eNCA (DStv 403) will from today have a very special daily pan-African news broadcast for Sky pay-TV subscribers on channel 518 pulled together by eNCA Africa editor Chris Maroleng and his team, says Patrick Conroy, the group head of news at the eNCA.
"Sky subscribers will see it their time from 21:00 to 23:30. That will be repeated later. South African and African viewers will still get to see that same content as well here from 00:00 to 06:00," says Patrick Conroy.
"But Sky viewers get that first because we want to see if we can grow the appetite for not just South African news, but from the rest of the African content as well," says Patrick Conroy.
"Often Africa is talked about and covered in the form of stereotypes," says Chris Maroleng. "These stereotypes present Africa as a continent pervaded by doom and gloom. We believe that Africa is more than that. What we have seen in the midst of this global economic recession are countries who strongly perform in terms of GDP."
Chris Maroleng says that the Africa edition on eNCA provides an opportunity to show another side of Africa during primetime to viewers in the United Kingdom. "That is why I'm excited. That is why my team is excited about the opportunity for us to go out there and not to just begin representing South Africa; but Africa."
"This is a pivotal moment for us at eNCA and this opportunity - thanks to the visionary leadership of Patrick Conroy - for us to bring this platform together to tell the African story."
The eNCA has bureaus in Lagos, Nigeria and Nairobi, Kenia led by Robyn Kriel. "We're in the process of developing a stringer network to gather news and feed that news to us," says Chris Maroleng.
"We as South Africans suffer from a sense of separation from Africa and ourselves. Our goal at the eNCA is not only to close and restate the fact that South Africa is part of Africa, but that we as South Africans are happy to be a part of Africa," says Chris Maroleng.
