In many African countries, TV broadcasting was introduced in the 1950s and 1960s by former colonial settlers. While the colonial edifices only endeavored to service the information and entertainment needs of the settlers, the first black African governments used broad- casting as a tool both to entrench themselves politically and to repress their own societies. Between the 1960s (Africa’s independence decade) and the late 1980s, tele- vision broadcasting in sub-Saharan Africa was heavily controlled by the government, with virtually no private sector participation. With little (at times no) independently produced local content and weak signals limited to major urban centers, viewership grew sluggishly in many countries.

Television broadcasting changed during the late 1980s and early 1990s, as a wind of democratic reform consumed much of the continent. In almost all countries that embraced political change, television business has flourished, creating a fast-growing broadcasting sector. Such countries boast multiple private TV stations alongside revamped state broadcasters. The lure of cheap re-runs of Western sitcoms and soap operas, spiced with persuasive local content from nascent but independent production houses, is winning audiences for the new African TV-owning households. Local content hardly matches the cheap foreign imports, but the emergence of regional content—from regional sporting events and from such broadcasting centers as South Africa and Nigeria—is helping maintain an African idea on the television screen.

Kenya and Nigeria were the first sub-Saharan countries to allow private broadcasting. While Kenya issued one private license in 1990 and thereafter stymied further liberalization for six years, Nigeria opened the door to private broadcasters in 1991 and kept it open. The result was the creation of Africa’s most competitive TV market, with over 80 private and state-owned stations jostling for audiences and a portion of the nearly $1 billion in annual advertising spending. A vibrant local production industry flourishes alongside imported content. Indeed, these indigenous productions form Nigeria’s biggest contribution to the continent’s TV broadcasting. The country is home to some of Africa’s most successful sitcoms, such as Ikebe Super and Papa Ajasco produced by Wale Adenuga. Papa Ajasco is the most-watched sitcom in West Africa, with audiences in eight countries. Since 1999, a number of Nigerian sitcoms have been on air in East Africa, with moderate success. Audience research conducted in Lagos in 1999 indicated that African Independent Television (AIT) was the most- watched station in the city, followed by Channels, MITV, and Degue Broadcasting Network (DBN). AIT and Minaj are licensed as satellite TV stations.

Nigeria has 40 government-owned TV stations, of which 29 stations were established by state governments. There are 16 private free-to-air stations, two satellite stations with global licenses, and 37 private cable and satellite rebroadcast stations. Five of the free-to-air TV licenses were issued in March 2002 by the regulating authority, Nigeria Broadcasting Com- mission (NBC). The NBC was established in 1992 with a primary function to regulate and supervise the industry. Over 40 government-owned stations operate under the ambit of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), making NTA one of the largest broadcasting operators in Africa. The NTA stations broadcast in most of Nigeria’s major local languages. Communica- tions Trends Ltd. (CTL), an indigenous satellite cable television and Internet provider, is the second largest TV network in the country, with operations in 13 of Nigeria’s 30 constitutional states.

Senegal and Ghana stand out as two other showcases of rapid growth and promise in television. Both countries have a history of relatively robust and independent media. Senegal allowed private TV operators from 1991 and currently boasts one national public broadcaster (Radiodiffusion Television Senegalaise) and two subscription TV services (Canal1 Horizons Senegal and EXCAF). RTS signal covers three-quarters of the country with broadcasts in French, English, and several local languages. Canal1 Horizons is generally a sports and entertainment service that is available on the French bouquet channel, Le Sat, together with EXCAF pay TV. Ghana, on the other hand, began licensing private broadcasters in 1995 and has four TV stations. Ghana TV is state owned, while Metro TV is a joint venture between the state broadcaster and Lebanese investors. TV3, the first free-to-air station, is a joint venture be- tween local media practitioners and Malaysian investors. Both Metro TV and TV3 broadcast one channel each to Accra and its environs. The fourth operator, Fontom TV, commenced operations in 1999 with news, sports, and entertainment broadcasts around Kumasi.

Some newcomers on the continental broadcasting scene are quickly establishing themselves as leaders. Tanzania is a case in point. After three decades of no television service, Tanzania liberalized the airwaves in the early 1990s. Since then, seven stations—Independent Television (ITV), Dar es Salaam Television (DTV), Central Television Network (CTN), Cable Entertainment Network (CEN), Star Television (STV), Television Zanzibar (TVZ), and Television of Tanzania (TVT)— have commenced operations. Alongside these are dozens of small, intermittent broadcasters licensed to operate in nearly all sizeable urban centers throughout the country. Many of these run cable networks, avoiding the costs of free-to-air transmission. Notably, only TVT is state owned. Local content is scant, as most stations relay CNN, BBC, and Deutsche Welle TV, breaking away only for a few hours nightly for local news and a handful of local productions. ITV is the only Tanzanian station available to the rest of the continent via satellite and terrestrially to five regions within the country.

Uganda has also made considerable progress over the past four years. More than a dozen licenses have been is- sued, although only half of these have commenced operations. Uganda Television (UTV) is the national broadcaster, with WBS-TV, Channels, STV, Multi- Choice, and TV Africa as the main contenders. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (former Zaïre), Radio- Television Nationale Congolaise (RTNC) is state owned and the sole national broadcaster in the vast country. RTNC covers nearly three-quarters of this vast country via four channels, previously privately owned but nationalized by the government after civil war broke out in 1997. A number of small private subscription broadcasters have emerged in major urban centers over the past two years. These include Tropicana TV, RAGA, and Antenne A in Kinshasa, and Solar Energy in Lubumbashi.

Nevertheless, television broadcasting is still highly controlled in at least a quarter of sub-Sahara African countries. In such countries, only state-owned television stations operate on free-to-air licenses. For example, Ethiopia TV is the only television station in the country, broadcasting primarily in Amharic and minimally in English. Similarly, the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) is the only TV broadcaster in Zambia, with its signal available in major urban areas. The corporation is also the local partner in the two pay-TV services run by South Africa’s MultiChoice and the African Broadcast Network (ABN). Swaziland’s Television Authority (STVA) broadcasts one television channel with nationwide repeaters. In Malawi the first public TV ser- vice, Television Malawi (TVM), was opened by the government in 2000. South Africa’s MultiChoice subscription service is the only substitute via satellite in Malawi’s main urban centers.

In Seychelles and Mauritius, the state-owned broadcasters are the sole TV operators. The Seychelles Broadcasting Corporation offers a single channel covering the entire island, while the Mauritius Broadcast- ing Corporation runs three free-to-air stations and two subscription channels. Lesotho’s National Broadcast- ing Service and Botswana’s BTV operate on a very small scale, respectively, within the two land-locked countries. South Africa’s MultiChoice runs subscription TV services comprising mainly sports and entertainment in the two countries.

In Rwanda, Televisiondiffusion de Rwanda (TVR) remains the only major broadcaster, with a signal covering about half the country. Over the past three years, two small stations, Tele10 and STV, have commenced operations around the capital city of Kigali. A similar story is evident in Madagascar’s TV Malagasy, the state broadcaster. The recent launching of three private subscription operatiors (MaTV, TVF, and RTA) in Antananarivo has had little impact on the broadcasting scene. In Burundi, Television Nationale du Burundi is the sole broadcaster, reaching only a small section of the country.

In Zimbabwe the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation runs ZBC-TV1 as the only national television service. It operates as a commercial TV station and transmits nationally. Since 1997, Joy TV has been li- censed as the first independent TV service in the country. It leases ZBC-TV2’s studios and transmitters, and its signal is available within a 120-kilometer radius of Harare. TV audience research shows ZBC-TV1 controlling about 52 percent of the audience, with Joy-TV accounting for 37 percent.

In Mozambique, Televisao de Moçambique (TVM), the only national station, is state owned and serves major urban areas. Plans are afoot to have the transmission available countrywide via satellite. Three private local stations, Radio Televisao Klint (RTK), TV Miramar, and Greenland Television operate around Maputo. TV Miramar is owned by the Brazilian Church Reino Uni- versal de Assembleia do Deus (Universal Church of God), while RTK is owned by a political personality. In Angola, the government operates Televisao Popular de Angola (TPA), which has transmitters in most provin- cal capitals and major towns. A second station, TPA 2, operates around the capital city of Luanda.

In Namibia, the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation is a monopoly, with one television service that offers regional programming during various times of the day. Two subscription TV services, Deukom TV and MultiChoice, have operations in major urban centers. Deukom TV offers several four German-language channels (RTL, Sat1, DW, and ARD) while Multi- Choice offers several English-language entertainment and sports channels beamed from South Africa.

Throughout the rest of the subcontinent (Botswana, Chad, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire [Ivory Coast], Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, and Sudan) the state remains the sole broadcaster. In a few other countries, like Burkina Faso, Benin, and Gabon, a multiplicity of problems have frustrated any substantive growth in television broadcasting. Yet others, such as Cameroon and Kenya, have a fledgling TV industry whose growth has been stunted, if not permanently maimed, by years of government interference.

Some notable players on the continent’s broadcasting scene include MultiChoice, Le Sat, and TV Africa. Multi-Choice is the largest channel bouquet operator on the continent, offering up to 50 channels to 1.2 million subscribers in 15 countries. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 187,000 subscribers, or one-sixth of the total, but boasts a 5 percent annual growth. Le Sat is a Francophone bouquet that is beamed to MDDS operators. TV Africa operates as a content provider to many African television broadcasters. CFI Pro and RTPi are Europe-based content providers for Francophone and Luzophone broadcasters, respectively. African Broadcast Network (ABN), a continentwide broadcaster, was founded in January 2001. It at- tempts to procure quality entertainment programming for affiliates and partner broadcasters in Africa.

Backhauling and downlinking of pan-African programming has improved considerably as more satellites with an African footprint have been launched in the past five years. At least a dozen satellites are currently overflying Africa, lowering the cost of transponder hosting and satellite transmission costs. For instance, MultiChoice uses transponder space on PanAmSat 4, PanAmSat 7, and EutelSat W4 satellites to beam its bouquet of channels into sub-Saharan Africa.

One of the drawbacks to the development of TV broadcasting in sub-Saharan Africa is a lack of succinct media policies. With the exception of Nigeria, no country on the subcontinent has a substantive media policy, much less an established institutional framework to administer such policy. Numerous pertinent policy issues (for example, local content regulation, ownership and control, and public service broadcasting) are yet to be addressed, creating chaotic scenarios. For example, in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, and Cameroon, a lack of clarity on many policy issues has set back developments in the TV broadcasting sub-sector or led to a misallocation of much-needed resources. While authorities in these countries have pledged to review the relevant media policies, their nascent TV operations are striving to stand firm in tough trading conditions.