Tshwane TV will be added to DStv from Tuesday 9 July on channel 262 and CTV will be added to DStv from September on channel 263, giving both these South African television stations a national, and much wider footprint.
The addition of the two further local community TV channels form part of MultiChoice's programming strategy to provide more local South African television content for the DStv pay-TV platform.
DStv already provides South African viewers with three community television stations, Soweto TV (DStv 251), Bay TV (DStv 260) from Port Elizabeth, and 1 KZN (DStv 261).
All three are all producing and broadcasting local content and regional news for several hours per day and which are slowly but surely strengthening the firmament which is South Africa's local television production industry.
"Our goal has been to establish an independent and sustainable community television station," says Ruth Phume, Tshwane TV station manager. "One of our initial objectives was to increase our geographical reach and viewership through a partnership with existing broadcasters. We are delighted that we have achieved this through our agreement with DStv."
"We are delighted to launch Tshwane TV on DStv. The addition of this channel strengthens our local content offering on DStv," says Robyn Smith, MultiChoice's content manager.
Tshwane TV has 6 hours of primetime viewing daily from 18:00 to midnight; a mix of locally-produced and international programmes in 7 different languages, English, Afrikaans, Setswana, Sepedi, Venda, Tsonga and Zulu.
"September is a fitting date for Cape Town Television's broadcast expansion because it will be exactly five years old when it launches on the second frequency and on DStv," says Karen Thorne, CTV station manager.
The Cape Town community television station in September will have a stronger terrestrial channel signal when it adds a second terrestrial frequency after approval from South Africa's broadcasting regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).
Besides channel 67, CTV is also getting channel 32 lower in the available spectrum which means that more Capetonians will be able to pick up Cape Town Television's free-to-air signal easier with an aerial.
Regarding the addition to MultiChoice's DStv, CTV which is refreshing its look with new on-air branding says its wider availability to viewers will "be a breath of fresh air in the media landscape, which is dominated by conventional and commercially-dominated TV channels" in South Africa.
"CTV's programming promotes debate and creates a rare space for authentic voices to come through in a sea of media mediocrity."
"This is a great step forward for Cape Town Television as the channel will be reaching many more viewers and it will be accessible both nationally and in neighbouring states," says Karen Thorne. "We see this as a great opportunity to showcase the city and all it has to offer to the country and the region."
CTV says the channel is working hard to produce and source more content, especially locally produced videos and thought-provoking documentaries.
