The new Newzroom Africa channel made its debut on
Thursday evening on MultiChoice’s DStv satellite pay-TV service, telling
viewers that the new South African TV news channel hopes “to be seen as a
strong alternative” in the local TV news and crowded media sphere.
Newzroom Afrika, set up
by Thabile Ngwato's Rapid Innovation and Thokozani Nkosi's Eclipse
TV, will compete against rivals like eNCA (DStv 403) and SABC News (DStv 404)
in a highly-contested TV space for eyeballs and advertising rands and made new
journalism appointment besides luring away on-air talent from other news
broadcasters and radio stations.
“Our promise to you is to be
an innovate and interactive multimedia news service, to be seen as as a strong
alternative for professional, incredible South African current affairs coverage.
We promise to unpack the unspoken,” said Thabile Ngwato in an on-screen launch
message as she stood next to co-founder Thokozani Nkosi before the studio’s big
video wall.
Nkosi said that the channel
hopes to bring “cutting-edge content to your screen”.
Newzroom Afrika takes over the
vacant spot of channel number 405 where the controversial Gupta family’s ANN7
used to reside before it Mzwanele Manyi took it over, rebranded it as Afro
Worldview and that saw it get shut down by MultiChoice in August 2018.
Newzroom Afrika unveiled its
new set inside its studio in Linden, Johannesburg on Thursday evening with an
L-shaped, red desk and a video wall on the right-hand side.
The NewzAtPrime co-anchor
Cathy Mohlahlana who anchored during prime time on eNCA
before she was moved back to an afternoon slot and then left, had an on-screen
TV reunion with another former eNCA star, Karyn Maughan.
Cathy Mohlahlana and Karyn Maughan
are two of several other former eNCA staffers who have made the jump to
Newzroom Afrika.
The launch broadcast – unlike the one of ANN7 which
was overshadowed by bloopers and mistakes that instantly went viral – went off
without obvious glitches or technical mistakes, with Cathy Mohlahlana and her co-anchor and sports
editor Marc Lewis, formerly involved with the SABC, who both did great.
The
first news bulletin followed a surprisingly traditional TV news approach, pace
and presentation style.
Newzroom Afrika didn’t release
a schedule to the media but its next big programming launch will be its weekday
morning show, Breaking Dawn, that will kick off on Friday morning with
presenters Sizwe Dhlomo, Carmen Reddy and Gugu
Mhlungu and that will revolve around “topical issues with informal banter
and analysis”.
Newzroom Afrika during its
first bulletin, announced that it will be covering South Africa’s general
elections set for 8 March.
It applied for and managed to secure its own branded
media berth at the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) operations centre
in Pretoria-West from where it will be able to broadcast from similar to the
other TV news channels.
TV news channels are
notoriously expensive to run and take a long time to reach break-even point.
Newzroom Afrika didn’t yet divulge details regarding possible other funders
besides MultiChoice, but the launch broadcast did contain TV commercials from
the outset that will bring in some additional money as a revenue source.
Studio, equipment, technology investments and the staff compliment who have
been hired, including how many former Afro Worldview staffers were taken over,
have not been shared.
The South African government in a statement welcomed the launch of Newzroom Afrika, with Phumla Williams, government spokesperson, saying "Government is encouraged by the growing number of 24-hour news channels in the country, which further strengthens media diversity. The introduction of Newzroom Afrika will further shape public discourse on pertinent matters affecting our nation".
"The new channel will contribute immensely to South Africa’s dynamic media industry and also contribute towards creating an informed citizenry. Government wishes Newzroom Afrika all of the best in its endeavour."
