South African pay-TV broadcaster M-Net embarked on a series or road shows around the country during the week of 14 February to present a corporate overview and highlights of upcoming content to the media. In October this year M-Net will celebrate 25 years of existence.
The road shows coincided with M-Net’s announcement that the programme schedules on its terrestrial and DStv satellite platforms will change in April 2011. Two streamlined schedules, one for each platform, have been designed to prevent duplication of programmes on M-Net’s satellite channels, without inconveniencing the channel’s 150,000 terrestrial subscribers. (These changes are detailed in the Screen Africa website story, M-Net to cater for terrestrial and satellite viewers.)
At the Johannesburg road show M-Net Corporate Communications & Marketing director Koo Govender emphasised M-Net’s CSI (Corporate Social Initiative) projects, which operate under the M-Net Cares banner.
“Through our Naledi literacy initiative we educated 300 children in 2010 and this year the project will be expanded to KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Port Elizabeth. Another important initiative is our breast cancer project. We are on a drive to create awareness about the disease as one in 26 women will be diagnosed with, or affected by, breast cancer.”
M-Net’s other CSI initiatives include Gogo Magic, which saw 19,000 beanies knitted for underprivileged kids last winter, and the M-Net Vuka! Awards that promote the production of Public Service Announcements (PSAs) for worthy causes. In addition, the Carte Blanche Making a Difference CSI TV project has raised R75m to buy equipment for hospitals in need.
Head of M-Net Communications Lani Lombard reminded the media of how M-Net in 1986 became Africa’s first ever pay-TV broadcaster. “In those days there was only one M-Net channel. Today there are 29 channels in total and all are tailor made for specific audiences. Every day we produce and acquire the most compelling content for our viewers. Last year we produced 170 local productions, including series and special programmes.
“We have just started production on another season of Idols and this time we are giving aspiring singers in regions other than Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town a chance to be part of the competition. Polokwane is very excited about Idols auditions being held there, to the extent that the Mayor is getting involved in the proceedings.”
Lombard revealed that the new season of Survivor SA (which takes place in the Maldives) has already drawn a response from some subscribers, who have objected to the “Celebs vs Plebs” logline.
“It’s not who the contestants are but how they are treated that is the point in this Survivor series,” continued Lombard. “It’s very different to previous Survivor SA series because this time everyone – celebs and plebs – really wants to win the competition. And the plebs don’t like the celebs.”
M-Net’s Special Interest channels cater to two broad markets – the Afrikaans market and the black market. Lombard said that Mzansi Magic, which is targeted at black viewers, is the flagship channel on the DStv Compact bouquet. One of the biggest selling points of the channel is the ‘bubblegum movie’ strand, which consists of low budget films made especially for this market. M-Net plans to commission local ‘bubblegum movies’ this year.
“Our Afrikaans-language channel, kykNET continues to do well. Last year kykNET entered the realm of news programming and launched eNuus courtesy of e.tv. KykNET also initiated its own awards show, the Fiestas, which recognise achievements in Afrikaans film and theatre. In an exciting move, the channel has begun to produce feature films. Last year it produced Regardt van den Bergh’s Hanna Hoekom, which did very well at the box office and is also a school set work,” explained Lombard.
Explaining why M-Net has decided to dump its children’s programming block, KTV, Lombard said that children are changing and moving away from linear TV and towards interactivity.
In the meantime, M-Net is looking forward to broadcasting The Wild, its first ever soap shot on location. “It has a series look but with soapie plots,” concluded Lombard.
