africa_africa 30/10/2014 16:15 Page 7
Canal+ pan-African
entertainment channel
French pay-TV group Canal+ has
launched A+, a new pan-African
entertainment channel.
David Mignot, director general of
Canal+ Afrique, said the new
channel bore witness to the
broadcaster's ambition in the
continent, which like Africa, was
“immense and varied”. It will be
made available to 20 countries in
West and Central Africa as part of
the CanalSat bouquet.
A + is positioning itself as “the
great African channel”, a channel
which wants to reach a wider
audience and offer a rich, varied and
high quality
programming
service.
François
Deplanck,
director of
channels and content for Canal+
Overseas, said that A + carries
broadcaster's commitment to bring
its editorial expertise to Africa to
support the development of an
African cultural industry that was
dynamic and rich in talent, and
would become a creator of jobs.
Damiano Malchiodi, director of A +,
Multichoice expands TV
portfolio with Viacom
Viacom International Media
Networks (VIMN) Africa is
broadening its entertainment
offering on DStv across Africa with
the launch of
two new 24hour kids and
family
channels from
Nickelodeon,
while also extending the reach of
general entertainment channel BET
International in South Africa.
VIMN Africa says it now delivers
more TV channels than any other
international media company on the
continent, with a total of eight
distinct entertainment brands. This
expansion of its portfolio, which also
includes MTV, MTV Base, Comedy
Central, Nickelodeon and VH1
Classic, increases VIMN Africa’s
offering of high quality content to
said the channel saw itself in the
image of modern-day Africa:
“Multicultural, dynamic and positive.”
Multichoice: "We're
combating piracy"
Nico Meyer, chief executive officer
of MultiChoice Africa, has
confirmed the pay-TV operator is
taking steps to combat piracy,
which he says "destroys the
entertainment industry because
when content becomes available
for free, it prevents revenue
flowing back to the producers."
"MultiChoice takes piracy very
seriously because we want to protect
the entertainment industry and we
want to protect our business. We
have teams on the ground fighting
piracy. Piracy comes in various forms
and the most significant initiative
that we are busy with currently is an
exercise in which we are swappingout decoders. The old, legacy
decoders, which were easier to pirate
the signals from are being swapped
with new and more secure decoders.
This process will take a few months
to complete, but it is a significant
shift in terms of fighting piracy," he
advised.
audiences across all key
demographics.
Alex Okosi, SVP and MD, VIMN
Africa, said Nick Jr., Nicktoons and
BET International provided the
perfect complement to its existing
entertainment, music, comedy, and
kids and family
channels.
Aletta
Alberts, general
manager for
content for
MultiChoice said the three new
channels would give DStv customers
an even wider variety of
entertainment options. “Our DStv
customers will no doubt be delighted
that BET International is finally
available on their screens. And kids
will be entertained for hours with the
great shows on Nick Jr and
Nicktoons. We want to add channels
that fill a gap in our entertainment
offering and that we know our
customers will love to watch.”
Orange ramps up
Africa capacity with
Eutelsat
utelsat Communications and Orange
have concluded a multi-year
agreement for C-band capacity on
the Eutelsat 3B satellite that broadens
Orange’s satellite capabilities across Africa.
The capacity will support a fast response to
enterprises by Orange Business Services for
communications anytime, anywhere as well as
serve Orange’s own internal requirements.
The newly leased resources complement Cband transponders already leased by Orange
Business Services on the Eutelsat 5 West A and
Eutelsat 10A satellites. The additional capacity will
notably benefit enterprises operating in Africa who
need reliable VSAT connectivity between
geographically dispersed offices, including
offshore sites.
E
C-band satellite communications benefit from
two key characteristics that make them central to
Africa’s telecommunications environment: strong
performance in all climate zones, including
equatorial Africa, and availability of wide service
areas. Both features ensure that users can benefit
from secure and robust connectivity solutions in
rural and remote locations across the world that
Users can benefit from secure
and robust connectivity
solutions in rural and remote
locations across the world that
are unserved by terrestrial
networks, including equatorial
Africa.
are unserved by terrestrial networks, including
equatorial Africa.
Launched in May 2014, the Eutelsat 3B
satellite was designed to increase and diversify
Eutelsat’s resources and footprint at its 3° East
orbital position and reach Europe, Africa, the
Middle East, Central Asia and Brazil. The first
commercial satellite to assemble C, Ku and Ka
payloads in a single platform, its innovative triband configuration enables users to select the
frequency band and service area adapted to the
services delivered.
Africa Briefing 11