The disgruntled fans have launched a petition after the SABC announced it was cutting down the number of episodes per week.
DISGRUNTLED 7de Laan fans have launched a petition after the SABC announced it was cutting down the number of episodes per week from five to three.
According to channel SABC2, they are making space for a new local telenovela, Die Sentrum, starting on April 8, in an effort to increase and diversify its drama offering.
This means that 7de Laan will now be broadcast from Mondays to Wednesdays at 6pm, starting on April 5.
But this isn’t sitting well with fan Jermaine Christians, who started an online petition on Saturday, demanding the show be aired five times a week.
“As loyal viewers and fans of one of South Africa’s best soapies we have the right to demand that we continue having 7de Laan to be on air for five days and nothing less,” he says.
“It is sad that we weren’t even approached as fans regarding this matter, as we are partially the reason behind the success of the long running, multicultural soapy.
“This comes after the soapie just recently achieved the milestone of airing their 5000th episode and are part of our households for over 20 years.”
He says they fear this is the beginning of the end for 7de Laan.
“We don’t foresee 7de Laan only being on air for three days and later totally off from our screens, because ultimately that’s what it will lead to, when viewers lose interest.
“We highly condemn this and will fight this fight until SABC decides to leave our soapie on air for five working days!”
By Monday the petition, on change.org, had garnered 945 signatures.
