Issue no. 152 21 march 2013
Top Story
FESPACO: AfricaFilms.tv signs 12 contracts and announces YouTube partnership
While the Panafrican Film and TV Festival of Ouagadougou was a triumph for Senegalese filmmakers - they got both Gold, Bronze and Best actor's awards - Dakar and Paris-based VOD portal AfricaFilms.tv announced some significant deals from the event. Sylvain Beletre talked to Enrico Chiesa, CEO, AfricaFilms.tv.Chiesa of AfricaFilms.tv confirmed to Balancing Act that twelve contracts were signed with African producers, amounting to a total of 150 hours of programming, mostly Burkinabe and Ivorian TV series, but also fiction series from DRC, Morocco and Zimbabwe, and documentaries from South Africa."Burkina and Ivory Coast sitcoms and soapies are key to build…
Broadcast
Algeria: The private television channels’ race
If there is an area that illustrates much disorder in the debate currently occurring in Algeria, it is the private television sector. Small private channels have flourished in the Algerian…
Broadcast
DTT: Dolby Digital Plus Selected for Ghana TV Standard
Ghanaian National Communications Authority mandates Dolby Digital Plus audio in IDTV and HD STB specificationsAccra, March 11, 2013 – Dolby Digital Plus audio has been chosen as part of the…
Broadcast
Senegal: Africa 7 director proposed by Magloire Delcros-Varaud
From a reliable source, Godlove Kamwa will be the head of Africa 7 at the request of MagloireDelcros-Varaud, who now heads the Holding across Africa. With a roadmap defined by…
Broadcast
UK: Top Gear's Africa special gets almost 6m viewers
BBC2's Top Gear Africa Special, in which Clarkson and the boys attempted to find the source of the Nile, got the better of ITV's ailing Dancing on Ice on Sunday…
Broadcast
Broadcast - In Brief
- Kwasha Good morning Zambia (literally “Morning is breaking”) is a flagship talk show at the ZNBC (Zambian National Broadcasting Corporation). From 4 to 15 February 2013, Dominique Fass, studio…
Content
The African audiovisual industry experiencing a mid-life crisis
The African audiovisual industry is currently experiencing a genuine mid-life crisis.The African continent has never before produced this many images of itself (drama series, documentaries and even news programmes), a…
Content
Southern Africa: Media urged to enter media awards
The media fraternity in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been called on to participate in the 2013 SADC Media Awards competition.The awards recognise excellence in journalism in print,…
Content
AfricAvenir premieres Grey Matter
AfricAvenir premieres Grey Matter, by Kivu Ruhorahoza (Rwanda, 2011, 100 min) on Saturday, 27 April, 2013, at Goethe Centre, 7pm.There’s a revealing image late in “Grey Matter”: a lingering close-up…
Content
Good Pitch Johannesburg 2013 - Call for Entries open for African documentary filmmakers
This call for entries is open for African documentary filmmakers who believe film can make a difference.If your project:- tackles important social issues- is between any stage from early production…
Content
Content - In Brief
- Mozambique: On March 13, 2013, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared that director Francesco Bruni’s “Scialla” will open the 5th annual Italian Film Festival in Maputo on 15…
Distribution
South Africa’s YouTube videos making money
South Africa’s YouTube stars are making a good income from the platform - as is the video-sharing website’s parent, Google, writes Craig Wilson.Google’s video platform is making celebrities out of…
Distribution
MTN South Africa set to offer IPTV
The operator looks set to offer video on demand and interactive video services, with an Internet protocol television product set to be launched, possibly as early as this year. MTN…
Distribution
Rwanda: more STBs needed to implement DTT
Rwanda: Search for TV Digital Converters Still On.The scarcity of Set Top Boxes (STBs) that will enable viewers access digital TV images is hampering migration from analogue signals.The problem is…
Distribution
Namibia: One Africa TV now on Gotv
One Africa TV is now on GOtv! This week, One Africa TV joins a line-up of channels that have given GOtv subscribers thrills, chills and spills with international movies, series,…
Distribution
Distribution - In Brief
- The Rwanda Utility Regulation Authority (Rura) say no investor has expressed interest to supply the number of STBs needed in the country. Jean Baptiste Mutabazi, Rura's head of Communication…
Investment
Rwanda: KCC donates TVs and PCs to 50 villages
The City of Kigali, on Wednesday, donated a flat screen television set and a desktop computer to each of the 50 villages in the outskirts of the city to help…
Investment
Voice of Africa: International TV Network Arise News HD Signs managed solution with GlobeCast
GlobeCast announced that it has signed a multiyear contract with Arise News, a newly launched global 24-hour TV network that will deliver news and current events programming to audiences across…
Investment
TV5MONDE Africa: direct satellite reception reinforced in Francophone Africa with AMOS 5
TV5MONDE strengthens its distribution in clear and in KU band across Francophone Africa with additional capacity through AMOS 5 at 17 °.This extra capacity allows TV5MONDE to better meet the…
Investment
Investment - in Brief
- Samsung (March 18, 2013) announced that it has concluded an agreement with the Ethiopian government to establish an assembly plant in the country over the next few months. The…
Regulation & Policy
South Africa: Churches call for TopTV boycott over its porn channels
Civil society groups and churches are once again uniting behind a boycott of TopTV as it seeks permission from Icasa to broadcast three porn channels. "[The] Family Policy Institute, in…
Regulation & Policy
Somalia: car bomb attack killed and wounded two radio journalists
The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) condemns strongly a car bomb attack which killed and wounded civilian people, including two radio journalists.A suicide bomber blew up his car near…
Regulation & Policy
South Africa: GauTV fights for licence
The would-be broadcaster has taken Icasa to the high court in an effort to secure a broadcasting licence it was denied. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) is…
Regulation & Policy
Libya: Gunmen storm Alassema TV station
In Tripoli, gunmen stormed the headquarters of a private Libyan television station on Thursday and took away the channel's owner and four journalists, parliament's human rights commission said in a…
Regulation & Policy
Regulation & Policy - In Brief
- On March 19, 2013 APO reported that Togolese police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse journalists protesting new censorship authority granted to the government media regulator, according…
Technology & Convergence
Al Jazeera English app for mobile devices
The full-featured apps will allow smartphone and tablet app users to experience award-winning content from Al Jazeera EnglishAl Jazeera Media Network has today launched new Android tablet and BlackBerry 10…
Technology & Convergence
Chouf-chouf.com: The new video library of Algeria
houf-chouf.com is the first community video portal for Algeria. The video site dedicated to Algeria means "looks" in Arabic. Videos are related to the proposed and shared Algeria. "It's always…
Technology & Convergence
Afrinolly Launches First African Entertainment App For Blackberry 10
African entertainment app MTN Afrinolly announced the release of its Blackberry 10 App for Blackberry Z10 and Q10 at the Blackberry 10 official lunch in Lagos, Nigeria a few weeks…
Technology & Convergence
Technology & Convergence - In Brief
- Kenya: Sales of digital set-top boxes, which went on sale in Jan. 2013, have been sluggish. The boxes are required to convert digital terrestrial broadcasting signals so that that…
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Events
3 Apr. -27 May 2013-02-19African Film Festival Inc. Venue: Lincoln Center, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and Brooklyn Academy of Music - NYC, USA.African film fest of NYC presented annually…
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People
SABC in crisis as leadership team quitsSouth Africa’s national broadcaster SABC has been plunged into crisis following the resignation of its chairman and deputy chairman.Chairman Ben Ngubane and his deputy,…
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Opportunities
Southern Africa: Media Invited to Enter SADC AwardsThe Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) has called on all media to submit entries for the 2013 Southern African Development Community (SADC)…
