New owners are from eight African countriesTest Transmission ends on February 14, after which normal programming startsStaff communicated to on new direction + MORE INSIDE
3 years after making way for the Econet Media-managed Kwesé, the Viasat 1 television brand is staging a return to Ghana.
Enews can exclusively report that eight managers of the defunct Kwesé TV in Ghana, Rwanda, Nigeria, Tanzania and Kenya among three others have acquired the station.
This website can also report that the joint owners successfully secured funding from Access Bank to see through the acquisition and subsequent ownership.
The staff of the station have been communicated to on the new direction, which sees the once-popular television brand back on air to compete in the local space.
The station is currently running a test transmission, which ends on February 14 to make way for official programming.
Enews can also confirm that the Viasat 1 name may be eventually tweaked due to challenges with sticking to the former name. The new owners we can report, are considering Via Sat and Vysat as alternative names should they not succeed with sticking to the old name, which was used by previous owners Modern Times Group (MTG).
Kwesé has since gone into administration.
On August 27, 2019, we reported…
Kwesé TV Ghana (KFS) is for sale
A newspaper publication by Ernst & Young, acting as administrators for the channel’s struggling parent company, Econet Media, lists Ghana as one of 14 countries the Zimbabwean company is offloading its shares.
Econet Media, owned by Zimbabwean businessman Strive Masiyiwa, is selling 70% of its shares in Econet Media Ghana Limited as well as all of its shares (100%) in Modern African Productions Limited, the production wing of the Labone-based channel.
Econet Media has since July been placed under administration. The company owes some 130 million dollars to suppliers, primarily in the area of rights acquisitions.
Econet Media, which operates under the brands Econet Media and Kwese, runs businesses that offer satellite broadcasting, free-to-air television and digital distribution of media content.
Ernst & Young Ltd. will oversee offers for all or part of the company’s shareholdings across Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Zambia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi, Mauritius, Ghana, Kenya and Dubai.
Kwese TV launched in 2014 in 14 African countries. The company subsequently struggled in a market still dominated by Africa’s largest pay-TV operator, MultiChoice, owners of DStv and GOtv.
In November 2018, the company abandoned its initial model and turned its concentration to free-to-air content distribution.
