SCREEN AFRICA EXCLUSIVE…As part of a concerted effort to improve the marketing of its content offering, South African satellite pay-TV operator TopTV unveiled its upcoming programming to the media on 3 April at the Clico Guest House in Rosebank, Johannesburg.
“This is our first ever programme preview and it is something we aim to do on a regular basis,’ said Marius Liebenberg, TopTV’s senior vice president of Sales and Marketing. “As most people are aware, TopTV went through radical changes in December with the resignation of CEO Vino Govender.
“We’re now looking at all aspects of the business with the aid of independent consultants. The management team, under interim CEO Eddie Mbalo, is taking a long hard look at our content offering, our marketing, logos etc. TopTV’s target market (ie. viewers who’ve never had pay-TV before) will remain the same but our marketing message will be stronger. TopTV needs a selection of strong channels that will appeal to its market.
“We realise that TopTV’s reputation has been damaged in the public’s view in the recent past. Consequently, we’ve asked ourselves questions such as – were we actually ready to launch TopTV two years ago or should we have waited a bit?
“Eddie Mbalo has indicated that he is happy to remain chairperson of the board of TopTV owner On Digital Media (ODM) which means that we will get a new CEO at some stage.’
Liebenberg stressed that TopTV is on a mission to radically improve its interaction with subscribers. “This has always been our Achilles Heel. We are considering the possibility of appointing a customer relationship manager. TopTV invites all subscribers to communicate with us regularly via telephone, email, Twitter and Facebook. We are here to listen to you.’
He revealed that TopTV, which is on the South African Advertising Research Foundation (SAARF) Television Audience Measurement System (TAMS) but only as an entire entity and not as separate channels, is in the process of implementing its own audience measurement channel.
VP of Marketing Heather Kennedy added: “This is a very costly exercise and will be done via the TopTV decoder with a selected sample of subscribers. The system will be for all our channels at a programme level.’
Mbalo was not present at the launch but made an appearance in the TopTV promotional video. He said: “2012 is a new start for TopTV and for me personally. This year we plan to have a better relationship with our subscribers and service providers and have an improved content offering. I’d like to thank our loyal subscribers who’ve been with us since the very beginning. We will give subscribers a world class offering from now on.
“TopTV is new, we’ve made mistakes in the past and hopefully we have learnt from them. We offer an excellent alternative pay-TV experience to the South African market. With our dedicated staff we intend to fulfill our commitment to have excellent customer service and fresh and innovative programming. We invite all subscribers to come along on this great new adventure of ours.’
In introducing the programming line-up for April and May, Kennedy noted that TopTV had just added two new channels to its bouquet – African Movie Channel (AMC) and NHK World TV.
“We’re delighted to add AMC to our line-up as they are a global player in the rapidly expanding African film industry. In our opinion they have a better quality offering than Hi Nolly, which used to be part of our bouquet but recently closed down.
“With NHK World TV we fill the gap with an Asian news and information channel. This is an English language channel produced by Japan’s national broadcaster, NHK. It reaches approximately 130 million households around the world,’ said Kennedy.
She pointed out that TopTV’s flagship “Top’-branded channel, TopOne is in the process of being revamped. “Our acquisition executives are attending the MiPTV content market in Cannes, France, so you can expect some exciting announcements soon. Subscribers will get a whole different TopOne in the very near future but it will still remain a general entertainment channel.
“In the meantime in April we will air Crash 2, Lost Season 5 and One Tree Hill 4, a teen-driven series that has proved popular with subscribers.
“There is lots of top quality programming on Kids on TopOne, such as The Pinky & Perky, Rob the Robot, Strawberry Shortcake: The Movie, the award-wining Peter and The Wolf, and the old favourite, Wallace and Grommit. All our kids programming, while extremely entertaining, has a learning element so it’s true edutainment. We are also going to broadcast Mad 1, an animated version of the classic humor magazine that satirises current pop culture. This is targeted at teens.’
TopGospel is reportedly a strong driver channel for TopTV and includes locally produced programmes like Pick “n Play and Music Countdown. In May TopGospel fans can see the Soweto Praise Festival, which will be a combination of music and interviews with the artists.
Kennedy continued: “The TopExplore channel explores all aspects of the world with programmes like Sports Science, 5th Dimension and Calling All Aliens.
“Viewers of our TopHistory channel will be able to see progammes like 1929 about the collapse of Wall Street, Cracking the Maya Code and Trace Your Roots, a locally produced programme licensed from the SABC.
“We have 10 “Top’-branded channels and another 50 3rd party channels. All in all TopTV has nine movie channels including MGM, Showtime and Silver.’
Upcoming movies on these channels include Stop-Loss, Girl Interrupted, Marley and Me, Julie & Julia, About Schmidt, Missionary Man; Road Trip: Beer Pong; Get Smart; RocknRolla; and PS: I Love You.
“We have three TopMovies channels and these are time-shifted, so if you miss it on one channel, you’ll pick it up on another. Obviously this will change once we introduce PVRs.
However, PVRs are not in our immediate plans but we will have them at some stage.’ Report by Joanna Sterkowicz
