Showing posts with label Tshwane Television. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tshwane Television. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

BREAKING. MultiChoice adds Tshwane TV to DStv; Cape Town Television (CTV) will be added to DStv from September.



The South African community TV stations Tshwane TV (TTV) (DStv 262) and Cape Town Television (CTV) (DStv 263) are both joining MultiChoice and are being added to the DStv platform as new nationally available television stations.

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.

Friday, September 28, 2012

TOLDJA! Tshwane TV added to TopTV from October on channel 185 as the pay-TV operator's second community TV channel.


TVSA broke the news half a month ago and I quickly got it confirmed as accurate: it still took TopTV half a month to admit to the news that the community TV station Tshwane TV will be added as a new TV channel to the pay-TV operator from Monday 1 October.

Confirming the open secret since 13 September TopTV says in a press statement that "Tshwane TV (TTV) will be broadcast on channel 185 on TopTV from 1 October".

"TopTV is adding a new channel to its bouquet when it proves a national platform for the community-based television service, Tshwane TV," says the pay-TV operator.

"For TopTV, the addition of Tshwane TV to its channel offering brings with it a variety of programming and local content as the second community-based channel in its platform," says TopTV which added 1KZN (TopTV 187) as its first community TV station in September last year.

Tshwane TV, started by Kopano Molefe, being added top TopTV, leaves two successful community TV stations in South Africa as yet unsigned with either TopTV or MultiChoice's DStv: BayTV in Port Elizabeth and CTV in Cape Town.

Tshwane TV's programming includes the first season of Generations, Be the Creature, Designer Guys, the American drama Safe Harbor and Chef at Home.

"This is an exciting development for TopTV since not everyone in the Tshwane area has been able to receive the channel," says Ian Woodrow, the vice president of channels at TopTV. "Now people with TopTV will be able to experience this channel not only in Tshwane but countrywide."

Tshwane TV has six hours of primetime viewing from 18:00 to midnight and offers a mix of locally-produced and international shows with a multilanguage format.

"Our goal with Tshwane TV has been to establish an independent and sustainable community TV station," says Collin Mackenzie, the marketing and sales director for Tshwane TV. "One of our initial objectives was to increase our geographical reach and viewership through a partnership with an existing broadcaster. We are delighted that we have achieved this through our agreement with TopTV."

Thursday, September 13, 2012

BREAKING. TopTV to add Tshwane TV as a new community TV station to its channel line-up from 1 October on channel 185.


TopTV is adding the community TV station Tshwane Television, or Tshwane TV for short, to the South African pay-TV operator's channel line up from 1 October, sources have confirmed to me.

Tshwane TV, started by Kopano Molefe, will be added to channel  185 of TopTV's line-up. The news about Tshwane TV's addition to the TopTV line-up was first broken by TVSA. Tshwane TV finally started in June last year after a long gestation period.

The addition of Tshwane TV makes it the second community TV station to be added to TopTV's line-up since 1KZN (TopTV 187) was added in September last year.

The move makes Tshwane TV - which describes itself as a "fresh urban television channel" and which launced a presenter search in July, immediately nationally available by giving the community TV channel a national broadcasting footprint.

It leaves two successful community TV stations in South Africa (as yet) unsigned with satellite pay-TV: BayTV in Port Elizabeth (which is working on its first TV comedy series) and CTV in Cape Town.

Tshwane TV's programming includes the first season of Generations, Be the Creature, Designer Guys, the American drama Safe Harbor and Chef at Home.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Tshwane Television (TTV) promises another new starting date for broadcast as a community TV station, this time 1 June 2011.


After two and a half years since being awarded a community television license and several failed promises to start broadcasting so far, Tshwane Television (TTV) is again making a promise to start broadcasting soon - this time giving 1 June 2011 as the new starting date.

The community TV station covering the Tshwane metro plans to broadcast a mix of lifestyle and children's shows, educational and documentary shows, local community news, local programmes of relevance and will also attend and film local events and shows for possible broadcast. TTV promises to make use of a multiple language format approach.