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NTV Uganda Shut Down a Second Time

The Nation (Nairobi) reported on February 3rd that NTV Uganda has been switched off air for the second time in a week. The shutdown came at 9.10am on February 2nd, barely two days after its signal was reinstated by the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation.

In issue 01

Content

Zimbabwe: African Viewers to Get Oscar Experience

Ghana: Glo-CAF Awards Accreditations Begins

Broadcast & distribution

BBC marks launch of new FM transmitters in Sierra Leone with roadshow

Uganda: Broadcasting Council Rules Against NTV

Zimbabwe: 'ZBH Licence Fees Hike Justified'

Nigeria: Nweke Commends HiTV - As satellite station debuts with Premiership

South Africa: Broadcast Digital Upgrade Will Boost Jobs And Skills

Algeria: TV channel to promote institutional communication

Swaziland Television and Spescom Media IT contract

South Africa: Beam me into Africa

Ghana chooses nine for ‘Idols West Africa’

Deals & investment

South Africa: Naspers Follows Russia Deal With 30 Percent Mxit Stake

Uganda: Chinese to Upgrade UBC

Kenya: Fibre-Optic Project Begins

More

Regulation & policy

Technology & convergence

People

Events

Top story

NTV Uganda Shut Down a Second Time

The Nation (Nairobi) reported on February 3rd that NTV Uganda has been switched off air for the second time in a week. The shutdown came at 9.10am on February 2nd, barely two days after its signal was reinstated by the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation.

The station had earlier been off air for four days after being shut down by the state-owned media house. NTV Uganda's transmitter at Kololo Hill was switched off by officers claiming to be from the Broadcasting Council, said NTV's General Manager Mr Victor Ngei. "The officers demanded access to the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) facility, which is temporarily hosting the NTV transmitter, switched it off and confiscated two microwave receivers," said Mr Ngei.

The council officials were identified as Mr Moses Tibamanya, who is the operation's officer and driver John Katula. The management of NTV Uganda told the Press in Kampala that the Council, which is in charge of regulating the media in Uganda, did not serve them with a seizure note, contrary to the Electronic Media Act.

Mr Ngei is seeking an explanation from UBC, as the owner of the premises in which NTV receivers were removed. NTV Uganda has also written to the Broadcasting Council, appealing for immediate re-instatement. Last week, NTV Uganda was switched off due to what the council referred to as "non-compliance to the industry's technical standards." UBC claimed at the time that the weight of the mast was a "safety risk". The guide mast, measuring 150 metres high hosts antennas of seven FM radio stations and two television stations at Kololo Hill. NTV Uganda has yet to receive formal communication from the council.

Content

Zimbabwe: African Viewers to Get Oscar Experience

The Zimbabwe Independent wrote on February 2nd that DStv will offer live coverage of the 79th Academy Awards. The pre-show and ceremony will be broadcast in the early hours of Monday morning, February 26 at 03:00am on M-Net Movie Magic (channel 4) on DStv. The event will be screened later in the evening as well.

As expected, Golden Globes winner Forest Whitaker earned a Best Actor nomination for his turn as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland, while Irish veteran Peter O'Toole picked up his eighth acting nomination for Venus -- 45 years after his first, for Lawrence of Arabia. Heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio was also nominated, though, surprisingly, the third nod of his career came for the portrayal of a Zimbabwean mercenary in the adventure drama Blood Diamond rather than The Departed.

Ghana: Glo-CAF Awards Accreditations Begins

The Daily Champion (Lagos) reported on January 24th that organisers of the 2006 Glo-CAF Awards have set up an accreditation unit to ensure a hitch-free coverage of the event by the media. Over a hundred local and international Journalists are expected to cover the ceremonies of the Globacom-CAF Awards holding on March 1, 2007 at the Accra International Conference Centre in Accra, Ghana.

The organisers of the event, Confederation of African Football (CAF), and the sponsor, Globacom Limited, are putting in place an elaborate accreditation procedure for Journalists to ensure that they have a hitch-free access to the venue and communication infrastructure.

Cameroon's Eto'O Samuel, Didier Drogba of Cote d'Ivoire and Michael Essien of Ghana are in the race for the prestigious African Footballer of the Year Award.

Broadcast & distribution

BBC marks launch of new FM transmitters in Sierra Leone with roadshow

The BBC World Service issued a statement saying that radio listeners in Sierra Leone will be treated to a week of live programming when the BBC World Service brings its interactive ‘English For Africa’ programmes on a roadshow to Bo, Freetown and Kenema. The roadshow - starting Monday 5 February 2007 - celebrates the launch of two new BBC frequencies: 94.5 FM in Bo and 95.3 FM in Kenema.

Farayi Mungazi will discuss the sporting headlines with Sierra Leoneans and listeners across the continent on the popular BBC sports programme Fast Track on Monday 5 February and Friday 9 February. Frederick Dove will debate topical issues on the BBC’s innovative talk show Africa Have Your Say, broadcasting live over three days starting Tuesday 6 February. Each programme airs at 1600 UTC daily and listeners can participate by sending an SMS text message.

Martin Davies, Business Development Manager for West Africa, BBC World Service said: “During the roadshow the BBC is also celebrating the talents of local journalists from our partner stations who will participate in a three-day workshop led by renowned BBC correspondent, Elizabeth Blunt. In return they will provide content and support for Fast Track and Africa Have Your Say adding further depth and richness to our broadcasts.”

Uganda: Broadcasting Council Rules Against NTV

The Monitor (Kampala) reported on February 5th that the Broadcasting Council (BC) on Saturday ignored an appeal by NTV Uganda for reinstatement and instead ruled that the station should stay off air indefinitely. BC claims that the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC) transmission equipment that NTV uses do not conform to the required technical standards, something that UBC refuted yesterday.

NTV was for the second time shut down on Friday morning, barely two days after its signal was reinstated by the state-run UBC. The station was earlier put off air for four days by UBC. Mr Godfrey Mutabazi, who heads BC, the body that regulates local broadcasters, told Daily Monitor that his council had ruled on Saturday that "NTV stays off air until UBC complies with the technical requirements." "We don't have any quarrel with NTV. We are only regulators and according to the law, everyone must comply. One must broadcast when he has sufficient infrastructure. NTV chose to use UBC's infrastructure for its transmission and we are saying UBC does not have what it takes," he said.

Mr Mutabazi, however, could not tell this reporter what exactly is not in place. "These are technical issues. Its better I take you to the UBC (transmission) mast at Kololo and I show you what we are talking about. Let's do that next week."

But UBC's Acting Managing Director Musinguzi Mugasa, told Daily Monitor that the alleged compliance demanded by BC does not call for switching off a broadcaster. "This (clean-up) is a routine exercise. You can speak to the structural engineers: you don't have to switch off a broadcaster just because you want to remove dead cabling off the mast," Mr Mugasa said. He said UBC had written to BC notifying it of the ongoing clean-up exercise. "There is a clean-up ending tomorrow. We don't switch off any station in order to do this. Aren't the other nine stations on air now?" Mugasa asked.

The management of NTV Uganda said they were not served with a seizure note, before BC carried away its microwave receivers. They say the move is unfair and contrary to the Electronic Media Act. "We are aware of Council's view that the mast requires cleaning, mainly of dead cabling and that it is not the responsibility of Africa Broadcasting (U) Limited, trading as NTV Uganda, the tenant, but UBC as the landlord and owner of the mast," reads NTV's appeal to BC in part.

Zimbabwe: 'ZBH Licence Fees Hike Justified'

The Herald (Harare) reported on February 5th that the recent increase of licence fees by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings is justified as the national broadcaster needs to operate viably and stop relying on Government grants for survival, a Cabinet minister has said. Addressing journalists at a media workshop on HIV and Aids in Kadoma last week, Acting Minister of Information and Publicity Cde Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana said it was high time ZBH was made self-sustaining financially.

Responding to a question from journalists on whether the extent of the fee rise was justified, Cde Mangwana said: "I know some people are saying ZBH as a national broadcaster should not have hiked licence fees that much, but there is need for it to operate viably and stop relying on Government grants."

ZBH increased radio and television licence fees to $50 000 and $150 000 respectively, from $20 and $650, two weeks ago. The highest increase was for motorists who will have to pay $200 000 for car radios, up from $500 a year. The new fees took immediate effect but there has been an outcry about the margin of the increase and affordability. Cde Mangwana also said ZBH would continue with its policy of 75 percent local content.

"We want to develop a Zimbabwean from Zimbabwe and not a foreigner from Zimbabwe. We can only do so if we produce local content. It is the quality of that local content which we should improve. In fact, we want to export our media products to other countries through quality programmes," Cde Mangwana said.

The minister said African countries such as Nigeria and Ghana had benefited immensely from promoting local content and their home-grown films now had strong viewership across the continent, including Zimbabwe. On salaries in the media industry in Zimbabwe, Cde Mangwana said there was need to expedite the formation of an employment council for journalists to look into their conditions of service.

He said it was unfortunate and wrong that people who had no appreciation of the profession and risks associated with it were negotiating journalists' conditions of service. "Right now, sweepers, if they happen to be chairpersons of your workers' committee, are negotiating your conditions of service while the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists is busy attacking the Government.

"ZUJ should expedite the formation of the employment council since that is its core business, and not engage in wars with the Government, which has its own mandate of governing its citizens, including journalists," said Cde Mangwana.

In response, ZUJ national co-ordinator Chakanyuka Bosha said the body had already written to all media institutions advising them of the formation of an employment council and a convention with employers would be held this month to iron out differences that emerged during consultations. "Our aim is to have the employment council in place by the end of February," Bosha said.

Nigeria: Nweke Commends HiTV - As satellite station debuts with Premiership

This Day (Lagos) wrote on February 1st that the Information Minister, Frank Nweke Jnr, yesterday extolled the virtues of HiTV just as he led dignitaries to unveil the wholly Nigerian-owned state of the art new pay television station.

Aside the Minister other dignitaries that were on hand including Senator Yinka Omilani, Felix Ohiweire and foremost Nigerian artist, Tuface Idibia all joined the minister to buy the first sets of decoders of the station as it began to rolling out immediately.

The selling point of the indigenous satellite station is the rights to broadcast the English Football Premiership from August this year when the new season will commence while all the major football leagues including Spanish La liga, Italian Serie A, the American NBA, European Nations Cup and the tennis Grand Slams are already on air.

The station director noted that, “we hope to reach out to everybody hence for just an installation fee of N25, 000 and a monthly subscription fee of N3, 000 the value of the best you can achieve from any other place is here at your door step," Subair said with emphasis.

South Africa: Broadcast Digital Upgrade Will Boost Jobs And Skills

Business Day (Johannesburg) wrote on February 1st that upgrading the national broadcasting infrastructure from analogue to digital at a likely cost of R2bn is an opportunity to create more hi-tech jobs, boost IT skills and invigorate local television and radio production studios, the government believes.

A network overhaul driven by the international phasing out of analogue technology is not a costly evil but a chance to spread wealth and skills around the country, says the communications department's deputy director-general of policy development, Harold Wesso.

Although the International Telecommunications Union cites June 2015 as the final date for axing analogue, SA faces a far more urgent deadline after pledging to broadcast the 2010 World Cup in digital technology. Sentech's acting chief operating officer, Frans Lindeque, estimated recently that modernising and extending SA's telecoms and broadcasting networks was likely to cost R2bn. Sentech alone has asked for R1bn, but has been allocated only R205m over the next three years.

Now government is also debating subsidising the set-top boxes that consumers must buy to unscramble digital television signals. Government had to subsidise set-top boxes if it wanted consumers to go digital in time for the World Cup, said Rob Sobey, CEO of Altech UEC. The boxes produced by his company cost about R500. Subsidies introduced in other countries had covered the cost of the boxes and left consumers to pay for their installation, Sobey said.

Wesso expects broadcasters to pay a cumulative R1,5bn for digital licences, and some of that cash could be used to subsidise set-top boxes. He expects another R4bn to be pumped into the economy through job creation as set-top box manufacturers expand with small companies forming to install them and as production studios are set up to create more local programmes.

As digital broadcasting was more efficient than analogue, spectrum would be freed up to offer newer services such as television on the cellphone, wireless broadband access, more capacity for educational, health and e-government programmes, and for channels in all 11 official languages. "Greater spectrum efficiencies will deliver new services to benefit the country's economy and consumers," Mashile said.

At the moment, digital television in SA is dependent on satellite systems as the earth-based delivery systems are not yet ready. Current technologies are not as spectrum-efficient as people believe, and cannot carry six to 10 channels in the same frequency occupied by a single analogue channel. "That's not the case," said Conradie, who is also Sentech head of technology management. At best the current technology could carry two digital channels in the space occupied by one analogue channel, he said.

The SABC had to go "shopping galore" to prepare for digital migration, said its acting technical officer, Sharoda Rapeti. A posse of 22 digital cameras was in place for outside broadcasts, with another six still to come. The shopping list for 2010 must also include more access to more international bandwidth and broadcast-friendly stadiums. But visionary leadership and new skills were just as crucial as physical equipment, Rapeti said.

Algeria: TV channel to promote institutional communication

The Algerian Press Service issued a press release on February 3rd, stating that Communication Minister Hachemi Djiar told the Parliament, on Saturday, in Algiers, to "think about creating an institutional TV channel" as soon as possible". "I suggest to the Parliament to think with us about the creation, as soon as possible, of an institutional TV channel dedicated to inform citizens about all that concerns the activity of institutions," said Djiar who took the floor at the opening of a training workshop on the Parliament's relations with the press.

Swaziland Television and Spescom Media IT contract

Spescom Media IT has been awarded a R15.5m contract by the Swaziland Television Authority (Swazi TV). Swazi TV purchased the latest Avid Newsroom production system and Sony XDCAM to upgrade its current analogue news production system. The resulting digital newsroom system will take the company from a tape to a tapeless environment, which will put it on a par with its broadcast neighbours in SA. The upgrade is scheduled to go live in April.

South Africa: Beam me into Africa

Source: Cape Business News

http://tinyurl.com/25pdap

Cape Business News wrote on Jan 12th that one of the most successful ventures to come out of Cape Town in the last decade has to be free-to-air television station, e.tv. Majority shareholders - Hosken Consolidated Investments (67%) and the Rupert family controlled Venfin – must be pleased with developments after e.tv’s less than auspicious trading patterns in the formative years when start-up costs far outweighed the revenue flow. Readers may remember the sudden resignation of MD Jonathan Procter, and the ominous rumblings around the viability of the free-to-air station in the late nineties.

But all that has changed. HCI’s recent annual report shows e.tv – which is held through 67% owned Sabido – generating revenue in excess of R650 million and profits of well over R170 million for the year to end June. Venfin values its 31.4% stake in e.tv at R712 million – meaning that (on a typically conservative basis) e.tv is worth over R2 billion.

According to the HCI annual report, e.tv continued to perform well for the year ending June 2006 - its growth driven by an increase in its black middle income viewership. Directors say the buoyant advertising spend market and strict cost controls continued to assist e.tv, with the station reporting a 36% growth in operating profits for the year to end June. More importantly the drop in audience share – seen in the 2005 financial year – was reversed with e.tv’s viewership numbers strengthening the station’s news and local soaps proving major drawcards.

The free-to-air broadcaster also retained its position as the most-watched English medium channel in South Africa and the second largest channel overall. It showed a 6% growth in audience share year on year to March 2006 and currently holds an enviable 21% share of the adult audience (viewership is roughly 11.2 million). Many pundits believe e.tv’s success is driven by the landed rand cost of international programmes dropping in line with the stronger local currency (ie movies and the surfeit of wrestling). The station has also benefited from the significant growth in television advertising, which has been more robust than the growth in radio and print advertising of late.

So far initiatives in Nigeria and Tanzania have progressed well and directors believe the vision to become a Pan-African media business will gain momentum in the year ahead. They reckon the African venture will provide new markets for the sale of e.tv’s intellectual properties and programming rights without substantial cash resources being committed.

There are plans to transform e.tv into a multi-platform content provider – a key development considering plans to break Multichoice’s monopoly on the pay TV market in SA and new cellphone/computer viewing adaptions. Perhaps more interesting is that Sabido – e.tv’s holding company – has a 34% shareholding in Anant Singh’s Dreamworld, the under-construction feature film studio situated in Faure, Cape Town.

Ghana chooses nine for ‘Idols West Africa’

Jive wrote on February 3rd that Charterhouse’s ‘Stars of the Future’ runner-up, Ramzi is one of nine contestants chosen from Ghana to compete in ‘Idols West Africa’. Out of a total of 1223 people who auditioned for the competition, only 9 made a good enough impression on the judges to go through to the next phase -- an appearance at the main event at Planet One in Lagos.

Idols West Africa’s Accra auditions saw a mixed breed of musicians qualifying for the big event: a Liberian refugee, a Nigerian guy studying in KNUST, and a lady claiming to have Chinese, Jamaican and African blood and tracing her roots to the Ashanti tribe.

The 9 will join the Nigerian selection on February 1st in Calabar and go through regional and theatre auditions till February 26th. The actual event begins March 4th and will air on MNET.

M-NET is in discussions with Metro TV and if all goes well, the Accra-based network will re-broadcast each episode of the contest a few days after it had aired on M-NET.

Deals & investment

South Africa: Naspers Follows Russia Deal With 30 Percent Mxit Stake

Business Day (Johannesburg) wrote on January 29th that media company Naspers has bought a 30% stake in SA's rapidly growing instant-messaging service, MXit Lifestyle, for an undisclosed amount. The move came just two days after Naspers clinched a $165m deal to buy a Russian internet player to expand into fast-growing geographies.

The MXit technology lets cellphone users send and receive text messages at a fraction of the cost of a normal SMS. The MXit software can be downloaded to a handset from the internet for free, and its 3-million users pay just a fraction of a cent for each message they send.

What makes the investors so interested is the potential revenue from advertising. Each time users open MXit on their cellphones to send messages, adverts appear on the screens. With at least 100-million messages being sent every day, the eyeball potential of its mainly 12-25-year-old users presents a lucrative marketing opportunity. The MXit website also offers chat rooms, games and an electronic greeting card service.

Naspers has moved steadily beyond its core print media businesses into electronic media, by building up an online presence for its publications, adding other electronic services around them, and branching out into pay-television. It still generates most of its revenue in SA, and has operations in sub-Saharan Africa, Greece, China, the Netherlands, the US, Thailand, Brazil, China and India. Naspers said now that it had its foot in the door in Russia it was also eyeing other opportunities in the pay-television and newspaper sector in that country.

Uganda: Chinese to Upgrade UBC

The Monitor (Kampala) wrote on January 20th that the Chinese's government has sent a 10-man delegation in the country to assess measures in which Uganda Broadcasting Corporations (UBC) technical facilities can be upgraded. A press release from the PRO Jane Kasumba said the technical team would also evaluate the possibility of installing new radio and television channels. The development follows an agreement signed between the two governments that will see the national broadcaster obtain a grant to establish the channel and up grade its broadcasting facilities.

Kenya: Fibre-Optic Project Begins

The East African Standard (Nairobi) wrote on January 31st that the Government may use subsidies to lower bandwith costs for outsourcing centres in the country, a minister has said. This would help call centre businesses stay competitive until construction of fibre-optic links forced costs down. Information and Communications minister, Mr Mutahi Kagwe, said this on Wednesday at the signing of a $2.7 million (Sh191 million) contract with Tyco Telecommunications to fund a survey on the construction of a fibre-optic link to Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The US-based firm is to undertake a four-month mapping of the Indian Ocean to determine where a fibre-optic cable could be laid. The cable will be known as The East African Marine Systems (Teams). The Kenyan government through Telkom Kenya and the UAE government, through Etisalat, have entered into a memorandum of understanding for the construction of Teams.

Kagwe argued that the current cost of bandwith is too high and is driving outsourcing companies in the country out of business. It currently costs Kenyan call centres over 30 times more to transmit data than it costs Indian rivals. The high bandwith costs in Kenya are attributed to the fact that the country relies on satellite linkage, which has a lower capacity, as opposed to fiber optic cables (physical connection), which have a higher capacity. The sub-marine survey is scheduled to start in February and will last for about two months after which tendering process for the undersea cable will commence.

The information minister called on investors to start positioning themselves to take advantage of the telecommunications boom to follow. Permanent Secretary, Dr Bitange Ndemo, explained that a separate company (a "special purpose vehicle") would be created to manage the cable. The government is expected to own 40 per cent of the project. Kenya is also involved in the construction of the African East African Submarine Cable System (Eassy) project.

More

Regulation & policy

Nigeria Media Concerned About Alleged Government Harassment

VOA reported on February 2nd that international and local media rights groups say the Nigerian government has stepped up efforts to intimidate and harass journalists for increasingly criticizing its policies. For example, the government recently arrested a director of the northern-based Media Trust Organization and charged him with belonging to al-Qaeda.

Britain has also expressed concern about what it calls the state of press freedom in Nigeria. And in a recent report, the Media Foundation of West Africa says Nigeria leads the sub-region in abuses against journalists. But Nigerian information minister Frank Nweke has denied the charge. He says government has a responsibly to ensure that journalists operate within the law.

Ndagene Akwu, the national president of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), says the government has to take steps to improve current strained relations with the media. He says despite the problems now facing journalists, the current democratic government has not been as restrictive as governments have been in the past. He says journalists are also concerned about the April election.

Proposed Self-Regulatory Media Council is Not Superfluous to Existing Media Commission, Says Misa

In a press release on February 1st, the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)-Zimbabwe stated that they would like to set the record straight regarding recent misleading political statements pertaining to the principle of media self-regulation.

The convention discussed and scrutinised the proposed, nationally binding Code of Conduct for Zimbabwean journalists as well as the draft Constitution of the MCZ. One of the speakers during the convention was Leo Mugabe, House of Assembly member and chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Transport and Communications. In his remarks to the convention, Hon Mugabe seemed to suggest as matter of fact that the launch and success of the envisaged Media Council hinged on an amendment to the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). AIPPA was promulgated in 2002 and created a statutory body, the Media and Information Commission (MIC).

He categorically stated that to proceed otherwise would result in a serious confrontation with the MIC, as both bodies would end up performing similar functions. A clear and objective analysis of AIPPA vis-à-vis the functions of the MIC shows that nothing could be further from the truth, as the difference between the statutory body and the proposed independent council is like day and night. MISA-Zimbabwe further notes that the repeal or any changes to AIPPA are not conditional on the launch of the MCZ. There is no law in Zimbabwe that stops the formation of a voluntary body that regulates the operations of the media, hence the wisdom of those that crafted the Banjul Declaration on Principles of Freedom of Expression in Africa.

MISA-Zimbabwe is cognizant of the fact that the path to media self-regulation has historically been fraught with bitter struggles between the media industry and the government(s) that believe in a compliant and sycophantic media. MISA-Zimbabwe, however, dismisses statements by Mugabe that it is a political outfit. These statements are meant to divide the media sector, especially on the MCZ project.

When the government promulgated AIPPA in 2002, it defended statutory regulation, saying the media had failed to regulate its own affairs, hence the government had to step in to regulate the media sector. When the media then embarks on a self-regulatory mechanism, it cannot, therefore, be accused of being reactionary and confrontational as alluded by Mugabe. It must be noted that there were no consultations when AIPPA was passed into law.

In addition, the Windhoek Declaration on Promoting an Independent and Pluralistic African Press was adopted in 1991 at a UNESCO-sponsored conference. It states that an independent press is essential to the development and maintenance of democracy in a nation. "Independent" in this context means a press independent from governmental, political or economic control, or from control of materials and infrastructure essential for the production and dissemination of newspapers, magazines and periodicals. The Declaration envisages a scenario where self-regulation creates an environment that is conducive for the promotion of a free, independent, diverse and pluralistic media.

Article 21 of the SADC Protocol on Culture, Information and Sport (2001), signed by all Heads of States in the SADC Region, obliges member states to "encourage the establishment or strengthening of codes of ethics by various sectors of the media through the creation of an enabling environment for the formulation of such frameworks." Encouragement is the opposite of imposition; i.e., using the force of law. Under AIPPA, four newspapers have been closed. No self-regulatory mechanism will descend so hard and vindictively on its own constituency.

Angola and Guinea Bissau Sign Co-Operation Accord in Media Sector

The Angola Press Agency reported on February 5th that a technical-professional co-operation agreement between Angola and Guinea Bissau that foresees the sharing of information between both countries in the Social Communication field was signed Friday in Bissau.

Signatories of the referred accord were, for Angola, the Deputy Minister of Social Communication, Manuel Miguel de Carvalho "Wadijimbi", and, for Guinea Bissau, the Secretary of State for Media, João de Barros. The agreement also foresees the rehabilitation, on the part of Angola, of infrastructures of local Media public organs.

Speaking to the press, João de Barros considered the accord as historic for his country, because it will enable the sharing of information between both countries. In Guinea Bissau since last Friday, Miguel de Carvalho "Wadijimbi" visited the premises of the state-run newspaper "Nô Pintcha", of the Public Television (TGB), National Information Agency (ANG) and of the National Press (INACEP), expressing at the end of the visits Angola's desire to reinforce co-operation in this sector, through the sharing of experiences and updating the technical- professional means of the two nations. "Wadijimbi" also met with the President of Guinea Bissau, João Bernardo Nino Vieira, as well as with the Minister of the Cabinet's Presidency, Social Communication and Parliamentary Affairs.

Technology & convergence

Technology Facilitates Community-Media Convergence

In Ifocus, on February 2nd, Isaac A Tetteh, webmaster and news editor on Radio Gold 90.5, Fm Accra, Ghana wrote that, “I have always held the opinion that the convergence of all the media forms on the Internet will happen faster than anticipated. There is even a prediction that the last newspaper will be produced in April 2040. This may be true because many newspapers today have their online versions, which can be accessed either by paying to read them online or they are totally free. Radio stations are all thinking of or are already streaming live on the Internet (webcasting/netcasting). On a continent like the one I come from (Africa), I observe with pleasure the webcast craze among radio stations. Television stations are also not left out in the convergence equation. They are also streaming and it’s too obvious to talk about photojournalism and its presence on the Net. In my view, connecting digital services to physical communities has become a must. This convergence that will lead ultimately to real physical “community” is, however, fraught with difficulties. In Africa, the convergence is plagued with bandwidth limitations, lack of modern computers, lack of technical expertise to handle what’s available, etc.

“For this community to be achieved, training is needed for media handlers to understand their unique role in ensuring a smooth and cost-effective transition. Websites must be professionally produced and managed. Interactivity must be a key feature on websites. I hope to learn more about website management, online content handling, keeping up to date with new technology and ultimately build bridges (contacts) for my professional career and that of my organization.”

Lagos: THISDAY Media Store Opens At the Palms

This Day (Lagos) reported on January 31st that THISDAY Media Stores, a retail outlet for media products owned by THISDAY Music and Entertainment Group, opened its doors on January 31st in Lagos at the upscale Palms Shopping Mall and will serve customers in Lagos and its environs.

The Media Stores, which promises the latest books, magazines, music and video CDs, DVDs and all related products of value, will start on a low scale, offering its products through the Internet, as it builds up its stocks over the next few days. Most of its original stock were lost to the fire that engulfed the THISDAY Corporate Headquarters in early January.

The launching of the Store is geared towards deepening and diversifying THISDAY's media assets in retail and distribution. In announcing the launch of the Store, Chief of Staff to the Chairman of THISDAY, Mr. Gbayode Somuyiwa disclosed that its product lines will also include cellular and telecommunication products, computer accessories, photographic items, stationeries, confectioneries and cards. He said the Store will also offer to customers free Internet and music downloads in its first months, thus making it a one-stop shop for entertainment lovers in the Lagos metropolis.

Launched in February 2003, THISDAY Music and Entertainment Group, apart from opening the Media Store, also has licences to show latest Hollywood mo-vies, real time in Nigeria, having won licences to represent international studios and others across Africa. THISDAY has been a pioneer in media technology and remains the first newspaper from Sub-Saharan Africa to use satellite-enabled networks to provide news to readers real-time.

SA: Sea Change in Media Industry

Business Day (Johannesbury) wrote on January 29th that media and entertainment companies are facing a radical shake-up as the adoption of mobile technologies and changing content and distribution models reshape the landscape. A Global Media & Entertainment Centre Survey by Ernst & Young found that advances in mobile technology and increasing public expectations for content on demand were driving some key changes.

The evolution is demonstrated by comparing a similar survey by Ernst & Young in 2004, when 75% of respondents viewed digital video recorders as the primary driver for industry change. Now, 86% of respondents believe changing content and distribution models are the greatest catalyst. Also in 2004, more than half the respondents believed cable operators were in the driver's seat. Now, 77% believe internet media providers are the most likely market winners.

SA is seeing a rapid growth in media and entertainment companies as more licences are made available for satellite and cable broadcasting. Cellular phones are also expanding into the entertainment market. "As with global companies, the key to success for local companies will be the agility to respond to new technologies with compelling content," says Julia Lamberth, director of Ernst & Young SA's media and entertainment sector.

"They are playing a strategic role in all phases of transactions, from assessment to post-integration," says Nendick. While 93% of respondents agree that the finance function plays a key role in mergers and acquisitions activity, few organisations follow a rigorous process to track the performance of an acquired entity or asset against the original investment criteria. More than 200 finance executives from major media and entertainment companies around the world were surveyed.

South Africa: From Turning Pages to Downloading Them

Inter Press Service (Johannesburg) wrote on January 23rd that press freedom is making a stand online instead of in the pages of newspapers and magazines. Zimbabwe's harsh business environment, coupled with restrictive media legislation, has led to the creation of a stream of news websites focusing on events in the Southern African country. Some online material also finds its way onto the three foreign-based radio stations that deal with Zimbabwean affairs. Voice of America broadcasts a news bulletin from Washington DC via AM while SW Radio Africa and Voice of the People both relay their own separate bulletins from Britain and South Africa, respectively. Despite being at a considerable distance from sources and audiences alike, the radio stations have come to be key providers of independent news and analysis for people in Zimbabwe. However, the channels have recently reported having their signals jammed, allegedly by the government.

Zimbabwesituation.com was launched in April 2000, just after the land invasions of white-owned farms started, "initially to keep friends and family abroad aware of what was happening in Zimbabwe," says Australia-based co-founder Barbara Goss. The site has an average of "80,000 page views per week, while hundreds subscribe to its e-mail newsletter", according to Goss.

In 2005, newzimbabwe.com claimed to be the most popular website in Zimbabwe, rating higher than even the 100-year-old government-controlled daily, The Herald. This followed a ranking of global sites in terms of traffic volume by Alexa Web Search, a U.S.-based search platform which reportedly placed newzimbabwe.com at position 38,154, higher than The Herald at 41,874.

But, while many Zimbabweans can log onto the web, there are more who can't. The International Telecommunication Union, a Geneva-based international organisation through which governments and the private sector coordinate global telecom networks and services, says only 6.7 percent of Zimbabweans in the country were connected in 2005.

Furthermore, internet cafés have become "outrageously priced beyond the reach of many", while in the capital of Harare access is also hampered by regular power cuts, explains a report by the African Media Barometer. But London-based Gerry Jackson, whose SW Radio Africa offers audio streaming through its website, says the Zimbabwe story provides little scope for balance. "It is primarily a story of a government oppressing its people," she argues.

Nigeria: Will the internet sector ever remain the same?

Vanguard (Lagos) wrote on January 31st that making a presentation for a Nigerian resuscitated company over the week, Mr. Sandeep Jayaswal gave an indication of the readiness of some Nigerian companies to step out boldly and introduce technology that can put easy communication tools in the hands of the people while being encouraged to spend less but reach the world.

Speaking on the platform of Hyperia, a company recently acquired by the CIS Group and empowered with over $7million to introduce a cocktail of services, Jayaswal said the plan this time is to take internet to every village where there is a computer in Nigeria.

What is coming this time is something that will excite the industry, a step above what the industry has been used to in the past few years. Hyperia is coming with a triple service offering and this will make it possible for customers to do voice, internet, video or TV. This is an ambitious project; Jayaswal called the triple play service of broadband internet, voice and television service all in one, and is the first of such service ever. Concerning the TV offering, he informed that his organization was already working on the local and international content.

Interestingly, according to Jayaswal, the cost will not kill. In his words: "Probably, the biggest technical input has come in form of self owned Teleport in London. Hyperia now owns Sky Port Teleport in London which has ten satellite antennas, fully redundant internet backbone, fully redundant state of the art Gilat Sky Edge Hub and fully redundant power supply along with highly skilled technocrats."

In addition to the massive uplifting by the teleport, he explained that Hyperia has introduced technical capabilities by making strategic partnership with Gilat for VSAT, Navini for Wi-Max, Net Suite for ERP, Magnaquest for Billing Software, Astra for Satellite space and PCCW for Voice Traffic. "We are also using intensively CISCO Networking products and HP Servers," he said.

Expressing the joy that he was back home, Jayaswal informed that immediately, Hyperia is in the process of launching a revolutionary C-Band VSAT service covering Nigeria and full Africa based on Gilat's Sky Edge Technology. Already a non line of sight Wireless Broadband Internet in Rivers State based on state of the art Navini WiMax technology. The service, according to him, will soon be extended to other parts of the country. He pledged that the technology will be rain tolerant, suitable for tropical climate, guaranteed voice, and this will be regardless of bandwidth consumption.

txtNation welcomes mobile revolution in West Africa

txtNation wrote that analysts know that West Africa is shaping up to become one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world. For too long now, West Africa has suffered from a lack of infrastructure, but things are changing and mobile companies are desperate to get a foothold. txtNation has had huge success, particularly in Nigeria. With more countries in the region coming on board from 2007, txtNation is well placed to take advantage of this new hunger for mobile technology in West Africa.

txtNation is no stranger to the African market. They formed an important relationship with Endemol in South Africa to supply SMS and telephone voting technology for Nigeria’s massive popular hit of the television franchise Big Brother. The Nigerian Big Brother series demonstrates the passion for text messaging in the country, garnering millions of votes. Soon, txtNation will reprise its role there by empowering another worldwide franchise – the Nigerian version of the UK’s Pop Idol and the USA’s American Idol.

Nigeria is the mobile powerhouse in West Africa, already slated as the largest mobile market on the continent, but there are contenders elsewhere, whose infrastructure is improving visibly year-on-year.

In Ghana, some analysts believe that mobile growth could overtake some western countries. In line with txtNation’s commitment to Africa, Ghanaian businesses are able to fully utilise txtNation’s billing, content and messaging solutions from next year. Ghana and Nigeria join other African nations (such as South Africa, Egypt, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya) on the growing list of txtNation-enable countries.

People

Appointment: Royal Media Picks New Executive

The Nation (Nairobi) wrote on January 31st that a former managing director of the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation is the new boss of Royal Media Services. In a statement, the company announced that Mr Wachira Waruru, who until yesterday was the chief executive of the Kenya Film Commission, had been appointed as a step to consolidate its position in the media industry.

As MD, Mr Waruru will oversee the running of Royal Media Services' interests in radio and television as well as a weekly newspaper. During his tenure KBC, Mr Waruru relaunched the station's news presentation, rebranded the corporation's TV station as Channel 1 and turned the hitherto financially struggling state corporation into a commercially viable station. He was credited with professionalising the public broadcaster and resisting the pressure to favour those in political power.

Information and Communication minister Mutahi Kagwe has appointed KBC news anchor Nyatichi Sitati to act in Mr Waruru's place at the Kenya Film Commission. Mr Kagwe also appointed Mrs Rose Simba chairperson of the Appeal Tribunal with Mr Arthur Ogwayo and Mr Richard Mutiso as members for three years. When Mr Waruru was moved from KBC many complained that the move was being made for political expediency.

Shortly before his removal politicians aligned to the ruling class had started complaining about Mr Waruru's stewardship of the public broadcaster especially during the referendum campaigns of the previous year and when the changes were finally made many were not surprised and believed that was the main reason he was moved.

Death: Alpheons Moroke

Throngs of mourners among them Rudeboy descended on the sleepy village of Mochudi this past Saturday (2nd February) to pay their last respects to a fallen journalist, Alpheons Moroke.

Long time host of Botswana Television's "The Eye" programme who drowned in a swimming pool at the Reef Hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, was given a burial fit for a king with colleagues and friends from a broad-spectrum in attendance.

Appointment: DAAR Communications Appoints Lawal As DG

This Day (Lagos) reported on January 21st that the management of DAAR Communications Limited, owners of Africa Independent Television (AIT) and Ray Power 100 FM, yesterday announced the appointment of Mr. Ladi Lawal, who was previously its executive director (Operations) as the organisation's Director General. The statement said Lawal, prior to the new appointment was "a founding member of DAAR communications Limited, who held several strategic positions in the company until his new appointment as the director general".

Lawal's journalism career spans both the print and electronic media, where he served in public sector broadcasting as news staff of Radio Nigeria, before rising to a supervisory level. After his basic education at Ladi-Lak Institute, Yaba; Lagos City College, Yaba and the School of Management and Vocations, Kwara State College of Technology, Ilorin; he studied journalism at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ) and later took part-time study in History and International Relations. Apart from being a member of the Board of Directors, since the company's inception, Lawal also served in such capacities as Director of News and Current Affairs, Deputy General Manager (operations), General manager (Television), Special Assistant to the Executive Chairman, Chief Operating Officer (COO) and as an Executive Director in charge of Operations.

Lawal's career in the media, which has largely been eventful dated back when left Radio Nigeria, to take up an appointment in the print media as Chairman, Editorial Board of The News/Tempo, where he maintained a regular column in the Tempo. Following the deregulation of the broadcast sector, Lawal immediately returned to the Electronic media, where he faced the pioneering challenges of private sector broadcasting.

He is a former Vice president (Africa) of the defunct International Organisation of Journalists, National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Lagos chapel.

Events

Jan 25th – ‘African Woman’ magazine anniversary party (Kampala)

Feb 5th - Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation is staging a Digital Broadcasting Switchover conference in Sandton, where the technologies, the timetable, the sheer scale of the task and the enormous costs are under scrutiny.

March 23rd – Image Business Journalism Awards (organised by Corporate Image Limited)

[Some of the categories for which writers will submit articles include: Business Journalist of the Year, Financial Journalist of the Year, ICT Journalist of the Year, Small-scale Business Journalist of the Year, Business Columnist of the Year and others. A panel of five judges (reputable media personnel), backed by heads of journalism schools from leading universities in Uganda will review the submitted articles and pick the winners. Articles must have been published between January and December 2006. The awards will also include a special category for Business Executive of the Year, to be nominated and voted by the journalists themselves.]

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