Sew le Sew Drama and ETV’s Controversy

www.simplesharebuttons.com Share this post...

Sew le Sew, an Amharic series drama that has been aired on Ethiopian Television (ETV) for the past three years now has entered into a controversy with ETV. This widely acclaimed drama that is aired on every Wednesday evening on ETV is now on its 124th episode.

The drama’s producers are now complaining that they have been told by ETV to finalize the story and end the show on March 22, 2014. But the drama’s producers claim that to finalize the story in keeping with its pace, they have to be waited till the end of May.

“But if we are forced to finish the story on March 22, 2014, we won’t finish it at that early stage. Instead we are forced to leave the story at its place suspended” said the drama’s producers. In addition to this, the drama’s producers have also accused ETV of failing to pay for what the drama is aired on the Ethiopian new year celebration. They said that for the past 7 months they have been asking ETV’s entertainment department head for the payment with no result. Asked about the case, ETV’s deputy director Fikir Yilikal said that “though the standard running time for a series drama on ETV is one year or 52 weeks, if the drama remains widely accepted by the viewers the running time can be extended and Sew le Sew has been given a chance to run for 3 years.

But on Sep, 2013 based on agreement between ETV and the drama’s producers the date has been set to finalize the drama in the six month’s time. And based on that agreement ETV expects for the drama to be finalize on March 22, 2014 and yet ETV hasn’t received any request to postponed this deadline.

But this doesn’t mean that the option for postponing the deadline is closed. Considering such issues like the drama’s popularity and other factors, the option to extend the deadline is not closed” On the issue of unpaid payment for the drama’s new year airing, Fikir Yilikal responded that the case need to be addressed to the Finance office. But sources indicate that the former director of ETV had written four letter to the ETV’s Entertainment department for the payment to be issued with no result. On the issue of DSTV’s proposal to ETV to air the translated version of the drama, the drama’s producers accused ETV officials unwillingness and failing to respond soon.

Asked about this accusation, ETV’s deputy director Fikir Yilikal expressed ETV’s willingness for the drama to be aired on DSTV and hopes that the situation will be settled once the drama is finalized.

Girum Tebeje of DireTube from Biniyam Gebrekiristos