Author: Toby Shapshak

If you haven’t already heard – or have been living under a rock – the Springboks are through to the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup through a titanic performance from a bunch of elite players. But Sunday’s blockbuster quarter-final against tournament hosts France was special for several moments of brilliance – two of which came from electric winger Cheslin Kolbe. In the 20th minute, the lightning-fast Kolbe charged down French fullback Thomas Ramos’s conversion, a feat that has had rugby commentators the world over raving about. Those two points would ultimately be the deciding factor in the Springboks one-point…

The Hollywood writers’ strike may be over, but the underlying problems haven’t been resolved. After five months, the Writers Guild of America (WGA) has struck a deal with the major studios, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). But the fundamental issues aren’t going to go away as quickly – the 148 days of striking may not seem long, but it is a forewarning of what will come. The immediate knock-on effect of the strike will only be felt in a year or so, when shows destined for broadcast would have aired. Turning over a new leaf for…

“Everybody talks about the open web, — but there is really the Google web,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told the blockbuster antitrust court case against the search giant. The US government is suing Google for its dominance in search, which it argues has been achieved by buying or squashing competitors not on innovation. “You get up in the morning, you brush your teeth, and you search on Google,” said Nadella, the highest profile witness called by the Department of Justice and 38 States in the biggest antitrust case since Microsoft itself was sued over two decades ago. There is something…

Just when you thought the legal tussles over the broadcast rights for the Rugby World Cup had been settled, eMedia has launched a new legal challenge against MultiChoice. The rugby-mad world is anxiously waiting for Sunday’s blockbuster game when the defending champion Springboks take on hosts France at 21h00 local time – where the most pressing concern is whether there will be a 7-1 or 6-2 split in the replacements. Early last month, the SABC secured last-minute rights to broadcast 16 of the 48 rugby games, including all of the Springboks matches. But this arrangement did not include eMedia’s Openview…

How often have you tried to make a call during Stage 6 #loadshitting and you just can’t connect? It’s been happening more this year as the cellular networks struggle to keep up with the rolling blackouts. It takes longer to recharge base station batteries – if they haven’t been stolen – when the stages increase the number of hours without electricity. That weaker power source degrades the quality of cellular signals. But calls through WhatsApp do connect and are increasingly most South Africans’ first choice for making calls. WhatsApp is killing the voice call star This voice substitution, as it’s…

Instead of getting the rights to broadcast the Rugby World Cup on its Openview satellite service, eMedia will have to pay legal costs after its court case against MultiChoice was been struck off the roll by the Johannesburg High Court. The free ride is over MultiChoice said it was “vindicated” after the urgent interdict hearing was dismissed, and said eMedia was “directed” by the court to pay its legal costs, as well as those of its subsidiary SuperSport, including the counsel. “The effect of the High Court’s decision is that the position remains that the Springbok matches at the Rugby…

DStv-owner MultiChoice has countersued eMedia over the contentious broadcast rights for the Rugby World Cup. Marc Jury, the CEO of MultiChoice South Africa, says eMedia’s lawsuit is a “classic example of free riding” in the broadcaster’s replying affidavit for an urgent interdict being heard today – 10 October – in the Johannesburg High Court. eMedia, you’ve been served… “Despite having the opportunity to acquire a licence to the rights in question, the applicants did not take a single step to participate in the process for purchasing broadcasting rights directly,” Jury said, as reported by MyBroadband. “A broadcaster having a genuine…

Like every journalist attending a conference in the past decade, I take notes with my laptop on my legs. Every now and then, a presenter will put up a useful, data-heavy slide, I take a picture of it with my phone. Sometimes I look back at those images, but mostly, they fall into the void that is my phone’s gallery. But, when I make the effort to – for want of a better word – sync my notes with my images, I always find useful extra information for an article. Take note(s) I am trying to reinvent how I use tech when…

In another late, come-from-behind victory, the SABC secured the rights to the Cricket World Cup – after the tournament already started. Cricket-loving South Africans will be able to watch the sporting showpiece after yet another 11th-hour agreement between the public broadcaster and MultiChoice, which owns the rights. Whether that means the Proteas will be any good at this event is an entirely different conversation. Unlike the Springboks, the current rugby world champions, the country’s cricketers have an unfortunate habit of choking (yes, the first way to deal with a problem is to admit it). Airing out some dirty linen The SABC aired…

At least we don’t have to pay a TV licence for our smartphones. That’s about the only good thing to take from the new SABC Bill being proposed in parliament. Like the previous attempts at finding a new way to fund the SABC – instead of the absurd licence fees that only a small fraction of people still pay – this bill is out of touch with the current reality. Unlike Planet SABC, the real world doesn’t march to the beat of the ANC’s drum. As the first SABC legislation in 24 years, the SABC Bill is “a huge disappointment,”…