Tendai Kamhungira 
ZIMBABWE’S first independent television station, 3Ktv, will go live on both MultiChoice’s DStv and digital terrestrial television (DTT) platforms on Monday.
The station will broadcast 24 hours, seven days a week from the word go, and will be available on Channel 293 on DStv.
Announcing the partnership with DStv yesterday, Pilate Machadu — the group CEO of Jester Media Services, the parent company of 3Ktv and The Financial Gazette — said the collaboration was crucial all round, including for business, as it would see the new station reaching hundreds of thousands of consumers and firms on day one.
Jester Media Services Group chief executive Pilate Machadu, right, with Multichoice Zimbabwe general manager Norman Raisbeck pose for a picture in Harare on Tuesday.
On his part, MultiChoice Zimbabwe’s general manager, Norman Raisbeck, said the “exciting development” would further enhance the range of Zimbabwean-produced content available to its DStv customers.
“3Ktv aims to be the most followed, trusted and innovative television station in Zimbabwe, as per the rich tradition of its sister operations under the Jester Media Services umbrella.
“Our pledge to all Zimbabweans in the country and in the diaspora is that 3Ktv will make you proud through its riveting and independent programming, that will showcase the very best of our beautiful country, as the station’s motto goes,” Machadu said.
“As Africa’s leading entertainment platform and most loved storyteller, we continuously seek opportunities to provide local and inspired content to
Zimbabwean audiences. Our goal with 3Ktv is to enhance customers’ viewing experience even more, and at great value,” Raisbeck chipped in.
Machadu added that 3Ktv was a boon for business, as it offered commerce and industry the much-needed choice, while allowing them to reach hundreds of thousands of people from the get-go.
“Advertising on television, for example, is very effective in terms of reaching large audiences frequently and quickly — given the ubiquitousness of TV sets in the country. Another advantage of television in general and DStv in particular, is that it has very high engagement rates. There is also the benefit of excellent audience targeting, which has long been a part of TV marketing — such as advertising at certain times of the day and on certain programmes to make sure that one hits the people who are likely to be watching 3Ktv at a particular time,” Machadu said.
“It’s little wonder that we have had an overwhelmingly positive response from corporates about 3Ktv who can’t wait to extend their partnership with us from print to television,” he added.
3Ktv’s programming will include business slots, local drama, reality shows, news, sports and documentaries. Some of 3Ktv’s exciting content that viewers can look forward to includes:
● Tangled — A local telenovela about the not so perfect lives of two best friends. Their lives are unravelled to the point of murder when a boyfriend’s overprotective mother threatens him to choose between career and love;
● I Can Act — A fascinating reality talent show for aspiring actors;
● Zim’s Best Barber — A reality game show in which 16 barbers compete for a whopping prize of start-up barbershop equipment; and
● Zim Uncovered — A travelogue of Zimbabwe’s cities, towns, growth points and suburbs, bringing out the historical backgrounds, cultures of the people who live there, as well as how certain places became popular.
In the meantime, about 300 people, featuring the “who is who” of business, government, politics and civil society will gather in Harare tomorrow evening to toast to the station’s launch.
Zweli Sibanda, the managing director of Jester Media Services’ Broadcasting Division, told The Financial Gazette yesterday that the colourful event would see the television station being formally introduced to the market.
“We are very proud that 3Ktv will be the first of the six stations, which were licensed by authorities in late 2020 to take off. In the process, history will also be made as Zimbabweans will, for the first time in more than six decades, have a choice locally, as to what to watch on their small screens,” he said.
“As the country’s fastest growing, most inventive and most influential media group, Jester Media Services continues to demonstrate its confidence in the local economy, as seen in this significant investment in 3Ktv.
“The launch of the station is also a testament to our group’s enduring belief in the sustainability and importance of media in our society — coming as it does a few years after we added the country’s iconic and number one business newspaper, The Financial Gazette, to our portfolio of media assets.
“The nation has been able to see first hand over the past decade how the country and its communities have benefited from these assets, including through the creation of significant jobs, skills development and contributions to the fiscus and crucial democratic discourses,” Sibanda added.
Speaking last month, 3Ktv’s general manager, Emmanuel Nyamayedenga, said there was an enormous appetite for excellent, independent and locally-produced television content in Zimbabwe.
“With the tag line ‘The Best of Zimbabwe’, 3Ktv is well set to meet this hunger for riveting television programming from day one,” he said.
In addition to the Pink Paper (FinGaz), 3Ktv is also a sister operation to the inimitable Daily News and the Daily News On Sunday.
newsdesk@fingaz.co.zw
