Kagiso Media,\u00a0a major player in radio and Internet media in South Africa, will add television to its portfolio with the launch of Glow TV, a new free-to-air channel on the OpenView HD satellite bouquet.<\/p>\n
The new channel will go live at 17:00 on Monday (21 October).<\/p>\n
Glow TV is the product of cooperation between Kagiso Media and Nolava Television, which is run by its CEO, AB Moosa. Nolava brings its relationships with top content providers and its experience in content sourcing to the venture.<\/p>\n
The new channel is a commercial entity and will rely on advertising revenues. It will feature content sourced from India, the UK, the US and Brazil, with South African content expected to be featured from March 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cRather than duplicating and competing with existing channels, our strategy is to grow new marketplaces by appealing to under-served communities\u201d, said Omar Essack, CEO of Kagiso Broadcasting at Kagiso Media.<\/p>\n
Kagiso Media CEO Mark Harris said: \u201cIt\u2019s the logical next step for Kagiso Media. We\u2019ve been successful in other media channels with Jacaranda and East Coast Radio and online with Howzit MSN. We\u2019ve created very successful African language TV channels for our partners, but this is the first time we\u2019re making an investment in creating our own channel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Glow TV will curate the best \u2018eastern-inspired\u2019 content from around the world in English and other languages, including Hindi, Portuguese as well as various Indian dialects.<\/p>\n
The programming will include movies, food & lifestyle, soap operas, comedy, travel, variety and reality shows.<\/p>\n
Kagiso Media\u2019s majority-owned subsidiary, Urban Brew Studios, will be producing original local content for the channel. Urban Brew currently packages the Dumisa and One Gospel channels and manages the community channels; Soweto TV, Bay TV and 1KZN, on behalf of the community which holds the licenses.<\/p>\n
Mzi Malunga, the CEO of Urban Brew said: \u201cUrban Brew has been creating content for all of South Africa\u2019s broadcasters for over 25 years. We\u2019ve been responsible for shows like Khumbul \u2018Ekaya and Zabalaza, as well as Inkaba, YoTV and 3Talk, and we\u2019ve also created the One Gospel TV channel featuring one of Africa\u2019s most popular music formats. We\u2019re also one of the largest independent producers of programming in indigenous languages.\u201d<\/p>\n
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