News / National
Zimbabwe to launch Sadc TV
14 Feb 2016 at 10:49hrs | Views
ZIMBABWE will soon introduce a television station for the Sadc region which will promote the African cultural ethos of member states, a Cabinet Minister has said.
Speaking on the sidelines of a consultative meeting on digitalisation with independent film and content producers in Masvingo on Thursday, Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Dr Christopher Mushohwe said the television station will cover all cultural aspects and promote national identities of member states.
In March 2015 Zimbabwe received a capital injection of about $125 million for the digitalisation programme under the directive of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) whose initial deadline was June 2015. Zimbabwe seeks to migrate television stations from analogue to digital by the end of the first quarter this year.
Dr Mushohwe said the idea of a regional television station has been shared with other Sadc member states and plans are underway to launch it in Harare sometime this year.
"We are going to launch the television station soon, once the digitalisation is complete. I was in Lesotho recently and I discussed the initiative with my counterparts there. We also want to do the same with our Southern Times newspaper that we do with Namibia for it to be a regional paper where all Sadc countries are covered," said Dr Mushohwe.
He said the regional television station will promote integration between Sadc members with a number, if not all countries ready to have a buy in.
Dr Mushohwe also said the station will be hosted by all member states on a rotational basis.
"This is in line with our ethos as the Sadc region. As a block we should be able to tell our story and the television station will present each member with such an opportunity as we seek to have a wholesome integration among member states as Africans. One should be able to relate to the Zimbabwean culture, Zambian, Mozambique, Lesotho, Botswana, among other Sadc members. This will also help our country promote its brand," he said.
He said upon completion of the massive project, the country's broadcasting flagship, ZBC will have six high definition channels with the other six HD channels reserved for independent producers. There will be 48 transmitter sites throughout the country for all the provinces to have easy access to the transmission.
Present at the meeting were Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services permanent secretary Mr George Charamba, Zimbabwe Film and Television School of Southern Africa director Dr Rino Zhuwarara, ZBC chief executive officer Mr Patrick Mavhura, Trasmedia chief executive officer Florence Sidugu-Matambo and BAZ officials, among others.
Speaking on the sidelines of a consultative meeting on digitalisation with independent film and content producers in Masvingo on Thursday, Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Dr Christopher Mushohwe said the television station will cover all cultural aspects and promote national identities of member states.
In March 2015 Zimbabwe received a capital injection of about $125 million for the digitalisation programme under the directive of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) whose initial deadline was June 2015. Zimbabwe seeks to migrate television stations from analogue to digital by the end of the first quarter this year.
Dr Mushohwe said the idea of a regional television station has been shared with other Sadc member states and plans are underway to launch it in Harare sometime this year.
"We are going to launch the television station soon, once the digitalisation is complete. I was in Lesotho recently and I discussed the initiative with my counterparts there. We also want to do the same with our Southern Times newspaper that we do with Namibia for it to be a regional paper where all Sadc countries are covered," said Dr Mushohwe.
He said the regional television station will promote integration between Sadc members with a number, if not all countries ready to have a buy in.
Dr Mushohwe also said the station will be hosted by all member states on a rotational basis.
"This is in line with our ethos as the Sadc region. As a block we should be able to tell our story and the television station will present each member with such an opportunity as we seek to have a wholesome integration among member states as Africans. One should be able to relate to the Zimbabwean culture, Zambian, Mozambique, Lesotho, Botswana, among other Sadc members. This will also help our country promote its brand," he said.
He said upon completion of the massive project, the country's broadcasting flagship, ZBC will have six high definition channels with the other six HD channels reserved for independent producers. There will be 48 transmitter sites throughout the country for all the provinces to have easy access to the transmission.
Present at the meeting were Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services permanent secretary Mr George Charamba, Zimbabwe Film and Television School of Southern Africa director Dr Rino Zhuwarara, ZBC chief executive officer Mr Patrick Mavhura, Trasmedia chief executive officer Florence Sidugu-Matambo and BAZ officials, among others.
Source - sundaynews
