Ferial Haffajee
The production house Urban Brew will not take its new-look breakfast television show for SABC2 to air as planned.
The launch date has been delayed by at least a fortnight, reportedly because Urban Brew is not yet ready to broadcast.
The breakfast contract is the SABC’s most lucrative. Worth R40-million, the pitch for the programme was hotly contested and finally won by Urban Brew two months ago.
That decision did not sit easily with the industry, which alleged that the company – it holds more SABC contracts than any other company – knew they were going to win before the decision was finally announced.
In the week they won, Urban Brew told the Mail & Guardian that they would be ready by October 1 – The Breakfast Club completes its run on September 30.
This week the SABC changed its tune and said the programme was originally only commissioned from October 12. “You can’t just stop a programme one day and have a new one the next,” said TV head Molefe Mokgatle this week.
He said the delay was planned to introduce a “teaser campaign” to whet viewer appetite for the new programme. Mokgatle says they will use the time lag to introduce the new presenters, music format and news coverage.
Industry insiders believe that Urban Brew underestimated the big differences between broadcasting live television and the pre- packaged programmes they make like Win’n’Spin, Buzz and Woza Weekend.
The breakfast programme, AM2DAY, has an ambitious broadcast plan. It will have regional news segments with constant crossings to different studios as well as to traffic helicopters. It will be an interactive programme with live studio interviews and viewer access via the Internet and telephone.
This week Urban Brew would not be drawn on the reason for the delays. Director Barney Cohen – who, together with his partner Danie Ferreira and their company, is suing the M&G – said: “Don’t you dare phone me and ask me shit,” when asked about the delay.