China's StarTimes adds new Rembo TV channel in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda targeting female viewers as an entertainment reality show channel.

China's StarTimes satellite pay-TV operator active in Africa on Monday launch the new Rembo TV channel in East Africa to boost local TV content production in Kenya and announced that it will invest $1.93 million in creating local content for the channel.

So far little has come of StarTimes' former promises to create a massive new studio complex in Kenya where the Chinese operator is primarily competing with MultiChoice's DStv and the Wananchi Group's Zuku.

Andy Wang, StarTimes Kenya CEO at the media launch held on Monday in Nairobi, Kenya said StarTimes will be investing $1.93 million (R288.4 million) to create content for the Rembo TV channel and will be working with 30 content developers in Kenya.

"The company has responded to the growing appeal for authentic Kenyan content that subscribers can easily relate with as it rolls out exciting fresh shows that are expected to sustain the channel's subscriber appeal moving forward".

"Our investment in Rembo TV is a statement of our long term commitment to the Kenyan market. As the 24-hour channel goes live, we intend to be home of uninterrupted entertainment attending to our subscriber demand for reality TV shows".

Rembo TV as a general entertainment channel will target a female viewership with mostly reality shows and broadcast in 60% Kiswahili, 30% English and 10% in other vernacular languages.

Rembo TV will be available in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda across all StarTimes bouquets.

"For the longest time we know what the content journey has been like for local producers," said a StarTimes Kenya executive.

"That particular journey has always been the producer comes to us and they sell content. After they sell content, they go home. And then they wait for the next cycle where they come up with a new show, and then they still bring it back to us."

"Now this model has not necessarily worked in favour of the producer. What we've now decided to do is to actually take the producer and make them run the channel. Now that's a completely different business model," StarTimes Kenya said.

Andy Wang appointed as new StarTimes Kenya CEO and Aldrine Nsubuga as regional marketing director in East Africa as StarTimes again tries to secure broadcasting rights to Kenya's soccer.

Andy Wang is taking over as new StarTimes Kenya CEO with Aldrine Nsubuga who has been appointed as the StarTimes regional marketing director for East Africa, both based in Nairobi, as StarTimes is again trying to secure broadcasting rights to Kenya's soccer.

Together with the executive appointments StarTimes has reopened negotiations with Kenya's football organisations, looking to acquire the broadcasting rights for the both the Kenyan Premier League and Kenya's National Super League (NSL), and StarTimes is in talks with the Football Kenya Federation and Kenyan Premier League officials to try and get the broadcasting rights for the first and second tier football leagues in the East African country.

The Kenyan Premier League has been without a pay-TV partner since MultiChoice and SuperSport abruptly cancelled a 5-year sponsorship contract worth millions in 2017. StarTimes tried to make a deal but failed after months of negotiations.

As part of StarTimes' management changes in East Africa, Andy Wang now replaces David Zhang who moved over to become the new StarTimes Nigeria CEO in February 2019. And Wang was previously the StarTimes CEO in Uganda and held other starTimes management positions in Malawi.

Besides StarTimes Kenya CEO, Andy Wang will also be StarTimes regional director for  East Africa and oversee the Chinese pay-TV operator's activities in Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Zambia and Malawi besides Kenya.

StarTimes says Andy Wang's position as both CEO and regional director is an opportunity as part of a new management structure "to create synergy across StarTimes' operations in the region".

StarTimes appointed Aldrine Nsubuga as the StarTimes regional marketing director for East Africa who will oversee the marketing activities across the 8 countries.

Aldrine Nsubuga says he is "delighted with the new role, this being a new management structure for the brand presents unlimited possibilities and I am confident the StarTimes brand will progressively harness its operations, understand our subscribers better while presenting an increasingly enticing television viewing experience for the whole family".

On Wednesday evening StarTimes splurged on a gala dinner to dine and wine journalists at the Serena Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, where Andy Wang touted StarTimes' focus on "innovation".

"It is a great pleasure to oversee the Kenyan operations and especially at this time when we are keen to strengthen our terrestrial and satellite television service while growing the over-the-top (OTT) business, our online video streaming service known as StarTimes ON," said Andy Wang.

China's StarTimes is aggressively competing for pay-TV subscribers across Sub-Saharan Africa with The MultiChoice Group's DStv and GOtv pay-TV services, and trying to acquire more local sports content in Kenya and across the African continent where it competes with brands like SuperSport.

"We know Kenyans are passionate and love their football so we are working with the people concerned to bring relevant content for our subscribers," says Aldrine Nsubuga.

"In Kenya, things are a bit complicated and the process can be lengthy but we are ready to go the full length. We have been in this before, encountered challenges but we are back again and we have the experience to go through this now."

Meanwhile China's Xinhua news agency that in very clear bias only reports about StarTimes as a pay-TV operator when it comes to Africa, and always positively, on Thursday reported that StarTimes Kenya, told journalists that it will "soon operationalise its regional production hub in Nairobi's suburb of Karen, in order to produce content that will appeal to local viewers".

"Our new focus is to broadcast entertaining and educational TV shows that spotlight the rich African cultural heritage so as enhance our viewership among Kenyans".

StarTimes Kenya also wants to launch a "local TV channel" to "enhance the experience of its customers".

"In this endeavor, we shall partner with local producers so that we create content that directly appeals to our subscribers," said StarTimes Kenya.

Other plans for StarTimes include producing Sino-Africa dramas that highlights the daily lives of the African community in China.