You're reading it here first.
Mzansi Magic (DStv 107) is set to debut on DStv on Monday 12 July as a brand-new local TV channel that will be geared primarily towards a black South African TV audience.
But why the need for this channel and when did discussions regarding the launch of such a new channel start? What will the broadcasting schedule for Mzansi Magic look like and what will the broadcasting time of Mzansi Magic's programming schedule be? Where will Mzansi Magic find the 80% local TV content to fill its schedule with? As Yolisa Phahle, Mzansi Magic channel director tells me in a comprehensive pre-start-up interview, Mzansi Magic wants to create new opportunities for content producers to show their productions.
''Mzansi Magic won't be a low budget operation,'' Yolisa Phahle tells me. ''I think its really important that if you're investing in a new TV channel, and if you're taking your viewing audience seriously, that you actually provide the resources to make content that is produced to the standards that the audience are looking for,'' she says.
For my full interview with Yolisa Phahle, Mzansi Magic channel director, click on READ MORE below.
If you look at the history of the M-Net strategy, its very clear that local content and locally produced and packaged channels are very much a part of what we do. kykNET (DStv 111) is 100% local, Channel O (DStv 320) was the first music platform for local music from South Africa and Africa; Koewee (DStv 307) again is a 100% local preschool channel in Afrikaans and now in Zulu as well. There is Africa Magic (DStv 114) and Africa Magic Plus (DStv 115); so really Mzansi Magic (DStv 107) is a natural progression for us.
What will be the broadcasting time per day when Mzansi Magic starts on Monday, 12 July?
We will be looking at a premier block, just like M-Net Series (DStv 110) for example, has a premier block. We're basically building Mzansi Magic on that same principle. The premiere broadcast block on Mzansi Magic will between 18:00 and 24:00 daily, which will then repeat across the day until the next premiere block.
We've been actually discussing it for a number of years really. Its been a work in progress. We've now reached a point in time where actually the content that we have been looking for has become available. The model for a channel like Mzansi Magic is really that there's these producers out there who already had produced content; owns content; and are looking to licence that content to broadcasters.
The real power regarding content really lies with the content owner because you can licence it to us for a year, then you can licence it to another territory for another year; so it almost kind of provides a long term revenue stream for content owners if they've got good strong content.
We've been approached over the last 12 months or so by people in South Africa who are in a similar position. I think with the cost of technology going down, people have been able to buy their own equipment and shoot and own their own content, so that was a key driver for us. Then, also the idea of giving more resources back to the local South African TV industry – it's a symbiotic relationship between broadcaster and content owner. We feel its very important to create conditions that producers and production companies in South Africa actually have the opportunity to get money to be able to make content. It's a combination of factors that have made Mzansi Magic possible for us at the moment.
Yes. We're really hoping to have that programme ready for launch in July. We want to present her in a softer way and are looking at stories which are not as hard-hitting and political discussions as one associates her maybe with, at this point in time. For me, entertainment really has to either make you laugh or cry or tell you something. Redi Direko's new talk show is not going to be hard-hitting and political. It will be strongly entertainment focused.
You're aiming for 80% local content on Mzansi Magic. With very small budgets for a new upstart channel, is that really possible and sustainable over the long term?
We're not really looking to be ''low budget''. Mzansi Magic won't be a low budget operation or TV channel. We're put together really decent production budgets for local drama and a soap and for reality because I think its really important that if you're investing in a new TV channel, and if you're taking your viewing audience seriously, that you actually provide the resources to make content that is produced to the standards that the audience are looking for.
Mzansi Magic has a mixture of production budgets.When you look at a soap you do need script writers, you do need a much bigger production staff; so Mzansi Magic will have a mixture of content. I think really its going to be a bit of a learning curve getting Mzansi Magic up and running. We're launching Mzansi Magic on 12 July and whatever resources are deemed necessary to make it a success, we will then address those matters as we go into new budgets on an annual basis.
I think we're very open minded to suggestions from content producers and content owners. One of the things that we've agreed on from the start that we as Mzansi Magic would do, is that we would give the existing content owners the opportunity to first of all also promote their work.
A lot of these guys actually make their money by selling their movies straight to DVD - that's their existing business model. We want to give them the opportunity to take their content to new markets. We're happy to negotiate opportunities for us at M-Net to promote and take that content to a new audience. The other thing is that even with regard to some of the content that we plan to commission, we have decided that in some cases we will allow the producers to sell the DVD and own the revenue from the sale of the DVD. And that's quite different because normally if you pay for something and you commission it, then, if its a flop then its your loss, and if its a success then anywhere where it succeeds - whether its a DVD or internationally - then its your success. We're looking really to share some revenue opportunities with producers going forward.
ALSO READ: Mzansi Magic working to create a new local South African soap.
ALSO READ: Redi Direko readying her big TV comeback: Get ready for Redi on Mzansi on Mzansi Magic.
ALSO READ: M-Net and MultiChoice ready to launch new TV channel Mzansi Magic in July.
