In new agreement community TV channels Mpuma Kapa TV and 1KZN TV will give Newzroom Afrika exclusive news content with the TV news channel that will give them newsroom training after MultiChoice funding.

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African TV news channel Newzroom Afrika (DStv 405) has signed a content sharing and training agreement with the two community TV channels, Mpuma Kapa TV (DStv 260) in the Eastern Cape, and 1KZN TV (DStv 261 / StarSat 486) in KwaZulu-Natal, with both channels that will provide Newzroom Afrika with content and with the TV news channel that will give them training.

Newzroom Afrika says that its "national and continental positioning will assist in providing both channels with a much greater audience reach". 

Newzroom Afrika will give Mpuma Kapa TV and 1 KZN TV editorial training and newsroom mentorship, after MultiChoice gave the community TV channels money.

In exchange, Mpuma Kapa TV and 1KZN TV will produce exclusive content for Newzroom Afrika and provide it with unspecified "news services".

1KZN TV and Mpuma Kapa TV will offer live coverage of breaking news from rural areas, participate in interviews through studio-to-studio live feeds, and package news inserts for broadcast on Newzroom Afrika.

MultiChoice has given both 1KZN TV and Mpuma Kapa TV money in the form of grants to improve their news coverage capability and to establish news bureaus in their respective provinces.

The MultiChoice money will be used to cover production equipment such as cameras, lighting, sound and computers, as well as training and technical support.

Thabile Ngwato, Newzroom Afrika CEO, in a statement says "Our vision to be Africa’s leading, credible news and information service will continue to be reflected in this new initiative. Supporting regional channels is a key portion of our overall strategy, which sees us delivering world-class offerings at every touchpoint".

Edwin Mncwango, 1KZN TV CEO, says "In its quest to provide an authentic voice to the people of KwaZulu-Natal, 1KZN TV has been wanting to expand its news coverage. This partnership – made possible by MultiChoice – will enable us to do just that, whilst also building our capacity through professional training and assistance".

Motse Mfuleni, Chairperson of the Board at Mpuma Kapa TV, says "Mpuma Kapa TV is excited to be part of this new venture, as we open up the Eastern Cape to the country and continent".

"As the leading broadcaster in the province, our news bureau can now open opportunities to train and shape a new generation of journalists and news reporters from the Eastern Cape."

Nyiko Shiburi, MultiChoice South Africa CEO, says "Regional TV stations are the lifeline for news and stories in their communities".

"We are committed to supporting and enabling them to improve the quality of broadcasting at grassroots level. Their partnerships with Newzroom Afrika will elevate local news to a national stage.  Our hyperlocal strategy is about growing and telling local stories and through this initiative, we are seeing it in action."

MultiChoice on why it helps community TV stations in South Africa like Bay TV in Port Elizabeth: 'We want a video entertainment sector that has many players who serve and understand the nuances of communities'.

The MultiChoice Group that has been investing in and helping community TV stations across South Africa like Bay TV in Port Elizabeth with equipment upgrades, technical training and content-sharing partnerships on community-level, says the pay-TV service is doing so to build out bigger and more video entertainment players in the country's broadcasting sector.

MultiChoice says that South Africa's community TV stations will not escape the onslaught of the rapid technological changes and innovation and the drastic global consumption trends that are sweeping the world and impacting all broadcasters, and will have to make adequate preparations, adapt and change with it, to ensure their ongoing existence and relevance as well.

On Thursday Port Elizabeth's Bay TV (DStv 260) officially unveiled its upgraded green-screen studi and control room facilities that are part of a R2 million upgrade investment in the community TV station from the MultiChoice Group.

The studio, servers, cameras and control room investment will help Bay TV as a community TV channel to improve its production values and on-air playout quality with the station that serves viewers in the Nelson Mandela Bay area in the Eastern Cape but can be watched nationally in South Africa on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service as well.

The upgraded Bay TV facilities include digital mobile news-gathering DMNG Pro 180 – RA (3G/4G) with a downlink server and uplink; 8 professional studio cameras; as well as a digital screen panel for alternate backdrops.

In 2014, MultiChoice donated a state-of-the-art final control centre (FCC) to Bay TV and in 2018 MultiChoice installed a studio and control room, making it possible for Bay TV to produce their own talk shows, news and other local content.

Mandla Ndlovu, MultiChoice's senior manager for corporate social investment (CSI) and transformation, about Bay TV said "you can't take for granted what it takes to build a TV station from nothing to what Bay TV is today".

"For us, it really reinforces our vision, which is a video entertainment sector that has many players; players who are able to understand their communities; players who are able to build opportunities for young people, and players who are able to bring the nuances of communities to the fore."

"That is why we invest in local community TV stations because we believe that the story of local communities, of young people, the story of our history - all of those stories are important and the best people to tell those stories are these TV stations."

"For Bay TV we were not just looking at helping to improve the studio or final control centre (FCC). We also look at what goes on to the screens - what do people see, and to what degree are the people putting this together trained," said Mandla Ndlovu.

"So what we've done over the past few years - in fact, it's been 5 years now that we've been investing in Bay TV in particular - we started with the FCC in 2014 ... so it was the equipment and then the content that goes with it."

"We also help to train the young people who work at Bay TV or Soweto TV on how to use this equipment. So they've become hot property now. You find them everywhere. You find them at SABC. You find them at e.tv. You find them at MultiChoice. But they started here."

"If you look at Bonang Matheba's show or Somizi's show and you track where that show comes from, you'll find that it's being produced by a young person who came from one of South Africa's community TV stations."

"A few weeks ago we had a State of the Province address in the Eastern Cape province and Bay TV carried that State of the Province address live. So from what Bay TV was in 2011 to what it is today, we are very, very proud."

"Bay TV, along with all the other community TV stations, need to understand that this environment of video entertainment is changing. They are not going to be competing with MultiChoice or e.tv or the SABC. There are now a lot of other players."

"So they are growing in a field where they are going to have to compete with people who are watching TV on devices in the taxi, or at work, or wherever they are watching."

So as TV stations like Bay TV and others grow, they need to be cognisant of what they need to achieve. They need to win all of those viewers," said Mandla Ndlovu.

Finding and building local broadcasting talent at community level
Motse Mfuleni, Bay TV chairperson, said "the important part is that you must build the talent locally so that they're able to tell the stories locally".

"It's important to use the expertise of these people for the Eastern Cape as well as Nelson Mandela Bay which includes Port Elizabeth, Dispatch and Uitenhage and not have that talent leaving the province and the Bay".

"Without talent, you're not going to be able to tell these stories. The biggest asset is Bay TV being able to play a role in skills development in television without people having to go to Johannesburg and Cape Town to work in the film and video content industry."

"Bay TV allows local content developers a platform to have airtime to show the portfolio of their work, without having to worry about waiting to be commissioned by a broadcaster. It's also important to reflect the cultural diversity of this region."

The TV and radio presenter Zizo Tshwete said "In this upgraded facilities the studio is beautiful and certainly the promise for the future looks absolutely bright for the Bay TV broadcasts that will be happening here".

Sibongiseni Tyali, Bay TV's head of production said "What Bay TV has done for people who want to enter the local media space is that it has given them a different avenue".

Reinhardt Botha, final control centre (FCC) controller at Bay TV, said "Bay TV has given me the opportunity to grow as a person and as a media professional as well".

Monwabisi Nzimela, the head of admin and HR at Bay TV, said "It has been an interesting journey. All I can tell you is that you learn new things every day and with all the challenges that are there, you get to understand that TV is changing on a daily basis.

A platform for local content creators to tell their stories
Joe Heshu, MultiChoice's group executive for corporate affairs, said that a community TV station like Bay TV is a platform for local content creators to "tell their stories - to tell stories about Nelson Mandela Bay, and in so doing create a talent pool that can help feed all of South Africa, and indeed take our stories to the world as we see Bay TV alumni going on and doing great things".

Tony Duba, an ANC political party member and portfolio chairperson for economic development, finance, tourism and environmental affairs in the Eastern Cape provincial legislature committee, said "Seven years ago Bay TV took its first steps as an infant in the South African TV industry but has since them claimed its rightful place as the voice of the people of not only Nelson Mandela Bay but of the entire Eastern Cape".

"The media industry in South Africa, in general, is a 'survival of the fittest' industry that is highly monopolised - which is highly monopolised."

"For community TV entities like Bay TV to survive it means people with passion and drive who are willing to kick open doors if they are not answered".

"I'm quite certain that to a large degree the pillar of support of Bay TV to date has been the support it has received from government and other progressive partners such as MultiChoice who are true to their conviction of pursuing the transformation agenda in our society."

"The Eastern Cape government has for many years been vocal about the need to transform and support new players in the media industry," said Tony Duba.

"Ownership of the industry is still too white. And what we must understand is that those who are at the top are not willing to lower the ladder so that the rest of us can climb to the top," said Tony Duba.

"This, therefore, exposes us to a dangerous situation where the few players in the broadcasting media are forcing their narrow narrative down our throats because they have means of control. As government, we have communicated our intention to transform the industry."


ALSO READ: IN IMAGES. 29 photos of the Bay TV community TV station's official inauguration ceremony of its upgraded studio and control room in Port Elizabeth done with the help of MultiChoice.
ALSO READ: Port Elizabeth's Bay TV community station officially unveils its upgraded studio and control room facilities with the help of MultiChoice.

Port Elizabeth's Bay TV community station officially unveils its upgraded studio and control room facilities with the help of MultiChoice.

Port Elizabeth's Bay TV (DStv 260) officially unveiled its upgraded green-screen studio and adjacent control room facilities that are part of a R2 million upgrade investment in the community TV station by the MultiChoice Group.

The studio, servers, cameras and control room investment will help Bay TV as a community TV channel to improve its production values and on-air playout quality with the station that serves viewers in the Nelson Mandela Bay area in the Eastern Cape but can be watched nationally in South Africa on MultiChoice's DStv satellite pay-TV service as well.

The upgraded Bay TV facilities include digital mobile news-gathering DMNG Pro 180 – RA (3G/4G) with a downlink server and uplink; 8 professional studio cameras; as well as a digital screen panel for alternate backdrops.

In 2014, MultiChoice donated a state-of-the-art final control centre (FCC) to Bay TV and in 2018 MultiChoice installed a studio and control room, making it possible for Bay TV to produce their own talk shows, news and other local content.

Bay TV now broadcasts for 24 hours per day, 7 days a week.

On Thursday evening Bay TV and MultiChoice held an official inauguration and handover ceremony under a big white marquee tent in front of the Bay TV offices in Port Elizabeth to celebrate the station's technical infrastructure revamp.

"The biggest asset we have is the ability for skills development in television and we are able to use a platform such as this to develop our people to tell our own stories - because without talent you are not going to be able to do that," said Motse Mfuleni, Bay TV chairperson, who spoke at the event.

Motse Mfuleni said ongoing investment into Bay TV as well as other community TV stations across South Africa is important to help independent community television channels in the country to find and grow local talent in their own communities.

"We have seen talent that we have developed and grown, feed the broader media community - whether it be at technical level, camera crews, engineers and presenters. Our passion is about creating a platform for out talent to profile their work without having to go through what can be arduous and restrictive commissioning processes."

Bay TV is one of 6 South African community TV stations that MultiChoice is supporting, providing equipment, training opportunities, as well as content. The other channels are Tshwane TV, Gau TV, 1KZN TV, Soweto TV and Cape Town TV (CTV).

In 2018 CTV in a submission to South Africa's broadcasting regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa), revealed the massive extent to which community TV stations in South Africa are dependent for their financial survival on the money and support they are receiving from MultiChoice without which they would essentially shut down.

"Carriage on national pay-TV platforms is essential to the survival of the community TV channels in the current broadcasting environment," CTV told the broadcasting regulator last year.

Joe Heshu, MultiChoice's group executive for corporate affairs in a statement about the Bay TV investment and upgrades, says "For us it's about broadening access to African story-telling and creating platforms for local content creators to tell their stories, and in so doing, creating a talent pipeline that can feed all of South African and indeed take our stories to the world".

Joe Heshu says "Through our investments in infrastructure, technology and empowerment initiatives, we are proud to empower an entertainment supply chain which in turn supports local business and communities. In turn, and for stations like Bay TV, this means more local content for local communities".

"We continue to play a significant role in communities touched by our business operations by adding economic value, creating enterprise and employment opportunities, providing training opportunities and technical support, which ultimately grows and empowers the video entertainment sector."

Beyond the physical infrastructure and technical equipment upgrades at community TV stations, MultiChoice also has an ongoing partnership with community TV stations for the provision of content – specifically for the MultiChoice Diski and SuperSport Rugby Challenge events.

The Diski Challenge, done in partnership with the Premier Soccer League (PSL) gives young people opportunities to gain and improve broadcasting skills through the production of football content.

The various community TV channels receive full content distribution rights from MultiChoice for all content generated for the Diski and Rugby challenge, including all live matches, non-live match and all highlights packages. 

In addition, the community TV channels also have the right to generate their own content from related events on and off the field.

"Sharing these broadcast rights not only ensures the community channels become involved in the delivery of high-quality, live sports content to their audiences but also positions the channels to gain stronger market presence, which will improve their ability to commercialise the content over time," says Joe Heshu.

"We also provide technical support and equipment to the channels to ensure that they can receive and make use of the content rights so that they can improve the quality of their overall broadcast delivery."

ALSO READ: IN IMAGES. 29 photos of the Bay TV community TV station's official inauguration ceremony of its upgraded studio and control room in Port Elizabeth done with the help of MultiChoice.
ALSO READ: MultiChoice on why it helps community TV stations in South Africa like Bay TV in Port Elizabeth: 'We want a video entertainment sector that has many players who serve and understand the nuances of communities'.

BREAKING. Community television in South Africa takes a giant leap forward, forms new Association of Community Television South Africa.

The growing community television sector in South Africa is taking a giant leap forward with the formation of a new association, the Association of Community Television South Africa, which will be known as ACTSA and will represent the interest of community television and community TV stations in South Africa.

All of the existing community television licensees in South Africa - Soweto TV, Cape Town TV (CTV), Bay TV, One KZN (1KZN), Tshwane TV, North West TV and Bara TV - have signed a joint memorandum of understanding to create the Association of Community Television South Africa which will act to protect and promote, support and canvass for the community television sector in the country.

ACTSA will lobby for the community television sector in South Africa - under threat from a litany of challenges ranging from high signal distribution fees, undue influence and take-over threats from big corporate conglomerates, a lack of skilled personnel and training issues, soaring programming costs and even massive upcoming frequency disruption and viewer confusion as South Africa transitions from an analogue to a digital broadcasting space where community stations have to vacate their analogue frequencies and hope that viewers will be able to find them again.

Then there is also the South African government's interference. The government has started talk about the possible "regionalisation" of community television in South Africa to "provincial level" - something community TV stations don't want or need.

The government also wants to change the law to give the department of communication sweeping powers to appoint the boards of community television stations in South Africa - something else community TV stations are opposed to.

ACTSA will try and help with programme syndication, content exchange, the maximising of possible commercial opportunities as well as training and capacity building between community TV stations in the country.

ACTSA has elected an interim steering committee led by Motse Mfuleni from Bay TV as the chairperson, Karen Thorne from CTV as the deputy chairperson and Colin MacKenzie from Tshwane TV as the general secretary.

"ACTSA will make an important contribution to building media diversity and development in South Africa," says Motse Mfuleni. "Now we as the community television sector have a body that provides support and guidance for community TV stations and we are able to address our issues with one voice representing all the stakeholders in the sector."

ACTSA says all community TV stations joining the association have agreed to "a range of common values". These include a people-centered rather than a profit-driven approach to broadcasting, editorial and fiduciary independence, freedom of speech and community participation.

ACTSA will formulate a charter to help guide the activities of South Africa's community television sector which will include issues such as the mandate of community television in the country, programming, revenue streams and distribution platforms, governance, ownership and control and licensing categories.