E! Entertainment Launches First South African Original Show

E! Entertainment (DStv 124) has today announced the launch of their first ever South African-produced show.

The show, which is a local version of the franchise E! News Special, will feature 12 local celebrities each sitting down for an in depth interview about their careers.

The series is produced by Johannesburg-based production company Brainstorm and filmed in South Africa.

We are delighted to launch our first-ever local production on E! in Africa and add E! News Special to the channel’s exclusive line-up of high-quality‚ original programming‚” said Colin McLeod‚ Managing Director‚ Emerging Markets‚ NBC Universal International Networks. “We are confident that the profiles of local celebrities will resonate well with our audience‚ making E! the TV destination for the pop of African culture.”

The channel announced that televsion and radio personality, Bonang Matheba, will be featured on the premiere episode with the rest of the first seasn featuring the likes of A.K.A and Danny K, among others.

Earlier this year the channel started doing local inserts during commercial breaks covering events like this year's Durban July.

E! News Special premieres on the South African feed of E! Entertainment on September 10th at 8pm.

ANALYSIS: ANN7's South African of the Year Awards

ANN7's South African of the Year Awards 2014

Britsh singer Ella Henderson's voice welcomed viewers to ANN7's inaugural South African of the Year Awards. She, along with Nicole Sherizinger, joined a star studded South African lineup of performers for the event that was broadcast live on ANN7, DStv 405, www.ann7.com/livetv

The only major on air error at the Awards was when the presentation of blazers to all nominees, something not meant to be broadcast on television, ended up being broadcast 

The event went was overall a resounding success and it is now safe to say that these awards now set the benchmark in terms of quality when it comes to South African, and African awards shows. Many may argue that the MTV Africa Music Awards were much better produced, but then one has to remember that those awards were NOT even produced by people from Africa, rather the people that produce the MTV European Music Awards.

Hosts

Bonang Matheba and Chantal Rutter-Dros served as co hosts at the inaugural South African of the year Awards, that was broadcast live on ANN7

Bonang Matheba at #SATY2014

The hosts for the evening were ANN7's Chantal Rutter-Dros, and Bonang Matheba, who, after watching last nights awards, can do no wrong in my eyes. When it was announced Bonang would be hosting the awards, I thought the channel had made a mistake in choosing her for the event as Hulisani Ravele, who hosted the Awards' companion show, I Am South African, should have been chosen. After Bonang's  performance I knew why they opted to go with her: she is a safe bet. During the frequent technical errors, though nothing major and even when the usually perfect Chantal Rutter Dros made a mistake every now and then (the silliest was calling Men in Black 3 "Men in 3 Black," even though she was reading off a teleprompter), Bonang would be that consistent reassuring on screen presence that was basically the glue that kept everything together.

Cameras at the South African of the Year Awards occasionlly cut to crowd shots during on stage presentations. The above shot was shown several times throughout the broadcast and was one commented on by many Twitter users

Prizes
They announced the prizes for the various awards. The winner in each category would receive a Acer laptop, courtesy of Sahara Computers. Each of the five Lifetime Achievement Awards Recipients would receive R25 000, while the South African of the Year would receive R100 000. All the cash prizes were sponsored by ANN7. I think it was rather inappropriate to announce the prizes at the event.

Production Values

UK singer Ella Henderson opened the inaugural South African of the Year Awards on ANN7

The production values of the show blew everyone away. Yes there were moments when the sound experienced errors, but the overall broadcast went completely smooth when one considers the amount of errors usually seen on a live South African awards show. While watching the presenters seamlessly reading their script off the teleprompter, I struggled to believe that this was the same channel that just a year ago could barely operate a teleprompter.

Section of the stage at the SOuth African of the Year Awards during one of a few performances highlighting South African heritage.

The stage was perfect for the evening with its 4 presentation points. Nothing too extravagant like a music awards show, but not dull either. One could also see that attention was paid to detail when you consider the appropriateness of the background pictures on the major curved screen: an amazing picture of the National Stadium for the Sports Award, or the Johannesburg skyline during speeches.

Dance, Dance
One thing that stood out for me, and many tweeters as well, was the excessive dance items, which were just too long. The show could have done with less, and shorter dance items and should also have tried to have more South African and current songs.

When the first award of the evening, the Young Person of the Year Award finally took place, the channel made a very safe bet by having just Bonang and Chantal doing the introductions while the actual presenter of the awards just announced the winner. The wait until Dr Sandile Kubheka finally went up to receive the first award of the evening was just too long.

Zahara performing at the inaugural ANN7 South African of the Year Awards. She performed at the nominations announcement event as well

Fikile Mbalula, the entertainer
By far the best presenter of an award for thee evening was the presenter of the Sportsperson of the Year Award, Minister of Sports Fikile Mbalula who really worked the usually dead crowd as if he was a professional entertainer.

The wait between awards were just too long as it made the show less about the actual work of the nominees and seemingly more about the musical performances. Some performances were more appropriate than others, Lira's comes to mind as being perfect for the evening.

Host of ANN7's Between the Lines, Asanda Magaqa presented an award at #SATY2014

Top of the tweets
Though I may not have enjoyed the excessive musical performances, those performances fulfilled their role prefectly of attracting a young audience to the event. Throughout the event, #SATY2014 was the number one Twitter trend for South Africa, beating out X Factor SA that ws broadcast on
SABC1, a channel with viewership much higher than ANN7's.

When it comes to intergrating Twitter, the Awards must have done something right. There was really minimal mention of the social network, but the awards somehow managed to stay on top in the Twittersphere. How did they do it? They marketed the awards to the Twitter audience in the perfect way: on Twitter and not on television. If someone wants to Tweet about something, they would already be on Twitter, so in order to get people to tweet about the event, the channel's official handle, and many personalities, including nearly all celebrity nominees tweeted about the event.

International Superstar
Nicole Scherizinger's performances was somewhere in the middle of the show, which is the perfect place to put a hyped performance so as to keep the closing performace for someone that actually is South African. Her medley lasted over 15 minutes and included some of her hits, old and new, and some songs by other artists as well. Having singers sing more than just one song adds a certain dynamic to a television event not usually present when it is an overproduced single song. Her performance at the SATY's was by far the best one I had ever seen from her.

Nicole Scherizinger was the headline performer at the inaiugural South African of the Year Awards

South African of the Year
The main award of the evening (the one that was unnecessarily disclosed to be worth R100 000), the South African of the Year Award, went to the Public Prosecutor, Advocate Thuli Madonsela, who was loudly applauded at the announcement and subsequently made a wonderful speech on our country.

Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela was awarded the South African of the Year Award at the #SATY2014 Awards hosted by ANN7

This was followed by a wonderful closing song by the South African artists and then a short goodbye from the hosts, Chantal and Bonang.

No adverts!!!!
The awards show did what so few South African awards shows, and even other live events rarely does: end on time. And it did this by doing what every awards show, and even a live event like the Idols finale, on DStv should do, and that is to completely drop adverts. It was only after watching the show for a full hour and then asking myself why I, a usual channel hopper had not checked what is on other channels yet, and then I realised that there were not any commercial breaks during the show.
However, not having commercial breaks does create a greater sense of risk because usually when a live production experiences a technical error, they get to correct these during a commercial break when viewers aren't watching. However, the total absence of commercials meant that the SATY Awards did not have that benefit, and it was a gamble that ultimately worked out well when it came to the flow of the program as commercials tend to interrupt the pace of an awards show.

Overall, it was a much better than expected awards show. Everything ran smoothly, it just felt special, the calibre of performers, who are A-Listers, and Presenters, who include current and former Members of Cabinet, gave a brand new awards show much needed credibility as it tries to establish itself as the premier national awards show.

One could really see that the channel spared no expense when it came to the awards show and that the awards gave the channel some much needed exposure. it is now up to ANN7 to properly capitlise upon that exposure.

ANN7's South African of the Year 2014 Red Carpet

Title card for ANN7's SOuth African of the Year Awards 2014 Red Carpet Special

It has been an event months in the making and last night, September 6th 2014, ANN7's inaugural South African of the Year Awards took place.

The first event in the buildup to the awards show was the highlights of the prior evening's nominee's dinner, which was also attended by president Jacob Zuma. Though the programme was originally slated for a 6pm start time (shown on the DStv programming guide as such and also by various ANN7 personalities on their respective Twitter accounts on the actual day), the special aired at 5pm, meaning many who expected it to air at pm would have missed out

Liezle Wilson, Clement Manyathela and Avumile Qongqa hosted ANN7's South African of the Year Awards' red carpet special that aired 30 minutes before the start of the actual #SATY2014 Awards

The red carpet show went on air at 7pm with Buzz ANN7 anchor Liezle Wilson, Clement Manyathela, and Avumile Qongqa welcomed viewers to the Sandton Convention Centre. It is evident from the beginning that the red carpet special is not live, instead comprising of smaller segments recorded throughout the early evening with various guests, which is not necessarily bad considering the amount of interviews included in the special.
 

Miss South Africa, Rolene Strauss, talks to Clement Manyathela on the Red Carpet at ANN7's SATY 2014

The first guest on the Red Carpet Special was none other than reigning Miss South Africa, Rolene Strauss, who also appeared on the main show

As interviews were being conducted on the red cart of ANN7's South African of the Year Awards, the camera would cut to pictures of guests arriving at the Sandton Convention Centre for the Awards.

The exterior of the Sandton Convention Centre was all decked out for ANN7's South African of the Year Awards

 

9 Year old Afeefah Patel and her family speaking on the red carpet of ANN7's Inaugural South African of the Year Awards. Her parents stated they were very proud of their daughter. Afeefa said it was amazing meeting President Zuma at the prior evening's nominees dinner, a prime example of how these awards not only recognises people for their contribution to society but also motivates them to work harder.

At this point the fact that the show was not live had become a problem: people that had spoken on the red carpet before entering the actual theatre were then shown getting out of their car on the outside of the venue before entering the red carpet section

ANN7 Prime anchor, and co host for the evening, Chantal Rutter-Dros (In a David Johan Dress) along with her husband speaking to Clement on the South African of the  Year Red Carpet. Says her on stage dresses are by Black Coffee and that she feels "beautiful" in those dresses

A view of the ANN7 South African of the Year Awards Red Carpet at the Sandton Convention Centre

One thing the special lacked and could do with was to have tags for the guests they are speaking to as viewers would be unfamiliar with many of the nominees if they wanted to, say, follow them on social media or so to find out more about their work.

ANN7 Sports Editor, formerly of eNews, Edwin Kgaswe played door man for the night

Another Young South African of the Year nominee,

Young South African of the Year nominee, and subsequent winner, Dr Sandile Kubheka, speaking on the red carpet.

The first, and only ad brak for the ENTIRE EVENING took place at 7:15pm. Up to this point all nominees echoed the same sentiment of being thankful for the recognition they have received.
When asked, most guests feel as if Bonang Matheba, co host for the evening, will win Trendsetting Celebrity of the Year.

Parents of yet another Young South African of the Year nominee, pianist Kyle Shepard, on the ANN7 South African of the Year Awards Red Carpet. Kyle was unable to attend the event due to being on tour outside of the country at the time of the awards. The mother mentioned that all nominees stayed at the same hotel where international superstar Nicole Scherizinger stayed.

ANN7's midmorning/early afternoon anchor, Abigail Visage, interviewing a guest. As seen in one of the first pictures, she was not meant to be a part of the red carpet coverage, though her contributions were quite well done (though her attire might not be, uhm, event appropriate)

One thing that I did not enjoy about the red carpet was that the presenters tried to make the whole event about the performances, which, though is nice, is not the primary focus of the evening. Every guest on the red carpet was asked who they were looking forward to seeing perform on the actual event and when someone mentioned names and one name was not Nicole Scherzinger, the presenters went and reminded them that she would be performing. If the awards take place again in the future, the presenters need to focus on the actual nominees and their work and not whatever celebrtiy will be performing. the celebrity will always get another platform to showcase their talents, but not all the nominees will have that same opportunities.

The representative of Dr Imtiaz Sooliman (Nominee in the Spirit of Humanity Award category at ANN7's South African of the Year Awards) was the first person to actually speak about the work the organisation does. He mentioned Dr Sooliman was currently working in Gaza.

Representative of Lucas Sithole, a wheelchair tennis personality, and nominated in the sports person of the year category at ANN7's South African of the Year Awards

Strictly Come Dancing SA host Katlego Moboe enjoying himself on the red carpet of ANN7's South African of the Year Awards AT THE SAME TIME that his show is being broadcast on SABC3

Mafikizolo, who was nominated, and subsequently won, Trendsetting Celebrity of the Year at ANN7's South African of the Year Awards. The duo also performed in a "battle" with Mi Casa

The host of I Am South African, the main show in the SATY 2014 campaign, Hulisani Ravele. She said the awards "represent all that is South African." She feels that as a host, your duty is to be in between, facilitate conversation, teach people and learn yourself and that the journey left her inspired. She also felt that the best is yet to come. [I personally feel it was a real shame that she was completely ;eft off the actual awards ceremony considering that she has basically been the face of the show]

The presenters of the red carpet signing off. From left to right, Liezle Wilson, Clement Manyanthela and entertainment editor Avashnee Vendiar. The oddest thing about this picture is that the three presenters that signed off from the red carpet special didn't all exactly sign on, see the pic above.

And like that, the red carpet special of ANN7's inaugural South African of the Year Awards has come to an end, the presenters have said goodbye and everything, and then... another guest...

And if that was not enough, the first few interviews re aired, leaving viewers confused as the main show had to start already. Added to this was when Clement mentioned that the show will be going "live" at 7pm, despite the fact that it was 7:36pm already. Thanks editing team...

Either way, it was not a bad red carpet special, though there is growth room for the future both in quality and duration as well.
The near total lack of mention of Social Media was a welcomed refresh from the usual builup shows awards have these days plugging twitter as if they are paid to.

Main show analysis here

Preview: ANN7's Inaugural South African of the Year Awards to Take Place this Saturday, September 6th

The inaugural South African of the Year Awards are set to take place this weekend at the Sandtion Convention Centre.

The awards will be broadcast live on ANN7 (DStv 405, www.ann7.com/livetv) from 7pm this Saturday, 6th September with buildup taking place throughout the day on the channel.

The lineup for the awards show has become increasingly stellar as the date has neared.
The show is to be hosted by the excellent Bonang Matheba, host and presenter on shows like Mzansi Magic's Clash of the Choirs SA and SABC3's Top Billing. [Though an exceptional choice for host, I think Hulisani Ravele should have had the honours considering she has basically been the face of the SATY campaign].

Former Pussycat Dolls lead singer, Nicole Scherzinger is to be the headline performer. She, along with other international act Ella Henderson landed on South African ground early Friday morning.

They are to be supported by local acts including the likes of Lira, Mafikizolo, Mi Casa, Junior Mambazo and Zahara, among others.

Prior to the actual awards show going live, Ann7 entertainment editor, entertainment anchor on ANN7 Prime and host of Sizzle, Avashnee Vandiar will host a Live From the Red Carpet special on the channel from 7pm

She is, in turn, preceded by a SATY Awards preparty show at 6pm (the usual slot of I AM South African) that is to be hosted by none other that Hulisani Ravele who will be building up to the event, as she has been doing whole week on I Am South African, and also look at highlightrs of the nominees party taking place this Friday night, though not broadcast on television.

Other ANN7 personalities like  Chantal Rutter-Dros and editor in chief Moegsien Williams are expected to make appearances on the awards show. Host of ANN7's media monitoring show, Betweem the Lines, Asanda Magaqa, is to present an award as well.


More than 500 000 votes have been cast by the public in the 7 categories recognising the work done by celebrities and non celebrities, young and old, sports people, bussiness people and politicians in making this country great. (For the full nominations list, click here).

World Cup Final Coverage Review

On Sunday, 13 July 2014, the final of the FIFA World Cup took place. In South Africa, the event was broadcast live on SABC1 and also on Supersport, who beamed the event to the whole Sub-Saharan Africa. Here is a review of the coverage on both channels, as well as on the news c hannels that provided considerable coverage of the event.

Supersport

Though the broadcaster had build up throughout their World Cup Live slot from 1pm-4pm, their "offical" buildup started at 18:30 CAT with Robert Marawa, Neil Andrews and Bonang Matheba (who had changed to a glitzy dress from her more informal wear on World Cup Live) welcoming viewers from the garden studio, referred to as the "Grand Stand" throughout their coverage.
They preview what to expect in tonight's coverage, also stating that they will be previewing SuperSports' other sports that they will be broadcasting in the year to come, including the PSL, rugby and cricket.  

Supersport's 2014 World Cup final panel. From Left to Right: Sean bartlett, Ernst Middendorp, John Dykes, Sammy Kuffour, Robert Marawa, Gaizka Mendietta and John Barnes

Following a short video package, Marawa is in Studio 6 with what he describes as a "massive panel." He then says they are going to break tradition and do predictions first as he introduces the panel. Sammy Kuffour is the first panelist introduced and states he is breaking tradition and will be supporting Argentina tonight because he just loves Messi. John Barnes is introduced next and he says the tournament has been better than expected. Ernst Middendorp and Gaizka Mendieta are introduced next, followed by Shaun Bartlett and John Dykes, who says they are going to "make things serious",  are at the touchscreen. Throughout their introduction, and intermittently throughout the broadcast, they would cut to live visuals from the various fanparks.

They then throw back to Neil, who is sitting on the little stage in the "grandstand", and is extra perky tonight working his audience, is joined by Bradley Carnell as they also do a short preview. Bradley I felt deserved to be a part of the main panel as he has been Supersports' main Bundeliga analyst (the domestic league of Germany, one of the finalists) and really provides esxceptional insight. As one would thus expect, their discussion has a German focus

Bonang is standing by with illusionist Ilan Smith, who is going to predict the outcome of tonight's match, puts it in an envelop, which is subsequently attached to a shoe which is in turn padlocked into a glass box and delivered to the main studio where it will sit alongside Marawa for the greater part of tonight's coverage.I felt this segment could have been produced more excitingly and not as draging as it did. As someone that initially did not find this exciting (though I eventually did), I felt as if what was the point in the whole thing?

(18:53-First Ad break, which is quite late considering how often they take breaks during coverage)

This was where things  went for a down turn. While SABC1 was in the middle of what I thought was exceptional buildup to the Closing Ceremony, Supersport decided that the pay channel needed to start a whole long informercial on what felt like all of their upcoming sporting events, nearly blocking out the worldcup completely for what seemed like just way too long.

The first of these promotional clips was for their coverage of the various European football leagues. It started with a video package , followed by start dates then a discussion between Neil Andrews, who now has John Dykes Bradley Carnell and John Barnes with him to discuss these leagues. John Dykes then  highlighted his stay in SA, followed by preview discussion of English Premier League. He also discussed the production side of things, mentioning they will have a brand new studio (the previous one was used for one season), though he later stated it wont be as big as the Supersport one, and thatthey plan on having more current Premier League coaches on their panel this season, last season they had four. Bradley Carnell then talks about Bundesliga, followed by Neil Andrews who says Supersport plans on covering "all" Afcon Qualifiers live, which doesn't seem very realistic.

Following this, the studio panel reminded viewers that this is actually a World Cup Final Build Up and not a way for Supersport to advertise themselves in the hopes of retaining viewers who got DStv just for the world cup by now discussing standout players in the World Cup.

This didn't last too long as Marawa then plugged a video hyping the channels' Rugby plans, followed
A video promoting Supersports' rugby coverage, followed by Marawa highlighting upcoming fixtures then Neil talking to Owen Nkumane, a Supersport rugby personality, while Bradley Carnell sat uninterested behind him.

Finally, there was a short buildup to the closing closing ceremony, which paled in comparison to the exceptional Closing Ceremony Build Up that was provided on SABC1, one of the few times the free-to-air broadcaster provided a better quality broadcast than the paytv broadcaster

The actual closing ceremony aired next. The sound of the closing ceremony was terrible as Supersport did not seem to have access to the actual audio feed of the music, only the stadium sounds, meaning viewers were unable to hear the singers actually singing onstage, yet again providing a subpar broadcast compared to the public broadcaster.[Side note: Supersport had a mess up with the closing ceremony in 2010 as well when they did not have Nelson Mandela's appearance live, showing it a few minutes after it had already aired on SABC 1, while the studio presenter acted as if the visuals seen was live]

As if the closing ceremony was a chore for the channel, they put minimal effort into analysing it, instead now doing a promotional set for the South African football tournaments. Neil discussed this with Bloem Celtic coach Ernst Middendorp, followed by what is now the formulaic promotional setup for cricket now again (Neil Andrews then discusses with paul Adams), all wasting away minutes that should have been used to buildup to a World Cup match.

At 20:00 CAT, Neil Andrews and Bonang Matheba sign off from the "grandstand", with Bonang stating that the "official buildup starts now", an hour before the match is to start, shorter than the 90 minutes every other match got afforded. The starting lineups are analysed at the touch screen followe by a very average in studio buildup. They did not have one live crossover to Brazil, because their person on the ground that they usually had doing live links, Carol Tshabalala, was attending the match as a fan.

Following the match, their analysis was purely exceptional. It was really a feel good end of the world cup in studio once all was said and done. Throughout their wrap up, theycontinued having live visuals from Brazil as well. As a soccer fan watching the world cup mainly on SUpersport you have a sort of attachment to the people that you saw more than the soccer players themselves and the ending really provided that "end of the series" feel that one wants. They also did what seems to now be a tradition of doing crossovers to viewing parties in Ghana and Nigeria as well.

This glass box contains the shoe to which illusionist Ilan Smith's World Cup Final prediction was attached

Before they signed off, it was time for the moment of truth:opening the box with the prediction in. They brought the illusionist back in, something he said he would not do had he not gotten the answer correct. Eventually, the envelop was opened and not only did it contain the correct score, but the correct goal scorer and time of goal as well. John Dykes stated that he had seen Dynamo perform a similar trick, to which the illusionist said he is honored to have been compared to Dynamo.

At the end of the broadcast at just before1am, everyone in studio got the opportunity to say goodbye individually and reflect upon the experience. Everyone said they had enjoyed the experience as being a part of a world class broadcast team.

John Barnes stated he will continue being a part of Supersport for the next few years, saying that since he debuted during the 2010 World Cup that he had become part of the furniture there.

John Dykes had an amazing experience in South Africa and is looking forward to covering the English Premier League from their brand new studio in England.

Shaun Bartlett stated that this was his last broadcast as part of the Supersport team as he will be going into coaching fulltime in the upcoming season. He was previously a part of the coverage of all Supersport's local and international football presentations and also a regular on Monday Night Football with Neil Andrews.

Sammy Kuffour said it is back to Ghana for him as well, though he will continue being a part of the UEFA Champions League coverage.

Gaizka Mendieta and Ernst Medendorp, both new to Supersport stated they enjoyed the experience, though neither stated whether they will continue being a part of the broadcaster in the future.

At the end of the broadcaster Marawa signed off with his traditional sign off, Qim Shelele, though everyone joined in for the Shelele for the final time. This was followed by a fading of the lights and the in studio camera stayed on longer than usual, showing the silhouettes of everyone shaking hands at the end of the broadcast.
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CNNI

Throughout the World Cup, CNN has been providing near rolling coverage of the event as the channel continue what now seems like an extremely aggressive expansion of its World Sport programming. They capped off this coverage by airing a one hour live special at 8pm CAT, titled World Sport Live, anchored from Brazil by Alex thomas and Amanda Davies, both of whom have been part of the channel's extensive coverage.The special highlighted the fans and the experience itself more than the game, though there was a bit of buildup and analysis and also recapping previous games. They encouraged social media interaction as well throughout the program. Throughout the rest of the night, the channel provided extensive coverage in the first half hours of all their news programming with a mix of WOrld Cup and other news in the second.
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 Local News Channels

Of the local news channels, ANN7 had sports presenters stationed around the country doing live inserts throughout the evening. SABC News covered the World Cup as part of their regularly scheduled programming. Their daily sports show, Sports Live, had an in studio panel previewing the match. eNCA, the only local news channel around for the previous world cup, only covered  the final during their regular sports segments. In 2010 they extended their signoff time by half an hour to get reaction to the final, though there was no such coverage this time around.
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 SABC1

Thomas Mlambo presented coverage on South Africa's other official broadcaster of the final, SABC1. 

Unlike Supersport, SABC 1's on air talent were not under to try and get as much world  cup subscribers to continue subscribing after the tournament. As such, they were more relaxed and focussed all their energies on the events and not on promoting other sports.

Their buildup to the closing ceremony was done as well as they would build up to an actual match, highlighting things like how many times Shakira had performed at closing ceremonies and what to expect, in what was a very relaxed conversation. They also stayed nearly completely with live visuals from Brazil, very rarely showing the in studio guys. During the actual closing, the audio quality on the channel was much better than on Supersport.

The opening ceremony was followed by the final epsiode of Kasi to Favelas, hosted byPearl Modiade and Maps Maponyane. They interacted with viewers on Instagram and other social networks intermittently with recap videos.The show was however, cut short to return to the build up


Their post match analysis was decent, but on the short side

Supersport Adds even More Personalities to Its Already Star studded World Cup Coverage Line up

Eariler this week, Supersport quietly started rehearsals for its World Cup coverage at its Randburg studios.

Along with the previously announced and advertised names that are big in the soccer industry are local celebrities from other spheres of entertainment.

Included among these is South African singer AKA, who had previously co-hosted gaming show The Verge on Vuzu and an entertainment show on what is now Star One.

AKA and Sizwe taking pics while having their suits fitted

He is joined by  current MTV Base VJ, and without a doubt the diamond in the crown of MTV Africa's  networks, Sizwe Dhlomo, hot off the heels of the relatively successful MTV Africa Music Awards this past weekend.

Be it an audience of thousands or just a rehearsal, the talented Bonang Matheba always brings her A game.

They are joined by the fantastic Bonang Matheba, host of Mzansi Magic's Clash of the Choirs and Top Billing on SABC 3. This is not Bonang's  first World Cup she is covering as she hosted 2010 World Cup magazine show Tjovitjo on SABC 1.

Another local star joining the already impressive list is Namdi Mngoma, a previous host of Mzansi Magic's  All Access and a singer as well and also Nono Cele.

The team of AKA, Bonang Matheba, Siwe Dhlomo, Nono Cele and Namdi Mngoma take a break from  rehearsals for their World Cup show, World Cup Live on Supersport 3, for this beautiful picture.

Together, they, along with Kamza Mbata and Crystal Arnold will be the on screen team responsible for World Cup live, stylized #WorldCupLive,a World Cup magazine show that will air for the duration of the World Cup on Supersport 3 (DStv 203, Simulcast on Supersport 3HD, DStv 213 and DStv Mobile as well). The show is to air every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 1pm all the way through to 4:30pm (you see why the necessity for the big team now?).
During what now seems to be a programming block will be other previously announced magazine shows Ola Brazil, Insights, MasterPlan and #FanFest. The last half hour of the show (4pm-4:30pm) will be a casual buildup to that day's matches.

When news of the additioanl talent joining the World Cup team broke, I wondered why Supersport has not promoted these personalities heavily as they did with their other personalities. But then I saw why they did not promote these personalities considering how big their fan bases, at least not in the traditional sense, they left it up to these stars to do it themselves. Combined, they all have hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, an audience they have been tweeting to extensively to promote their show, tweeting that costs nothing but reaches the masses and, afterall, the show is being billed as an extremely interactive show, so why not promote it on the platform that will be central to its content in any case?

Either way, not everyone is happy about the selection of the stars, as seen in this tweet:

This #WorldCupLive show...I don't know okes. AKA, Bonang and Sizwe? Uhm, what about the world cup are they gonna be talking bout? The Swag?

— Man Of The Year (@MrGanca) June 10, 2014