Zimpapers granted TV broadcasting licence
ZIMPAPERS has been granted a television broadcasting licence by the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe, making the media firm the first and only fully integrated media house in Zimbabwe with a footprint in publishing and digital, radio broadcasting, printing and packaging and now television broadcasting.
The content distribution licence comes at a time when the Zimpapers Group had already set up Zimpapers Television Network (ZTN) as a production house.
Headed by veteran journalist Nomsa Nkala, ZTN is already making a name for itself on the market where it has been producing documentaries and corporate videos for corporates and organisations.
The Content Distribution Services Licence will not only give Zimpapers a unique opportunity to offer high quality television programming but a wider reach for its story-telling prowess, opening up more portals for content-creation and distribution.
Zimpapers Group Chief Executive Mr Pikirayi Deketeke said the awarding of the licence, which will see the group tapping into the growing viewers market, fulfils Zimpapers’ long held dream to be a fully fledged media house and is a culmination of nearly a decade of investments beyond the traditional print business.
The group’s bouquet will target over three million households offering various content products at low cost.
Mr Deketeke chronicled the diversification journey undertaken by the business, saying after over a century of sustained growth, it became clear in 2011 that Zimpapers needed to seriously broaden its media footprint beyond print to include the new growth areas of digital media and broadcasting. Even though Zimpapers was and still is the dominant media player, there was a real threat that the business could decline if it remained solely tethered on print publications.
Reading habits were changing and newspaper sales were taking a knock across the board. With increased access to smart gadgets and the internet many of the readers were turning to other platforms to access news.
“As a fast thinking business, we carried out surveys. We looked around at what regional competitors and global players in the same business were doing. Kenya, South Africa, the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia were some of the markets we looked at,” he said.
“It became obvious that media was no longer just about newspapers and print products even though they remain important. We realised that digital was becoming big. We also realised that broadcasting was also a profitable avenue for distribution of our content. We then thought long and hard about how we could tap into that. After all, as Zimpapers, our competitive edge has always been content creation. We operate as a content factory that creates content and disseminates it across various platforms.
“Broadcasting, therefore, became something we got interested in with our plan being to start with radio first and then television. Our plan was to ensure that as Zimpapers we were covered across the whole spectrum — text, voice and video.”
The group then crafted a five-year strategic plan at the end of 2011, which has become the road map for its various investments.
That is how Star FM, the group’s first broadcast project was born in 2012.
“We decided to start with a national radio station before going into a metro station, Diamond FM. In line with the five year plan we met our targeted timeframe to have Diamond FM operating by the end of 2015,” said Mr Deketeke.
“Our interest in radio continued to grow such that when Kingstons Limited came to us knocking with its two radio licences for Harare and Kariba we obliged by entering into a management contract to run Capitalk FM and Nyaminyami FM, two radio projects that are experiencing phenomenal growth both in terms of audiences and business potential.”
Today, Zimpapers has a Radio Broadcasting Division led by veteran broadcaster Comfort Mbofana, which takes care of the radio interests.
It also has a Digital and Publishing Division led by General Manager Marks Shayamano that runs all its newspapers and digital platforms. A third arm is the Commercial Printing Division led by Njabulo Nkomo, with its flagship being ISO certified printer, Natprint.
Nkala described the latest development as “a new era in the history of Zimbabwe’s media, something the industry in its totality has been looking forward to.” MDC Alliance presidential candidate Advocate Nelson Chamisa’s “frivolous electoral promises that are hazardous to the public” have vindicated MDC-T breakaway president Dr Thokozani Khupe on her calls that the party should have held a congress to elect new leadership, her spokesperson said yesterday.
Dr Khupe, following the party’s founding president Morgan Tsvangirai’s death in February this year, called on the party to hold an extraordinary congress to choose its new leader but Adv Chamisa grabbed power.
In an interview, Dr Khupe’s spokesperson Mr Witness Dube said Adv Chamisa’s lack of depth and incredible bungling was shocking and it was hazardous for the public to follow his childish promises.
Adv Chamisa has grabbed every opportunity to make even the unlikeliest of political gaffes.
He has been making some unrealistic electoral promises such as introducing bullet trains, spaghetti roads while lying about meeting US president Donald Trump.
He even gambled with his 18-year-old sister saying he will give her to President Mnangagwa if he lost elections, sparking an outcry from gender activists who accused him for being insensitive to women.
Mr Dube said Adv Chamisa’s wild electoral promises and lies are enough proof that Dr Khupe was right in her call for an extraordinary congress as Adv Chamisa lacks leadership qualities.
“In fact she is being vindicated by lack of depth in Chamisa’s leadership qualities. The young man is definitely out of depth. We should have subjected the issue of leadership to the collective wisdom of the people,” said Mr Dube.
“Nonetheless we moved on with our congress and elected the MDC-T leadership that the people want. Anyone else who wants to continue with Chamisa’s child’s play can do so, it’s their choice. But when real issues are decided they will come to the real MDC-T house for real resolution.”
He said although it is regrettable that the MDC-T could split votes in the coming election, Dr Khupe would not trade principle over compromise.
“That is always regrettable and we must always understand that the principle of good leadership supersedes damages that can be on the way,” he said.
Mr Dube defended Dr Khupe-led MDC-T election manifesto titled Building an Economy to Support Transformation (BEST) that was launched on Saturday, saying it was addressing people’s expectations hence there was no need for people to make noise about it.
“It didn’t come up as a surprise because it came from the people. It wasn’t an attention grabbing manifesto, it was putting to print what people already knew we stand for. You wouldn’t expect people to start saying this could have been that. They were consulted. For people who believe in us it was a way of formalising our campaign,” said Mr Dube.
The Adv Chamisa camp on the other hand is still to come up with a manifesto and has been reacting to events in Zanu-PF, to its detriment.
Last month, MDC-T deputy president Engineer Elias Mudzuri cast aspersions on the presidency of Adv Nelson Chamisa, saying members “followed the wind” in choosing him as the late founding party president Tsvangirai’s successor.
He said the party could be forced to change its leadership if Adv Chamisa loses the coming elections. — @nqotshili