Category: Media
Winky D says technology has been a double-edged sword for musicians
Winky D recently sat down with Trevor Ncube on the In Conversation with Trevor show and discussed the part technology and the newer distribution methods that musicians are using. Pros and cons of being online?? The interview was insightful and local artists (especially upcoming artists) would probably want to hear the experiences of one of […]
French media company Canal+ buys stake in Multichoice
French media group Canal+ has acquired a 6.5% stake in Africa’s largest broadcasting company Multichoice Africa. In a report by Tech Central, the news was announced on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) news service Monday morning. Background This is an interesting turn of events because in 2018 Vivendi (Canal+ parent company) was turned down after […]
Netflix launches mobile-only subscription in Nigeria
Netflix is trying to increase its presence on the continent. The hurdles to that expansion have been the price of the packages as well as the availability of broadband. These factors have kept the service limited only to those who can afford the packages and have access to the internet. In light of this Netflix […]
MTNs “Sasai” partners MusicTime to offer free music streaming in the messenger
MTNs messaging application, Ayoba (think Sasai) recently announced a partnership with MusicTime that will allow Ayoba users to listen to music at no cost from within the messenger. MusicTime in Ayoba (MTiA) as the feature will be called is live for Ayoba users in South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Rwanda, Uganda, Congo Brazzaville, Guinee, Guinee […]
This site allows African content creators to share and monetize their creative work
African creatives have long complained about being unable to monetize their creations/content. This is a struggle that artists generally have but because Africa is mostly made up of developing economies that struggle is amplified. This is where Iluna Afriq comes into the equation. Iluna Afriq is a storytelling platform where storytellers publish tales from their […]
Ugandan govt wants YouTubers & bloggers to pay to share their content online
Uganda is one of the few countries where the government is making it extremely hard for its citizens to make use of the internet. Back in 2018, the Ugandan government introduced a social media tax. Everyone but them thought it was a bad idea but they still did it. Shortly after it was reported that […]
Trace Group acquires SA production company Okuhle Media
South African audiovisual production company Okuhle Media has been acquired by Trace Group. This acquisition sees Trace take a majority stake in one of South Africa’s leading content production companies. Okuhle Media is a Cape Town-based media production house that was is established in 2013. The company produces, develops and licences content for commercial and […]
Netflix to bringing mobile-only packages to SA – Here’s why that’s a big deal
Netflix recently announced some BIG news! They are bringing their mobile only plans to Africa – South Africa to be exact. The two new plans are most probably meant to acquire new subscribers for the video streaming service. The cheapest Netflix plan (Netflix Mobile) will now cost R39 per month. This is less than the […]
You can now play & upload podcasts on Sasai
A month ago, we wrote about Sasai Content Platform – Sasai’s attempt at becoming the hub for African content creators. Part of their big plan involved podcasting and the podcasts section which wasn’t available at the time is now live. I don’t remember seeing an announcement regarding this issue so maybe the feature isn’t being […]
DStv to broadcast certain sports events for free?
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) is reviewing regulations around the broadcasting of sports. There is an expectation that the review could lead to some changes for DStv. The review by ICASA is meant to regulate broadcasting of sporting events “in the public interest” and to promote wider reach of such events. The […]
DStv’s bundling with Netflix being investigated by SA Competition Commission
In June, Multichoice announced that they had reached agreements with Netflix and Amazon Prime to offer a bundled service. Strangely, when DStv announced two new sets of decoders that will offer streaming capabilities, not a word was said about Netflix or Prime. Why was that the case? Well, it’s simple really – SA’s Competition Commission […]
ZimPapers TV Network & KeYonna TV shortlisted for TV licences by BAZ
Remember those 12 TV channels that were supposed to start airing content this in August? Well, August is here (about to end actually) and the airwaves have not been lit up by new channels. By the end of the year, in fact, by August, our aim is to have at least six independent television channels. […]
Multichoice announces new sets of decoders – DStv Streama & Xplora Ultra
Yesterday, Multichoice announced a new set of DStv decoders; Xplora Ultra and Streama. The new decoders come as no surprise considering that earlier this year, MultiChoice announced that DStv would come bundled with Netflix. The current DStv hardware only supports Showmax but not 3rd party apps so it makes sense that newer hardware is now […]
Sasai turns to content creators and influencers to draw users
Sasai has struggled to keep users once they’ve downloaded the app. Numerous features have been added and they have worked on the app for over a year now without any mainstream success. Getting influencers on board The newest acquisition method Sasai is using is getting local content creators and influencers to start using the application. […]
Strive Masiyiwa announces imminent launch of Sasai Pay & Content Platform
Strive Masiyiwa took to his Facebook to announce that Sasai is launching a payment service in a week’s time. In his FB post, he talked about Sasai Pay in the context of consumers buying audio/video/music content online to solve the problems of piracy. In a post published yesterday, Econet Global’s Chairman announced that the platform […]
ZimPapers testing out WhatsApp news subscription service
ZimPapers is testing out a new WhatsApp-based subscription model as local media continues to battle to diversify their revenue models in the age of the internet. At the time of writing, it doesn’t seem that there’s a pricing model which suggests that the new service is still being trialled with users getting a chance to […]
Would investing 10% of what Masiyiwa put in Kwese TV into the local film industry have been a better investment?
Recently, we published an article detailing how Strive Masiyiwa might end up selling as much as 34% of his stake in Liquid Telecom to pay off Econet Media debts valued at just under US$400 million. At this point it’s clear that Kwese was a COSTLY failure and with the benefit of hindsight it’s easy to […]
DStv announces new channel and overhauls coming to existing Supersport channels
SuperSport has announced that from the 1st of September, Supersport channels are getting new names. Out with the confusing numbers at long last. SuperSport says this was done to make for a better navigation and viewing; This thinking has driven SuperSport’s decision to drop the numbering system it has used for its channels for more […]
Netflix bundles with Telefoot to offer football streaming
Netflix seems to be getting into bundling deals (remember the DStv Netflix announcement). The Video-on-Demand (VoD) giant has struck a similar deal with Mediapro – a multimedia communication group from Spain- which will allow them to broadcast soccer matches from France’s premier division until 2024. According to media reports, the deal will result in a […]
Masiyiwa to sell 30% of his shares in Liquid Telecom to pay off Kwese debts
Strive Masiyiwa is reportedly having trouble selling off 20-34% of his stake in Liquid Telecom because of the Coronavirus pandemic. The stake he is looking to sell is valued at around US$600 million. Part of the proceeds from the sale of shares will be used to pay Kwese TV’s US$375 million administration bill. Masiyiwa was […]
Halfway through 2020, here is the state of digital news in Zimbabwe
Despite spending most of the year in limbo for a significant portion of the world – Zim included, the year has kind of breezed by. We are already past the halfway point of 2020 and we thought it would be fascinating to look at the most popular local news publications online. The stats we used, […]
Hopewell Chin’ono’s Twitter account deleted following his arrest
Yesterday, prominent Journalist Hopewell Chin’ono was arrested by law enforcement agents at his house. Shortly before his arrest the journalist tweeted that the law enforcement agents had made their way to his residence and were harassing his workers. Shortly after his arrest, his account which wasn’t verified was taken down Twitter users going to the […]
Government gives update on digital broadcasting migration project
ZBC has been on the verge of digitisation for over half a decade now. Here at Techzim our first article on this issue was published on the 3rd of July in 2014. At the time, the article was written, there was a June 2015 deadline imposed by the ITU. We (Zim) and many other countries […]
This new video “standard” will cut file sizes in half whilst maintaining quality
There is a new video codec on the block! Versatile Video Codec (H.266/VVC) standard has been finalised and this will be a big deal. The video standard was developed by Fraunhofer HHI together with partners from industry including Apple, Ericsson, Intel, Huawei, Microsoft, Qualcomm, and Sony over 3 years. What are they promising? This new […]
Multichoice Launches Showmax Pro: What’s New?
Multichoice has announced the launch of Showmax Pro which will expand the offering available on the Video on Demand (VoD) platform. Initially, Pro will only be available in Nigeria and Kenya. So what do you get over the standard Showmax? In addition to the movies, and shows already existing on Showmax, the Pro offering adds […]
Making money online – The Zimbabwean struggle
This is not a guide on how to make money online. Techzim has covered that before, one recent example is here. We have all seen the stories, “Individual X makes US$10,000 a month with their blog.” Our immediate thought is we have to get in on that easy money. The reality though, is that like […]
Former Kwese Partner Told To Return Documents Seized During Raid On Econet
Dr Dish – remember them- recently got a verdict on their attempt to raid Econet’s premises to present as evidence in a dispute between the two company. This dispute has been so drawn out that, Econet Media and Kwese TV which are a central part of the story are no longer existent after, Econet Media […]
DStv In Unexpected U-Turn, Xplora Decoders Will Ship With Netflix Preinstalled
In an unexpected turn of events, DStv has announced that Netflix and Amazon Prime will come preinstalled on future Xplora Decoders. Beyond just preinstalling the services they will actually offer the service as part of the DStv offering and if you had predicted this a year ago many would’ve laughed in your face. Do I […]
How Significant Is Local Content To DStv?
When Kwese Pay TV met it’s untimely death last year and even well before that, one of the things we lamented was the lack of local content on the platform. Kwese’s crash came down to a combination of factors and not just ultimately down to local content but looking at the role localised content plays […]
DStv Loses Nearly 100k Subscribers In Zim, Economic Woes & Electricity Crisis To Blame
Multichoice recently announced financial results for their financial year ending on the 31st of March 2020 and the situation in Zimbabwe is “sub-optimal”. That’s if sub-optimal can be used as a euphemism. Put plainly, DStv is actually haemorrhaging customers and lost 92 000 subscribers in that period placing the blame on power outages and economic woes […]