Big Brother Africa 6 audition veunes

M-Net has made an exciting announcement for all those people who have left it too late to enter!

With a vast amount of entries streaming in from across the 14 participating countries, M-Net has confirmed that it will also run open auditions in the different countries – so that those people who didn’t submit a paper entry, still get one last chance to try out for the new season.

"We’re extremely pleased with the response that this year's call to entry has had," says M-Net Africa Managing Director Biola Alabi. "Going into a 6th season, we knew that there would be interest but the scale of this interest has been quite phenomenal with over 5000 entries already received, certainly among the highest number of entries for any edition of Big Brother Africa."

She goes on to say, "However, we're aware that there are always people who leave it too late to enter and then arrive at the audition venues, where our teams are holding phase two audition sessions, to plead for a chance to try out. So this year, in addition to paper entries, we'll also have open audition days. This way, if you submitted a paper entry, your entry has already been evaluated and successful candidates will be called and seen first at audition venues. But those people who didn't do a paper entry will have one last chance to enter when our selection team is in the participating countries. They simply need to arrive at the audition venue on the relevant days."

Remember that all entrants must be tolerant of views and lifestyle choices other than their own and must have the social flexibility to live in close proximity with others.

BIG BROTHER AFRICA 6 begins on Sunday May 1 this year and once more, the dedicated DStv channel 198 will be providing 24/7 live coverage for the 91 day duration of the series.

Audition Dates and Venues:

COUNTRY	DATES	VENUE
Angola	3 - 5 March 2011	Skyna Hotel, Luanda
Botswana	28 February - March 1 2011	Grand Palm Hotel, Gaborone
Ethiopia	28 February - 2 March 2011	Hilton Addis Ababa Hotel
Ghana	28th February - 2 March 2011	Holiday Inn Hotel Accra Airport
Kenya	4 and 5 March 2011 (Nairobi) 6 March 2011 (Mombasa)	6 March 2011 (Mombasa) Little Theatre, Mombasa
Malawi	11 - 13 March 2011	Protea Ryalls Hotel, Blantyre
Mozambique	8 - 10 March 2011	Southern Sun Maputo
Namibia	28 February 2011 1 March 2011	The Playhouse, Windhoek
Nigeria	4 - 6 March 2011 (Lagos) 7th March 2011 (Abuja)	Protea Leadway Hotel Maryland Estate Ikeja, Lagos Protea Hotel Asokoro, Abuja
South Africa	8th March 2011 (DBN) 9th March 2011 (CPT) 10 and 11 March 2011 (JHB)	Southern Sun Marine Parade (DBN) Holiday Inn Express St. Georges Mall (CPT) The Forum - Turbine Hall Newtown (JHB)
Tanzania	12 - 14 March 2011	Mövenpick Royal Palm Hotel,Dar es Salaam
Uganda	8 - 10 March 2011	Sheraton Kampala
Zambia	7 and 8 March 2011	Golfview Hotel, Lusaka
Zimbabwe	4 - 6 March 2011	The Meikles Hotel, Harare

email me on satmanafrica@gmail.com

Uti and Helen Paul host JARA on AfricaMagic.

Want to go behind the scenes in Nollywood? Want to get the inside scoop on what’s going on in Nigeria’s vibrant film industry? Want to catch up with your favourite Nollywood stars as they chat about their stellar careers? Then tune in to AfricaMagic as the channel puts Nollywood in the spotlight with its first production, JARA.

The flagship new series is packed with fun news and information, direct from the thriving heart of Africa’s busiest film hub. Screening to DStv audiences every Saturday evening in primetime (6:30pm Nigerian Time), JARA is hosted by two of Nigeria’s hottest stars…popular and sociable Big Brother All Stars winner Uti Nwachukwu and sensational entertainment personality Helen Paul.

Speaking about the debut of JARA, M-Net Managing Director Biola Alabi said the series had been in planning and development for some time. “M-Net has created numerous original productions like Tinsel, Studio 53 and Comedy Club, which have been shown on the AfricaMagic channel.  Further to this, we’ve licensed a lot of African series from producers across the continent. Now we felt it was time for AfricaMagic to have its very own original production, something we developed specifically for this very popular channel and its enthusiastic audience. JARA is the result and we’re very pleased to have the chance to really profile Nigeria’s directors, producers, stars – showing them at premieres, galas, awards shows and at work.”

She continues, “This kind of programming is in demand internationally and is very powerful. We are delighted that we can help facilitate a closer relationship between the world of Nollywood celebrities and their fans across Africa – those viewers who just love the movies and those stars that want to share their experiences with these viewers.”

JARA is filmed on location in Lagos and some of its first inserts have included – a focus on the Bon Awards and the Tima Awards, a visit to the Port Harcourt International Film Festival, a countdown of the top female actresses to watch in 2011 and profiles on producers Tunde Kelani and Lonzo Nzekwe. Guests in studio have already included Ini Edo and Omoni Oboli plus JARA has also included an insert on Desmond Elliot on holiday. Also coming up is an interview with Nollywood legend Ramsey Noah (Saturday January 29).

JARA is re-screened on AfricaMagic every Monday at 11am and Wednesday at 10pm

Thanks to Ameyaw of http://www.ameyawdebrah.com for this gist.

MultiChoice launches e.TV Africa across 46 African countries.

DStv subscribers in 46 countries across Africa can now see e.tv Africa on Channel 144. The 24-hour African version of the South African free-to-air channel e.tv starts broadcasting on the pay television satellite platform , Tuesday 14 December 2010.

The channel’s group chief executive officer, Marcel Golding says, “e.tv Africa has been received enthusiastically across the continent where e.tv programming is popular and sought after. The channel will include local hit series, Rhythm City, Scandal, Backstage, eKASI, Club 808, Craz-e, as well as Forgive & Forget. This expansion forms part of our broader strategy to provide entertainment produced on the continent to countries outside of South Africa.”

The service also provides two half hour eNews Africa bulletins (5pm and 6pm). These bulletins focus on pan-African news and provide international news for Africans by Africans.

President of MultiChoice Africa, Collins Khumalo said, “We have witnessed the growth and popularity of channels made in Africa for Africa over the last few years, and we have responded by substantially increasing our investment in supporting these channels in Africa. I believe that e.tv Africa’s addition to DStv will add even more value to our subscribers.”  

e.tv Africa will be available on DStv Premium, Compact Plus, Compact, Family and Access.

MultiChoice set to launch The Food Network on DStv's channel 185, 2 December at 11:00.

I can be first to reveal that MultiChoice is set to imminently announce the addition of the brand-new TV channel, The Food Network that will debut on DStv tomorrow, 2 December at 11am on DStv channel 185. The Food Network will broadcast for 24 hours per day.


I have reliably learnt that final negotiations between MultiChoice on the one side, and the London-based Chello Zone and Scripps Networks Interactive that distributes the American food channel internationally, was concluded last night and that The Food Network will launch tomorrow across Africa. The Food Network is already seen in the Middle East and North Africa.


The Food Network returns to African viewers a dedicated food TV channel after the previous food channels - the Carlton Food Network and BBC Food - that MultiChoice had on the DStv bouquet, were discontinued. The Food Network will introduce African viewers to a tasty plethora of foodcentric shows, from ''how to'' preparation shows, as well as more entertainment skewed food shows including some lifestyle and reality genre shows. 


From tomorrow viewers would be able to see Iron Chef America, and the Food Network Challenge, Barefoot Contessa with Ina Garten, Throwdown with Bobby Flay and30 Minute Meals with the American chef and talk show host Rachael Ray who got her start on this channel.


''We know Africans and our subscribers love food and watching food channels. MultiChoice is very happy to reintroduce a 24-hour food channel on the DStv platform,'' says Aletta Alberts, MultiChoice's general manager for content. ''As we are heading into the festive season, we are especially delighted to give our subscribers this gift of a dedicated food channel to help them prepare their festive treats.''

MultiChoice adds another high definition (HD) channel, M-Net Movies 1 HD, from December 1st.

MultiChoice is officially adding another high definition (HD) TV channel, M-Net Movies 1 HD (MM 1 HD) to its DStv bouquet on channel 175 from December 1.

The addition of M-Net Movies 1 HD will bring the total number of HD channels on DStv to Six , with M-Net HD, Discovery Showcase, I-Concert HD , SuperSport HD1 and SuperSport HD2 already existing on the pay TV platform.

''High definition TV channels are the fastest growing product globally and therefore our focus is on rolling out as many HD channels as possible onto the DStv platform, taking into account bandwidth restrictions,'' says Aletta Alberts, general manager for content for MultiChoice Africa.

''Our focus is on giving our viewers a great entertainment experience. HD movies lift that viewing experience to another level.'' M-Net Movies 1 (DStv 103) as well as M-Net Movies 1 HD (DStv 175) will broadcast movies in their première season only. M-Net Movies 1 HD will be a mirror channel of M-Net Movies 1, which means that the schedule and broadcasting times will always be exactly the same.