MultiChoice and Mnet is set to invest half a billion shillings investment in 14 original local shows to be produced and broadcast in the year 2017-2018 in a move expected to promote local content, save on exorbitant content licenses and fulfill the 70 percent local content requirement policy.
According to GOtv Kenya General Manager, Simon Kariithi, “MultiChoice is rooted in countries where our customers live. That means we are proud of the contribution we are making in our local communities. As a leading funder of local productions in Kenya, we are proud to announce a half a billion shillings investment in 14 original local shows to be produced and broadcast in the year 2017-2018, and will air exclusively on Maisha Magic East which is the only show in the country with 100% local content.”
Further to the investment, Maisha Magic also flew in Bollywood top thespians for a knowledge transfer session. The summit, which took place at Local Production Limited studios in Nairobi, also featured two of Bollywood’s renowned and award-winning producers Neelima Bajpal and Shyamashis Bhattacharia, Directors at Shakuntalam Telefilms in India. The Bollywood producers gave presentations that focused on the drivers of success of the Indian Telenovela productions including budgeting for Bollywood films, script writing and casting. Also featured was the importance of post-production in film production.
The firm is pushing its efforts to increase local production skills following a directive by the Communication Authority in 2014 to increase local content programming from 40% to 68% by 2018.
