GOOD FOR AFRICA: M-NET Streams Live on PANA TV …African Contents take center-stage!

GOOD FOR AFRICA:

M-NET Streams Live on PANA TV

…African Contents take center-stage

BY KLUSS JEFFREY/ART REPORTER, HOUSTON, TEXAS

THIS is good news for Africa, as M-Net – the multi-channel Pan-African content provider – has today that it has signed a deal with PANA TV, one of the leading online TV services for African content. M-Net has licensed over 1,000 hours of content to stream on the PanaTV.com platform.

African Contents…to expect

Going by a press statement sent to Editors of Naija Standard “PANA TV has picked up a variety of content from M-Net’s diverse portfolio across drama, documentaries, lifestyle and kids’ programming as well as a selection of short films. Highlights include: award-winning documentary Playing the Enemy (1×60’); epic drama series’ The Wild (208×24’) and Jacobs Cross (105×48’); and series one and two of lifestyle show Cooking with Siba (39×24’), fronted by Sibahle Mtongana, one of South Africa’s most renowned food editors.

It has also acquired a vast array of popular Nollywood films – formally known as the

Nigerian video feature film industry – which is Africa’s largest movie industry in terms of the number of movies produced per year.

M-Net Unveils Detail of the Deal

Mandy Roger, Head of Sales, Acquisition and Business Development, M-Net said: “At

M-Net we look to working with forward-thinking partners who reflect our ethos in promoting African content to new audiences, and PANA TV is a prime example of this. It is a company that is at the forefront of the online content industry and has grown into one of the fastest growing internet platforms.  In making this content digitally accessible we are able to reach international audiences – showcasing the quality of African TV and film production to the global audience and challenging preconceptions. We look forward to building on our relationship with PANA TV to grow African content’s global footprint in the digital space.”

PANA TV Response

Daniel Ogbonna, Founder, PANA TV adds: “The partnership with M-Net, one of the largest television networks in Africa, gives us a broader content base that helps us in showcasing the talent in Africa. This is indeed, a fantastic partnership as we unpack the African story to the world.”

History of M-NET in South Africa

In October 1986 the face of South African television changed forever when Electronic

Media Network (M-Net) launched the country’s first terrestrial pay-television channel. As broadcasting technology has developed over the years, M-Net has evolved from its analogue broadcast beginnings into a multi-channel Pan-African content-provider, delivering top programming on a variety of platforms. M-Net has become renowned for its diverse programming and ground-breaking television content, featuring a mix of international series and movies with high-quality local programming.

In recent years, M-Net has embraced new technology and has continued to be a pioneer

in content development for new platforms. With the 2006 launch of DStv mobile – a

digital video broadcast of live TV channels to enabled mobile phones – and M-Mobile,

which provides 3G content on-demand to mobile phones, M-Net and its channels started

to venture down new broadcast avenues. Since December 2007, M-Net viewers on DStv

have also been able to enjoy the benefits of Catch-up TV with the launch of DStv on Demand, a free video-on-demand service to PVR and PC. From 2008, M-Net has produced

a number of local shows for DStv’s High Definition channels.

About M-Net Content Sales Department

The M-Net Content Sales Department – a division of M-Net Group Content Services –

monetises all M-Net-owned content through global sales and marketing. It promotes

and sells M-Net’s library of content across television, DVD retail and rental, film

festival circuit, In-Flight Entertainment, hotel pay-per view networks and broadband

internet delivery mechanisms.

Format sales are a new area of M-Net’s sales activity. The division is sourcing

sales partnerships and new opportunities to present and sell its fast-growing slate

of new M-Net owned formats to the international marketplace.

About PANA TV

PANA TV is an internet television service that legally streams Africa inspired

films, music, news and lifestyle videos worldwide. Launched in April 2012,

PanaTV.com has more than 101,000 fans on Facebook with a reach of more than 25

million people. PanaTV.com is one of fastest growing internet platforms with a wide

range of genres of Africa-inspired content in one location. The company has offices

in United States and Africa with expansions planned for Europe later this year.