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- South Africa: The Copyright Review Commission, appointed to review concerns raised by the music industry regarding the collection and distribution of royalties to artists, has completed and presented its report to Trade and Industry Minister, Dr Rob Davies.

The countdown is on for Big Brother Stargame which kicks off on Sunday 6 May at 20:00 CAT! The riveting show is set to introduce a new group of larger than life, must watch TV personalities to viewers across the African continent.
 
With an attention grabbing ‘winner takes all’ grand prize of USD 300,000 at stake, plus the new ‘doubling up’ of contestants entering the series with partners, Big Brother Stargame is set to provide more of the entertainment, romance, action, suspense and drama that the series is famous for.
 

TV viewers in Nairobi and its environs now enjoy higher quality pictures with digital broadcast. This follows activation of a platform for transmitting digital video broadcasting (DVB-T2) technology by government signal distributor Signet. Viewers in Mombasa and Kisumu are expected to enjoy the high quality TV signal by the end of this month.

Industry regulator Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) said in a statement that Nairobi viewers could receive clearer images if they invest in set-top boxes.

A Tunis court's decision to fine a TV boss for "spreading information which can disturb the public order" after he screened an animated French movie is a sign of the continuing erosion of free speech in Tunisia, Amnesty International said.

Nabil Karoui was fined 2,400 Tunisian Dinar ($1,500) after his station broadcast the animated French film Persepolis dubbed into Tunisian Arabic dialect in October 2011. The film was criticized for being blasphemous because of a scene showing a representation of God. Karoui's lawyers have confirmed that he will be appealing the verdict.

Increasing numbers of people able to afford pay channels such as DStv, Top TV and Mnet are causing the SABC to lose viewers, the public broadcaster complained in Parliament last week.

SABC Chief Executive Lulama Makhobo said with rising living standards, poor people who would traditionally be watching SABC, were beginning to now buy pay to view television packages.

Makhobo, flanked by a high ranking team, were before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications to outline their three year strategic plan for the organisation.

- Just a few months after celebrating its 13th anniversary and moving into its state-of-the-art studios in Naguru – which also coincided with the switch from analog to digital broadcasting – Wavah Broadcasting Services (WBS) TV has recorded yet another milestone. It has become the first independent, indigenous television station to be broadcast on South Africa-based DStv.

The 9th edition of the biennial conference of Africa broadcasters, Africast will focus on issues relating to content. The event is billed to provide a networking environment for providers, distributors and marketers of broadcast content and equipment targeting the emerging African market with the practitioners, policy makers, advisers, administrators and end-users.

Start of April, SES S.A. announced that the SES-4 satellite is now fully operational and ready for service at the orbital location of 338 degrees East.

SES-4 was successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on board an ILS Proton Breeze M booster on February 15th, 2012. SES-4 replaces the NSS-7 satellite at 338 degrees East longitude and provides replacement as well as incremental capacity at this well-established SES orbital slot over the Atlantic Ocean.

The TV programme you can expect to hear everyone talking about for the next few months is the inaugural series of Masterchef SA. Rebecca Davis spoke to director Donald Clarke.

Nollywood superstars Patience Ozokwor and Desmond Elliot touchdown in Nairobi on Wednesday to grace the official launch of the new Africa Magic channels on DStv.

The thespians are brand ambassadors for the channels, given their years on-screen in the Africa-wide loved Nigerian flicks.

Both stars have been to Nairobi several times, and they will be joined by compatriot IK who is the current host of the annual Big Brother reality show.