Buyer Profiles
DISCOP AFRICA EDITION
Seller Spotlight THE MAGAZINE OF AFRICAN TELEVISION
FEBRUARY 2010
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TV AFRICA
WELCOME TO
AFRICA
As you read this, the third edition of DISCOP Africa will be opening its doors to a sold-out attendance of close to 400 production, distribution and funding executives involved in the rapid development of sub-Saharan Africa’s free- and pay-TV industries. Fast-paced industries indeed, fueled by the joint effects of the rapid growth of digital television services, the proximity of the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa, 300 million mobile users, and the first undersea fiber optic cable in East Africa, marking the beginning of an era of faster and cheaper broadband connections. Unrivalled despite the explosion of the Internet and mobile communications, television dominates home entertainment in all the regions covered by DISCOP markets, including sub-Saharan Africa, where the recent expansion of television services has been on par with other emerging marketplaces. With close to 35 million TV households and 3 million pay-TV subscribers, with four main languages—English, French, Portuguese and Swahili—sub-Saharan Africa offers unique opportunities for suppliers of finished programs, formats and packaged thematic channels ready to take the time to first explore the various degrees of development in of each of the 44 sub-Saharan countries that we target with DISCOP Africa twice a year (for the time being). For over 20 years now, the DISCOP organization has been exploring emerging regional marketplaces with one common denominator despite the geographical differences: tangible, human connections are crucial drivers of business, and establishing these connections takes time. This is precisely why we felt that holding one single annual three-day market was not enough to meet the continent’s appetite for televion content, especially in a context where 90 percent of the 150 sub-Saharan African public and private broadbasters, payTV platform operators and format adaptors who attended the first editions of DISCOP Africa—held last year in Dakar and Nairobi—had never taken part in any other international content market in the past. Given all this, I would like to quote Charles Kenny, a development economist who spoke at this past NATPE*, who in an impartial fashion establishes that the world will be in great need of fresh and popular programming. He
predicts, that “in the not-too-distant future, it is quite possible that the world will be watching 24 billion hours of TV a day—an average of close to four hours for each person in the world with access to a TV set.” The television content business has radically changed in the last decade, in ways that are still very difficult to sustain for many of our clients. This is why we believe that in such a context, our mission for the future is to continue to deliver opportunities in fast-developing regional marketplaces through the organization of compact, geographically focused, sales-centric and timeeffective events formated to foster not only overseas but also intra-regional business. Intra-regional business is key to the development of this industry in the various countries that we cover, and especially so in sub-Saharan Africa. I am proud to say that out of an average of 100 international content suppliers attending our DISCOP Africa markets, a fast-growing percentage of them are offering content ‘made in Africa.’ Patrick Jucaud is the General Manager of DISCOP.
* Between DISCOP and NATPE (a strategic partnership was established in 2005 with the U.S.-based National Association of Television Programming Executives), our combined organizations are now able to bring together programs vendors and content buyers active in 136 countries that deliver two-thirds of the $250 billion in licensing revenues generated globally.
TV AFRICA 3
By Patrick Jucaud
Meeting point: Patrick Jucaud (right) with Multimesh’s CEO, Godfrey Ohuabunwa (left), and marketing manager, Mpakabori Alalibo.
A Survey of
Buyers
MOROCCO
GHANA
Zouhair Zrioui Program Manager
NIGERIA
Chris Lumb Programming Director
Akinade Olafusi Content Manager
SOUTH AFRICA
Elana Closenberg Head of Acquisitions
SOUTH AFRICA
SOUTH AFRICA
Bessie Tugwana General Manager
Elana Closenberg Head of Acquisitions
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TV AFRICA
Zouhair Zrioui Program Manager ADDRESS: Km 7.3 route de Rabat, Aïn Sebaâ
20250 Casablanca, Morocco. E-MAIL: N/A PROGRAMMING MIX: General-interest television. TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC: General public. GENRES NEEDED: All kinds, but specifically fiction for voice-over and programming for women. RECENT ACQUISITIONS: India: A Love Story and the latest season of CSI. TOP ACQUISITION: Amarte así (Frijolito). DISCOP AFRICA WISH LIST: N/A Globo TV International’s India: A Love Story is one of the channel’s most recent pickups.
ADDRESS: 24B Isaac John St., Ikeja (GRA), Lagos, Nigeria.
Akinade Olafusi
E-MAIL: akinadea@hientertainment.tv
Content Manager
PROGRAMMING MIX: Entertainment, lifestyle, talks shows, soaps,
sitcoms, features, mini-series. TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC: 15-40. GENRES NEEDED: Comedy, talk shows, sitcoms, telenovelas. RECENT ACQUISITIONS: Features and series from Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox. TOP ACQUISITIONS: Features and series from Warner Bros. DISCOP AFRICA WISH LIST: Features (year of production 2006 and later), series, talk shows, sitcoms, short clips, mini-series.
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TV AFRICA
Elana Closenberg Head of Acquisitions
ADDRESS: 4 Biermann Ave., Rosebank 2196, Johannesburg, South Africa. E-MAIL: elana@thehomechannel.co.za PROGRAMMING MIX: Lifestyle and reality shows. TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC: Predominantly female but there is
definitely a male presence (age 35+). GENRES NEEDED: Top-quality gardening, design, décor, DIY, home improvement and property series. The majority of our shows are acquired from international distributors, however, this year our internal production division is producing five local shows for The Home Channel. RECENT ACQUISITIONS: Holmes Inspection, World’s Greenest Homes, The Decorating Adventures of Ambrose Price. TOP ACQUISITIONS: All the Debbie Travis shows have been an amazing success. Debbie has been a presence on the channel since launch and has built up such a following that we actually brought her to South Africa last year to present workshops in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg (all of which were sold out). Mike Holmes has also been a great hit and we look forward to the South African launch of his new series Holmes Inspection. DISCOP AFRICA WISH LIST: N/A
ADDRESS: 4 Biermann Ave., Rosebank 2196,
Johannesburg, South Africa. E-MAIL: elana@thehomechannel.co.za Cineflix International’s World’s Greenest Homes PROGRAMMING MIX: A motoring channel, delivering lifestyle has been a key import for The Home Channel. and factual programming with a bit of reality in the mix. TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC: Predominantly male but there is a definite female presence (age 24+). GENRES NEEDED: Consumer motoring shows. RECENT ACQUISITIONS: Carbon Black, Automondial. TOP ACQUISITIONS: N/A DISCOP AFRICA WISH LIST: N/A
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TV AFRICA
ADDRESS: Entrance 7, TV Centre, Cnr. Artillery and Henley
Bessie Tugwana
Road, Auckland Park 2092, Johannesburg, South Africa. E-MAIL: tugwanalb@sabc.co.za PROGRAMMING MIX: A mixed-menu public broadcaster that delivers a full range of genres, including news, current affairs, factual, education, children’s, religion, sport and entertainment. TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC: We call ourselves “The Channel for the Nation,” as we broadcast in seven languages and carry the largest local PBS mandate in South Africa. More specifically, we are targeting LSM (Living Standard Measure) 5–7 with an epicenter set at 35 years of age. GENRES NEEDED: We are looking for cost-effective entertainment properties for Saturday prime as well as quality content from and about the continent of Africa. Otherwise, our schedules are full until March 2011.We are open to advertiser-funded content. On the schedule, 85 percent of prime time is local content, and 70 percent of prime time must be delivered in languages other than English, as per our mandate from the regulator.
General Manager
RECENT ACQUISITIONS:
Local commissions Shoreline and SA’s Got Talent. TOP ACQUISITIONS:
Entertainment formats such as Strictly Come Dancing and Got Talent. DISCOP AFRICA WISH LIST:
N/A
SA’s Got Talent is one of the top shows on SABC 2.
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TV AFRICA
Chris Lumb
ADDRESS: 25/8 Abafun Crescent, Labone, PMB 74 Osu,
Accra, Ghana. E-MAIL: Chris.Lumb@viasat.co.uk PROGRAMMING MIX: Viasat 1 is one of Ghana’s biggest entertainment channels, bringing the best football (UCL and FAPL), U.S. and African movies, dramas, entertainment and lifestyle programs. TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC: Broad target 15-49, primarily 15-34. GENRES NEEDED: Strong English-speaking African movies, drama and entertainment shows with high production values. We require Ghanaian TV premiere programming about subjects that appeal to Ghanaians (with excellent production values). The majority of our programming comes from the international market, which is licensed exclusively in Ghana. We are in the process of considering several projects in Ghana and plan for the amount of locally produced programming to increase substantially in the medium term. RECENT ACQUISITIONS: Viasat 1 will shortly be broadcasting the Ghanaian TV premieres of the strong Nigerian dramas Domino and Tinsel. TOP ACQUISITIONS: The channel strategy of having a broad mix of U.S. and strong African content has worked very well. We have long running deals with several U.S. studios and African distributors that have enabled us to acquire large amounts of very strong programming. DISCOP AFRICA WISH LIST: Viasat 1 Ghana will be represented by the acquisitions manager Vicky Watts. We require new English-speaking African movies and series (all genres). We are also interested in building relationships with other broadcasters in Africa with a view to sharing our own productions and starting co-productions. Sueùo con tu amor, from Venevision International, airs on Viasat 1.
Programming Director
s t h g i l h g i H a c i r m f a A r g P o O r C P DIS at
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TV AFRICA
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS Al Jazeera Network www.aljazeera.net/english • Pirates’ Haven • Artsworld • Uncomfortably Numb • Saving Soweto • Road to Hajj: China
Al Jazeera English now reaches some 25 million homes in sub-Saharan Africa alone. As the 24-hour Englishlanguage news channel has expanded its reach, Al Jazeera Network—which operates the channel—has seen an uptick in its program-sales business in Africa. For Martin Ryan, head of distribution for the region, DISCOP Africa presents an opportunity “to establish a better understanding of the region and promote our content to other broadcasters. To enhance our distribution, we assigned A24 to globally promote our Africa-themed programming content as well as sell content to Africa on an adsupported basis. This is an important collaboration in the promotion and exploitation of our growing portfolio.” Available in Dakar this month are Pirates’ Haven, about Somali pirates; Artsworld, which includes episodes on Ghana and Liberia; Uncomfortably Numb, Saving Soweto and Road to Hajj: China.
Road to Hajj: China
“ Partnerships with broadcasters and media outlets are crucial in keeping our African audience in touch with Al Jazeera’s compelling journalism.
”
Artsworld
—Martin Ryan
Globo TV International www.globotvinternational.com • • • • •
Kuarup: The Lost Soul Will Return
GloboDOC Carnaval Treasure of the Earth Kuarup:The Lost Soul Will Return Internal Affairs Brazilian Beats
Globo TV International has a long history of doing business in Africa, dating back to the 1970s,“when our telenovelas in Portuguese-speaking countries were the reference in Angola, Mozambique and Cape Verde,” says Raphael Corrêa Netto, the company’s international sales director. Globo’s prominence in those territories has continued, through both program sales and through the TV Globo Internacional channel, a premium service that reaches close to 250,000 subscribers in Africa. Globo has also expanded its business to the region’s French-language markets. “We now have close to 2,000 hours of French-speaking content,” Corrêa Netto notes. He adds that a deal has been concluded in an Englishspeaking territory, and one is pending in Arabic-language territories. “We are more or less in all the territories in Africa. Africa for us, for the last ten years, has been doubledigit growth every year. It’s one of the main drivers of our international business growth.”
“ In the last 20 years, from ’88 until now, we have licensed close to 170 different titles in Africa, covering over 50 countries.
”
—Raphael Corrêa Netto
TV AFRICA 15
Mondo TV www.mondotv.it • Angel’s Friends:The Secret World Around You • Virus Attack • Kim • Ants • Farhat, Prince of the Desert
Mondo TV has been exhibiting at DISCOP Africa since the market’s inception,delivering its animated titles to the region’s broadcasters. The company will be in Dakar with the girltargeted Angel’s Friends:The Secret World Around You, as well as Virus Attack, aimed at kids 7 to 13 and ready for a fall delivery. Also on the slate are Kim; the dialogue-free Ants; and Farhat, Prince of the Desert, which has 26 episodes ready and another 26 new for the fall.At DISCOP Africa, the company aims to expand its business with free-to-air channels regionwide, says Micheline Azoury, Mondo’s international sales executive who will be attending the market. “Mondo TV would love to serve all the channels with no exceptions.” Azoury notes that it’s not just the Mondo catalogue she’s representing, following African distribution deals with Your Family Entertainment, Rai Trade and the Australian Children’s Television Foundation.“We are always looking for more and more acquisitions for this region.”
Angel’s Friends: The Secret World Around You
“We are expecting to enter more African countries individually, and build more solid long-term business relationships with terrestrial TV channels.
”
—Micheline Azoury
Telefe International www.telefeinternational.com.ar • • • • •
WAGs, Love for the Game South African Documentaries Everybody Against Juan Just in Time Legacy of Passion
WAGs, Love for the Game is a new romantic comedy from the creators of such Argentine hits as The Roldans and The Successful Mr. & Mrs. Pells. Set in the world of football, the series leads off Telefe International’s portfolio of titles for DISCOP Africa. The company is also keen to introduce African buyers to a slate of South African documentaries covering 80 hours of HD content, ahead of this year’s World Cup. The docs spotlight the country’s cities, stadiums, people and tourist attractions, as well as its complex history. Telefe International also offers production services in South Africa since it has more than 60 people on site to cover the World Cup, before, during and after the event. Further titles in Telefe’s DISCOP Africa catalogue include the family game show Just in Time, the series Everybody Against Juan and the telenovela Legacy of Passion.
WAGs, Love for the Game
Just in Time
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TV AFRICA
Televisa Internacional www.televisainternacional.tv • Don’t Mess with an Angel • Love Spell • Wild Heart • Curse by the Sea • In the Name of Love
Ricardo Seguin Guise Publisher Anna Carugati Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani Executive Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Managing Editor Lauren M. Uda Production and Design Director
At DISCOP Africa this year, Televisa Internacional is looking to further consolidate its presence in this region with its slate of novelas. The company has seen gains its African business since it began attending the event, according to Ricardo Ehrsam, the company’s general director for Europe, Asia and Africa. This year’s event in Senegal will allow Televisa to build on its business in Kenya and Nigeria, two of its biggest African markets, Ehrsam says, as well as expand further into French-speaking territories. “We want to penetrate [the region] as much as possible,” he says. Novelas will be the sales focus in Dakar, despite the breadth of Televisa’s catalogue, including offerings such as Don’t Mess with an Angel, which Ehrsam says has already been a “major success in Africa.” Also on the slate are Love Spell, Wild Heart, Curse by the Sea and In the Name of Love.
“We have always had clients in Africa. Since [DISCOP in] Nairobi, our position has been [to pursue this region] much more aggressively.
”
—Ricardo Ehrsam In the Name of Love
Simon Weaver Online Director Tatiana Rozza Sales and Marketing Director Kelly Quiroz Sales and Marketing Manager Rae Matthew Business Affairs Manager Cesar Suero Sales and Marketing Coordinator
Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP and Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani VP of Strategic Development TV Africa © 2010 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940
Venevision International www.venevisioninternational.com Millionaire Maid
• Always on My Mind • Yearning for Your Love • Sweetest Essence • I Will Never Say Good-bye • Millionaire Maid
Venevision International is showcasing an assortment of telenovelas to African buyers, among them Always on My Mind. The 118-episode series focuses on a woman who has spent 20 years waiting to avenge an unforgivable wrong. Yearning for Your Love, meanwhile, tells the story of best friends who become fierce rivals. In Sweetest Essence, with Ana Karina Manco and Miguel de Leon, a betrayal and a family’s financial strife lead to romance. Gledys Ibarra and Carlos Montilla star in Millionaire Maid, in which a woman continues to work as the maid for the Paredes family even though she has become wealthy overnight. Other novela titles available from the company include I Will Never Say Good-bye, starring Paola Toyo, José Luis Caballero and Harry Geithner; Rebeca and The Revenge.Venevision International is also highlighting its Platinum Documentary Series, consisting of 11 45-minute specials. They include China Through the Yangtze River and Guests of War.
Sweetest Essence
middle east & africa
AT MIPTV TV Middle East & Africa is devoted to the rapidly developing media markets in these emerging territories. The MIPTV issue will contain a special report on how distributors are increasing their program sales to the Middle East and Africa.
Space Reservations . . March 12 Ad Materials . . . . . . . . March 18 For more information, please contact Ricardo Guise (rguise@worldscreen.com)