ANN7 to relaunch BizSense as BizPulse

ANN7 (DStv 405) today announced that its soon to be a year old business show, BizSense, will be relaunched as BizPulse.

Along with the rebrand comes the announcement of the appointment of a new anchor of the business-centric news bulletin, Clive Ramathibela-Smith. He takes over from ANN7 Prime anchor, Sindy Mabe, who has been anchoring the bulletin since Stevie B left the channel earlier this year.

Clive is a seasoned market and investment analyst who combines his peculiar financial knowledge to bridge the gap of business in a democratic South Africa. At 31, Clive brings a youthful twist to the traditionally old and grey business scene. With his signature greeting halaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaala, he is likely to introduce an emphatic, precise and inspiring perspective to business coverage.

From what I have seen, Clive is similar to Richard Quest: well informed but entertaining as well. He is not entirely new to ANN7 either. He has been calling in to BizSense to give a daily market wrap.


ANN7 Editor in Chief, Moegsien Williams commented: “BizPulse is a practical and Informative show that redefines the business world. I am excited about the show and we intend to add context, perspective, and personality to our business coverage that will help our viewers tremendously”.



BizPulse airs on ANN7 Mondays to Fridays at 8pm.

Stevie B no longer with ANN7

ANN7's business news anchor and anchor of BizSense, Stevie B, is no longer with ANN7.

He started anchoring at ANN7 on the last Monday of November last year and aimed to have a business show targeted to regular South Africans.

At the start of this month, Kaya FM announced that Stevie (real name Steven Bacher) would be leaving the station as he needed a new challenge after twelve years. For now, he has joined MixFM in Joburg and plans to launch his own radio station in the next ten years.

For now, ANN7 Prime anchor, Sindy Mabe, will continue to anchor BizSense, which airs immediately after ANN7 Prime at 8pm until a permanent replacement is found.

ANN7 Launches New Prime Time Business Show

ANN7 this past Monday November 30th launched a new daily business news show, called BizSense.

The show airs weekdays at 8pm and is anchored by KayaFM's business news DJ, Stevie B.

Airing at 8pm also means that the excellent ANN7 Prime, anchored by Sebenzile Nkambule, loses television time.

ANN7 now joins the other news channels with daily business reports, eNCA has Moneyline, anchored by Siki Mgabadeli and airs at 8:30pm while SABC News Channel has Business Report, which is anchored by Francis Herd and airs at 6pm.

The show has promised to differentiate itself from the competitors by focusing on the consumer, in other words, exactly what their competitors are promising.

The channel had not programming advisory issued ahead of time, even though, quite strangely, they actually have a marketing department. I wonder what they have ever done.

I also do not get the whole purpose of starting a business news show on November 30th, the start of the festive season when the corporate world tends to cool down and be less newsworthy.

BizSense is, of course, not ANN7's first attempt at a daily business news show. Previously, they had Rands and Sense, which was anchored by Nastassia Arendse by what quietly removed from the schedule when she left the channel. Not bringing back the Rands and Sense brand is a smart move, even though it has been an ANN7 brand since inception, as SABC2 has a show with the same name on their schedule.

On a side note, I was reading Nastassia's Twitter feed a while ago and when asked if she missed television, she echoed what so many others said, no, they do not miss the egos at all.

BizSense's first guest was Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies, and the main revelation of the first edition was that the earlier you book your fight or accommodation, the cheaper it is. I kid you not.