Close-T Broadcast Network Holdings, and PayTV, using its platform CloseTV, was having a new subscription broadcast license as a pay TV from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA).
“We have approached the growing need for choice in the PayTV market from the consumers’ perspective and developed niche audience specific bundles that won’t be made up of rehashed bouquets of older or lower quality programming, but rather high quality international and local programming,” says Mia Groenewald, director of Close-T Broadcast Network Holdings.
The company’s objective in this was to ensure the customers get what they want by paying what they prefer watch rather than making a month’s pay subscription for a premier service and then only watching 20 percent.
In case something of interest falls out of the package that forms the subscription basis, a pay-per-view demand based service will also feature as one of the service offerings.
The network holdings will offer country’s first PayTV packages for the dynamic and thriving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA) community and has set up exclusive partnerships with global content providers such as OutTV group, LOGO TV and OUT in African Film Festival.
“Our research shows that there are approximately six million LGBTQIA lifestyle consumers in South Africa, with virtually no television based programming,” adds Groenewald.
To complement non-LGBTQIA interests, the bouquet will include independent and art house movies; cinema nouveau, foreign language films, cultural programming, travel and fashion events.
CloseTV has already identified other niche audience groups that will form a critical part of its growth and service extension strategies.