Drives M-Net’s energetic local content approach in Africa

princess abumere

September 9, 2015 4:17 PM

Several new advancements have been introduced across the Africa Magic channels.

Desmond Elliott, M-Net Regional Director: West Africa, Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu and Rita Dominic at the M-Net Local Content roundtable at the just concluded MultiChoice Content Showcase in Mauritius.

Ghanaian entertainment is set to be showcased to viewers on Africa Magic World from October, 2015. Regional Director, M-Net West Africa, Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu revealed this at the recently held M-Net local content roundtable at the MultiChoice Content Showcase in Mauritius.

“The ‘Ghana block’ will be run as a 4-hour primetime content block and we will begin to create local content for the block and see how the market reacts to it,” said Mba-Uzoukwu.

It was unveiled that the creation of new content will not just be limited to West Africa. It was also made public that a new M-Net channel would be launched to cater to East Africa.

Theo Erasmus, the Regional Director, East and Southern Africa & Lusophone countries said: “M-Net’s vision is to create channels for each homogenous target market for Southern and Eastern Africa – be it by language, culture, taste or a combination thereof.”

Maisha Magic Bongo (DStv Channel 160) will be launched exclusively for Tanzania on 1 October. Another channel called Jango Luxo, is set to launch in Angola on 11 October on the DStv Premium base.

Erasmus also disclosed that Maisha Magic and Maisha Magic Bongo, which are channels both limited to East Africa would be made available to other regions of the continent except Southern Africa, due to capacity limitations on the satellite.

Erasmus also affirmed that there would be more local content in the near future, from different territories including Zambia and Zimbabwe.

There have been several new advancements across the Africa Magic channels. On August 28, 2015, the Africa Magic Original Blockbuster festival kicked off. The project, which began in 2013, seeks to create local films that are fit for theatrical release, as well as for broadcast on DStv.

Read: Check out 7 original Africa Magic movies to watch in September

“The Original Blockbuster project is also going to do is allow for more job creation in the content delivery value chain,” Mba-Uzoukwu said.

Read: Ini Edo, Omoni Oboli, Oc Ukeje, attend Blockbuster festival premiere

The MultiChoice Africa Content Showcase held last week saw several of DStv and GOtv’s biggest channels, including BBC, BET, Comedy Central, Disney,Sony, SuperSport, Zee World, MTV Base, A+E Networks and M-Net previewing their newest content which is set to be made available on the via the entertainment provider in the nearest future.

princess abumere