Azam TV Launches in Kenya

[Geza Ulole]

Federation's vice-chairman Robert Asembo remains hopeful more players will be exposed after Tanzanian broadcasters rolled out live coverage

Football Kenya Federation official Robert Asembo is a happy man after a success of Sunday's double-header broadcasted live by Azam TV.

FKF Premier League matches pitting Shabana versus Kakamega Homeboyz and Kariobangi Sharks against Moyas played at Safaricom Arena, Kasarani, were brought closer to the fans, who could not manage travelling expenses and delighted Asembo feels it is the way to go.

"It was exciting and satisfying. Finally the players from our league have been exposed to the outside world. This is just the beginning of better things to come," Asembo told Goal on Monday.

"Our aim as a federation is to improve quality of our leagues, there is no better way than exposing our players and I am confident this deal will take us far." Asembo refuted claims that West Kenya failed to honor their match against Modern Coast rangers due to financial problems.

"Every team had received Sh1 million for the just concluded match. We will soon pay them this month's dues to enable them compete stress free. West Kenya had its own internal issues, which we are bound to investigate. It had nothing to do with money; we gave every team Sh1million as stated earlier."

goal.com/en-ke/news/4523/kenya-premier-league/2015/03/30/10310552/fkf-delight-as-azam-tv-live-coverage-takes-off

 

[Boda254]

Good for Azam, but i think it should consider transmitting live coverage of the rugby league which is a popular sport in kenya instead of this FKF second division league that no is interested in

 

[Geza Ulole]

Good for Azam, but i think it should consider transmitting live coverage of the rugby league which is a popular sport in kenya instead of this FKF second division league that no is interested in

news in grapeville is that they are also in negotiations to get broadcasting rights for rugby league! Worry not "Azam burudani kwa wote" get your kit ASAP.

 

[MOTOCHINI]

Hawajamaa wameamua kufanya vitu kwa kujiamini tena kwa mudamfupi ila miningependa wafuate ushauri wa bwana Boda254 kuweza kuwateka weng waangalie nimchezo upi una pendwa mahali fulani na silazima mpira wa miguu pekee

 

[Dhuks]

Standard Digital News : : GameYetu - END OF THE ROAD? FKF's marketing company wants deal renegotiated, citing poor quality of league

 

[Geza Ulole]

Azam TV entry to intensify rivalry in pay TV market

Competition in the local pay TV market could intensify following the entry of Tanzania-based Azam TV.
StarTimes and Tele10, which markets DStv, Canal+ and GOtv, have been the only pay TV service providers before Azam's entry.

The company, owned by Tanzania's Bakhresa Group's Azam Media, could ride on the back of recent increases in subscription fees by the two pay TV firms to make inroads in the local market.

Last week, StarTimes announced it would increase monthly subscription fees for most of its bouquets effective May 1, while DStv raised its fees effective April 1.

Inflation, satellite lease and programming charges and efforts to enhance efficiencies were cited as reasons behind the increase.
Faradjallah Ndagano, the Azam Media operations manager, said their entry will shake-up the market and push service providers to up the game to stay competitive.

"We are coming in at a time when Rwandans need an affordable pay TV...In fact, our entry will greatly benefit subscribers," he said in an interview with The New Times on Monday.

Azam TV has two bouquets – one for English viewers with 80 channels at Rwf6,500 per month.

The other bouquet has 60 channels and is targeting French-speakers, Ndagano said, adding that it is at Rwf9,000 monthly subscription fees. Both bouquets go for Rwf18,000 per month, he added.

Jean Baptiste Mutabazi, the head of communication and media regulation at the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA), said Azam was licensed in December last year. Mutabazi said the move will ease access to pay TV and drive TV penetration rates.

"With increased competition, operators will have no choice but to improve and offer better signals, pricing and content to stay competitive," he added.

Mutabazi challenged local TV stations to develop better content and improve programming to attract wider viewership in Rwanda and across the region.

Of Rwanda's over 11.5 million people, only about 200,000 households own decoders, according to RURA.

Following migration to digital broadcasting last July, one has to have Pay TVs or a free-to-air top set box to watch TV.

Amani Ikomezekudufasha, a Kigali resident, is hopeful that the coming of Azam TV will push pay TV stations to improve and also offer competitive prices.

Azam TV was started in 2013. It launched services in Uganda and Kenya last year and Burundi and Rwanda this year.

Azam TV entry to intensify rivalry in pay TV market - The New Times | Rwanda

 

[Geza Ulole]

Azam TV launches in Rwanda

Tanzania's Azam TV has launched its direct-to-home (DTH) pay-TV service in Rwanda, following its entrance in the Kenyan broadcasting market in December 2014.

Azam TV will provide competition for Rwanda's existing subscription-based TV platforms StarTimes and Tele10, which markets MultiChoice's DStv and GOtv services along with the French pay-TV network Canal+.

Both StarTimes and DStv are raising fees to their pay-TV services in the East African country.

"We are coming in at a time when Rwandans need an affordable pay TV... In fact, our entry will greatly benefit subscribers," Faradjallah Ndagano, Azam Media's operations manager, told The New Times.

The new entrant to Rwanda offers two channel bouquets. The first, for English speakers, has 80 channels priced at RWF6,500 per month. The second, for French speakers, has 60 channels for RWF9,000 a month. Both are available for a combined total of RWF18,000 a month.

Just 200,000 of Rwanda's population of over 11.5 million people own digital set top boxes, according to Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA).

Azam, which is the flagship brand of the Said Salim Bakhresa Group (SSB), also plans to roll out its pay-TV operations into Burundi, Malawi, Zambia and Sierra Leone in 2015.

Its service in Tanzania was launched in December 2013, and within a year had reportedly sold 150,000 full decoder kits.

 

[Geza Ulole]

Muvi TV launches more channels
Posted By Chief Editor On April 22, 2015 @ 6:48 pm In General News | 12 Comments
[SUP]
[1][/SUP]Costa Mwansa of Muvi TV

Muvi TV, a local television station in Lusaka, has today launched its plus bouquet.
The Muvi TV plus bouquet that has over 40 channels is being sold at K90 while the Muvi TV standard bouquet costs K40.


These bouquets are beamed on the Muvi TV latest MPEG-4 decoders preparing the station for digital television migration.


Speaking at the official launch, Muvi TV Managing Editor Costa Mwansa disclosed that the viewership for his station now stands at 4.3 million people.


Mr. Mwansa said the Muvi television broadcasting in Zambia has not been easy in its 10-year journey from satellite to terrestrial broadcasting.


He said the launch will help increase the number of viewers to beyond 4 million.


Some of the new channels to be beamed are national geographic, kombat sport and Madrid TV, Liverpool TV both of which provide soccer coverage, BBC and Aljazeera among others.


This is in addition to Africa Unite, Muvi Muviz, Muvi Combo and Prism Africa which already exist on Muvi TV channels.


And Muvi TV Chief Marketing Officer Ronald Kombe disclosed that MPEG-4 decoders could be bought on cash and on hire purchase basis.


Mr. Kombe has since implored corporate organization to allow their workers purchase the decoders so that they could keenly follow current affairs, sports, kids, ladies and human interest stories.


Meanwhile, Azam Media Chief Executive Officer Rhys Torrington disclosed that his organisation in neighbouring Tanzania has partnered with Muvi TV in Zambia in order to increase content output to the already existing platform and ultimately give viewers a wider selection of television viewing.


Mr. Torrington further disclosed that 263,000 Azam decoders have so far been bought in Kenya and Rwanda following a huge investment in television broadcasting.


Meanwhile, some local journalists from both electronic and print media have won themselves decoders while others won themselves full paid-up bouquets after winning a grand raffle.

LusakaTimes.com Zambia : Muvi TV launches more channels

 

[Geza Ulole]

Azam Media CEO Details East Africa Expansion Strategy

Azam Media, a fast growing Direct-to-Home (DTH) service provider in East Africa, has climbed to more than a quarter-million subscribers since first launching in December 2013. Starting in Tanzania, the company expanded to Uganda in October last year, and opened up a new office in Kenya two months later. Rhys Torrington, CEO of Azam Media, told Via Satellite the company has sold approximately 265,000 Set-Top-Boxes (STBs) to date and plans to enter more markets in the near future.

"We are expanding slowly across the East African footprint. We also have a partner that we work with in Zambia who puts our channels on his platform, and we have a partnership about to start running in Sierra Leone," he said. "The next big one on our list to try and address will be the Democratic Republic of Congo."

A flagship company of the Bakhresa Group, Azam Media is focused on providing channel bouquets at a cost that is more easily afforded by citizens of East African nations. Torrington describes the attitude toward satellite TV in these markets as one of luxury up until fairly recently. New providers have cropped up, such as Zuku in Kenya and StarSat in South Africa.

Euroconsult expects the entrance of new Free-to-Air (FTA) and pay-TV platforms will have a heavy influence on the African TV market over the next decade. The research firm's "Prospects for Satellite Communications and Broadcasting in Africa" report highlights the emergence of digital TV as a catalyst for satellite in the region, contributing to a projected Calculated Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11 percent for capacity leased over the next decade.

With new entrants such as these and Azam Media coming alongside established players like MultiChoice, Torrington describes the market as just starting to heat up. Wages are rising, enabling more people to pay for satellite TV, and infrastructure for power has improved, making it feasible in more places.

"It's one thing to have a television set. It's another to make it work. The spread of electricity outside of the major cities, and the consistency of supply has made a big difference," he said.

The outbreak of Ebola delayed Azam Media's expansion into Sierra Leone, but as the situation comes under control, the company is ready again to tap into this market. Azam Media is also operating in Rwanda, and will soon start operations in Malawi and Burundi, Torrington said. Any country with a sizeable Swahili-speaking population is within its sights.

"Our aim is to get within a two-year time frame up to around 400,000 to 450,000 active subscribers, so coming up to doubling where we got to in 16 months. We reaped a lot of the low hanging fruit. Now we've got to get a ladder to get a bit further up the tree, and also find some more trees in new countries," said Torrington.

Azam Media launched its TV service on the Eutelsat 7A satellite in 2013, and leased a new transponder on Eutelsat 7B in March this year. Torrington said FTA channels in new territories will soak up new capacity first. Currently about 90 percent of the venture's channels are pay-TV, with the remaining 10 percent comprised of FTA. The company also typically offers the state broadcaster as an FTA channel in each country. But the capacity will also go toward reaching other goals.

"From a real investment point of view, the focus right now is on getting more content. We've got a lot of sports content, particularly football, but that's an asset and a weakness. You end up with 60 to 80 channels and people are only watching one of them, and when the football season finishes they stop watching that as well and stop paying their subscription," he explained.

Azam Media has exclusive rights to the Vodacom Premier League in Tanzania, and over the last couple of months gained similar rights for the Azam Uganda Premier League, the FKF League in Kenya, and the Primus League in Burundi. Soccer fans have become a major customer segment, and the company relies on Spacecom through RR Media to uplink outside broadcasts of sporting events. Torrington said gaining more diverse content will likely result in greater satellite capacity needs.

Additionally, the company opened a studio complex and head-end facility in the Tanzanian capital of Dar es Salaam in March, and intends to play a more active role in the creation of local content.

"Beyond just creating our own programs, we want to play an active role in more local dramas and movies series, rather than outside of our own channels just being a conduit for slightly ancient American soap operas and movies, which is pretty much the standard fair of a pay-TV channel in Africa. We want to start doing some original work," he said.

The other big goal is to begin offering HD channels. Torrington said the company aims to have up to three or four channels tops by the end of the year, though it could alternatively start with one HD sports channel instead and add more channels in 2016. Azam Media could also look to tag up with a local broadband operator for alternative delivery mechanisms of television content.

Torrington said Ultra-HD is too far out to consider at this point, because a large number of customers will still be watching using cathode ray tube televisions.

"The ethic is very good quality, not necessarily the best possible, but very good quality at a price Mr. and Mrs. Average can afford," he said.

Azam Media plans to launch its first HD channel around July.


Azam Media CEO Details East Africa Expansion Strategy - Via Satellite

 

[Geza Ulole]

[FONT=roboto_condensedregular]VideoFlow's DVP accelerates azamTV rollout of content gathering across Africa

The confidence in VideoFlow's DVP to deliver high quality video over any IP network reduces the time it takes to complete the technical survey for adding a new channel[/FONT][FONT=roboto_condensedregular]
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VideoFlow's DVP100 and DVP10VideoFlow

In 2014, azamTV integrated VideoFlow's Digital Video Protection (DVP) to solve the problem of live TV channel quality issues from Zanzibar. The root cause for these quality issues was the unreliable behaviour of the microwave radio links connecting Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam. The success of turning it from an unreliable connection, which required frequent manual intervention to reconfigure and fix, to an ultra-reliable one that needs very little attention has given azamTV's the confidence to accelerate its rollout programme of extending its content gathering network across Africa.

"That link was a major headache – I literally had to swap cables around and reconfigure manually if there was a disruption in the service," explained Balaji L Nagalgave, IT Manager at azamTV. "With VideoFlow's technology, the link is working perfectly and I don't have to do anything as the VideoFlow technology does all the adjustments automatically to maintain the high quality video stream. I am now a very happy IT manager as I can sleep better at night!"

The success of VideoFlow's ‘fit and forget' technology was developed by azamTV into a ‘cookie cutter' solution where the solution implemented between Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam is easily replicated. This means that azamTV has been able to accelerate its plans to extend its content gathering network. The first phase included adding eight new TV channels from Uganda to azamTV's NOC at Dar es Salaam over fibre. Each connection is comprised of two fibres, each connected to a different ISP to provide a reliable network capable of uninterrupted, high quality, live broadcast 24/7.

"One of the biggest challenges of adding a new TV channel to the azamTV network used to be determining what kind of links were available for the video stream and how reliable they were," added Balaji Nagalgave. "With VideoFlow technology, this is no longer a problem because we now know the answers to most technical questions. This speeds up the deployment of new connections considerably and makes my life much easier. I know that, whatever kind of link, VideoFlow will make it work perfectly and reliably. This is very important as azam has built its success and brand on delivering quality broadcasts and viewers expect that the quality of their favourite programs that they watch will be no less than perfect."

Mr Jacob Joseph, COO of azam, was highly impressed by the Zanzibar setup and extended his support for further expansion of the project to other channels. As a result, azamTV is currently rolling out VideoFlow-protected links to additional nine neighbouring countries including Kenya, Rwanda, Malawi, and Mozambique. All gathered content is sent to France where it is uplinked to a Eutelsat satellite providing azamTV's multi-channel DTH (Direct To Home) service in Africa.

Eran Shalev, VideoFlow's VP Marketing, added, "The perception that fibres are error free might be misleading, in particular when using long-haul fibre connections such as in the case of azamTV. "Closed Garden" networks will normally have better quality than unmanaged networks but even 0.1% of packets loss can degrade the viewer's quality of experience to an unacceptable level. The quality of the connection is measured by the weakest link in the chain and Africa has a wide variety of legacy technologies and is also adding new ones creating a complex mixture of content delivery systems of variable quality. As proven by azamTV,

VideoFlow technology can ensure that whatever technology is used to transport the video stream -- from Internet to satellite and from microwave to leased line, packets will never be lost and that the video stream remains at the high quality broadcasters require to maintain their brand image."
VideoFlow technology

Live video broadcasts are sent as a continuous bit stream, which IP networks were never designed to handle, resulting in artefacts caused by packet jitter, and packet loss. More than a couple of seconds of latency is unacceptable by customers expecting to enjoy the excitement of live events like sport as they happen. VideoFlow's technology ensures that no packet is lost and the packet jitter caused by transiting the IP network is nullified. By doing so, it affords the opportunity to lower the costs of uninterrupted, live high, quality video service in place of existing, expensive solutions.

The DVP comes as a "Plug and Play" pair – a Protector, which stores the packets until it is certain that they have been correctly received, and a Sentinel which monitors the health of the video stream by watching for packet loss and requests packets to be resent from the Protector's cache only if required. This is ensured by VideoFlow's patents, which cover techniques to minimize the number of packets that have to be resent. VideoFlow's solution is highly flexible working with internet connections as slow as 200Kb/s or as fast as 800Mbps yet delivering the desired high quality. VideoFlow's patents also covers techniques to reduce bandwidth overhead to the minimum possible and to keep any delays at less than the two seconds, which is the maximum tolerated for true live broadcasts.

VideoFlow's DVP family of products enables the reduction of bandwidth requirements cutting operational costs compared to the current solutions.

Video demo at [video][/FONT][FONT=roboto_condensedregular]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9ZjpjIlonU&feature=player_embedded[/video][/FONT][FONT=roboto_condensedregular]
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azamTV[/FONT]

azamTV is part of Azam Media Limited, one of the Bakhresa Group of companies (Bakhresa Group - The Home of AzamAzam Bakhresa Group - Karibu, Welcome to Bakhresa The Home of Azam We make it good, but it’s YOU who makes us GREAT!). Bakhresa Group is one of Tanzania's leading Industrial Houses with a turnover of $600 million and over 5000 employees. Its business interests extend from food to transportation and from media to real estate.

VideoFlow is a leading provider of proven, cost effective, easy to use, and scalable solutions to ensure uninterrupted, secure, live broadcast-quality video delivery over any IP network. It provides continuous service from OB Vehicles to the NOC, reduces International TV channel/network distribution costs, improves teleport margins through higher network utilization, slashes OTT video contribution costs and reduces access costs to cloud-based video services.

The VideoFlow product portfolio guarantee highest video quality over any network or infrastructure, managed or unmanaged, including fibres, DSLs, satellite links, microwave links, Wi-Fi, and cellular. It is encoding/decoding technology as well as video resolution independent handling MPEG2, H.264, and HEVC, at any resolution including SD, HD, 4K, and 8K.

VideoFlow solution is equipment vendor independent, working with any broadcast equipment vendor of your choice. VideoFlow product portfolio is a solution widely adopted worldwide.

VideoFlow’s DVP accelerates azamTV rollout of content gathering across Africa | Broadcasting & Cable
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[mojawapo]

MP Silva ndio walifanya makosa
MP Silva should blame themselves for FKF saga | Kenya Page

 

[Bantugbro]

I am impressed....:A S soccer:

 

[Geza Ulole]

Azam TV's $2.35m Deal for Rwanda Premier League

Tanzania's Azam TV has bought rights to broadcast the Rwanda Premier League for the next five years.

On August 24, 2015, Rwanda Football Federation (Ferwafa) and AzamTV, a Tanzanian pay TV company signed a $2.35 million (Rwf1,713,272,261) deal to sponsor Rwanda Premier League and officially become the broadcast partner of Ferwafa.

"We are focusing on East African sport, mostly soccer. Rwanda and indeed Burundi are the homes of the most exciting football in East Africa and it's important for us to work with Ferwafa to develop the game here... we want people to watch Rwandan football in Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, across the continent and beyond," said Azam Media chief executive.

He noted that Bakhresa business will grow slowly unless they have compelling viewing with the Rwandan football.

Rwanda Football Federation President Vincent Nzamwita said the move will benefit not just the league clubs but also the national team, junior leagues and women football.

"This is a new beginning for Rwandan football and a revolutionary moment for us. We are confident that the benefits will trickle down to other spheres of the sport."

The deal will further cement Azam TV as the leading broadcaster, promoter and sponsor of local football in East Africa, having signed similar deals in Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Kenya and now Rwanda.

The 16 teams that will play in the 2015/16 Azam Rwanda Premier League include: APR FC, Rayon Sports, SC Kiyovu, AS Kigali, Musanze FC, Marines FC, Gicumbi FC, Sunrise FC, Bugesera FC, Rwamagana FC, Espoir FC, Police FC, Amagaju FC and Mukura VS.

Part of this sponsorship and broadcasting package will see Azam provide $350,000 in the first year to be increased $500,000 in the following years.

Rwanda/Tanzania: Azam TV's $2.35m Deal for Rwanda Premier League - allAfrica.com