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Monday, March 1, 2010

TV AT LAST FOR ZA NEWS

Satirical puppet show to be screened from March 2.

ZA News, the satirical puppet show that didn’t get to see the light of day on SABC, will finally hit TV screens from Tuesday night on Summit, DStv channel 412.

The hilarious but hard-hitting programme is born out of a collaboration between cartoonist Zapiro and producer/director Thierry Cassuto. It was set to make its debut more than two years ago on SABC, but was deemed too hot to handle. For the last six months it has been available on the Internet, after Cassuto secured funding from airline Kulula.com and Mail & Guardian to make a daily show.

Now viewers will finally get to see it in its full quality on TV, with a daily three-minute headline satirical newscast shortly before the 22h00 news on business channel Summit DStv 412, repeated just before 08h00 each day. For the full ZA NEWS edition with all its skits and features, viewers can log on to www.zanews.co.za

ZA News is a national treasure,” says Summit MD Vernon Matzopoulos. “We have a sophisticated audience and we think they’re going to love its take on current events. Like all good satire it gets you questioning things - and if you look at recent headlines, there are a lot of big questions for business right now.”

"Zapiro and I have been knocking on television's door for years with the concept of our show," says Thierry Cassuto, ZA News's executive producer and co-creator. “We are delighted to have a window on Summit. We have plenty of exciting new puppets coming out and many surprises in store for our viewers this year."