Page 28 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 1 2013
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ISSUE 1 2013
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THE CHANNEL
f we get it right, I think TVC
News will be a hugely
successful channel. Africa is
the last continent that does
not have a channel telling the
story from its own
perspective. This is a channel for
Africans and by Africans and my
job is to set it up and give
assistance, and it will then carry on
working by itself. What we are
looking to do is to reflect the views
of the street, not the governmentʹs.
Who is behind TVC?
It is privately backed. The business
plan made sense to me because
TVC News will become the news
provider for the existing terrestrial
TVC Entertainment channel which
was rebranded successfully in 2012
and currently runs three bulletins a
day. So we have got a guaranteed
revenue stream there. We also have
three radio channels, one in Lagos
and two in neighbouring states
which will provide revenue.
TVC News is obviously going to
break the mould as it has got pan‐
African ambitions. We have opened
offices in South Africa, Kenya,
Ghana and hope to open in
Senegal. We have correspondents in
London and Washington DC, will
be visible in the UK on BSkyB and
have secured IPTV deals in the
USA for the diaspora.
Is your focus on West Africa?
In terms of the news, we would
look to strike a pretty strong
balance. We are looking to go on air
now around end of January/middle
of February, so our first major
[planned] story would be the
Kenyan elections, not a Nigerian
”
We
will reflect
the views of
the street,
not of the
government
With his impressive track record of
successful channel launches -
including Al Jazeera English -
Nigel Parsons now has a new
project: setting up TVC News in
Nigeria as the first pan-African
news channel by Africans for
Africans. With building, equipment
and staff in place, all is set for
launch in early 2013. We asked
him what he hopes to achieve
story at all. A significant percentage
of material will be generated out of
West Africa but this will tackle
subjects that resonate across the
continent ‐ issues like environment,
health, business. In terms of news,
there are a lot of stories going on in
Congo, South Sudan, Niger, Mali,
even South Africa which are not
getting a lot of international air
time. And then of course thereʹs
Nigeriaʹs own home‐grown insurgency,
which we would expect to cover
frequently, and in a lot more depth.
Is it going to be 24 hours?
We are aiming to start 24 hours a
day. In general weʹll be working on
half‐hour wheels, 30 minutes of
news followed by a half‐hour
programme, but within that we
would also have three or four news
hours over the 24 hours. Apart from
Lagos, we have studios in Abuja
and we are putting one into Port
Harcourt. Our broadcast centre in
Lagos is brand‐new and state‐of‐the
art, probably the most sophisticated
in Africa. We worked with Indian
broadcast consultants Media Guru
who helped us bring in the
broadcast equipment, and did the
wiring and systems integration.
Tell us about your editorial staff.
Our 350 staff have been under
intensive training since September,
including hostile environment
training. We have recruited from
the existing newsroom at TVC
Entertainment ‐ which will be shut
down once TVC News is up and
running ‐ as well as from other
broadcasters in the local market,
and we have also brought in a
number of Nigerians and other
Africans from the expat diaspora.
Itʹs a mix of experience and raw
talent ‐ I donʹt think we could have
done it without the experienced
heads. It has to be said that most
people here are young, educated,
they really want to learn and they
are a joy to work with.
Which platforms are you aiming for?
We are of course working on
delivering content on mobile, plus
streaming on the website and
taking a channel on YouTube. There
are over 90m mobile users in
Nigeria alone, so we have to go
down that route. Obviously we are
looking for carriage on as many
platforms as possible but some of
the big platforms, including those
in Africa, are wary of taking a
channel they havenʹt seen, so we
have to be patient and need to
focus on getting a good product on
air. For the audiences, this idea of a
pan‐African channel done by
Africans for Africans from an
African perspective is something
quite new. If we get it right, and if
we represent the voice of the street,
then there is only one way to go
and thatʹs up. At the moment we
are an unknown quantity. We have
got agency agreements in place, for
strategic alliances we wait until we
go on air.
What's the challenge for you?
Why did I do it? Africa is the only
continent that I hadnʹt worked in.
Itʹs an incredibly vibrant and
exciting place despite all the
frustrations. The opportunities are
huge. Our aim is to be the first
really free and fearless news
channel in Africa.
Nigel Parsons, thank you.
FREEANDFEARLESS
“
▼
Below
Nigel
Parsons outside
the newTVC News
building in Lagos
Belowright
Lemi
Olalemi , Deputy
CEO, TVC News
I
