Issue no 53 30 April 2009
Top Story
Africa comes to France - New TV bouquets targeted at diaspora
Just when it seemed that in terms of television programme sales it was all a one-way street, a French distributor, Thema, has reversed the flow by creating a bouquet of francophone African channels that it has launched through several broadband companies, most recently this month with Free. Russell Southwood spoke to Francois Thiellet, CEO of Thema. Thiellet is the first to confess that the idea for an African bouquet in France was not an original one:”The idea came from someone else. I read in a newspaper in France that a Chinese bouquet was going to be launched and I thought…
Content
Vendawood shaking up SA’s film industry
First there was Hollywood, then Bollywood and Nollywood, and now, brace yourself for Vendawood. The film industry in South Africa has problems accessing funds and attracting audiences. That’s not the…
Content
SABA/AIBD Co-Production on Children’s Programmes: 2nd round of commissions
SABA and AIBD are jointly organizing a co-production of Children’s TV programmes. Given the success of the first project, AIBD with its international partners SABA(Southern African Broadcasting Association), ASBU (Arab…
Content
IC Minister encourages Nollywood to help rebranding Nigeria
www.nigeriafilms.com reports that Information and Communications Minister, Prof. Dora Akunyili of Nigeria has been pushing the 'Rebrand Nigeria' project. The Minister has extended a hand of partnership to Nollywood. www.nigeriafilms.com…
Content
Vodacom teams up with Samsung to provide ThumbWars game show on phone and TV
Vodacom South Africa teamed up with Samsung Mobile to provide an action-packed reality game show names "Vodacom ThumbWars". Teams will travel across South Africa, relying on their wits and rapidity…
Content
Content
FIFA supports skills transfer for over 3,000 radio and TV professionals
In the run-up to 2010 FIFA World Cup, FIFA and the broadcasters of the event in the sub-Sahara region, will hold seminars for up to 3,000 radio and TV professionals…
Content
Nigeria: Pamodzi Hails AIT's Nigeria 2009 Choice
Sports Marketing giants and Nigeria Football Federation Sole Marketers, Pamodzi International, has saluted the choice of African Independent Television (AIT) as the official broadcast partner of the Nigeria 2009 U-17…
Content
Somalia: Al Shabaab Release Journalists, But Ban Music And women workers
Islamist hardliners in southern Somalia have released three radio reporters Tuesday after detaining them a day ago and shutting down an independent radio station, Radio Garowe reports. The three journalists…
Content
Madagascar: Media Under Attack One Month After New President Installed
Reporters Without Borders strongly condemned the return of censorship to Madagascar in the form of orders to the state-owned media not to cover opposition demonstrations. The press freedom organisation is…
Content
Broadcast In Brief:
- A mast that dropped from Katampe Hill after last Thursday's windstorm in Abuja, Nigeria is crippling the transmission activities of some media companies and security agencies. Media organizations affected…
Distribution
SatLink Launches New DTH Platform to Africa
SatLink Communications Ltd. announced on 14 April that it has acquired its own capacity covering sub-Saharan Africa on ASTRA’s Astra 4A (Sirius 4) satellite located at 5° East. SatLink’s new…
Distribution
GlobeCast has launched new African DTH distribution platform
GlobeCast spokesman Matthew Rosenstein sais that GlobeCast has started transmissions on SES ASTRA’s Astra 4A (Sirius 4) satellite since March 2009. African broadcaster VoxAfrica is one of the first channels…
Distribution
Distribution In Brief:
- CNBC Africa concluded a satellite distribution agreement with Multichoice Africa on 16 April, 2009. The agreement makes the channel available to DStv viewers in 41 countries across sub-Saharan Africa.…
Investment
Mauritius: MBC reports revenues of Rs 107.9 millions for Q1,2009
Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation earned Rs107.9 from 1 January to April 2009, according to a statement by the Mauritius Prime Minister to Parliament on 28 April. In the same statement it…
Investment
South African hit producer launches film sales division
Producer, Tendeka Matatu launches Ten10 Sales - the sales arm of his Cape Town based production company Ten10 Films. Ten10 is a boutique sales agency that represents local South African…
Investment
Investment In Brief:
- World football's governing body FIFA will earn 25 billion rands (2.7 billion dollars, 2.1 billion euros) on television rights to broadcast the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the…
Regulation & Policy
NIGERIA: NBC REMINDS BROADCAST STATIONS TO STICK TO BROADCASTING CODE
In a sequel to the lopsided coverage of elections and political reportage by broadcasting stations Nigeria, broadcasters have been reminded of the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code designed to…
Regulation & Policy
Sierra Leone: IC Minister raises concerns over cinemas
Sierra Leone’s Minister of Information and Communication has, in a meeting with the national union of cinema entertainers (NUCE), stated that the proliferation of cinema houses was becoming a concern…
Regulation & Policy
Regulation & Policy In Brief:
- The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on authorities in the Republic of Congo to immediately lift their ban on private TV station Canal Bénédiction Plus (CB Plus). The…
Technology & Convergence
Kenyan mobile providers will need to offer free mobile TV to increase subscription levels
According to Emmanuel Were writing in Business Daily Africa that giving Free access to mobile television is crucial to winning clients. "Kenyan mobile phone services providers and broadcasters will have…
Technology & Convergence
Ghana: MultiChoice Subscribers Go Cashless with txtNpay
The thrill and convenience of engaging in cashless transactions for goods and services was experienced by hundreds of MultiChoice subscribers for the first time when Afric Xpress, a pioneer mobile…
More
Technology & Convergence In Brief:
http://www.copeam.org/conference.aspx?ln=en&id=42&cnf=8 - M-Net will bring out a new interactive youth channel, with content that will be viewed on TVs and cellphones. Vuzu, which is expected to start broadcasting in July,…
