ICASA rules etv cant dump primetime news

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa announced today that etv will not be permitted to drop news from the channel's prime time schedule, stating that doing so would not be in the public's best interest. (etv's intention was to move eNews Direct to an earlier time slot away from the potentially highly profitable 6:30pm slot)


"e.tv is disappointed that its application to broadcast its 6.30pm eNews Direct bulletin outside of prime time has been refused," the broadcaster's head of corporate affairs, Vasili Vass stated, before saying that etv awaits an explanation from ICASA as to why their application was denied.

They made the application in response to what they said is the changing media environment and how South Africans are now consuming news in different ways.

What they conveniently forget to state is that, firstly, the SABC's news bulletins are doing as well as ever, even the ones that air later at night (including the SABC's English news bulletin finally starting to build a decent audience). In addition,  the only reason why eNews Direct is attracting so few eyeballs (viewership is less than a third of what eNews Prime Time earned not too long before eNews Direct launched) is because they moved the bulletin to 6:30pm (which may not seem like much considering its predecessor was at 7pm but it did require a large lifestyle change from regular viewers, something they were not willing to do) and tweaked its format into something its viewers could barely recognise.

Though the timeslot swap with Rhythm City proved beneficial to the soap, the drastic drop in viewers for the news bulletin actually absorbs any benefits created by the increased viewership of Rhythm City. However, at this point, it is virtually impossible to put Rhythm City back at 6:30pm as it would struggle greatly against the SABC's soap that filled the void left by City in that slot, Skeem Saam.

Just for interest's sake, etv's license stipulates that the broadcaster is to broadcast at least two hours of news per day, of which thirty minutes is to be packaged as a single programme to be broadcast during primetime.

e.tv launches own lunchtime news bulletin

e.tv this past week launched its own lunchtime news bulletin separate from the News Day bulletin that has been simulcasting with eNCA for the past eight years.


The bulletin, broadcast from Johannesburg, is anchored by Duduzile Ramela from the same studio used for eNews Direct, which she also anchors. This means that she goes on air for the first time at 1pm and signs off at 7pm, quite a long workday. With e.tv looking to cancel prime time news, this is probably where the eNews Direct team will move to permanently once they get cancelled (It must really suck producing a news bulletin you know the channel you on doesn't want).

For the last few months (and prior to that as well but with less consistency) breaking news coverage on eNCA meant that News Day could not start at the top of the 1pm hour, leading to e.tv having a separate traditional news bulletin, anchored by the usual News Day team with Cathy Mohlahlana having to work overtime on eNCA to cover the breaking news.


Having a separate bulletin also means that neither eNCA or e.tv has to end the bulletin with the line, "For our eNCA viewers, News Day continues after the break but for those of you watching on e.tv this is goodbye."

eTV to cut newsroom staff

This has been a horrible year to be in broadcast news.

etv  today informed staff in their Cape Town newsroom that they would basically all have to reapply for their jobs, except for journalists and cameramen.

This as the group continues to streamline operations (which they started a year ago by shutting their African news division, among others) and shifting their operations mainly to Johannesburg. The Cape Town newsroom will simply become just another bureau within the group.

Currently, News Day (eNCA), eNews Direct Weekend (etv) and the Zulu news bulletin (eKasi+) originates from Cape Town. The group's weather team is Cape Town based as well.

When etv started a news division, they started out of Cape Town solely, opening a Johannesburg Newsroom after facing criticism of being to Cape Town-centric.

eMedia Investments says “the current function is spread across two cities and two companies; Johannesburg and Cape Town, e.tv and eNCA”.

“It is critical for a restructure to happen, however, no decision has been made, and will not be made without open, honest and full consultation with employees who may be impacted. e.tv and eNCA are committed to ensuring that employees are treated fairly through this difficult process”.

eTV shakes up Sunrise

eTV today announced big changes coming to its breakfast show, Sunrise.


First and foremost, the show is ditching its long time home at eTV's studio 101 for a new more homely feeling studio, pictured above. Studio 101 is the same studio that used to house eNews Prime Time before that got replaced with eNews Direct (In case you did not know, the 'studio' is the actual room whilst the 'set' is the furniture. Though the two shared the same studio, they each had their own set and one would not know that they were being done from the same studio at all).

Studio 101 is also the studio that got struck by lightning a few years back, which forced Sunrise to not air for a few days.

Also, the show's graphics package gets a fresh make over, whilst the Sunrise logo itself stays the same.

The biggest change announced today is that the show is expanding to 3 hours, broadcasting live from 5:30am-8:30am. The local-languaged news bulletins that used to air in the 5:30am time slot will now be absorbed into the main Sunrise bulletin, though how this is to happen is yet to be announced considering Sunrise already has an English news reader in Marc Chase.

This is not the first time A South African breakfast show is flirting with the 5am hour (they traditionally air from 6am). When Expresso initially started, it ran from 5:30am. However, that half hour just rated poorly and was shifted to the 8am half hour.

All these changes take effect from this Monday, 6 June 2016.

eAfrica+ is now eNolly+

One of etv's digital channels that was launched for the OpenView HD bouquet,  eAfrica+ has recently quietly changed its name to eNolly+.

This reflects the channel's changing position of originally being a channel that aiming to broadcadst pan African stories to now solely focussing on Nollywood (Nigerian) films and series.

The channels schedule is even more loose than before, lacking a daily strand of programming, just basically showing a hodgepodge of Nigerian content around the clock, often with a great deal of repetition.

eTV Shuffles Prime Time Schedule (Again), Moves Zulu Bulletin to eKasi+

eTV has announced that from Monday, June 15th, the channel will be reshuffling its prime time lineup just a few months after another shakeup.

This is most likely as a result of very disappointing viewership figures.

The channel's Zulu news bulletin only managed to attract 375 000 viewers during the week of May 4th. SABC 1's Zulu news bulletin that airs at 7pm averaged a whopping 3,249,000 in the same week. In comparison, the Sotho news bulletin that was cancelled to make space for the Zulu bulletin regularly saw viewership of above 500 000.

The Zulu news bulletin, which currently airs at 6:30pm on both eTV and eKasi+ now loses its slot on eTV and becomes exclusive to eKasi+.

eTV's English news bulletin, which is now anchored by Duduzile Ramela, only averaged a mere 599 000 viewers in the week of May 4th. The first week after moving from its long running 7pm slot to 8:30pm, the bulletin averaged 880 000 viewers and has dropped ever since. In comparison, before moving from 7pm the bulletin absolutely never had less than 1 million viewers, even attracting 2 million viewers on rare occasion.

The English news bulletin now moves into the 6:30pm timeslot where it will yet again compete directly with SABC3' English news bulletin, which itself used to be at 7pm before being moved to the earlier slot where it would not compete directly with what was at the time a very strong English bulletin on eTV.

Other changes include the 6pm chat shows moving to 5:30pm and Tyler Perry shows taking their former slots, meaning that eTV's 3 hours of nonstop new local programming every day (which I found very impressive). At 8:30pm the channel will feature local unscripted fare on Mondays and Tuesday with Shuga (yes, Shuga that we have seen multiple times on MTV Base, eKasi+, the BET channels and Ebony Life TV, if I am not missing any channels) on Wednesdays.

Overall, the shakeup does nothing about the one hour of lost news content eTV cancelled when they shuffled their lineup for the first time (Sotho Bulletin and eNews Late Edition.).

Viewership figures from tvsa.co.za

'Soft' News Roundup

Firstly, Mzansi Magic's Please Call me has returned to air for its second season on the 18th of April 2015. Here are the main changes to the show:

• The name of the show: From Pls Call Me to Please Call Me
• The show went from airing on Mzansi Magic Music to Mzansi Magic, meaning that the Music channel now has no original presenter-driven shows.
• The show also saw upgrades to its production values: It no longer seems as if it is shot on a cell phone, now having better picture quality, new graphics and a new studio. it now airs from the studio used for Vinnie's House and Channel O's Bassment. 
• The biggest change is the actual presenters. Nestum, Pulie and V Mash are out. They are replaced by Bob Mabena, Thembi Seete and Mandla from Mandla and Lexi.

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eTV is adding a new celeb gossip show called Hush, which starts on April 23rd at 6pm (Ekse Lets Talk loses a day). It will be hosted by  Refilwe Modiselle and Zola Hashatsi. The show will feature 'exclusive' interviews with celeb news makers. They are promising to ask the questions everyone wants answered to which in all honesty is what all other similar shows promise to do.
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  Starting this Tuesday, Ekse Lets Talk rebrands to Ekse Zwakala and sees Pabi Moloi and Dineo Moeketsi join the ensemble that speaks about topics relevant to South Africans. Tol Ass Mo and Philip Malepa remain part of the team.
The interesting thing though is that Dineo's other show, V Entertainment airs at the exact same time as Ekse. It will be interesting to see if she will be hosting V Entertainment on a Tuesday or Wednesday live while appearing on a taped show on a competing channel. Which show will she ask her 139 thousand Twitter followers to watch? Lets wait and see.
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ANN7's Face in the Crowd with Abigail Visagie returned for season 2 this past Saturday, 18th April. It is now a full 30 minute show and not just an extended segment on her news bulletin. The show, which is the brain child of host, Abigail Visagie, aims to inspire young South Africans to reach for their dreams. On its premiere, Abigail Tweeted, "Hahaha! Nervous and happy and scared and excited all at the same time! I hope you guys love it as much as I do!" Face in the Crowd airs on ANN7 (DStv 405) on Saturdays at 10am and repeats again at 9:30pm.
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eTV Cancels Sotho Bulletin, eNews Late Edition and eKasi+ Zulu Bulletin

When eTV announced a shakeup of their primetime lineup earlier this year, they announced many new local scripted shows. One thing they did not mention that the addition of the dramas and the telenovela would come at the expense of a large portion of the channel's prime time news output.

First on the chopping block: The Sotho news bulletin that was moved to 5:30pm late last year when Katch it with Khanyi and Ekse Let's Talk With Masechaba Lekalake were moved from struggling channel eKasi+ to the main eTV channel.

Next, the exclusive live Zulu news bulletin that aired on eKasi+ daily at 8pm has been cut as well, with that channel now simply simulcasting eTV's 6:30pm bulletin.

With these bulletins cut, it is not known what will happen to the anchors of those shows: Mabutho Ngcobo, Segametsi Moiloa and Vusizwe Langa. Mabutho and Vusizwe are both Zulu anchors, but when eNews announced the anchors of the new Zulu bulletin, these guys were not even mentioned, instead being replaced by Khanyisani Nhlangulela and Zama Zungu.  

The eNews Late Edition bulletin? Yip, canned. The bulletin that is, or was, broadcast from Cape Town has also been cancelled. I am not sure when the bulletin started broadcasting on eTV because it seems to have been on air for as long as I can remember, but I do know it was expanded from 15 minutes to 30 minutes in September of 2008 when the now also cancelled Sotho bulletin started. It most certainly is the end of an era in this regard.

Though eTV may have given up on Sotho in Prime Time, one language they have not given up on is sign language, which is now moved to the 6:30pm Zulu bulletin after the cancellation of eNews Late Edition, the bulletin it had been seen on before.

Other current affairs and actuality programming at the channel is also suffering due to the new schedule. Checkpoint with Nkepile Mabuse now moves to the late 10pm slot on Tuesdays.

With eNews Prime Time now at 8:30pm, that bulletin will now suffer regularly from something it has literally only suffered from a handful of times: sports pre-emptions. With UEFA Champions League matches starting at 8:45pm at certain parts of the year when the Northern Hemisphere observes Daylight Savings, eNews Prime Time will either be very short on a Tuesday or cut completely if they plan on having a buildup for the match.

Pat Pillai Resigns From eNews Prime Time

Pat Pillai, the longtime anchor of eNews Prime Time, has announced in a statement released this morning that he will be leaving the organization.

This comes as eTV prepares for its biggest ever prime time shakeup that would see the English bulletin pushed back to 8:30pm.

Other than anchoring the Tuesday and Thursday editions of eNews Prime Time, Pat also hosted the chat show, Inside Out with Pat Pillai, which aired on the then eNews Channel during the channels early years.

No replacement has been named yet, but Cathy Mohlahlana continues to anchor the Monday and Wednesday editions of the bulletin.

The timing of the departure cpuld not have been worse: viewers will now not only have to adjust to a major time change, but will also have to get used to a new on screen product as well, which could alienate viewers that are used to things being a certain way. With a time change alone, you would try your best to keepbsome sort of consistency going.

Pat Pillai anchors his final bulletin on Thursday, February 26th, about a decade since first joining.

ANALYSIS: Can eNews Prime Time survive at 20:30?

Earlier this week, eTV announced major changes to their prime time schedule, which included moving its main news bulletin, eNews Prime Time, from 7pm, where it had been for over 15 years, to 8:30pm.

But can this timeslot move for the bulletin do more harm than good?

The 7pm bulletin, which has been in its slot for 15 years, has become a sort of daily appointment for its loyal viewers: viewers plan all their television viewing around having the news at 7pm, with more dramatic programming following as the night progresses

This is why programmes on channels like M-Net start at the bottom of the hour and not the top (so that viewers don't miss the 7pm hour of programming because they missed the first half hour).

This is why the SABC moved their English news bulletin from the late 8pm hour up to 7pm (and subsequently 6:30pm), and last year their Zulu bulletin to 7pm as well.

News at 7pm just works because currently not one of more than 100 tv channels available in this country broadcasts their tentpole shows at that timeslot.

A move to 8:30pm means that not only does eNews Prime Time have to compete with a greater amount of big name television shows, but also with viewers' own evening routines (putting kids to bed, etc).

But by far the greatest challenge that the 8:30pm eNews Prime Time will have to face is not about programming outside of news, but news itself:

Will viewers wait until that late timeslot for their daily fix of news?

Not only does eNews Prime Time face the challenges that all tv news broadcasters face, like online news sources, but it is shooting itself in the foot by being the absolute last news bulletin of the day.

It is higly unlikely that viewers are going to wait until that time to catch thw day's headlines, when they can get it from other channels. Afterall, we watch the news for the news and not the news reader (or do we?).

Just under 20% of viewers that watch eNews Prime Time are doing so from a DStv decoder. This means that just over 300 000 viewers have access to SABC News Channel's Prime Time News with Vabakshnee Chety and Peter Ndoro and also ANN7's Prime with Juliet Newell and Peter Stemmet (both former eNews personalities). If these viewers subscribe to at least DStv Compact, they have acces to eTV's sister channel, eNCA, which has News Night with Jeremy Maggs and Iman Rappetti as well, meaning they can get the exact same stories (along with the exact same news anchor links) at any time they want before 8:30pm.

Very few South Africans speak only English, meaning that if they want news before 8:30pm, they are spoilt for choice (if they do not have pay tv), language wise, from the SABC before eNews Prime Time airs at 8:30pm. If viewers want to retain their schedule with news at 7pm, the SABC offers an Afrikaans and an isiZulu bulletin in that slot (with English at 6:30pm).

If they do not like the SABC and really like eNews, they can get the Sotho bulletin at 5:30pm, the new Zulu bulletin at 6:30pm and the Afrikaans bulletin on Kyknet at 7pm.

Either way, viewers will know the news before the main English bulletin
There will also be those viewers that opt to just no longer watch television news at night. They get their headlines during a morning or lunchtime broadcast, the radio is good enough or they okay with reading newspapers or online sources.

And there will be those that somehow find it in their schedule to watch news at 8:30pm as well.

At this point, the fate of the 10pm eNews Late Edition is unknown. But if it does remain, it would mean that there would only be a one hour break between English news bulletins on eTV, and not much new news breaks in the space of an hour, so it will basically be a repeat an hour later.

Viewers are also creatures of habit, they expect things to remain the same. On the weekends the English eNews Prime Time stays at 7pm, which is bound to lead to confusion among more casual viewers.

However you look at it, it seems that come March 2nd when the new timeslot comes into effect, eNews Prime Time is going to experience a dip in viewership, the size of which is unknown at present.

(also spare a thought for poor Cathy Mohlahlana who anchors the bulletin on Tuesdays and Thursday nights. She is on air from 9am already on eNCA, and will be on air at 9pm at night when eNews Prime Time will now conclude, a whopping 12 hour workday. Okay, maybe there is a big break in between but your day is still messed)

eTV Shakes Up Prime Time Schedule, Moves News and Current Affairs Programming

South Africa's only independent free to air  broadcaster, eTV, has announced massive changes to the channel's prime time schedule.

These changes seem to be a continuation of the changes the channel saw late last year with the introduction of the eKasi+ shows, Katch it with Khanyi and Lets Talk with Masechaba Lekalake, in the 6pm slot and the shifting of the Sotho news to 5:30pm, in direct competition with the Sotho bulletin on SABC 2.

The first major change is the introduction of a Zulu-langauge news bulletin in the 6:30pm timeslot. What other websites and news sources would be telling you is that this is a new bulletin, but it is not. The eNews Zulu bulletin has been running for a while now at 8pm on eKasi+ (Openview HD 105).

At this point, eTV has not indicated what happens to that slot: does it fall away, does it take on another local language, does it become a repeat of the 6:30pm bulletin or does it remain as a live half hour of news?

With Zulu news on eTV at 6:30pm, viewers now also no longer need to wait until 7pm for a Zulu bulletin on SABC1, whichvis a rather competitive move by eTV.

(It is not clear whether the bulletin will air on weekends as well)

Next among the changes is the shifting of the struggling soap Rhythm City from 6:30pm to 7pm, in direct competition with SABC3's Isidingo, which has found great success (a doubling of viewership) since moving to 7pm and out of direct competition with the other 6:30pm soaps.

Rhythm City now starts a triple bill of daily soaps on eTV with Scandal following it at 7:30pm, the only show to remain in its old slot.

Scandal is then followed by eTV's new Telenovela, Ashes To Ashes, which stars a large amount of Generations alumni in it.

eTV's long running English News Bulletin, eNews Prime Time, shifts a wopping 90 minutes later to 8:30pm. [analysis to follow in an article of its own]

It is unclear whether eNews Late Edition, which airs at 10pm, a mere hour after the end of eNews Prime Time.

(eNews Prime Time's weekend slots remain unaffected)

eKasi: Our Stories now moves to the Tuesday 9pm slot, which means that current affairs programme, Check Point with Nkepile Mabuse also needs to move, but the channel has not said what will happen to that show.

Another current affairs show that is affected is Late Night News woth Loyiso Gola, which currently airs at 8pm on Thursdays, which it can now obviously no longer do.

Overall, this now means that eTV drops the weak programming they have been airing at 8pm and that they now boasts the most packed schedule of any free to air broadcaster (meaning it becomes harder for them to reschedule programming if they want to air specials like the State of the Nation Address).

It also seems as if eTV has now given up hope on their Openview HD product. Last year two talk shows, along with the rest of the magazine shows on eKasi+ were shifted to eTV, now the Zulu news bulletin follows suit. They also earlier said theyvwould down the line add a telenovela to that channel. Now they are adding a telenovela, just not on eKasi+.

The changes come into effect March 2nd.

eTV Shifts Sotho/Zulu News Bulletins Up Half an Hour

(c) eTV

From Monday, September 15th, eTV will be adjusting its early prime time schedule. One of the shows affected is the channels current Zulu/Sotho bulletin, which currently airs at 6pm.

That show will now air at 5:30pm, which means that if you do not have pay television in South Africa, you will be subjected to news bulletins on three of the four free to air channels that broadcast nationally: Xhosa News on SABC1 (which is Siswati and Ndebele on some days), Venda/Tsonga News on SABC2, and now the Sotho/Zulu news on eTV.

This is the first time that eTV has ever changed the time at which any of its news bulletins air. Prior to the introduction of the Zulu/Sotho news, eNews Early Edition was a short English news bulletin that aired at 6pm that served as a promo for what to expect in the 7pm Prime Time news.

eTV will now be airing chat shows from sister channel, eKasi+, at 6pm, with Katch it With Khanyi airing on Mondays with the addictive (at least to me) Eksê: Let's Talk with Masechaba Lekalake airing Thursdays to Fridays. Some of the programming that has been airing during the 5:30pm slot, which has not been doing too well in the ratings, on eTV now airs on Fridays at 6pm.

This now also means that with the exception of the 30 minute Zulu news bulletin, Trevor Gumbi's comendy and a fitness show, all of eKasi+'s original programming now also airs on eTV. This therefore does not give potential viewers any incentive to subscribe to the OpenviewHD platform, where eKasi+ exclusively airs on, as that channel was seen as the best channel available on the platform exclusively.

It is to be seen how shifting the bulletin up 30 minutes affects its viewership (which is usually about 1 million viewers), or the viewership of the rest of eTV's early prime time schedule, which hasd been performing sluggishly since SABC1 converted their series Skeen Saam into a soap to compete with Rhythm City, a show that has usually been either eTV's show with the highest viewership or second highest viewership, alternating with Scandal.

REVIEW: All News Channels Carry Jacob Zuma's Second Inauguration

ANN7, eNCA and SABC News (simulcast on SABC 2) all carried rolling coverage of South African President, Jacob Zuma's, second inauguration. This is a review across all three  broadcasters.
Firstly, I have been watching live news coverage for many years, and this is the first time I have ever noticed something happening across all three channels: The broadcast and its quality and content totally transformed at 9am. Watching the 6am-9am coverage, I was already planning what I will be writing in the review, but then at 9am, all three news channels switched anchors, reporters, styles, and even program names. The 6am-9am slots are totally different from the 9am-1pm slots in nature. This is in contrast to previous events that had rolling coverage (elections, funerals, etc) where the broadcasters would traditionally aim for as much consistency as possible across the full event and its coverage.

The rest of the review will therefore review the events as two events:
6am-9am

Leanne Manas

On SABC News, the Morning Live team that usually does the show in the week did this special weekend edition of the show. Leanne Manas anchored the broadcast along with Ayanda-Allie Paine, who returned today from study leave. These two really put up an authentically great, feel good  broadcast, undoubtedly the most positive of all broadcasts at the time. Yes, you could argue the SABC is the "mouthpiece" of the ANC, but what made this broadcast truly exceptional was that they took the event for exactly what it was: an inauguration. As such, they were totally void of the over analysis that plagued eNCA and just enjoyed the event, broadcasting directly from the Union Buildings covering the event from all angles, including speaking to pilots that would be part of the fly over, spoke about fashion, a bit of background, speaking to everyday citizens and discussing the guests as they arrived. As they controlled the "official" feed of the event, they had the greatest degree of seamlessness between the show and the feed that was made available to all channels, which ultimately contributed to an overall great broadcast. They also aired an exceptional piece by Ayanda-Allie Paine interviewing the man of the hour himself, Jacob Zuma, over a game of chess in what I must say is the most revealing interview I have ever seen about Jacob Zuma the man.

ANN7 also provided what seems to be developing into the channels reputation these days: none stop, rolling and exceptional coverage of live political events. Today was also the first time I actually enjoyed the channels often annoying use of way too much boxes on screen at the same time: it allowed you to see as many views of the event at the same time. They had what seemed to be the perfect  balance between analysing Jacob Zuma's task ahead and the event itself, along with reports stationed seemingly everywhere around the Union Buildings.

eNCA was a total opposite of the above. Instead of enjoying, and covering the event, the channel did what is seeming to become standard for the channel: just critiquing Zuma along with one single analyst in their studio. The same type of critiquing could be kept for any other day, but they had to put it on today. Uveka Rangappa, who had taken Friday off, anchored the show from their studio, seeming to keep live crossings to a minimum in a broadcast that was really nothing special. At a later stage of the broadcast, they did put the "official" feed on the screen in the studio, but it was too small to really enjoy what was happening. They also took more ad breaks than any other channel.
Watching eNCA's coverage and comparing it to the other two channels made me feel sorry for myself. This is had this inauguration been exactly one year earlier, this channel would have been the only news channel in the country and this flimsy coverage they provided really would not have been able to give the event the coverage it desired as we were just constantly subjected to talking heads none stop while there were other things that could have been talked about instead of the things that they spoke about that, though was relevant, had nearly nothing to do with the event. This really makes me think about which events were covered like this in the past when they were the only channel available.

9am-1pm

Peter Ndoro anchored coverage from the studio

Graphics used for this event was just one of the other graphic packages used in recent months

Vuyo Mvoko anchored coverage from the union Buildings

At just before 9am Leanne Manas handed over to the next anchor on SABC News in quite a creative way, interview him first as if he were any other guess and at some point Vuyo Mvoko just doesn't stop talking and Leanne is gone (along with the graphics quietly being changed) to reflect that Morning Live was no longer on air (this was the only show that used its own brand identity on air). Prime time news reader Peter Ndoro anchored from the studio, though only for very short moments. It was overall a good broadcast, though nothing particularly spectacular and lacking the energy seen in the three hours before it. I was disappointed that their coverage ended promptly at 1pm. As a state broadcatser, one would expect them to go above and beyond to broadcast official state events, but ironically they were the first broadcaster to stop covering the event. Their near total lack of ad breaks was something to be appreciated.

At 9am Vuka Africa anchor Peter van Onselen tooka over duties on ANN7 live from the studio. He was joined by countless reporters at the Union Buildings. He had one guest in studio whom he consulted with, though unlike eNCA, was not the focus, but rather a means to fill "dead" time, which there was very little of considering how much they had to talk about the various African leaders that were arriving. Senior Political Reporter, Hajra Omarjee, once again became a sort of a second anchor live from the Union Buildings with her guests there. I really enjoyed how they allowed the actual event to be the star, having the reporters and anchors only in smll boxes, never cutting away from the official feed. Their vision mixing was exceptional between various camera angles and split screens to ensure you get to see it all, along with stock footage of the likes of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki's inaugurations. At 1pm there a quick recap of other news before returning to the concert on the Southern lawns, usually listening to one song on stage followed by one news item, though very rarely leaving the feed from the concert. Their exceptional coverage was spoilt when they opted to go to taped programming at 1:30pm instead of staying with events.

Amazing pic from Iman's Twitter

eNCA carried the concert in between reports and ad breaks (which were plenty)

Jeremy Maggs with his often quirky in studio panel

The concert was broadcasted untouched on enca.com

eNCA improved the most from 9am. Jeremy Maggs took over in studio with Iman Rappetti with analysts Justice Malala and Chris Maroleng (who, now that I think about it, contributed very little to election coverage considering what a great journo he is). This team was really great, balancing lighthearted banter with analysis with substance. Iman also pushed the two out for an interview of famous singers like Donald in what was a rather good interview that focussed on the youth, not forgetting a joke on Jeremy Maggs' taste in music, as has become standard with the two on News Night. Overall, it was better coverage than the three hours before, thought hey still had periods of in studio coverage that was just too long, including what was a really good interview on the architecture of the Union Buildings. Their coverage also simulcast on eTV from 11am-1pm, though their actual coverage went well beyond that with a balance of the concert, a few good inserts about the likes of the flag and Nelson Mandela, and also what seems like just too many ad breaks. They also had Cathy Mohlanhlana and Gareth Edwards on the South lawns, where it was just odd seeing Cathy switching between being a reporter and then all of a sudden an ancho

eTV and eNCA "Official" Election Broadcast Plans

Full coverage and analysis later tonight, for now here is their press release Press release:

 Normal programming will be interrupted as e.tv will be simulcasting the 2014 Elections coverage live with eNCA from Wednesday, 7 May 2014 to Friday, 9 May 2014.

e.tv and eNCA will bring you extensive live coverage from around the country, up-to-the-minute expert analysis and special reports of South Africa’s fifth democratic elections.

Also, the eNCA team, domestic and international, will be doing extensive coverage of the elections and programming will also change.

Some of the changes are as follows:

e.tv

Wednesday, 7 May

5:30AM - Checkpoint (episode 5 of Season 1) will replace “eNews Sunrise
6 to 9AM - Elections 2014
1 to 2:30PM - Elections 2014
10:05 to 11:00PM - Elections 2014

Thursday, 8 May

5:30 - Against All Odds with Mpho Lakaje
6 to 9AM - Elections 2014
1 to 2:30PM - Elections 2014

eNCA
Elections 2014 will replace all General News Bulletins and Current Affairs slots, unless otherwise indicated below:

Wednesday, 7 May
• 6AM to 9PM - Elections 2014
• Morning News Today titles will change to Elections 2014
• Checkpoint Episode 5 will be replaced by Elections 2014
• Against All Odds with Mpho Lakaje will be replaced by Elections 2014
• News Day titles will change to Elections 2014
• News Night titles will change to Elections 2014
• General News will be replaced by Late Nite News With Loyiso Gola
• Maggs On Media - will be replaced by Late Nite News With Loyiso Gola
• The eNCA Africa Edition Repeat loop will be replaced by Elections 2014

Thursday, 8 May

• Morning News Today titles will change to Elections 2014
• Africa 360 - Episode 18 will be replaced by Elections 2014
• Judge for Yourself will be replaced by Elections 2014
• News Day titles will change to Elections 2014
• Checkpoint Episode 5 will be replaced by Elections 2014
• News Night titles will change to Elections 2014
• Tech Report, The will be replaced by Elections 2014
• The eNCA Africa Edition Repeat - Episode 167” loop will be replaced by  Elections 2014

Friday, 9 May

• Morning News Today titles will change to Elections 2014
• News Day titles will change to Elections 2014
• News Night titles will change to Elections 2014

eNCA Suffers Power Surge Pushing Channel Off-Air, again

South Africa's most watched news channel, eNCA, experienced a power surge at their Hyde Park facilities on Monday, April 28th that forced the channel to go off air for well over an hour.

The channel went off air at approximately 10:12am on Monday morning during a live news bulletin. The channel then had a black screen with the channels on screen ident for well over twenty minutes. A few minutes later, the channel then unintentionally broadcast its raw satellite feed from its Cape Town broadcast facility that just showed the screen below:

This screen appeared intermittently between then and a few minutes past twelve.

Eventually, the channel showed various taped content, like Against All Odds and Judge for Yourself, with just a static image of the channel's  logo appearin during what should have been ad breaks.

Eventually, the channel came back up at 11:56 with Andrew Barnes live from Cape Town welcoming viewers with "A very good morning to you, this is NewsDay on eNCA, I'm Andrew Barnes. Good to be back on-air after some gremlins have been weeded out of the system."

This was immediately followed by the first story, leaving the tradtitional read of the headlines at the top of the hour. However, this did not last long as the channel went back off air at 12pm, returning to the airwaves at 12:04pm, this time with a full rundown of the headlines before normal news resumed.

While the country's most watched news channel was experiencing these technical difficulties, Phuti Mosomane of ANN7 decided to take time to send some unprofessional tweets about the situation. Though it would be okay for journos of rival channel's to tweet something to get viewers to change the channels and try something new while their channel of preference was off line, Mosomane instead chose to tweet things like "Can't cope?" then inserting the channels Twitter handle.

This is not the first time eNCA experienced a power surge that set them off the air. In 2010, they experienced a similar situation that damaged the sets used by etv's breakfast show, Sunrise. That of course, sent that show off the air for weeks while new sets were constructed and eNews Prime Time was done from Cape Town due to damage.

It is going to be interesting to see when the channel resumes broadcasts from their Johannesburg facility again.

State of the Nation Coverage Plans for eNCA, eTV, SABC News, SABC2, CNBC Africa and ANN7

This Thursday, the 13th of February is the annual State of the Nation Address by President Jacob Zuma. This is going to be an interesting one to watch as it is an election year and also to hear which issues he will address and how to address them.

©SABC News

For the first time ever, we have more than just one general news channel that will be covering the event (along with the fininacials). Since President Zuma made a smart move by moving the event to prime time where normal South Africans can see it, the channels really went all out with their coverage.



eNCA will cover the event throughout the week as part of their regulars cheduled program. Their actual coverage starts at 4pm in Cape Town at Parliament (immediately after the Cape Town broadcasted News Day). Senior anchors Iman Rapetti (NewsNight) and Andrew Barnes (NewsDay) will anchor live from Cape Town with the likes of Nikiwe Bikitsha contributing. This is Andrew's umpteenth SONA considering that he is Cape Town based, with it being Iman's second, after last year. Before that Nikiwe was the female anchor but could not last year due to her studying (I still cannot see how those studies benefitted her career).  Jeremy Maggs usually does a review panel from Joburg at 9pm.
eTV will also broadcast the address from 7pm to 8:30pm. As such both their soaps (Rhythm City and Scandal, respectively) will broadcast from 6pm, pre empting the 6pm Sotho bulletin.
EDITORS COMMENTARY: I remember last years state of the Nation address coverage on eTV and eNCA quite well. It was Valentines Day, the same day Oscar Pistorius murdered his girlfriend. As such eNCA really wanted to gain interest from an international audience who they just recently reached through Sky in the UK and LiveStation online. They did this through providing rolling coverage of the event with great repetition anchored by Deborah Patta with input from the highly talented Karyn  Maughn. This coverage did not even mention the SONA which happened at the same time. The SONA address was covered on eTV, but because they only wanted to show it until 8:30pm and Zuma stopped talking at about 8:25, they just wrapped up, wasting the resources that were brought to Cape Town including anchors, reporters and analysts.



It goes without saying that the public broadcaster will cover the even live as well. Coverage begins at 5pm on the SABC News Channel (DStv 404), repeated at midnight. This will be a full team effort  and ends at 9pm. This also makes things interesting to see what will broadcast on SABC 3 at 6:30pm  which is usually a simulcast with the SABC News coverage at that hour and also that some talents used for the 6:30pm broadcast will be used for SONA. At 9pm a sports review broadcast, which will be pre empted at 8:30pm will be broadcast at 9pm before returning to regularly scheduled programming. This is an odd choice considering that a more appropriate Business Report with Francis Herd is also being pre empted, but wont be shown.
Of course SONA coverage will be shown on SABC 2 as well, from 6pm to 8:30pm, shifting that evening's 7de Laan to a Friday double bill. At 8:30pm we have fifteen minute bulletins in Afrikaans and then Sotho back to back.
 

ANN7 will be broadcasting the event live as well. it is not clear whether they will broadcast from location but will indeed have a few reporters there. Those likely working the even include Chantal Rutter Dros and analyst Hajra Omarjee.

The Financial Networks will also be providing live coverage.

CNBC Africa has live coverage for 2 hours from 7pm.

Summit TV is unclear at this moment.

Spoilt for choice indeed, but if you prefer the speech and no fluff and analysis, you can of course get the live and raw feed with no flashy anything or fancy editing on the Parliamentary Service (DStv 408, surprised it is not on StarSat yet). This is where you go if you want your coverage anchored by the speaker of the house and not some journalist.