ZIMBABWE’s first independent television channel, 3Ktv, will celebrate 100 days of live broadcasting tomorrow as the history-making free-to-air station continues to grow from strength to strength.
The channel — which was licenced in November 2020 after coming tops in a competitive and public bidding process, went on air on February 28 — becoming the first licensed private commercial station to operate in the country since television was first introduced in the then Southern Rhodesia in November 1960.
A bullish Zweli Sibanda, Jester Media Services’ Managing Director for the fast-growing multi-media group’s Broadcasting Division, told the Daily News last night that the station had already achieved things that were beyond the company’s wildest dreams when it went live 100 days ago.
“It is true to say that time flies when life is good. It really feels like yesterday when 3Ktv became the first of the country’s six licensed private, free-to-air stations to go live on the 28th of February this year.
“Zimbabweans love 3Ktv. The overwhelming majority of our viewers say that they are pleasantly surprised by both the variety and quality of our programming, as well as our image quality — with all this managed and produced by Zimbabweans.
“Not surprisingly as a result, 3Ktv is already well ahead of all our projections for the first six months, including in terms of the viewership numbers and advertising support that the station is getting,” Sibanda said.
“This fantastic performance is all thanks to Zimbabweans and our business partners, as well as our dedicated staff who are pulling out all the stops to make sure that 3Ktv remains at the top.
“We are also most thankful to the production houses and artistes who are contributing so much to making 3K the TV phenomenon it is becoming.
“We are excited about what the future holds, as things can only get better. 3Ktv is definitely here to stay,” Sibanda added.
At the weekend, the station notched yet another major milestone when it struck a partnership witk OK Zimbabwe to broadcast live the mega OK Grand Challenge, underlining 3Ktv’s burgeoning reputation within the business community as a capable, trusted and effective marketing channel.
“The partnership with OK Zimbabwe was indeed another feather in the cap for 3Ktv. To be trusted by a leading corporate like OK Zimbabwe on this massive event spoke volumes about the progress that we have made as a station.
“This was the beginning of many such mega collaborations between 3Ktv and all our long-standing business partners,” Sibanda said of that.
Speaking about that partnership ahead of the massive event, OK Zimbabwe’s group marketing director Juliet Ziswa said they were delighted about the relationship with 3Ktv, adding that this also bore testimony to how much the retail giant valued all its customers around the country.
“We launched our OK Grand Challenge 2022 under the theme ‘Race To Happiness’ on April 8 and our customers have been experiencing massive discounts and savings since then.
“Through our partnership with 3Ktv, all our customers will be able to watch the event and to follow proceedings live from the comfort of their homes,” Ziswa said on the eve of the OK Grand Challenge.
3Ktv is a sister venture to Zimbabwe’s iconic and number one business newspaper, The Financial Gazette, as well as the inimitable Daily News and the Daily News On Sunday.
The station’s powerhouse Head of Programming, Christina Nyirenda-Chimuka, told the Daily News last month that there was an enormous appetite for “excellent, independent and locally-produced television content in the country and among Zimbabweans in the diaspora” — such as was being provided by 3Ktv.
“Zimbabweans have been crying for competition and more quality local programming for quite some time, and they now have it in 3Ktv.
“Indeed, and with the tag line ‘The Best of Zimbabwe’, 3Ktv is meeting this hunger for riveting, 24/7 television programming.
“I’ve been around a bit in the media, and I’m convinced that our new baby is a game-changer in terms of the production, marketing and consumption of local TV products,” Nyirenda-Chimuka said.
“The support that we are receiving from both viewers and our business partners is most pleasing and well beyond what we expected to get so early into 3Ktv’s launch.
“The vast majority of both our free-to-air and satellite viewers have commended 3Ktv for the quality of its programming, pictures and sound.
“We do not take this amazing support from our stakeholders for granted, and we pledge to them that we will continue to aspire to do even better going forward,” Nyirenda-Chimuka added.
