This edition of the africast is sponsored by Salesforce.

As we bid farewell to June and look forward to the weather warming ever so slightly as we move toward Spring, we turn our attention toward July’s releases in this latest africast.

Before that though we take a look at some of the bigger stories from the week starting with the deadline for the analogue switch-off. This process has taken far longer than anticipated, but now the Department Communications and Digital Technologies has set two deadlines. The first is slated for the end of July 2023, but all analogue broadcast will need to be switched off by 31st December 2024. Let’s see if the deadline is met.

Then, Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard was in the spotlight again this week as hearings were held by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which is suing to block the acquisition. The hearings revealed that Xbox is only the third most popular console behind Nintendo and PlayStation. Jim Ryan also said that exclusivity of Call of Duty is not as much of a problem as he initially made it out to be.

Finally, influencers were called out after a press trip with Shein to China in which they were fed propaganda they then relayed to their followers. Those same followers called the influencers out on their clear reciting of Shein talking points which ignore claims of the company making use of sweatshops and terrible working conditions to produce its wares.

That’s all we have for news this week, but be sure to listen in for our picks of games, movies and series – or in the case of Robin-Leigh Chetty, anime – picks for the month of July.

MENTIONED IN THIS AFRICAST:

• Analogue Switch-Off set for December 2024
• PlayStation not concerned with CoD exclusivity in newly revealed email
• Phil Spencer has an interesting take on the console wars
• Shein comes under fire after influencer propaganda trip