MultiChoice, a Pan-African entertainment company, has expanded its hyperlocal offering with the launch of two new TV channels for audiences in Mozambique and Angola respectively. The two channels, Maningue Magic and Kwenda Magic, will air dramas, telenovelas, local versions of reality shows, comedies, international content and homegrown music on DStv and GOtv platforms.
Over the past 18 months, MultiChoice has grown its local content offering through several channel launches including Pearl Magic Prime, Akwaaba Magic and Abol TV in Uganda, Ghana, and Ethiopia. This is in addition to hit international co-productions like Reyka and ongoing local productions like the popular Big Brother Naija.
“These channel launches are an exciting milestone for MultiChoice, and our hyperlocal strategy. MultiChoice’s mission is to showcase Africa’s diverse, rich culture through our continent’s deep storytelling history. To have two new 24-hour channels in local languages, featuring locally produced content, provides an incredibly powerful platform to do this,” says Joao Ribeiro, Channel Head for both Kwenda Magic and Maningue Magic.
Ribeiro adds that in the months MultiChoice has spent setting up the channel, broadcast professionals in both countries have been exposed to many new opportunities. Content workers now have more options and are less likely to leave the sector due to a shortage of work. “We are commissioning work from established producers as well as smaller companies across the continent while also creating opportunities for alumni of the MultiChoice Talent Factory,” he added.
Also speaking on the ongoing hyperlocalisation and production of content across Africa, MultiChoice Africa CEO Fhulufhelo Badugela says, “When we develop local channels or produce local content, we aim to create a platform that reflects local culture, so audiences see themselves represented in the content they watch. Localization goes beyond simply duplicating popular formats in a different language or with a different cast.”
Highlights of the offerings on Maningue Magic include the telenovela Maida, about a naïve teenager who leaves the countryside for the big city, Mozambican music show Estação do Boss and Date My Family Moçambique. The Influencer, an Mozambican original series will tell the story of a girl pursuing a dream to be a digital Influencer who end on a network of drugs and prostitution. On Kwenda Magic, shows include O Rio, an Angolan adaptation of popular 1Magic telenovela The River, Makongo, a new drama about a young man’s life in Luanda and Salão de Beleza.