Africa

General

Africa as a continent hosts more than fifty nations, each with its own history, culture and language (or languages). Public TV (BBC-style) has been around globally for some time, but only since the ‘90s have commercial channels been allowed to broadcast, and then of course only to the percentage of African households with TV. This figure reached a staggeringly low high of 3.5% in 1996.

Most programmes are imported although local production does exist, notably in South Africa and Nigeria. Agriculture, arts, culture, health, history and environmental issues dominate local production of low-budget documentaries, which are shared by means of URTNA (the Union of National Radio and Television), a pan-African company set up in 1962. Pay-TV operator Multichoice Africa covers the entire continent, with 860,000 subscribers, offering 55 video channels. It is owned by the MIH group. M-Net is the trading banner for the South African Electronic Media Network, which penetrates 36 nations. Additionally, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) beams 2 channels continent-wide.

Lusophone TV

Portuguese TV in Mozambique and Angola is state-controlled, but private competition is emergent despite the handicap of having little access to advertising, which is monopolised by the state. In Mozambique the principal player is Radio- Television Mozambique, which still transmits a high proportion of serious programming alongside an increasing quota set aside for entertainment. Commercial competitor Radio-TV Klint was forced to sell out to the Brazilian Church of the Universal Reign of God, which provides a mixture of religion and entertainment. Africa is fond of free/subsidised imports from both Portuguese and Brazilian distributors, but is not particularly big on higher-priced, anglophone US TV.