The Sunday News
Peter Matika, Senior Life Reporter
LOCAL independent producers and film makers are embracing digitisation, and they are ready to roll out new and exciting TV programmes.
Some of the producers who spoke to Sunday Life said the digitisation process was long overdue, as they felt their talent was not being fully utilised.
Bulawayo-based independent producer Tafadzwa Dube, a former ZBC journalist said he had taken the opportunity presented by the Government for independent producers to come up with concepts for television programing.
He said he had already set his eyes on producing a talent show programme called Chukucha, a dance programme focusing on developing different dance routines in the western areas.
“I am particularly happy that the Government opened such doors to some of us. As you can see, some of us have great ideas that we failed to turn into programmes. But this recent opening of gates will definitely open a new lease of life to our creativity,” he said.
Dube said he had also come up with a reality television programme on cooking named Cooking Schoto (School of Hospitality and Tourism — Bulawayo), a programme that focuses on African cuisines.
He also added that he would soon launch auditions for one of his programmes — Gospel Train that seeks to profile upcoming and renowned gospel artistes from Zimbabwe.
“I have already partnered up with some well-established organisations and institutions for my projects. The idea is to come up with programmes that people are eager to watch, as opposed to giving them what we want as producers. I have already done the part of surveying on the needs of the audience and what is left is to set the ball rolling. The sky is the limit,” said Dube.
The Government is currently working on digitising the county’s airwaves by migrating from the current analogue broadcasting technology to the digital broadcasting technology, in accordance with the International Telecommunications Union.
The process will see the country’s broadcasting industry having 12 new television stations with six reserved for the State broadcaster ZBC and the other six to be shared among independent broadcasters. The process is set to be completed by end of this year.
The Government has set the ball rolling by putting in place the infrastructure required for this migration in remote areas that never used to receive local television signals like Binga and Mudzi while workshops for independent producers and the public are currently ongoing with special emphasis on independent producers to take advantage of the opportunities presented.
The Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) has also taken the initiative to ask for concepts from independent producers so as to assist them with finances to make their productions meet the expected quality.
Another artiste who spoke to Sunday Life, Johane Mpofu said it was high time independent producers capitalised on the process and came up with interesting and appealing programmes for local TV.
“Many people prefer Dstv obviously because there are a wide variety of channels, offering different programmes. For Zimbabwe there was only one channel and I am afraid to say it didn’t appeal to the masses. Now that there will be options it is high time we as independent producers and film makers take advantage of this and work towards producing programmes that tell our story and are appealing and relevant to us as Zimbabweans,” he said.
