E.tv
e.tv is the first and only privately owned free-to-air television station in South Africa. Founded in 1998, the company broadcasts nationally, and is headquartered in Cape Town.
It is the fifth terrestrial television channel in the country, following three channels that are operated by the state-owned South African Broadcasting Corporation and the privately owned subscription-funded M-Net.
In 1997, the e.tv channel bought the broadcasting rights to broadcast English Premier League matches and, later on, they also bought the rights to broadcast UEFA Champions League matches.
After South Africa's 4 free-to-air SABC channels, e.tv is the most-watched network in the country, according to data from satellite TV provider DStv.
History
Midi TV was the consortium that won the broadcasting licence on 30 March 1998 to operate the channel. It is majority-owned by broad-based black economic empowerment group Hosken Consolidated Investments, with Remgro having a minority-stake. Hosken Consolidated Investments' major shareholder is the Southern African Clothing and Textile Workers Union. TimeWarner held 20% of the shares.Defeated incumbents included Afrimedia, Community Television Network, Free To Air, New Channel Television and Station for Nation. The station had a tentative launch date of October 1998.
The channel launched on 1 October 1998 with a terrestrial coverage of 60%, though it wouldn't make a formal launch party until the 1998 Sithengi television festival the following month, to an audience of 8,000 guests. The IBA granted license conditions to e.tv: a 24-hour license with 30 minutes of news every day. If the channel didn't meet these conditions, then e.tv wouldn't accept paid advertising.
e.tv was planned to start its 24-hour service on 1 February 1999, with plans to start its news service two weeks earlier on 17 January. At launch, the channel carried the following amount of local programming: 2 half-hour magazine programmes, one hour-long documentary, a half-hour sports roundup, a half-hour children's programme and an hour-long jazz music programme.
IBA's recommendations suggested that e.tv would increase its local output from the 1 February date to 30%, the minimum recommendation from the regulator, as well as commitments to make co-productions with other African countries. International programming dominated the ratings, such as Friends, which up until then was broadcast exclusively by M-Net.
The channel surpassed the 500,000 viewer mark by February 1999, achieving an 18% total audience growth since launch, and an increase among black viewers of 123%, within the latter two months. The classic movie slot at 11:30am became a hit with daytime viewers.
Shortly before starting its 24-hour schedule, Vula Communications, one of Midi's shareholders, planned to float 20% of its shares at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange during 1999. The overnight slots were given over to new creative talent, with a prospective launch slated for April 1999.
One year into e.tv's existence, the channel was already in trouble over recommendations from the IBA that were barely achieved. The IBA submitted an application in August 1999 to amend the conditions of its licence.
Its South African shareholders should be put as one; 40% of its programming, produced in South Africa, would be produced by independent production companies, but, if the plan was altered, wouldn't change its obligations to carry news and current affairs programming, and that the channel should produce content in languages other than English, with e.tv raising doubts about the possibility of entering the Afrikaans market, which at the time was being served by M-Net's KykNET.
e.tv's breakfast contract was awarded in November 1999 to Times Media Limited and Films2People, worth R45 million. The Toasty Show was set to launch on 1 May 2000. Influenced by The Big Breakfast, two of its producers reportedly visited Johannesburg in February 2000 providing consultancy to Times Media.
At Sithengi 99, e.tv announced that it was entering its second phase of operations, and was accepting submissions for a daily magazine show catered to the 9–14 demographic and a weekly show on Sundays called House of Toons.
Local sitcoms started in April 2000 with Big Okes followed by S.O.S. the following month. In February 2001, two further sitcoms followed, Madam & Eve and Scoop Schoombie.
Sales and managing director Quentin Green left the network for TVAfrica in April 2001.
The consortium has had many changes in ownership, however the dominant player has always been HCI: it had bought out minority black shareholders who had failed to repay loans they used to purchase the Midi TV stake. Warner Bros. sold their 25% shareholding of the channel in 2001, concerned that they would never be able to exercise full ownership: South African media ownership law restricts foreign entities to owning no more than 25% of a television channel.
Marcel Golding, a former trade unionist, was controversially forced to resign as the station's CEO in late October 2014, following the polemic purchase of shares he made in South African electronics equipment maker Ellies. HCI had insisted, in court documents, that the purchase of the R24 million stake in the electronics maker, which also produces digital set-top boxes, was without authorisation. Golding had, challenging his removal as CEO, stated that attempts to get rid of him was due to the ANC government wanting to control the station's news output through direct interference.
Controversy and milestones
In January 2001, controversy arose when e.tv showed floor plans and other blueprints for renovations of Genadendal Residence, the official residence of President Thabo Mbeki, on air. The government responded by threatening legal action, citing that the station contravened The Protection of Information Act. In August, it was reported to be the fastest-growing channel in South Africa.After the September 11, 2001 attacks, e.tv joined other South African broadcasters in agreeing to continue broadcasting statements by Osama bin Laden. It was also the site of an anthrax scare in October.
In 2002, the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa exonerated e.tv from overstepping its code of conduct after complaints were received following its screening of series from the Emmanuelle soft-core porn series. In June, it failed in its attempt to stop M-Net from acquiring a new broadcast licence.
In 2004, e.tv was reprimanded by the Advertising Standards Authority, after launching a series of newspaper advertisements, in which the SABC was purported to be a "state broadcaster" and "lacking editorial independence." In October, the channel failed in its bid to force the court to allow a live broadcast of the proceedings of the Schabir Shaik trial. In November, it was reported that Midi TV owed ICASA R7 million in licence fees.
In 2005, the channel was fined R55 000 for two offences of broadcasting 18-rated movies before 9pm. It was also prevented by a court ruling, which prevented it from airing a documentary concerning a prominent baby murder, but upon appeal, e.tv was ordered to show the documentary to the case's prosecutors for review.
The station also fired prominent personality, Soli Philander, after a year's involvement. It also garnered controversy from conservative and religious groups, after it decided to broadcast softcore pornography late at night over the weekends.
In 2006, it refused to air a controversial interview with P.W. Botha before his 90th birthday, which both the SABC and M-Net refused as well. They also received 14 complaints after a contestant was injured in an episode of the local Fear Factor; the station retorted, saying they "gave fair warning" to participants prior to the show, which was upheld by the BCCSA.
The news reports of e.tv are sometimes critical of the SABC for having "close ties" to the ruling African National Congress. Both print and outdoor campaigns by e.tv imply an inherent bias in the SABC's news coverage. More recently, e.tv joined a coalition of media outlets in a lawsuit to force the courts to allow live audio and/or video feeds to be broadcast from trials involving government officials and other prominent figures.
Because of its liberal policies on adult content and its continual reinforcement of being free-to-air while it broadcast blockbuster movies, e.tv seems to have won the ratings war against SABC, especially on weekends.
Milestones
In 2003, the channel was awarded a contract from Uthingo to broadcast the National Lottery results live.Starting in April 2013, the channel launched "e on Demand", a catch-up service that allows registered etv.co.za viewers to watch past episodes of their favorite TV shows as well as watch exclusive content. Many of e.tv's own productions are available to view including its popular weekday soap opera Rhythm City.
Beatlab was made available at the time on the platform.
At launch, StarSat had entered negotiations with the brand for their additional channels before proofing to be fruitful and were only fortunate to launch eKasi+ in 2015 as a replacement for BET. Later that year, e.tv was made available in HD on DStv with content added onto Catch-up.
In 2017, eAfrica+ and eKasi+ were replaced with True African and eExtra from April. A month later, news circulated that the brand's 4 channels might be available on DStv before being made official a day before its launch.
In 2018, True African and Beatlab TV were discontinued as part of realignment strategy to offer viewers fresh entertainment. The channel welcomed three additional channels which was their second news channel, OpenNews and their first reality channel, eReality and a female centric channel, eBella. An Afrikaans block known as Kuiertyd launched on eExtra.
In 2019, eBella was reintegrated to eExtra, OpenNews rebranded to e.tv News then e.tv News and Sports and Rewind launched.
In 2021, the brand launched its own streaming service eVOD with some content moving exclusively to that platform alongside upcoming programming that haven't aired on their channels.
In 2022, two more channels were added Xposed to replace Rewind while ePlesier launched as a new channel. On 31 March 2022, eTV Africa stopped airing on DStv and GOtv. In South Africa, e.tv remains on the platform alongside eNCA while eExtra, eMovies, eMovies Extra and eToonz no longer available on the platform until August 2022.