Kenya is migrating from the use of Analogue signals to Digital signals. Since most TV sets only recognize analogue signals, there is need for homes to either a Set Top Box or the pay TV decoders. This is a receiver that decodes or converts the digital signal to analogue to enable the channels to be displayed on your analogue TV set. This set-top box is plugged into your TV set. Analogue television sets cannot display digital transmissions on their screens without being connected to such a set-top box converter.

What does this mean for Zuku customers?

1. Zuku is compliant with the digital migration requirements as set out by CCK, thus everyone that has the Satellite TV or Zuku triple play need not worry about getting an additional Set Top Box.
2. A Zuku decoder also allows our customers to access over 70 channels of world-class entertainment in their homes.
3.  Zuku satellite TV services are available everywhere in Kenya.

For further information and / or queries, you can reach us on 0 205 205 205

East Africa’s first Culinary Adventure Show to air in London 

• Tales from the Bush Larder takes viewers on a tour of Kenya’s unusual and unknown gastronomic delights.
• The London premiere of the show will promote Kenya as a tourism destination at a time when Kenya is striving to diversify its tourism portfolio.

Nairobi….. The first East African culinary adventure show, Tales from Bush Larder, is set to premiere in London this week. The event will take place at Altitude 360, a top London restaurant. The culmination of the show will be the screening of one episode and a dinner prepared by the host, Kenyan born and internationally trained cook, Kiran Jethwa.

Tales from the Bush Larder is a co=production between Zuku and Quite Bright Films and first aired on Zuku Afrika from September 2012.

The 12-part series takes the viewers on a tour of Kenya’s unusual and unknown gastronomic delights. Chef Kiran Jethwa goes in search of the ingredients he uses in his Nairobi restaurant, Seven, and then uses them to create both humble and sophisticated meals.

Commenting about the show, Kiran said, “It is a journey of culinary discovery.”

According to Zuku Programming MD Hannelie Bekker, the primary purpose of the event in London is to introduce Zuku, Tales from the Bush Larder and Kiran to an international audience, made up of television and business press, television professionals, and travel journalists.

“The secondary objective is to demonstrate the fresh and lively business climate in East Africa and its attractions as a destination. Zuku has in its short history showed that the market is characterized by an enormous appetite for new services. It places emphasis on locally developed channels and programming, believing that quality African television is important in the tv landscape of the future,” Hannelie said.

She added that the international premiere of the show will promote Kenya as a tourism destination at a time when the country is striving to diversify its tourism portfolio.

During the Nairobi launch of the show, Wananchi Group CEO Richard Bell reaffirmed Zuku’s commitment to investing in more local content in response to audience demand.

“Our offering has been structured to meet that need. As an East African company, we are committed to maintaining a close focus on this market and are delighted to be able to contribute towards its growth”, said Bell.

Since its broadcast on Zuku AFrika in 2012, the show has attracted both local and international attention.

Last year, Zuku Programming handed international distribution rights of the programme to a Dutch company, Amsterdam-based Off The Fence..

Zuku will retain distribution rights within Africa.

Zuku TV seeks to commission a television Drama Series for broadcast on Zuku Afrika.  

Zuku Afrika is Zuku’s home entertainment channel, tailor made for East African audiences. The channel seeks to respond to strong consumer demand for Africa-produced and Africa-themed programming and prides itself on the quality of its output.

We are looking for submissions that are bold, ambitious, unique, and original and bring fresh outlook to the East African television content.  The concept should have a broad viewer appeal and possess the ability to travel across the continent. The cast may include characters from around Africa.

The series should be highly marketable, entertaining and with a strong unique selling point.  

CONTENT:

 The Drama Series must:

• Have a strong theme
• A significant, realistic story
• A compelling plot
• Seamless continuity
• Unforgettable characters
• A well-chosen setting
• An appealing visual style 
• Be unique, original and fresh  
• Be entertaining  
• Have a strong, unique selling point
   

PROPOSAL:

The proposal should contain the following information:

1. A detailed treatment and approach
2. Series synopsis
3. Sample script for the first episode
4. Key Production Personnel
5. A preliminary budget

LANGUAGE: English / multi-lingual. Local languages or dialect to be subtitled in English

EPISODES: 13 episodes, 26 minutes each

TARGET AUDIENCE: Broad appeal

GENRE: Drama Series

DELIVERY FORMAT: Digi-Beta or DVCAM 184, File Delivery via FTP or Hard Drive as IMX 30 Files, 16:9 aspect ratio

PRODUCTION INFORMATION: Location of Production office, Facilities to be used during the execution of this project

CREATIVE INFORMATION: Please provide a detailed CV of key personnel who will be assigned to this project

OTHER INFORMATION:

• Company   registration, VAT registration, Income tax numbers/references 
• Directors, members or partners of the Company or Partnership 
• TV Programs or Dramas produced in the last 5 years 
• References (provide at least 2
• Name and phone number of the Key contact person
   

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION:  31^st March 2013  

FINAL DECISION DATE:  31^st May 2013  

TENTATIVE BROADCAST DATE:  2014

Successful applicants will be required to come for pitching sessions.

SUBMISSION DETAILS: Proposals should be addressed to:

The Commissioning Editor
Wananchi Programming Ltd
Gateway Business Park, Block E, Mombasa Road
P. O. Box 10286-­‐00100,Nairobi, Kenya 
Email:  drama@ke.wananchi.com  

It is with great pleasure that we announce officially launching four new channels on our Cable and our new Satellite platform.

The New Channels we have launched are as follows;

These channels go a long way in achieving our broader strategy to add more Movie, Sports and Cooking channels as evidenced by research, to satisfy our ever demanding subscriber viewing needs. They will all sit on the premium package.

 

1.    What is Zuku Upgrade?
This is the switch that Zuku has made to a bigger capacity and advanced transponder satellite, well known as SES 5 from NSS 12. The advanced SES 5 transponder

2.    Why this “switch” from NSS 12 to SES 5?

• SES 5 transponder provides us with more capacity, meaning; we have space to put up more channels for our subscribers’ enjoyment. Zuku is committed to providing wholesome family entertainment; this requires us to invest in obtaining content that provides our customers with the variety and choice that they require. This content has to sit somewhere, hence the investment in this transponder that allows us the capacity to host the additional content.

• Strategically, we have an aggressive growth plan within the wider East Africa market. We successfully launched our service in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. There has been tremendous interest and uptake of the service in these countries thus far. Our investment in SES 5 transponder gives us a wider footprint in Sub-Sahara Africa, and that means Zuku service will launch and be enjoyed in countries within the wider East Africa countries very soon, in-line with our growth ambitions.

3.    What does this switch mean to me, a subscriber?

  With the upgrade the customers will enjoy the following:

• Wholesome family entertainment by having an increased number of channels. We will give current and potential customers variety and choice.
• Zuku is committed and has in the past invested in the growth of the local film industry. This upgrade means that we will have the capacity to host more local programs, which truly connect with our viewers, within our bouquets.
• Our customers currently have the advantage of enjoying great signal reception, anywhere they are within the countries we operate in. This upgrade will enhance the viewers’ experience because we now will be able to broadcast some of our programs in HD (High definition). HD services demand a lot of transponder capacity and with the upgrade, we will be able to deliver that will not be an issue.

4.    What equipment I receive to make this upgrade possible? Will there be any changes?
There will be NO change in our equipment. Everything remains the same Installers will simply visit your home and re-direct your satellite dish from east (current position) to west (new position)

5.    How much money do I have to pay to get the Zuku Upgrade?
You will not have to pay any money to be upgraded. Simply allow our Zuku Upgrade team to come and re direct your dish

6.    How can I confirm that the Installer is from Zuku?
They will have a zuku badge and will be in Zuku overall as their uniform.

7.    What number should I call in case I have some queries?
 You can call 0 205 205 205. We also have dealers and resellers around the country that are on hand to assist our customers where there is need.

8.    Is the upgrade a process or something that will be done once?  
This will be done ONCE. Once installers visit your home and re-point your satellite dish, the customer has been upgraded.

9.    What channels will one be able to now receive after the upgrade?
Depending on your package, Our satellite customers will get to enjoy up to 12 new more channels which include Zuku Movies Max HD, Zuku Sports HD Zuku Action + 1 and Zuku Max + 1 and International channels such as One Music, VH1, CCTV9, CCTV4, CCTV News and DW (Deutsche Welle) News on their TV bouquets.
 

"BAQE" (pronounced as Ba-Ke) is the first ever dynamic and high-octane college basketball TV magazine program produced in Africa, by Zuku!

In this first season, the program is set against the backdrop of the Kenyan University Basketball League and highlights the games, culture, players, lifestyle and action, in this wildly popular sport that we call, Basketball.

This 26-episode half hour series will premiere on Thursday May 16th at 7:30pm (EAT), exclusively on Zuku Sports Channel 301.
Stay tuned and get ready to be amazed!

Zuku is our consumer facing brand that reflects a new, fresh and innovative range of products and services targeting the modern African consumer making it an exciting, relevant and affordable option for home entertainment and communication. As a brand, Zuku aims to give customers the greatest value for their money without compromising service quality.

The Programming Group is committed to working closely with local producers and directors to develop the East African Media Industry and grow the amount of high quality local content that is shown on Zuku channels.  In addition they have started an initiative to represent local content at global content marketplaces as a means to further enhance revenues to local productions.

Zuku has numerous home grown channels which include Zuku Afrika, Zuku Life, Zuku Movies Max, Zuku Movies Gold, Zuku Movies Family , Zuku Movies Action & Zuku Sports.

If you are a producer/film maker out there trying to get your content and have failed, how about trying Zuku we are looking for content to serve our many channels.

PROGRAM REQUIREMENT                                                                          

• Concept originality
• Regional (Universal) appeal
• Resonance with targeted audience
• Exportability to other buyers
• Long shelf life
• High production values
• Program appeal to channel profile
• Unique buying and selling points

They have three main approaches when it comes to sourcing for content:

1. Licensing

• Involves paying an agreed fee for an already produced and ready to air program

• It is determined by their program requirements, territory, history and demand

• Producer undertakes all costs and aims to recover the cost from distribution

• They buy limited runs for a period of time, for a specified territory

• Allows producer to redistribute the program to other buyers after the expiry of their agreement

• Intellectual copyright remains with the producer

Licensing process

1. Producer/content owner approaches us with a copy of a ready-to-air program and proposal
2. They review the submissions in line with the above requirements, and accept or decline

-If declined we inform the producer why the program has been declined through email, phone or face-to-face.

3. If the program meets at least 80% of the requirements, we propose changes to be made.
4. If the producer is in agreement with the proposed changes, we will then proceed to issue an offer.
5. Negotiations around license fee, number of runs, territories, etc begins.
6. The contract is then issued.

2. Commissioning

• We issue a brief to the industry with the objective of developing our own content.

• Alternatively, producer can sell their concept to us for consideration to develop the content

• Cost of production is fully funded by us.

• We own the Intellectual Property rights.

Commissioning process

1. We issue a brief to the industry that states the specific requirements for commissioning.
2. Proposals are submitted by the producers as per the proposed deadline. Proposals submitted after the deadlines are disqualified.
3. We review the submissions and shortlist proposals based on their eligibility & viability.
4. Producers are then invited via email or phone to a pitching session in front of a selected panel. Rejected proposals are informed.
5. Producers (s) of the selected proposal are informed and discussions begin around development of the program. Rejected proposals are also informed.
6. A contract is then issued.

3. Co-production

• Involves where a producer has a concept and is seeking partial funding for production

• Partial funding could be a 50-50 share for the production cost or could be higher/lower for parties involved.

• Producer should be willing to meet at least 50% of the proposed production costs

• Background Intellectual Property rights remain with the producer, i.e. concept, trademark, etc

• They jointly share the foreground IP rights, i.e. distribution rights, sponsorship and/or advertising costs as agreed by both parties

   Co-production process

1. Producer submits a concept and proposal to us with our terms of requirements.
2. We review the proposal and in line with our requirements, we will either accept or decline.

• If declined we inform the producer why the program has been declined via email, phone or face-to-face

3. If the program meets the requirements, they discuss terms of engagement, i.e. concept, budget, distribution, sponsorships, etc
4. If we reach an agreement on the above terms, we draw up a contract
5. Joint development process begins as per the agreed terms

CONTACT INFORMATION

For information on selling your content to Zuku TV, please contact Lucy Wangechi on lucy.wangechi@ke.wananchi.com