the best quality broadcast I have ever seen on ANN7]