SA - Most Foul?

Maybe it was the result of our first really warm summer's day, perhaps the coffee I had just had, maybe even the fact that I was sharing the room with two Aussies, but last night I felt my body temperature rising as 'Murder most foul' began.

The problem was that I had my guard up from the very start. Knowing the enormity of the problem that was the 'focus' of this documentary and knowing that like the demographics of the country it effects members of the black population exponentially more than whites, a documentary produced by a white ex-South African and narrated by the same, Anthony Sher, focusing on the death of white South African 'Brett Goldin,' I couldn't help myself feeling that this was no more than a bitter portrayal of what South Africa has become now that the Atlantic Seaboard is no longer the exclusive playground of the local Jewish community.
Add to that inherent pride I have in my motherland I could not stop the blood from boiling.

But as the movie continued, I had to force myself to take a step back and digest what was been presented. Perhaps we in South Africa are too accepting of the situation. I found myself embarrassed and glad that the visitors from Australia had decided to have an early night and did not stay to watch. And as I realised that, it became clear. This is something we need to address ... soon ... sad.

'Murder most foul' as a documentary produced by Jon Blair and narrated by Sir Anthony Sher that looks at the high murder and violent crime rate in South Africa and Cape Town in particular. It's world premier was on MNet last night.

For more info click here.

Dstv now available from Vodacom

According to the press release we are being offered another Dstv bouquet. The priced from R139-00 it looks like the imminent IPTV competition is already having effect. The only problem is the channels being offered does not make this too attractive, particularly the lack of real sports channels.
Baby steps, I guess

VODACOM ENTERS BROADCASTING AND MULTIMEDIA

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Vodacom, South Africa’s leading cellular network, has formalised its entry into the broadcasting and multimedia market by announcing today that it had secured an exclusive pay-TV agency agreement with MultiChoice.

“With cellphone penetration in South Africa at over 80%, Vodacom is constantly looking for opportunities to expand its growth horizontally in the market,” said Alan Knott-Craig, chief executive officer of the Vodacom Group.

“With 23 million customers in South Africa, Vodacom has the distribution and marketing know-how that could lead to more significant growth in the satellite pay-TV market. With less than 10 million TV sets and fewer than 2 million satellite pay-TV subscribers in South Africa, we can expect strong growth as Vodacom offers the most affordable satellite pay-TV so far available,” Knott-Craig said. (Source: Click here).

“Vodacom already has 33 000 mobile TV users that can choose from 22 channels on Vodafone live! cellphones, in addition, we are currently piloting more than 17 channels across digital video broadcast to handset technology together with MultiChoice.“

With DStv Select only from Vodacom, Vodacom and non-Vodacom customers have a choice between two exciting DStv Select bouquets, each offering a variety of the latest entertainment, news, sports, movies, documentaries and music channels.

“For the first time, South Africans will be able to subscribe to satellite pay-TV for as little as R139 per month and choose one of the two DStv Select bouquets of channels they’d like to view. We expect to attract many customers who will enjoy the variety of more than four channels, but can now afford it for the first time,” Knott-Craig said.

In addition to being affordable, the DStv Select bouquets offer up to 16 channels including SABC 1,2,3 and e.TV – one technology (free-to-air), easy to use, ensuring convenient and hassle free access to TV entertainment.

Customers can visit any participating Vodacom outlet to view the latest DStv Select deals available from Vodacom. For more information, click here or call 1082, free from a Vodacom cellphone, or 082 1082 free from any other phone.

DStv Select including M-Net Series & Hallmark	DStv Select including kykNET
Supersport Action	Supersport Action
ActionX	ActionX
FashionTV	FashionTV
MTV Base	MTV Base
BBC Food	BBC Food
K-TV	K-TV
National Geographic	National Geographic
Sky News	Sky News
CNN	CNN
CNBC Africa	CNBC Africa
SABC 1	SABC 1
SABC 2	SABC 2
SABC 3	SABC 3
e-TV	e-TV
MNet Series	KykNET
Hallmark
DMX Music Channels	DMX Music Channels
Gospel	80s Hits
Love Songs	Love Songs
Classic R&B	Classic R&B
Adult Contemporary	Adult Contemporary

End of an era

Over the past 17 years MNet open time has been a window into the encoded world of Multichoice.

From Sunday this all comes to an end.

Open Time was a vehicle used MNet to firstly entice new subscribers and secondly as a major source of advertising revenue. It clearly worked and helped a small upstart that no-one gave much hope become the media giant it is now 20 years on.

Interesting Multichoice suggest the following two options if you want to continue getting the soaps previously shown during Open Time :

Option 1: Subscribe to the DStv (Premium) bouquet at R439.90 per month for more than 70 world class video and audio channels including M-Net.

Option 2: Subscribe to the DStv Compact bouquet at R199.00 per month for 26 channels plus an hour every weekday between 18.00 and 19.00 of Egoli and Binnelanders

No mention of the gewone decoder!

Ladies, that means no free Egoli ... guys, there goes the rugby!!