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Bonisanani, a children's programme produced by Kagiso TV & Communications for SABC 1, has defied the odds by catching and holding viewers in an early morning weekend timeslot. Remarkable AR's of up to 3.3 in the children and teen markets has been achieved.

The Bonisanani presenters AR's tracked from August to October 2009 show that between 200 000 and 330 000 teenagers are watching the show at 06h30 on a Sunday morning!

The financial crisis at the SABC and the global recession have hit SA's advertisement production industry, with a 14% decrease in the number of adverts produced in the 2008-09 financial year to April.

Jacques Stoltz, senior marketing manager for the Gauteng Film Commission, who commissioned the survey with the Commercial Producers Association of SA, said the next set of results of the R1bn industry was expected to show even greater decline.

Zambia’s Information and Broadcasting Services Minister Ronnie Shikapwasha took the slightly odd step of trying to prevent terrestrial broadcaster My Television from selling its content to satellite operator Muvi TV. Whilst this is dressed up as a dispute about licence conditions, the likely motivation is that the Government wants to protect the position of the state broadcaster.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) and etv have received six bids after their request for proposals for digital terrestrial television set-top box control software. The public broadcaster issued the tender on behalf of both stations on 3 August and closed the process on 21 August.

Kaizer Kganyago, SABC head of group communications, says he cannot reveal any other information as this may “jeopardise the procurement process and, therefore, cannot be disclosed until the award of the tender”.

Bukkedde FM station has extended to Masaka and Mbarara districts transmitting from channel 106.8. Bill Tibingana, the Vision Group radio programme director, on Monday said the extension would also cover Rakai, Sembabule, Kooki and Kalangala districts.He said the radio station, whose programmes are run in Luganda, is the most popular station in Buganda and said it was crucial to extend it to Masaka in Buddu county.

- South Africa’s parliamentary portfolio committee on communication has been asked to make public the curricula vitae and motivations for the 31 nominees to the new SABC board so that there is no question about the independence of the final list of directors.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe used an appearance at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) 'World 2009' meeting in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday to attack the West for what he called the continued violation of Zimbabwe's airwaves by foreign-based radio stations.

Radio Phoenix proprietor Errol Hickey has announced that he will pull out of the station next year citing lack of coordination among media bodies and poor support from Government as some of the challenges. Hickey has since urged Zambians with enough money to consider taking over operations of the station which currently employs 52 people.

The MTV Africa Music Awards - the MAMA – and her pitching babes of Africa gave a sparkling performance in Nairobi on the 10th of October. It was a gala event that united African music across the continent. However, the award ceremony was really a triangular affair between the music powerhouses of Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa with them more or less equally sharing the awards.

The station manager of debt-ridden and bankrupt community television Cape Town TV last week made an impassioned appeal to the Department of Communications (DoC) and all three tiers of government - local, provincial and national - to provide the station with urgent financial assistance and help it get back on air.