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HiTv Nigeria and
Paconet Media, a Nigerian and Ethiopian private
company, announced an ambitious plan to foster an
indigenous media and entertainment industry in
Africa as a nascent source of economic development.
They want to get African based content providers who
would supply content for this first African owned
Direct-to-Home Satellite TV service, a digital
satellite service that provides encrypted
audio-visual information directly to subscribers'
homes.
"It is a move to take back what is ours," Addis
Alemayehou, managing director of Paconet Media, a
three million Birr company he founded with his wife
in January 2008, said.
Africans have often relied on western media as their
source of daily information and "it was about time
that we took the initiative to telling our story by
ourselves," he explained.
So far the initiative has 16 countries under its
consortium including Ethiopia and plans to add more.
After securing content providers, HiTv plans toenter
into a bid to get rights to broadcasting the English
premier league, the highest driving content in
Africa. Using a platform that contains all the
rights for the English Premier League and other high
value sports and entertainment content, it gives
Paconet Media and other broadcasters an opportunity
to develop or include content or channels, according
to the promoters of the plan.
"There are many benefits from this direct to home
satellite TV," Addis told Fortune. "It helps the
people of Africa share content and knowledge with
each other that was otherwise provided by western
media. The initiative plays a critical role in
developing Africa's own culture in the music and
film industries. It also provides opportunities for
talented people to showcase their works in both
areas and help the bloom media business in the
continent," Addis said.
And the promoters assert that the subscription rate
will be lower.
Since the aim is for a large amount of people to
enjoy pay-TV, subscription, fees will be kept as low
as 25 dollars to 30 dollars per month, Edmond Olotu,
manager for strategy and international business
development at HiTv, said. The initiative plans to
lobby the government with Ethiopia's benefits in
mind and intends to invite the Addis Abeba
University (AAU) into the venture.
Two transmitters will be used to receive, amplify
and retransmit a signal across the African continent
once content providers are settled with.
Operated by Entertainment Highway Limited (EHL),
HiTv is a Nigerian based companies that provides a
platform for entertainment, lifestyle, music, news
and sports; it focuses on local programs. It has
over 25 channels that are made available with low
subscription rates that makes premium content
available to a wide audience. It has also created
and developed eight in-house channels.
Paconet Media Plc also
runs the first ever FM radio in English language in
Ethiopia which started to air its pre-testing
programmes (music) just a month ago. The foundation
of this radio station is based on the owner's belief
that the international community in Addis Abeba has
no means of knowing what is going on in the city
because there is no any media that provides them
continuous information in the language they can
understand.
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