Support the underdog!
So, what an ambitious venture that was. Trying to secure porn channels and for a second there we thought some chumps were going to get premium Playboy channels. Some lonely nerds are facepalming right now.
Anyways its time to forget about pornography and rather focus on the more immediate problems for Toptv that are at hand. Now, I got Toptv for my parents and have checked it out and yes they do have some impressive features and some swings and misses.
1. The Walking Dead showing the next day/ Falling Skies/ Camelot: In an ideal South Africa we would kill to see shows the next day as they premiere in America every week. This however is probably expensive as shizzle. Although thanks to Toptv having channels licensed by Fox, Walking Dead (which is shown on AMC) gets sent TopTV's way as first preference because they have the channels that they can do quick and simple international relations with. Mnet seriously missed out on this show, although I'm sure not as many people were watching Walking Dead as there should have been on Toptv. In February it returns and some viewership ratings would be interesting to see. But lets face it, they got one of the hit shows of the last year and a half and show it the very next day as it premieres in the USA. Now obviously if you're piraters you get the episodes next day anyway, but the next day showing of Walking Dead is damn near impressive. TopTV also announced that they will be getting another AMC show now called 'Hell on Wheels' which is another AMC show which premiered straight after the best friggin show in the world 'Breaking Bad'. As mentioned they did also bring Falling Skies in the same week and Camelot as well, which are impressive snags. There was some rumors that they were acquiring American Horror Story but Mnet stopped them in their tracks. American Horror Story went on to be a ratings giant in the last quarte of last year.
2. Sports channels:The common misconception with sports channels is that it shouldn't be too hard to acquire a sports channel or two. Actually its a multi-billion rand operation in South Africa and even more around the world. If you're into finding streams outside of DSTV to watch sports you can find pirated streams to get Sky Sports 1, but if you're a moral human being and into SOPA or something you'll probably want cheap, affordable sports channels and not just the measly radio commentary which the Manchester United channel on Toptv offers so wonderfully (sarcasm detected). But to get sports channels on Toptv you basically have to lick the arse of Supersports and wait until rights to air games opens up again and that probably wont happen until ug say 2014. We're stuck again.
3. The death of Current TV: It was announced that the actual feed that us South Africans are seeing on Toptv is a stream that doesn't get many viewers across the board from Britain and they now want to shut it down. Chaos for Toptv!!! This channel was one of their main selling points saying, "Al Gore is bringing us Current TV". What a channel it is though. Obviously you have the perilous repeats but the content is rich and thought provoking. But losing it will be a bleeping travesty. So Toptv is in negotiations with the channel to somehow stay on air in South Africa but we should probably say our goodbyes for now and see if it disappears in March.
4. TLC, Investigation Discovery, Discovery Science: While us TopTV lovers were toting better Discovery channels than those on DSTV, DSTV ladydog slapped us back by getting the exact same channels (and getting Kidsco and rubbish like that). So now DSTV has most of the TOPtv ratings giants that we were proud of when we got Toptv. Those channels (channels for the wives out there) are probably the most viewed on Toptv and now that DSTV has it too makes it useless to tease DSTV viewers that they haven't seen 'Extreme Couponing' or 'Too friggin fat for 15'.
5. Comedy Central on DSTV: Now its a big name 'Comedy Central' in the TV circles. But to be honest the hype is dying down because they're showing measly repeats of 'According to Jim' at night and showing a roast show now and then. Its alright but the thing is DSTV has a big brand name on their network, including some others like Food network and all that. TopTV needs to get some big-ass channels as well...hint hint nudge cough...SYFY.
WHAT TO DO:
Now the above isn't even half of what TopTV should change. You could fill a book with what is wrong with Toptv and in contrast fill a small brochure of what is right with TopTV. But what they should do to remedy this problem is:
1. Obviously acquire a sports channel/s. There was some wind of a Trace Sports channel that was coming. Its still to be determined whose picking it up but seeing as though Trace music channel is already on DSTV I'm guessing the owners of Trace Sports are probably leaning that way. There's probably nothing to watch on that channel but still...it has the word 'sports' in it...and Toptv needs some of that...even if their viewers aren't that phased by sports.
2. USE MONEY FROM PORN, PUT INTO NEW CHANNELS: This is the main reason why I took time out of my Saturday night to write a long-winded rant about Toptv. They should dust themselves off from this prohibited porn battle and take the cash they would have shoved in Hefner's pocket and invest it into finding some better channels should CurrentTV cease to exist. There was a rumor that a channel called 'CBS Reality' was going to be added to TOptv. I don't even have to start to explain what a good move this would be judging that shows like 'Survivor' 'Dr Phil (daily)' 'The Talk' and 'Judge Judy' would be played on it. Wouldn't it bring more people to TopTV if they advertised that they had the follow up season to Survivor after the one on SABC wraps up. I would fork out money to see that if I was a hardcore Survivor watcher as the people on SABC 3 are.
So taking the money they were going to use to purchase well known European standard porn channels and use it to get new content and channels would be the best move right now. Now rants like this seldom reach Toptv but I sincerely hope they monitor what people on MyBroadband say in terms of suggestion. I did email them as well...ambitiously.
3. PVR and HD: They have been rumored to have been pondering over the PVR and HD channels but with a company that promised new channels in their launch already that haven't arrived yet (*cough* its 2012 already *cough*) we probably won't see it soon...but the CEO is an Indian...lets negotiate.
SUPPORT THE UNDERDOG: Now I know DSTV is probably your first choice when it comes to getting entertainment delivered into your households -unless you pirate all the shows you watch- but sometimes supporting the underdog is a cool thing to do...and sometimes not...but TopTV is at least trying. It's like a maths student who has tried maths as hard as he could until Grade 11 when he dropped to maths literacy. But he is still trying. Trying to get by and get the good marks he desrves because at least he is doing a form of maths. At least TopTV is trying to be the competition in the tv industry in South Africa and in my humble opinion they are getting right in some areas and in some areas they aren't. Just like the maths dude who can't do geometry but can ace in fractions...or whatever.
DSTV will always be there with their 'Watch the Oscars live' and 'So much more.....poo' and their Mzansi magic for pageants that the whole country should see and not just the select few viewers who actually watch Mzansi Magic on DSTV. But DSTV is mostly just as disappointing on a kick-your-feet-up-and-watch-tv kind of night than TopTV is. But with the competition coming from TopTV's way and (God forbid) that Telkom TV venture's way then things are likely to get more interesting. Sure! TopTV couldn't get porn but hey what is ETV for then hey?
Its time to dust themselves off, regroup, and hit harder.
So, what an ambitious venture that was. Trying to secure porn channels and for a second there we thought some chumps were going to get premium Playboy channels. Some lonely nerds are facepalming right now.
Anyways its time to forget about pornography and rather focus on the more immediate problems for Toptv that are at hand. Now, I got Toptv for my parents and have checked it out and yes they do have some impressive features and some swings and misses.
1. The Walking Dead showing the next day/ Falling Skies/ Camelot: In an ideal South Africa we would kill to see shows the next day as they premiere in America every week. This however is probably expensive as shizzle. Although thanks to Toptv having channels licensed by Fox, Walking Dead (which is shown on AMC) gets sent TopTV's way as first preference because they have the channels that they can do quick and simple international relations with. Mnet seriously missed out on this show, although I'm sure not as many people were watching Walking Dead as there should have been on Toptv. In February it returns and some viewership ratings would be interesting to see. But lets face it, they got one of the hit shows of the last year and a half and show it the very next day as it premieres in the USA. Now obviously if you're piraters you get the episodes next day anyway, but the next day showing of Walking Dead is damn near impressive. TopTV also announced that they will be getting another AMC show now called 'Hell on Wheels' which is another AMC show which premiered straight after the best friggin show in the world 'Breaking Bad'. As mentioned they did also bring Falling Skies in the same week and Camelot as well, which are impressive snags. There was some rumors that they were acquiring American Horror Story but Mnet stopped them in their tracks. American Horror Story went on to be a ratings giant in the last quarte of last year.
2. Sports channels:The common misconception with sports channels is that it shouldn't be too hard to acquire a sports channel or two. Actually its a multi-billion rand operation in South Africa and even more around the world. If you're into finding streams outside of DSTV to watch sports you can find pirated streams to get Sky Sports 1, but if you're a moral human being and into SOPA or something you'll probably want cheap, affordable sports channels and not just the measly radio commentary which the Manchester United channel on Toptv offers so wonderfully (sarcasm detected). But to get sports channels on Toptv you basically have to lick the arse of Supersports and wait until rights to air games opens up again and that probably wont happen until ug say 2014. We're stuck again.
3. The death of Current TV: It was announced that the actual feed that us South Africans are seeing on Toptv is a stream that doesn't get many viewers across the board from Britain and they now want to shut it down. Chaos for Toptv!!! This channel was one of their main selling points saying, "Al Gore is bringing us Current TV". What a channel it is though. Obviously you have the perilous repeats but the content is rich and thought provoking. But losing it will be a bleeping travesty. So Toptv is in negotiations with the channel to somehow stay on air in South Africa but we should probably say our goodbyes for now and see if it disappears in March.
4. TLC, Investigation Discovery, Discovery Science: While us TopTV lovers were toting better Discovery channels than those on DSTV, DSTV ladydog slapped us back by getting the exact same channels (and getting Kidsco and rubbish like that). So now DSTV has most of the TOPtv ratings giants that we were proud of when we got Toptv. Those channels (channels for the wives out there) are probably the most viewed on Toptv and now that DSTV has it too makes it useless to tease DSTV viewers that they haven't seen 'Extreme Couponing' or 'Too friggin fat for 15'.
5. Comedy Central on DSTV: Now its a big name 'Comedy Central' in the TV circles. But to be honest the hype is dying down because they're showing measly repeats of 'According to Jim' at night and showing a roast show now and then. Its alright but the thing is DSTV has a big brand name on their network, including some others like Food network and all that. TopTV needs to get some big-ass channels as well...hint hint nudge cough...SYFY.
WHAT TO DO:
Now the above isn't even half of what TopTV should change. You could fill a book with what is wrong with Toptv and in contrast fill a small brochure of what is right with TopTV. But what they should do to remedy this problem is:
1. Obviously acquire a sports channel/s. There was some wind of a Trace Sports channel that was coming. Its still to be determined whose picking it up but seeing as though Trace music channel is already on DSTV I'm guessing the owners of Trace Sports are probably leaning that way. There's probably nothing to watch on that channel but still...it has the word 'sports' in it...and Toptv needs some of that...even if their viewers aren't that phased by sports.
2. USE MONEY FROM PORN, PUT INTO NEW CHANNELS: This is the main reason why I took time out of my Saturday night to write a long-winded rant about Toptv. They should dust themselves off from this prohibited porn battle and take the cash they would have shoved in Hefner's pocket and invest it into finding some better channels should CurrentTV cease to exist. There was a rumor that a channel called 'CBS Reality' was going to be added to TOptv. I don't even have to start to explain what a good move this would be judging that shows like 'Survivor' 'Dr Phil (daily)' 'The Talk' and 'Judge Judy' would be played on it. Wouldn't it bring more people to TopTV if they advertised that they had the follow up season to Survivor after the one on SABC wraps up. I would fork out money to see that if I was a hardcore Survivor watcher as the people on SABC 3 are.
So taking the money they were going to use to purchase well known European standard porn channels and use it to get new content and channels would be the best move right now. Now rants like this seldom reach Toptv but I sincerely hope they monitor what people on MyBroadband say in terms of suggestion. I did email them as well...ambitiously.
3. PVR and HD: They have been rumored to have been pondering over the PVR and HD channels but with a company that promised new channels in their launch already that haven't arrived yet (*cough* its 2012 already *cough*) we probably won't see it soon...but the CEO is an Indian...lets negotiate.
SUPPORT THE UNDERDOG: Now I know DSTV is probably your first choice when it comes to getting entertainment delivered into your households -unless you pirate all the shows you watch- but sometimes supporting the underdog is a cool thing to do...and sometimes not...but TopTV is at least trying. It's like a maths student who has tried maths as hard as he could until Grade 11 when he dropped to maths literacy. But he is still trying. Trying to get by and get the good marks he desrves because at least he is doing a form of maths. At least TopTV is trying to be the competition in the tv industry in South Africa and in my humble opinion they are getting right in some areas and in some areas they aren't. Just like the maths dude who can't do geometry but can ace in fractions...or whatever.
DSTV will always be there with their 'Watch the Oscars live' and 'So much more.....poo' and their Mzansi magic for pageants that the whole country should see and not just the select few viewers who actually watch Mzansi Magic on DSTV. But DSTV is mostly just as disappointing on a kick-your-feet-up-and-watch-tv kind of night than TopTV is. But with the competition coming from TopTV's way and (God forbid) that Telkom TV venture's way then things are likely to get more interesting. Sure! TopTV couldn't get porn but hey what is ETV for then hey?
Its time to dust themselves off, regroup, and hit harder.
.... 
