27 Mar 2017

Chief executive officer of MultiChoice Botswana, Billy Sekgororoane has stated that they were fully aware of the arrival of Kwese TV into the pay-per-view market.
Speaking in an interview with BOPA recently, he stated that MultiChoice welcomed the arrival of Kwese TV into the market and that the competition they would bring them was welcome as it would put them on their toes.
He noted that though they had strategies in place to counter their competitors, they could not share them with the media.
On the issue of DStv adjusting their prices effective April 1, the CEO confirmed that it was indeed true, but that they were confident it would not scare off their customers as they had a loyal customer base that appreciated their quality products.
The cost increase, he explained, was meant to meet their cost of providing better TV content services to their customers.
The interview comes as MultiChoice monopoly challenge by Kwese TV has led to some people celebrating the emergence of the alternative, especially if this new entrant has depth to pile on the incumbent.
Last year, people across Africa celebrated the announcement by well-known Zimbabwean born entrepreneur and multi-millionaire, Strive Masiyiwa, who is the founder of telecommunications giant company, Econet.
In a press release dated March 2 this year, Mr Masiyiwa was quoted as saying that his company would be entering the media space with its Internet TV Service, known as Kwese.
When the announcement was made, Kwese TV was to use their extensive telecom infrastructures, which are held through its subsidiary, Liquid Telecom, to ensure an extensive coverage of the market.
Kwese TV planned streaming various forms of content including plans to also produce its own content and that the multi-screen experience was to be sold to millions of would be subscribers, with an even enticing sports entertainment through Kwese Free Sports, Kwese Sports 1 and Kwese Sports 2.
Once it is fully rolled out, the press release stated, countries will be able to access Kwese TV via Kwese’s own satellite and set-top-box (decoder) that would be available at leading retailers.
The release from Econet Media office in Johannesburg, South Africa also informed that Kwese has officially arrived in Botswana and first of their launched content would be the Kwese Free Sports, which the release described as being the most diverse of free-to-air TV with something for every sports fan.
It is further noted that Botswana was Kwese Free Sports’ official 8th market with a 24 hours and seven days a week live capacity.
The channel is available on Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) in Gaborone with plans to extend Kwese Free Sport to the rest of the country in the coming weeks, the release further said.
For one to watch with their decoder, he said, they have to reboot the decoder and go to ‘Settings’, select ‘Auto Search’ and scroll to find the channel listed as ‘Kwesé Free Sports’ in Gaborone. ENDS