ZIMBABWE’s first independent television station, 3Ktv, is toasting to two years of non-stop live broadcasting today, as it continues to set the pace in the industry.
3Ktv is a free-to-air (FTA), digital terrestrial television (DTT) station. This means that contrary to social media babble, anyone with the right equipment — such as a digital TV set or suitable set-top box — can receive its programming for free wherever the signal is available.
However, 3Ktv’s feed is also available through other platforms for which subscription fees may be payable. This explains the commercial station’s key partnership with MultiChoice which has seen it also hosted on DStv’s channel 293.
Licensed in November 2020 after coming up tops in a competitive, open bidding process, the fast-growing station went live amid palpable excitement in the country on February 28, 2022. In the process, the most watched local channel on satellite made history and became the first private station to operate legally in Zimbabwe since television was first introduced in the then Southern Rhodesia in November 1960.
Pilate Machadu, the Group CEO of Jester Media Services (JMS), the owners and operators of 3Ktv, told the Daily News last night that the station was continuing to perform well ahead of all forecasts and projections — including with regards to its viewership numbers and advertising volumes.
“We can’t thank our viewers and business partners enough for the incredible support that they are giving 3Ktv. May this long continue.
“Similarly, we owe all our staff across the JMS Group who are ensuring that 3Ktv remains at the top a debt of gratitude. Please keep this up. “It would also be remiss of me not to thank the many production houses and artistes who have contributed so much to making 3Ktv the broadcasting phenomenon that it has become,” Machadu said.
“To say, therefore, that we are excited about what the future holds for 3Ktv is an understatement. We are confident that things will only get better for the station and the rest of the JMS Group’s iconic media assets that include the Daily News, the Daily News On Sunday and The Financial Gazette.
“This time last year, as we were celebrating 3Ktv’s first birthday, I described the launch of the station as a miracle — because the odds looked like they were against us before we went live.
“This was especially so as that launch took place amid many environmental challenges that included the lingering negative effects of the Covid pandemic and significant market shocks, some of which remain unresolved to date.
“But two years down the road, and to the surprise of many, things continue to go swimmingly well for 3Ktv, and to exceed all our expectations — which is fantastic,” Machadu added.
“Overall, when one looks at the group’s growth trajectory and unique commercial sustainability over the past few years, JMS remains firmly on course to becoming the country’s biggest media house by the end of the current decade.
“But we are not sitting on our laurels. Indeed, we are ramping up our strategies and continuing to make significant new investments in all our areas of operation — encompassing print, broadcasting and digital nationally and in the region. “At the heart of what we do as a group is constant innovation and a peerless, balanced approach to content — that empowers and is worth knowing.
“It is, therefore, not surprising that 3Ktv and our other major and hugely influential brands continue to win countless awards and to dominate the local media vista,” Machadu said further.
He also lauded JMS’s “win-win partnership” with MultiChoice Africa which has meant that 3Ktv is available to wide audiences. Similarly, Machadu gave credit to the government and the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) for opening up the local airwaves four years ago, which had allowed much-needed diversity in the broadcasting industry.
On his part, Zweli Sibanda — the Managing Director of JMS’s Broadcasting Division — told the Daily News that 3Ktv continued to be “a gamechanger in local broadcasting and in terms of the production, marketing and consumption of TV products.
“The support that we are receiving from both viewers and advertisers is most pleasing and well beyond what we expected to get so early into 3Ktv’s short life. “We do not take this amazing support from all our key stakeholders for granted, and we pledge to them that we will continue to aspire to do even better going forward,” he said.
Sibanda added that 3Ktv had become a boon for business, as it offered commerce and industry the much-needed marketing choice on the silver screen that had been missing for decades. “Advertising on television, and on 3Ktv in particular, is very effective in terms of reaching large audiences frequently and quickly — given the ubiquitousness of TV sets in the country.
“Another one of 3Ktv’s advantages for our business partners is that we are also on MultiChoice’s DStv platform which has very high engagement rates. “Our rich programming menu also offers the benefit of excellent audience targeting, which has long been a part of TV marketing — such as advertising at certain times of the day and on certain programmes to make sure that one hits the people who are likely to be watching 3Ktv at a particular time,” Sibanda said further.
According to the latest report of the non-partisan Zimbabwe All Media Products Survey (ZAMPS), 3Ktv is the most watched Zimbabwean channel on satellite.