e.tv is the fifth television channel in South Africa. It is the first privately owned, free-to-air television channel in the country, the other three major channels being owned by the state-owned South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and the other privately-owned channel, M-Net being subscription-funded. The term television channel generally refers to either a television station or its cable/satellite counterpart (both outlined below). ... SABC logo The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the state owned broadcaster in South Africa, and was for many years the monopoly, controlled by the white minority National Party government. ... M-Net (originally an abbreviation for Electronic Media Network) is a subscription-funded television channel in South Africa, established in 1986 by a consortium of newspaper companies. ...

Ownership

The channel is owned by black empowerment group Hosken Consolidated Investments (HCI) and VenFin, an arm of the Rupert business empire. Midi-TV, the consortium that won the licence in early 1998 to operate the channel, has had many changes in ownership but the dominant player has always been HCI. Anton Edward Rupert (4 October 1916 - 18 January 2006 ) is an Afrikaner-South African billionaire entrepreneur, businessman and conservationist. ...

HCI had bought out minority black shareholders who had failed to repay loans they used to purchase the Midi TV stake.

Warner Bros. which had been part of the consortium sold their 25% shareholding of the channel after three years, concerned that they would never be able to excercise full ownership. This was due to South Africa's media ownership laws that states that foreigner entities could not own more than 25% of a television channel. Marcell Golding, a former trade unionist, is CEO of HCI and also manages the station. The WB Shield, used from 2001 to late 2003. ...

Broadcast Centres

The channel broadcasts from Cape Town and Johannesburg with its prime time evening news bulletin at 7pm being broadcast from Johannesburg. Initially the was broadcast from Cape Town but this changed in 2002 with the opening of it's new broadcast centre in Hyde Park, a suburb of Johannesburg. The late night 10pm bulletin is still broadcast from Cape Town and the channel still maintains a production centre in the city. City motto: Spes Bona (Latin: Good Hope) Province Western Cape Mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo Area  - % water 1,644 km² 0. ... City motto: Unity in Development Province Gauteng Mayor Amos Masondo Area  - % water 1,644 km² 0. ...

Criticism

Recently e.tv has courted controversy from conservative and religious groups because it broadcasts soft porn on the weekends late at night. A combination of these broadcasts and blockbuster movies shown for the first time on free-to-air television have ensured that the channel won the ratings war with the SABC stations, especially on the weekends.

News coverage

e.tv is the only terrestrial TV channel in South Africa that produces independent news broadcasts. Their reports are sometimes critical of the, the SABC, for its alleged "close ties" to the ruling African National Congress. They have been engaged in an ongoing ratings war against SABC news, including very public print and outdoor campaigns that imply an inherent bias in the SABC's news coverage. A more recent public campaign of theirs was to join a coalition of media outlets in a lawsuit to allow a live audio and/or video feed to be broadcast from a very public trial involving a government official accused of corruption. The African National Congress (ANC) is a centre-left political party, and has been South Africas governing party (in a coalition) since the establishment of majority rule in May 1994. ...

Apart from their locally produced television dramas, aimed mostly at the urban youth market, e.tv screens local and blockbuster feature films and many popular international series, including shows from US subscription networks like HBO. HBO logo HBO (Home Box Office) is a premium cable television network. ...

External links

• e.tv