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Executive Group International and Storm to start shooting Africa's version of The Apprentice in January

Two weeks ago a crowd of hopefuls sat in the Serena Hotel in Kampala waiting for their turn to audition for Africa’s version of the Apprentice, the search for business person show that has been popular in the USA (with Donald Trump as the host) and in the UK (with Sir Alan Sugar). In January 2008, a Nigerian-American production company called Executive Group International will start shooting. Russell Southwood sees what all the hoopl-la is all about.

In issue 19

Content

South Africa: Five New Channels for DStv as it lays out battle lines with new Pay TV rivals

Kenya: Supersport Beats GTV to KPL sponsorship deal

South Africa: Kevin Savage for OFM

Southern Africa Direct Goes Live on Sky Channel 283

Broadcast

MultiChoice hits 2 million subscribers across and grows despite competition

Uganda: Radio stations urged to explain ebola to listeners by District Commissioner

South Africa: Feb RAMS Show Radio Audiences Remain Unmoved

Sierra Leone: GTV launches new Pay TV channel

Distribution

Algeria: Algérie Télécom launches triple play service

South Africa: Successful Launch of New Pay TV Satellite

Investment

South Africa: Global Media Planning Agency Launches in Country

South Africa: Naspers Interim Profit Rises As Competition Looms in Pay-TV

More

Regulation & policy

Technology & convergence

Events

People

Opportunities

Top story

Executive Group International and Storm to start shooting Africa's version of The Apprentice in January

Two weeks ago a crowd of hopefuls sat in the Serena Hotel in Kampala waiting for their turn to audition for Africa’s version of the Apprentice, the search for business person show that has been popular in the USA (with Donald Trump as the host) and in the UK (with Sir Alan Sugar). In January 2008, a Nigerian-American production company called Executive Group International will start shooting. Russell Southwood sees what all the hoopl-la is all about.

The smartly-dressed Kampala candidates sat waiting nervously and looked outwardly as if they were going for a job interview, which in a way they were. The winner from this search for a business will get an annual salary of US$200,000, a luxury vehicle and a job in Nigerian host Biodun Shobanji’s company. The Ugandan candidates included doctors, lawyers, tax consultants, insurance brokers and journalists. Each of the last 10 were taken through a Q&A session where they had to explain what drove them, their greatest fear, the fictional character they admired the most, their definition of success and how badly they wanted to be on the show. They were then asked to perform a one-minute "feat" that would impress the CEO into choosing them over their competitors.

The programme will introduce 18 selected candidates from a number of African countries (including Nigeria, South Africa, United Kingdom, Ghana, Tanzania, London and Kenya) in the sixteen week reality show. According to the show’s producers, the reality series will focus on education, leadership, management skill sets, entertainment and introduce to the Africa-wide viewing audience varying African contestants who will learn to work together through professional and personal adversity. At the end of each episode one of the candidates is fired.

However, as anyone who is familiar with the show in its previous incarnations knows, it is the theatre of the host telling the contestants “the story of their lives” before firing them and the accompany circus of contestants slagging each other off and occasionally sleeping with each other (off screen, we hasten to add) that gets the audience’s adrenalin running.

The Apprentice was originally developed by Mark Burnett, who successfully brought Survivor to the USA. The format has already had its first outing on the continent with a version in South Africa that was fronted by ANC “mover and shaker” and businessman Tokyo Sexwale. The new version for the rest of Africa has been created by the Executive Group and Storm Vision Ltd and in Nigeria it has teamed up in partnership with Bank PHB. The Executive Group pitches itself as an investment vehicle that will be making investments in television productions, energy and real estate.

The show’s host could only really be Nigerian as it has a number of successful self-made entrepreneurs who have the outspokenness widely famed across the continent. The chosen Nigerian is Biodun Shobanjo (known as Shobee) who is known as the “father of Nigerian advertising” and is currently the Chair of the Troyka Group and Insight Grey, Nigeria’s largest advertising agency. He gets the title of founding father as the best known of a trio of bright professionals who set up a tiny firm and then grew it into a conglomerate of seven thousand staff over twenty-five years. He has cultivated his image by wearing bow-ties and tailored suits.

He started life in broadcasting thirty six years ago but left to produce advertising commercials. An interview in African Business gives a flavour of his style: “I’m driven by success. People say I’m very aggressive. I have no apologies for that because winning is everything. You’ve got to come first and to come first, you’ve got to work very hard. These are things I imbibed from a very young age.”

He has also clearly dealt with having to make hard choices about people:” “People have disappointed me in the course of time. I think it’s a Nigerian phenomenon. You tell a man to run a business, this same man has everything going for him but you later discover that he has floated a parallel company to the company you gave him to run. That’s been a low point for me. You just wonder why people will do that kind of thing. You find people who you think are part of you and they then stab you in the back when you turn around, they try to take your business.”

The 17 tasks in The Apprentice Africa have been developed to showcase emerging sectors in the African economy like telecommunications, banking, aviation, hospitality and tourism. It will be interesting to see whether the show will be the start of Africans seeing themselves in a different way. No more the poor victim of a cruel global economy but active players in their own destinies.

Content

South Africa: Five New Channels for DStv as it lays out battle lines with new Pay TV rivals

DStv's MultiChoice launched an additional five channels to its existing bouquet at the Constitution Hill in Johannesburg, sending a clear message to its newly-baptised rivals that it will fight on despite the end of its 12-year monopoly of South Africa's pay TV market.

Four new pay TV operators - Telkom Media, WOWtv, ODM and E-sat - were recently awarded licences in South Africa and will start broadcasting next year, completely changing the pay TV landscape and pushing the veteran DStv to the limits. The new DStv channels are The Style Network, One Gospel, M-Net Stars, Animax and Sony Entertainment Television (SET).

One Gospel is expected to cater for local and international gospel and is due to start showing on 4 November. Scheduled to start at 7pm, the launch only kicked off almost an hour late, with the media anxiously waiting as their deadline loomed and the cold weather and overcast sky threatened the city of gold. But when it began, it was fun all the way, an absolute first-class entertainment and a night to remember for those who braved Joburg's weather to grace the event.

(Biz-Community (Cape Town), 28 November 2007)

Kenya: Supersport Beats GTV to KPL sponsorship deal

Following months of speculation over who would be the likely sponsor of the Kenya Premier League (KPL), last Wednesday pay television channel SuperSport sealed a four-year deal with KPL to sponsor the league.

According to the details of the deal that was concluded by KPL boss Patrick Naggi and SuperSport Chief Executive Officer Imtiaz Patel, KPL matches will be live on SuperSport from next year. By press time, an official of SuperSport was due in Nairobi to conclusively seal the deal.

It has emerged that GTV which has already concluded deals with Tanzania and Uganda Football federations failed to come to a common stand with KPL officials. GTV are said to have offered far much less as compared to the figure they gave Uganda and regional body CECAFA.

According to a statement from SuperSport, the company is making a significant investment in the KPL that goes well beyond broadcasting matches but details of the financial investment were not revealed.

The clubs are expected to hold an account with signatories, have a database for all players and their contracts, be registered, have a physical address, and be able to produce audited accounts of their income and expenditure at the end of every year.

The company recently concluded broadcasting deals with the Premier Soccer League of South Africa and the Zambia FA. In Zambia SuperSport is giving each club $25,000. Next season's KPL kicks off mid- February.

(East African Business Week (Kampala), 26 November 2007)

South Africa: Kevin Savage for OFM

Central South African radio station OFM has signed broadcasting legend Kevin Savage to host the weekend mid-morning slot 9am - 1pm, as well as Lindsay Batteson to co-host the youth show with Divan de le Guerre, weeknights, 9pm until midnight. Savage and Batteson join the station on 1 May 2007.

Savage described his move to OFM as a sort of homecoming. "When Capitol Radio started in 1979, it could only be heard in Bloemfontein and Welkom. I'm looking forward to the challenge of joining a dynamic team at OFM," says Savage.

Savage has an enviable broadcasting pedigree that dates back 30 years. Having worked in his hometown of London and then Canada in the '70s, he arrived on SA shores in 1979. Since then he has been a constant voice on stations like Capital 604 and 702. He is perhaps best known for his slot on 5FM where he presented the lunchtime show for a decade. He established the "Music Power Half Hour" request show in that time, a feature which still exists in a different guise.

In the late '90s he served as Programme Director at KFM in Cape Town. In recent years he has worked exclusively as a voiceover artist. There is a great demand for his voice on radio and television and he currently contributes to the entertainment magazine show "Top Billing".

(Biz-Community (Cape Town), 4 December 2007)

Southern Africa Direct Goes Live on Sky Channel 283

Southern Africa Direct, an exciting new lifestyle and culture TV channel, has now gone live on Sky channel 283. The new TV channel is dedicated to providing lifestyle & culture, travel & tourism and commerce information from 25 countries in sub-equatorial Southern Africa, an incredibly beautiful and largely undiscovered region of the world. It is the UK’s first ‘Destination TV’ channel, completely devoted to one geographic region and provides a gateway to Southern Africa with an entertaining source of accurate information for anyone interested in visiting or building commercial links with the region.

The channel’s programming will cover the following three categories:

* Lifestyle & Culture - including Music, Sport, Entertainment and History.

* Travel & Tourism - featuring Top Destinations, Exotic Places and Travel Information.

* Commerce - profiling Business, Industry and Trade information.

Southern Africa Direct has also simultaneously launched its website (www.southernafricadirect.com). This website will continue to develop to provide a highly intuitive and action packed information source that complements the TV channel, providing live streaming, links to business and tourism information, affordable travel products and many other unique Southern African goods and services.

“In the UK, 98% of the media coverage relating to Africa is negative. We believe that the many wonderful aspects of Southern African life and culture are too often ignored by the mass-media. The aim of Southern Africa Direct is to at last accurately portray the region to UK TV viewers in all its diversity,” says Pierre van der Hoven, Founding Director of the channel.

The channel will schedule programs from 25 African countries and islands with a capital city on or below the equator: Angola, Ascension Island, Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Reunion, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, St. Helena, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Content Briefs:

- "Benboulaid" movie will probably be in cinema on March 22nd to commemorate the anniversary of the death of Martyr Mostefa Benboulaid, indicated, Algerian filmmaker and producer Sadek Bakhouche. During a news conference on "Benboulaid" movie, Bakhouche declared that the "filming of the remaining scenes of the movie will be completed during the first week of January 2008," indicating that "80% of the film scenes are made".

- Moroccan feature film "Fi Ntidhar Pasolini" (Waiting for Pasolini), directed by Daoud Oulad Syad, won the award of Best Arabic film in the 31st Cairo International Film Festival, which wrapped up last Friday. Nineteen films from 16 countries competed for the Golden Pyramid and another 13 took part in the competition for best Arab film. A total of 153 films from 100 countries were screened.

Broadcast

MultiChoice hits 2 million subscribers across and grows despite competition

MultiChoice Africa and MultiChoice South Africa, the leading pay television operators in Sub-Saharan Africa announced today that combined subscribers in South Africa and the African continent have hit the 2 million mark, enhancing its leadership position in the increasingly competitive African pay-tv market. Recent shake-ups in the industry have not hampered MultiChoice Africa’s growth across the continent.

MultiChoice Africa – which covers 47 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa – has contributed growth of more than 30 000 equated subscribers (8%) in the last 6 months, despite the recent launch of new competitors in key African markets. Eben Greyling, CEO of MultiChoice Africa said the company has welcomed competition, as it has helped increase awareness of pay television, and stimulated greater interest in DStv’s products and services.

Uganda: Radio stations urged to explain ebola to listeners by District Commissioner

Gulu Resident District Commissioner Walter Ochora-Odoch has urged the radio stations and clinical officers in Acholi sub-region to sensitize the community on Ebola. The outbreak of Ebola in western Uganda has triggered panic in the country. There has been no reported case of Ebola in Gulu.

"We urge radio stations to remind residents of the symptoms of Ebola and how it is contracted," he said. "Through sensitisation, the public will know what to do in case Ebola spreads."

Gulu was last hit by Ebola in 2000. Over 20 people lost their lives, including a doctor Mathew Lukwiya of St Mary's Hospital Lacor. According to the Ministry of Health, the latest out break of Ebola has left 29 dead and 113 infected by Monday.

Ebola virus is transmitted through body contact with an infected person. All the secretions such as sweat, saliva, blood, and vomitus from an infected person are infectious. Some of the symptoms of Ebola include sudden onset of fever, bloody diarrhea, vomiting blood, bleeding from gums, bleeding into skin, bleeding from every body opening like the eyes, nose, ears, anus, etc; and blood in urine.

Some of the precautions put forward include avoid shaking hands as much as possible. If you must shake hands, wash them at the earliest opportunity with soap and water. Be on the look out for the above symptoms, especially if someone falls sick suddenly.

South Africa: Feb RAMS Show Radio Audiences Remain Unmoved

For the second RAMS in a row, no individual radio station has managed to win over significantly more listeners. The latest SAARF Radio Audience Measurement Survey shows a medium with very little movement, save for people's listening for an extra three minutes a day.

While weekly listening levels remain static over the previous period, seven-day listening for RAMS February 2007 is significantly higher than the year previous. Past seven day (p7d) listening, which fell off in the Reef, stands at 92.6%, up a mere 0.1 of a percentage point over RAMS November 2007. Average Monday to Friday listenership, which sees more coloured listeners tuning in, but fewer listeners on the Reef, is up slightly to 79.0% (from 78.7%). Saturday listening is up slightly to 74.8%, while Sunday listening has not budged, remaining stable at 73.0%.

While audience figures in total remain immobile, there have been a number of significant shifts within the profiles of several radio stations' audiences. On a national level, there has been a decline on the year previous in the number of SU-LSM 1 and 5 listeners (average M-F), and significant growth over the same period in SU-LSM 6 and 9 listeners. Individual stations showing SU-LSM shifts include Kaya FM 95.9, whose SU-LSM 5 and 6 listenership is up (p7d), while its SU-LSM 8 listener base has declined (p7d). Metro FM has lost SU-LSM 9 listeners, as well as audience in Pietermaritzburg (p7d).

5FM has gained listeners in Bloemfontein, while Lesedi FM has grown in the Northern Cape and Kimberley (all p7d). Ikwekwezi FM has increased its audience in metro areas, and Total Community is up in Pretoria (both on a p7d and average M-F level). Downward demographic shifts were seen for CKI FM Stereo in urban areas and East London (p7d), for Radio Pulpit in cities and large towns (p7d), and for Thobela FM on the Reef (average M-F). The second wave of SAARF RAMS for this year will be released on 9 May 2007.

(Biz-Community (Cape Town), 7 December 2007)

Sierra Leone: GTV launches new Pay TV channel

A new satellite pay television channel was launched on Wednesday 28 November 2007 by the country's minister of information and communications, Alhaji Ibrahim Ben Kargbo in a glittering ceremony attended by the country's television enthusiasts. In a brief chat with HANA's correspondent in Freetown before the launch Kargbo said the government and people of this country welcomed the newly established network citing the development it will bring to this nation which he said is another milestone in developing the private sector.

In his address to journalists, the minister expressed hopes that the same support enjoyed by other telecommunications companies will be given to GTV so that the firm can succeed.

The vice chairperson of YES TV, the official agent for GTV in Sierra Leone, Dr. Kande-Bureh O'Bai Kamara said GTV is determined to make world class football, news and entertainment available and affordable to every home and business in Sierra Leone.

"Sierra Leoneans love good entertainment but they have been deprived of football over the past few months. We are going to ensure that they enjoy the English Premier League," he added.

Giving a brief breakdown of how GTV will operate, O?Bai Kamara said they have 15 channels of news and entertainment for everyone.

He said that their innovative model targets mainstream consumers rather than an elite few adding that, they have the exclusive right to show 80% of the English Premier League including eight live matches per week. "We intend to cover the whole continent by the end of 2008. We are launching in nine African countries simultaneously," he concluded.

(Highway Africa News Agency (Grahamstown), 30 November 2007)

Broadcast Briefs:

- South African station M-Power FM, the new commercial radio station for Mpumalanga, took to the airwaves earlier this week. The station has been in the making since 2005 after the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) gazetted an invitation for businesses and individuals to apply for a commercial radio licence in the province. The radio station, purpose built for the province, is owned by majority owned by local business consortium Mbombela JV with a 48% stake. The other two shareholders are Direng Investment Holdings, 27.1%, and operational shareholders African Media Entertainment Limited (AME), 24.9%. AME, which also owns Algoa FM in the Eastern Cape and OFM in the Free State, has been working on the project since April 2005.

- The Algerian Broadcasting Company (TDA) has started broadcasting national television and radio programmes via the European satellite "AB 3," a TDA's release has indicated. The Algerian company had signed last November a contract allowing it to use a frequency beam on the satellite that will ensure the broadcasting of the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT).

Distribution

Algeria: Algérie Télécom launches triple play service

WiMAX services will launch in Algiers, Blida and Boumerdes, and extend to Oran, Constantine, Annaba and Ouargla before the end of 2007, opening the way for IPTV. By Branislav Pekic

The Algerian market is hungry for TV content, as most Algerians prefer to tune into foreign satellite TV channels (mostly in French) rather than watch programs from the state broadcaster, EPTV. However, the market is opening to private players, seeing new digital packages, and IPTV is on the horizon. Algérie Télécom plans to have 500,000 ADSL lines in place by mid-2007, on its way to 3 million lines by the end of 2009. According to CEO Slimane Kheiredine, WiMAX service will fill in gaps in the company's service where it does not offer ADSL and allow it to consider new services such as IPTV. The Algerian national operator is working with foreign partners like BT and Korea Telecom on developing new services. The operator is also deploying an FTTH network from Sagem Communication and is also planning to launch digital terrestrial TV trials.

In theory, French digital pay-TV packages from TPS and Canal Satellite cannot be received in Algeria, but, in reality, the smart-cards are purchased abroad by parents or friends. But the merger between the two French platforms has created problems for Algerian viewers, as the unified platform uses a more secure encryption technology, eliminating the foreign smartcard option.

This new turn of events has helped Saudi-owned ART, the only digital pay-TV operator that officially sells subscriptions in Algeria, which offers 3, 6 and 12 month subscriptions for DZD 3,000 (Algerian Dinars, approximately US$ 42.00), DZD 5,000 (US$69) and DZD 9,000 (US$125).

The only other option is satellite reception of the unencrypted French TV channels such as TF1, M6, France 2, France 5 and France 3.

South Africa: Successful Launch of New Pay TV Satellite

The SES satellite that will deliver On Digital Media (ODM)'s broadcast channels to South Africa, and later to sub-Saharan Africa, has been successfully launched, ODM announced at the end of November

Commenting on the launch, Steve Rich, VP of SES Astra, ODM's technology partner, said, "SES Astra will provide state-of-the-art services to ODM from the SIRIUS 4 satellite. The SIRIUS 4 satellite will be located at 5° East, its orbital position for delivering broadcast and broadband services across Europe, as well as transmitting high definition Television (HDTV) channels." According to Vino Govender, director of ODM, SES ASTRA is developing a video neighbourhood over Africa and will use the SIRIUS 4 bandwidth to deliver free-to-air and subscription television to broadcasters.

"We are very proud and satisfied that the mission has been a success," concluded Rich. "It is the result of excellent collaboration on the part of our launch partners, International Launch Services and Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems."

(Biz-Community (Cape Town), 28 November 2007)

Investment

South Africa: Global Media Planning Agency Launches in Country

New generation global media channel planning agency Vizeum, powered by one of Europe's independent groups Aegis Media, has recently launched in South Africa.

Heading up the joint venture as directors are Tanya Schreuder, ex group media director of FCB SA and one of the co-founding directors of Nota Bene JHB, and Richard Procter, ex media director of FCB Cape Town.

Comments Martyn Rattle, president of Vizeum Global Management, "Since our launch in 2003, the Vizeum network has rapidly expanded across Europe, Asia and the Americas; Africa was naturally identified as an important region for our network's continued growth. With the launch of Vizeum South Africa, we can truly say Vizeum is a global network offering clients, existing and potential, our challenging approach to media."

Vizeum currently has 49 offices in 41 countries globally and bills US$3 billion and employs 935 people.

Procter says that they decided to leave the corporate ad world to launch Vizeum based on the belief that the organisation would set new standards in the industry. "Its point of difference lies in an underlying philosophy called 'Motivation to Media'."

(Biz-Community (Cape Town), 11 December 2007)

South Africa: Naspers Interim Profit Rises As Competition Looms in Pay-TV

Media giant Naspers has improved its performance in the six months to September, while preparing for competition in the pay-TV arena. With new pay-TV licencees expected to enter the South African market next year, Naspers has ramped up its total subscriber figures by 109000, and subscribers on its South African platform DStv by more than 80000 over the six-month period .

The company said yesterday this gave it a total of 1.47-million subscribers in SA. The company's electronic media business boosted earnings 21% to R6,4bn from R5,2bn in the comparable 2006 period. Overall core headline earnings grew 32% to R1,74bn, while profit after tax was R1,94bn, up from the R891m.

Cadiz African Harvest portfolio manager Rajay Ambekar said pay-TV subscriber growth had been "most interesting". He said while the subscriber base had grown, the costs of pay-TV did not necessarily increase.

He said it was worth noting that pay-TV advertising revenue was growing faster than print media.

"While overall ad revenue increased 15%, 20% of the growth had come from pay-TV and 12% from print," he said. "I still think that competition will not have too dramatic an effect on the company."

Naspers has rolled out new pay-TV products and services, including lower-cost offerings. The market value of its listed investments nearly doubled, from R15bn at the end of the financial year in March, to R28bn in September.

"This has been largely off the back of our investment in Chinese company Tencent," said Naspers chief financial officer Steve Pacak.

The share price of Hong-Kong listed Tencent had risen from HK$30 to HK$50 in the past six months. The company had grown its "active" user base to 289-million -- making it the largest online community in China, contributing R218m to the group's core headline earnings, Pacak said.

Print media advertising revenue slowed from 22% in the comparable period to 12%. Naspers warned that this would continue.

Hein Brand, CEO of Media24, a Naspers subsidiary, said SA had experienced an "unbelievable run", but this would not be the case in the future.

He said the focus would now move away from increasing market share in print media by launching new titles, and focusing on improving margins instead.

The company acquired Kenyan internet service provider Afsat in October, forming part of the R2,1bn worth of acquisitions. It also increased its shareholding in Russian internet company mail.ru for $26m and made an offer to buy Polish instant-messaging service Gadu-Gadu for an expected $155m.

(Business Day (Johannesburg), 28 November 2007)

Investments Briefs:

- SABC has released its 70th annual report and 2007 financial statements at the Johannesburg Country Club in Auckland Park, amid a myriad troubles and controversies that continue to haunt it. Unfortunately, the results show that the public broadcaster has performed dismally compared to last financial year, posting only an after-tax profit of R183 million - a shocking decline of 52% against last year's R383 million. The public broadcaster has, however, generated revenue for the year of R4.3 billion, an increase of 8.2% over its prior year's performance. But chief financial officer Robin Nicholson said rising employee costs, marketing expenses and professional and consulting fees of 9%, 42% and 186%, respectively, have considerably hurt the 2007 profitability. No dividends were declared or paid during the year under review.

More

Regulation & policy

Nigeria: Big Brother Africa - M-Net to Pay N10 Million Fine

Multichoice Nigeria has been fined the sum of N10million for violating Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) Act by beaming pornographic images to Nigerian viewers during the 'Big Bother Africa' programme which has recently terminated.by Leon Usigbe.

Officials of the South African-based satellite broadcast outfit had appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Information and National Orientation last Thursday where they apologized for the error in airing the offensive edition.

The chairman of the committee, Hon. Dino Melaye confirmed to newsmen yesterday in Abuja that the company has agreed to pay the fine even as it has already tendered a public apology to Nigerians on the act.

He said that the intention of the House committee was to demand for $5million fine relying on the powers of the regulatory body to fix the fine but officials of the Federal Ministry of Information and the NBC had prevailed on the committee to lesson the fine.

The producer of the offensive edition, Mr. Martins Ngubane has been allegedly relived of his position by the authority of the company to show their displeasure over the airing of the programme.

According to officials of Multichioce Nigeria, Mr. Ngubane was fired under pressure from the House of Representatives which posited that the Nigerian housemate in the programme, Ofunneka Molokwu was not given adequate protection leading to her involvement in an unpalatable scene.

The Operations Director of Multichoice Nigeria, Mr. Joseph Hunda who led the company's officials to the meeting with the House committee admitted that some operational guidelines of the company were ignored in the broadcast of the edition in question saying that the officials concern have been sanctioned.

Congo-Kinshasa: Thirty-Eight Broadcasters Remain Suspended - Minister Threatens to Shut Down Many of Them Permanently

JED is shocked by the statements made by Information, Press and National Communications Minister Toussaint Tshilombo Send during the "Questions d'actualités" programme broadcast on 20 November 2007 on the publicly-owned Radiotélévision nationale congolaise (RTNC).

JED is particularly scandalised and shocked by the casual responses given by the minister to justify the ban, which has been in place for more than a month, on 38 Kinshasa-based radio and television stations and by the delay in re-opening the media outlets that have put their status in order.

Asked about the motivations for his 20 October ministerial decree banning the stations, Tshilombo admitted that the decision to "clean up the profession" goes back to a government meeting on 24 March, the day after armed confrontations between members of the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) and guards of the former vice-president, Jean-Pierre Bemba. To justify this "cleanup", the minister cited the absence in these companies' files of either operating licences, receipts delivered by his ministry or proof of payment of the administrative taxes to which press outlets are subject.

Soon after the announcement of this controversial measure, it was revealed that although some media outlets had incomplete administrative files, others, who said they had the documents and proof demanded of them, were targeted unfairly. And during the last month, those with incomplete files have regularised their administrative or tax status by negotiating new repayment schedules, according to information obtained by JED.

Nevertheless, the minister has still not lifted the ban. Responding to questions about this administrative anomaly, the minister said during the programme that he had launched an appeals commission that is to submit its conclusions in a month. He also threatened to permanently shut down certain stations that have not put their status in order within the two-month period granted to the commission. "In any case, our objective would be to keep no more than 10 stations," he said.

JED notes that:

- The information minister's decision appears clearly today to be the fulfillment of a political decision taken by the government, following the clashes in Kinshasa on 22 and 23 March, to punish a segment of the press wrongly accused at the time of "playing a harmful role" in triggering the events in the capital.

- The prolonged closure of these stations, despite the regularisation of their administrative files, confirms the political desire to silence bothersome media outlets.

- The two months granted to the appeals commission to submit its conclusion also apparently aims to prolong the suspension of media outlets in order to exclude them from sharing in the 2 million dollars in the 2007 budget for public aid to the press.

Facing this measure that reveals an anachronistic vision of the right to information, which is guaranteed by the country's constitution, JED calls on the representatives of the people gathered in Parliament to stop this move backwards for freedom of expression and free enterprise less than a year after the elections. JED also asks Minister Tshilombo to end this "taking of hostages" in the private media to serve hidden partisan interests.

(Journaliste En Danger (Kinshasa), 28 November 2007)

Technology & convergence

Uganda: DStv Subscribers to Pay Bills Via SMS

MULTICHOICE Uganda, the lead agent for DStv, has introduced a scratch card system that allows clients pay their subscription fees through a short message service (SMS). Richard Sebahiima, the sales and marketing manager, explained that the new system would enable the clients to pay their subscription fees without going through the appointed agents.

"It will also enable our clients to pay their subscription fees and get reconnected within five minutes," Sebahiima explained. He was on Tuesday speaking during a public sensitisation workshop on the innovations and new products introduced by the firm for its clients.

He said the system, to become operational in January, was being tested in Kampala and other parts of the country. "Even if you are a client living somewhere on Mt. Elgon, you will have your system re-connected as soon as your payment is made through the scratch card system," Sebahiima assured the clients. He disclosed that MultiChoice also planned to introduce five new channels to meet the demands of its clients.

(New Vision (Kampala), 29 November 2007)

South Africa: OFM Goes Mobile

OFM is now available anytime and anywhere - on your mobile phone - through the spodtronic network, which allows listeners to listen to from around the world by downloading the spodtronic software to their mobile phones.

In addition to the standard radio programme, spodtronic enables listeners to receive visual content and interactive services relating to the songs they are listening to, eg pictures, ring tones, song downloads, etc. The download of the software is free, needing approximately 650KB storage space on a cellphone. Costs are only for the streaming of the data, which depends on the specific network operator.

(Biz-Community (Cape Town), 4 December 2007)

Briefs for R&P and Technology:

- Exiled Somali journalists marked Human Rights Day last Monday with the launch of a programme to protect the country's besieged journalists and enhance working relations with other national journalists bodies worldwide.

-The Ghana music industry is set to receive a major boost as plans are on course to establish a Copyright Investment Bank (CIB) in the country. The CIB will give long term financing to producers and musicians with their respective copyrights at collateral as well as provide loans for copyright based project, such as creation, marketing, distribution of music, visual arts, audio-visual and arts software or for the capitalisation of existing copyright.

People

South Africa: Ormerod Means Business

Sub-Saharan Africa's first international business news channel, CNBC Africa, will be headed up by Trevor Ormerod. Ormerod, who used to head up advertising sales at the SABC, was most recently MD of Primedia @ Home. CNBC Africa will begin officially broadcasting from its Sandton (Johannesburg) headquarters in May 2007.

Nigeria: Fraud - Ex-Taraba TV GM Denies Report

Former General Manager, Taraba State Television, Sylvanus Giwa, has denied any involvement in the alleged misappropriation of funds and theft of computer accessories belonging to the station. The denial comes after a story published in the Daily Champion of October 10, 2007.

In a letter to Daily Champion, Giwa, who is currently Senior Special Assistant to the state governor on media and publicity, through his counsel, H.R. Ibi said there was no iota of truth in the earlier publication.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) donors of the said equipment, Ibi added, has since absolved his client of wrongdoing, declaring that no computer or its accessories were supplied to the station in 2006 as was reported by the newspaper. According to him, the station through one Zakaria Yarima only received 55 pieces of VHS cassette player-C120 and 15 pieces CD re-writable from UNICEF on July 12, 2007 in Kano.

Part of the letter reads: "Consequent upon the publication the sitting General Manager of Taraba Television wrote a letter to United Nations Children's Fund requesting for an exhaustive inventory of all equipment donated to the television station during the period our client served as her General Manager.

"Essentially, the General Manager got response thereof through a letter dated October 29, 2007 enumerating the following as equipment donated during the period under reference namely, 55 pieces of VHS cassette players and 15 pieces of CD re-writable."

(Daily Champion (Lagos), 3 December 2007)

Jobs & Opportunities

East Africa: Keeping Film for Children and Youth in Focus

Lola Kenya Screen 2008 Call for Film Submission Lola Kenya Screen—eastern Africa’s first and only audiovisual media festival, production workshop and market exclusively designed for children

and youth—is calling for film entries in all genres, lengths, and formats from all over the world for the 3rd Lola Kenya Screen that runs August 4-9, 2008 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Announcing the opening of the film submission period as December 1, 2007-April 15, 2008, the Lola Kenya Screen management says eligible films are those made by children and youth, made with children and youth, and those made for children and youth. In other words, the Press Release issued in Nairobi on November 29, 2007 says Lola Kenya Screen accepts films made by professionals and amateurs that focus on children and youth. Lola Kenya Screen also accepts family films.

Nairobi-based Lola Kenya Screen, that caters to children (6-13 years), youth (14-25 years), and family, receives and processes films by students, by children and youth, with children and youth, experimental films, television series, internet games and even creatively packaged music videos tackling issues related to children, youth and family.

Lola Kenya Screen serves films of all lengths, formats and in all conceivable genres.

The DEADLINE for film entries is April 15, 2008.

Film submission details and entry form is online at http://www.lolakenyascreen.or.ke/admin/filmentryform.rtf

Events

- 3rd REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON MEDIA AND ICT ISSUES IN WEST AFRICA

13-15 December 2007, Dakar, Senegal

The workshop entitled “new journalism, new technologies, improved governance” will aim at promoting uses of blogs and new ICT tools by medias for improved governance in West Africa and strengthening reporting on ICT in the region.

For further information on the workshop please contact Judith Lenti jlenti@panos-ao.org or Ken Lohento contact@cipaco.org at PIWA.

- THE CTO’S 3RD ANNUAL DIGITAL BROADCASTING SWITCHOVER FORUM

29 Jan – 1 Feb 2008, Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa

Covering National Switchover Frameworks and Planning, the Digital Dividend, the Results of WRC 07, Dual Illumination, the Broadcasting Skills Shortage, African Content Production as well as a host of other critical issues that were raised in the 2007 event.

For more information please contact Mr Matthew Dawes through m.dawes@cto.int or visit the website at www.cto.int.

- 29th Durban International Film Festival

23rd July-3rd August 2008 – Durban, South Africa

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