by Thinus Ferreira
MultiChoice's regionalised DStv Ghana and M-Net West Africa celebrated the first year anniversary of their Akwaaba Magic channel on DStv on 1 May with MultiChoice and M-Net working on boosting the development of Ghana's local film and TV industry.
Over the past year, MultiChoice and M-Net invested in ramping up specific Ghanaian local productions, using Ghanaian crews, ranging from Inside Out and Ghana's first telenovela Dede currently in its second season, to the crime drama series Inspector Bediako, Ghana's first medical drama series Accra Medic and reality shows like Sankofa and Date My Family Ghana.
MultiChoice's video streaming service, Showmax, recently commissioned the first Ghanaian Showmax Original, ENO.
Filming in places like Ada, Asosombo, Takoradi, Kumasi and Aburi, the creation of Akwaaba Magic has created over 5 000 direct and indirect jobs in Ghana's film and TV industry over the past year since the channel launched in March 2021.
The one year anniversary media event of Akwaaba Magic that took place on Sunday comes as MultiChoice and M-Net West Africa added Akwaaba Magic Abusua as a new TV channel on DStv as a lower-tiered rerun channel to make the content produced for the channel available to DStv subscribers on lower DStv and GOtv packages after a premium-tier run.
On Sunday 1 May DStv Ghana and M-Net West Africa marked the one year anniversary of Akwaaba Magic with a media event that was held in the country.
With up to 20 productions running concurrently and over 300 jobs created for writers, camera operators, lighting technicians, directors, production managers and editors, Akwaaba Magic channel head Kennedy Dankyi-Appah, said that M-Net created the channel to help support Ghana's film and TV industry both in funding and content distribution.
"Our fulfilment lies in the awareness the channel has brought to Ghanaian content in general - we love our own especially when it's produced well."
Alex Okyere, MultiChoice Ghana managing director, said at the event that a year later the Akwaaba Magic channel has re-ignited the interest in authentic Ghanaian storytelling, with MultiChoice and M-Net that have made an investment in the sector of over $1 million in the past year.
He said that the availability of the Akwaaba Magic channel on the MultiChoice's Showmax streaming service extends the audience for Ghanaian content to a much wider audience.
Busola Tejumola, MultiChoice's head of content and channels for West Africa, at the event noted that MultiChoice had set a high target for Akwaaba Magic content.
Richard Darko, MultiChoice Ghana chairperson, said Akwaaba Magic is part of MultiChoice's strategy of launching local channels in various African countries that are relevant to the developmental needs in these specific countries.
He said that MultiChoice will continue to support Ghana's film and TV industry with the Akwaaba Magic and Akwaaba Magic Abusua channels as well as on Showmax, to "project the rich, authentic and diverse stories from Ghana to the world".
