INTERVIEW. Alan Musa talks about the Turner-run TV channels in South Africa like Cartoon Network, Boomerang, and TCM.

Last week I asked Alan Musa, the vice president and general manager for the Pan Middle East and Africa (MEA) region of Turner Broadcasting Systems International, a few questions about the Cartoon Network, Boomerang and the new Cartoonito pre-school block and TCM's movie rejuventation.

Alan Musa was visiting South Africa and I touched base regarding the various Turner-run channels seen in South Africa and the latest on certain issues regarding these channels. Here is what he answered.

The childrens market in South Africa has grown very much over the past year with new channel additions, new shows, new programming blocks. How does Turner Broadcasting regard South Africa and Africa and the presence of its own kid's channels here - and compete effectively?
Alan Musa: Cartoon Network and Boomerang have been broadcast in South Africa, and Africa, for nearly 10 years, so our brands and content are well established and incredibly popular with kids of all ages. The longevity of our brands in these markets is a clear indication of how strategically important these counties are for the visibility and distribution of our channels and key content franchises.

How has Cartoon Network grown over the past year, in any level?
Cartoon Network has always hovered around the top spot in terms of popularity and viewing amongst kids. This remains so even though the kids market is getting a little busy. The launched of new series of established franchises such as Ben 10 and the launch of brand new shows like The Amazing World of Gumball has played a major part in this success.

Cartoonito has just launched as a block on Boomerang. Why is the preschool market market important to Turner, and especially in Africa now?
Turner has had a strategic ambition to expand our portfolio of brands and content into the pre-school area for quite a while.
The first part of this strategy was to identify the chief content officer who had the experience within the pre-school genre, and could lead our development into this content area – that person was Michael Carrington.

Over the last 2 years, Turner has been identifying shows within our existing portfolio, and content that we could acquire, produce, or own, that would deliver on our brand promise within the pre-school genre. Boomerang was the obvious place to launch the Cartoonito branded block as it has historically appealed to both parents and younger children.

The Cartoon Network had some live action shows in US market but that has not been scheduled for here on Cartoon Network, although we're seeing those shows like Tower Prep and Unnatural History on other channels here in South Africa. Can you explain a bit regarding the Cartoon Network programming strategy for the Africa territory? Also, will there ever be live shows on Cartoon Network, or will it remain strictly animation?

Cartoon Network in America has a more bespoke and localised approach to programming - hence the movement towards live action. There have been live action shows in the Europe, Midde East and Africa (EMEA) region and we will continue to identify great content in this area, but they will be the exception rather than the rule – however all have been highly successful.

In South Africa we produced our first live action/animation mix in 2010, and produced series 2 in 2011 – all filmed in Johannesburg, and theme around music and dance. Our programming strategy for Cartoon Network is to continually deliver on our brand promise – to make sure our content is funny, energetic, adventurous and clever – all qualities reflected and delivered upon by our great content.

ALSO READ: Tower Prep coming to Vuzu from 24 October at 20:30.
ALSO READ: Unnatural History to start on M-Net Series on 21 December at 19:30.

For 2012 are there any developments programming or otherwise that you can talk about for Boomerang and Cartoon Network for South Africa?
We have great returning series in 2012, including a couple of specials around Ben 10 for Cartoon Network, and the focus of Boomerang is making sure that Cartoonito will continue to be a success.

Is TCM rebranding or somewhat changing the type of movies the channel will be showing in future?
The look and style of TCM has always been about celebrating classic movies, but it is equally important to have an identity that reflects the brand promise of TCM – hence the graphically consistent look of the channel that emphasizes that classic movies can be drawn form either the golden age of cinema, or the more contemporary classics that we are now showing.

ALSO READ: Great Scott! The Back to the Future trilogy coming to TCM in December with a triple play on 24 December as well.