21 Aug 2020

Botswana Television (Btv) gives 91 per cent of airtime to local content, says Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Kabo Morwaeng.

Responding to a parliamentary question on Thursday, Mr Morwaeng said the target percentage of local content versus foreign on Btv was 60 per cent local against a 40 per cent foreign.

Therefore, the station coverage for local content was higher than the target

He said Btv recognised the importance of local content due to its relevance to the viewers as well as its value to the economy and employment creation.

However, the minister indicated that like any other television in the world, the station also sourced foreign content to provide variety.

Mr Morwaeng further noted that some of the foreign content aired on BTV was free while the other was bought cheaply.

Regarding the amount spent on procuring of  local television programmes in the last five years, Minister Morweng said Btv spent more than P43 million for procurement while over P10.5 million had been spent on international television programmes.

He said the station employed various methods to source content from local producers like commissioning of new programmes where the station provided 100 per cent funding of production, sponsor driven content where the station provided commercial airtime to companies or entities that sponsored local productions that air on Btv.

He also said the station partnered with companies to assist in the augmentation of production resources particularly technical resources such as studios, cameras and edit suites.

The station, Mr Morwaeng said,  sourced content through unsolicited content where Btv purchased local productions off the shelves which while they had not been solicited by the broadcaster, they fitted needs of the station.

Mr Morwaeng was answering a question from Member of Parliament for Kanye North, Mr Thapelo Letsholo, who  asked the minister why Btv continued to air foreign content as opposed to locally produced content.

He had asked the minister to state what interventions were there to promote local content and local programmes generation and production to contribute to reducing unemployment.

He further asked the minister to state the costs spent annually by Btv on purchasing local content and foreign content over the last five years, how much percentage time Btv broadcast local content versus foreign.

Mr Letsholo also asked the minister to state the target percentage of local content broadcast compared to foreign content. ENDS