Wananchi Group gearing up to expand its East African pay-TV service, Zuku TV, into Malawi, Rwanda and Ethiopia by the end of 2014.

The Wananchi Group, the East African satellite pay-TV operator plans to expand and will launch Zuku TV in Malawi and wants to launch Zuku TV in Ethiopia and Rwanda as well by the end of this year.

The Wananchi Group will invest $10 million to launch Zuku TV in Malawi. The pay-TV operator is already available in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and growing steadily.

Following its launch in Malawi the operator will be available in 16 million TV households in East Africa.

"We believe through our compelling offering – a wide selection of entertainment channels covering news, sports, movies, documentaries and music – we are inevitably contributing to the country's digital knowledge and economy infrastructure," says Richard Alden, the Wananchi Group CEO.

"Our goal is to ensure the majority, if not all, households in the country have access to our world class digital television content at very affordable subscription charges".

"We believe that there is a rapidly growing market segment that is eager to be part of a digital multichannel television world for the range and choice that it offers to the whole family".

"Our offering has been structured to meet that need – and we see a truly exciting opportunity in this. As an East African company we are committed to maintaining a close focus on this market, and are delighted to be a part of its growth," says Richard Alden.

Richard Alden the new group CEO of Wananchi, and Zuku's self-compiled TV channels become available outside of East Africa for the first time.

Richard Alden has been appointed as the new group CEO of Wananchi, the operator of the ZUKU pay-TV platform in East Africa.

Zuku's TV channels are now also available outside of East Africa for the first time in a deal with the Seychelles-based pay-TV operator Intelvision.

Zuku's Zuku Life, all four Zuku Movies channels and Zuku Swahili Movies are now available outside of East Africa for the first time since the beginning of November.

"We're very pleased that out channels will be travelling outside of the borders of East Africa for the first time and we hope that viewers in the Seychelles will be entertained by the programming we are offering," says Hannelie Bekker, the managing director of Wananchi programming.

Meanwhile Richard Alden has moved up to group CEO position; he has been the group's chief operating officer (COO) and has taken over from Richard Bell.