AFTER Zambia qualified to the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations to be held in Equatorial Guinea, it brought back the perennial worries for soccer fans and television houses on whether the tournament would be televised.
The timing of the conclusion of the qualifiers also does not help the television houses who only have two months in which to find the exorbitant amounts demanded by the holders of the television rights.
I personally saw the red light flick when none of our television houses could televise the penultimate qualifier against Mozambique last weekend which in more ways than one must have been an easier target.
We may not be privy to the behind-the-scenes demands but I thought a match like that would be on the Mozambique national broadcaster which ZNBC could relay using a Memorandum of Understanding of some sort.
Obviously most soccer fans would not mind watching the match with Portuguese commentaries than having to anxiously wait for the evening main news bulletins to know the crucial result.
I speak on behalf of most of the soccer fans when I say as Government undertakes to support the Chipolopolo during preparations for the AFCON, as promised by Acting President Dr Guy Scott, televising of the match should be a must aspect to look at.
The sooner the negotiations start the better. Major tournaments like the AFCON have the propensity to draw viewers to television stations but most importantly it shows the connectivity with an audience.
This week we dedicate a bigger amount of space to readers’ contributions, albeit it’s only two letters that brought pertinent issues.
Hi, Mr Manchishi, I am proud to say I am impressed with the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation and MUVI Television for broadcasting over 90 per cent local content during the national mourning period. Well, I must also praise the local artistes, producers, and production crews who were also able to produce local content that could run for 14 days non-stop.
Well, this raised a lot of questions in my mind to do with local content on our television sets. If the local artistes and producers managed to produce content for 14 days at short notice, why do we see this content produced? Or is it that they are able to produce content but the TV stations are not able to air it? At the same time, the production departments at ZNBC and MUVI did a very commendable job in producing in-house content that complemented the external productions.
The producers have set a high standard in producing local content; our hope as viewers is that they can continue with the great works of producing local content on many other social issues that should be given airtime on these channels.
The authorities should also make deliberate policies on local content both on radio and TV. This is the case in countries like Nigeria and Kenya where over 50 per cent on all channels is local content.
For every 24 hrs of airtime, they have about 15 hours of local content.
This creates a market for local content which translates into jobs for the creative industry and the many Zambian youths.
Currently, Zambia has a lot of talent, production houses but this content is not given an opportunity to be aired, the standards may be low but as long as no one is playing the content, the country will remain the same. Deliberate policies are required to develop the media industry in terms of content. Currently, media policies have a bias towards news content only and not programming schedules for media houses.
In conclusion, bravo to ZNBC and MUVI teams for the sleepless nights the production teams had to make sure that the late president’s funeral was covered 24/7. These comrades behind the cameras, the technical teams, sound engineers e.t.c must be commendeded by their management teams for the hard work exhibited during this period. A simple thank you memo will definitely motivate them.
Regards, Topsy Sikalinda
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Dear Xavier,
I want to remind the national broadcaster ZNBC over an issue you have dealt with before of not indicating to the viewers when they are using a file picture or flash back.
The recent case was the one showing us an old clip of the Chipolopolo in training during the main news. ZNBC subjected the viewers to this old clip before the two AFCON qualifier matches between Chipolopolo and Mozambique as well as Cape Verde.
In the picture, there was Power Dynamos goal minder Joshua Titima, striker Alex Ng’onga and several others who were not in camp.
So why subject the viewers to the same old clip when no one was barred from covering the training, or maybe it was difficult to take fresh shots. However, this situation subjected to the trouble finding out from several sports writers from various media who was not in the camp.
Without indicating that the clip shown on the main news was a file one, I took it that all the players I saw were in camp.
The other trouble I have with the national broadcaster is failure to identify a person being interviewed during a vox pop (random interview on the street over an issue) but refers him or her, for example, as Lusaka resident or soccer fan when they had all the time to ask for his or her name.
I think with a clear face, a person would not want to remain anonymous when he or she can be identified by the masses. For more comments manchishi@gmail.com