TVAfrica was a pan-African television network founded in 1998 by former advertising executive Dave Kelly alongside sports broadcaster Berry Lambert.
At its apex, the channel broadcast to as many as 26 countries (up to 40 in licensed sporting events),[6] the majority of them English-speaking and French-speaking states.
[2] Domiciled in Mauritius, the network's broadcasting facilities were located in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast.
[8] In late November 1998, TVAfrica bought Sanyu TV from the Katto family,[13] for the sum of US$5.5 million, "a considerable amount of money" according to Lambert, compared to other affiliates at the time.
[15] TV Africa also managed STV in Kenya, whose coverage was initially limited to Nairobi and extended to Mombasa and Kisumu.
Networks in individual markets were still touted as being propagandistic, leaning to their respective governments of the time, whereas the emerging private television sector was still facing heavy difficulties at the time, with many channels shutting down[7] Quentin Green left e.tv where he had a job as sales and managing director and joined TVAfrica in April 2001.
[17] TVAfrica also faced competition from another syndicator, the African Broadcasting Network (ABN), domiciled in the United Kingdom, which tied in with state television channels in several countries.
The company estimated that only 0.8% of the continent had subscription television services (46 million viewers), yet its coverage – thanks to separate sporting agreements – was higher.
The World Cup coverage was presented by South African sports journalist Louis Karpas from the new building, as well as an educational programme.
[22] Late in 2002, TVAfrica set up a new Namibian affiliate from scratch, partnering with local production company INTV, as well as holding 20% of the stocks of STV in Mozambique.
[26] Building on from the rebrand, the channel added two continuity announcers, George Munetsi Biza from Zimbabwe and Irene Ndlovu from Kenya.
[27] Founder Barry Lambert left TVAfrica in 2002 to found LIM Africa, which in 2005 partnered with Setanta Sports to later set up an African version of the channel and licensing agreements with free-to-air broadcasters.
A number of alternative solutions to keep the network afloat were considered, but neither of the options was suitable for its economic climate, prompting the station to go off air and liquidate, as the operation didn't meet expectations at the long term.
[3] Dave Kelly still showed belief in the idea of such a network, but it was complicated, on the grounds that its US investors did not apply the capital properly.
– Dave Kelly on the liquidation of TVAfrica One of the factors that led to the collapse of the network was its affiliation with smaller television stations, almost all of them commercial, in opposition to the dominating TV channels in many countries that were under government control.
[2] TVAfrica sponsored and held boxing matches in countries where it had an affiliate in an attempt to create permanent fixtures, with three bouts in November and December 1999 in Swaziland and one in Botswana in January 2000.
[36] TVAfrica in its beginnings carried a heavy amount of foreign (mostly American) TV series, such as Friends, Suddenly Susan, Malcolm and Eddie and ER, as well as sporting events such as WWF and the Premier League.
[41] In May 2002, the channel introduced 7 Days, a weekly newsmagazine, with inserts provided by the affiliates, and the pre-existing Africa Business Tonight had its length doubled from 15 minutes to 30.
A Tanzanian commercial company had signed an agreement to sponsor the telephones and television sets enabling children to phone to the presenter.
[48] In July 2003, TVAfrica signed an agreement with Nigerian company Wale Adenuga Productions to distribute its series Odd World.
Candidates for affiliate status should have a suitable broadcasting license, financial stability, apolitical programming and strategy and abidance to the national regulator.
[50] In 2000, the network took the Nigerian Television Authority to court over illegalities in the licensing of UEFA Euro 2000, which had been taken over from Canal France Internationale.
[67] The NBC accused TVAfrica of beaming its programming without following "internationally acceptable standards", while the Association of Movie Producers of Nigeria probed the network in July.
To offset these issues, TVAfrica planned to invest 30 million naira in local content all over Africa for a ten-year period, valid until 2010.
[70] At closing time, the network was criticized due to its reliance on affiliation agreements with smaller television stations and programming that did not cater to the tastes of the viewing audience.