LIVE broadcasts are heck of a challenge that the local television houses still have to come to grips with, be it sports or an international conference.
This is, to a large extent, because a live broadcast does not give the broadcasting houses time to edit a picture, light or sound but on the flip side, live broadcasts are the ones that major television networks are famed for.
A case in point was last week when the 22nd ordinary session of the African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government summit in the Ethiopian Capital; Addis Ababa took centre stage on all international media broadcasts.
Being in Addis myself, my particular interest was to see the live coverage of the summit on Ethiopian television and boy was I not impressed to see ETV suspend all their regular programming to concentrate on the AU summit.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who was handing over the mantle as AU chairperson obviously got extensive coverage during his opening speech.
What struck me most was that the live broadcast was mainly in that country’s official language Amharic and even when the Prime Minister was making his presentations at the summit in English, the channel still voiced over his main points in Amharic.
ETV is modelled almost exactly as ZNBC with two channels ETV 1 and ETV2 with the latter specifically targetting Addis Ababa content while the other covers far reaching topics including culture, politics, documentaries, economy and movies.
The way the ETV crew organised themselves in the Nelson Mandela auditorium at the summit, curiosity got the better of me so I had to find a screen to see what the comrades were showing to their audience for them to be that busy.
After what I watched, I made a quick comparison with what I saw back home during the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) General Assembly and realised that our television houses did a commendable job but can also do more.
Admittedly there is still a big challenge when it comes to live broadcasts but I think both Muvi TV and ZNBC are coming of age, save for a few things that the media houses themselves do not seem to realise that it is a mistake.
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The choice of topics on television is just as cardinal as the content itself, little wonder Muvi TV found themselves inundated with comments, some of them dirty, when the station picked the topic of sex on the first date for discussion on its programme dubbed Midnight Lounge.
I am sure the rationale of choosing this particular topic was that by midnight, most of the young viewers are sleeping and people started arguing about the topic and of what benefit the station thought it was going to have its viewers.
Personally, I never watched the programme but there is also a school of thought that such topics are the most followed and from what I saw through the Muvi TVsocial media feed, I think the topic kept most viewers awake.
In such cases the holier than thou syndrome comes into the picture but seriously a station of national acclaim like Muvi TV should by now know that engaging its viewers on topics aimed at building a better nation and not promoting promiscuity.
It would be more useful if such topics are discussed with experts in form of marriage counsellors who should draw a distinct line between the risks of engaging in a sexual relationship on the first date with a virtue stranger and the benefit waiting for the appropriate time.
The choice of the topic was nevertheless okay but I am just not too sure if at the end of the day Muvi TV derived anything from the very purpose of bringing it up in the first place.
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Just when most of us where coming to terms with the distraction caused in our homes by Telemundo, the DSTV platform has added programme Big Brother Mzansi Secrets, the all-South African version of the acclaimed reality show which was launched Mzansi Magic.
During the launch last Sunday, host Lungile Radu had his work cut out in trying to outdo the regular Big Brother Africa presenter Ikponmwosa Osakioduwa who is famed by his moniker IK.
From the performance of the South African muscians during the launch, it is clear their artists have done their homework and their Zambian counterparts will do well to take a leaf.
Am not an out and out music fan but performances by Reason, Uhuru, The Arrows and DJ Ganyani featuring Si Anne were eye-catching especially the well rehearsed dance moves and the kit.
I foresee a problem though from this version of Big Brother because the housemates being all South Africans might fail to resist the temptation of drifting into their native languages which might not sit well with the viewers outside the Rainbow Nation.
Here is from the mailbag a regular contributor who seeks anonymity:
Hi Xavier,
While watching Chintobentobe last Sunday, I was half asleep but George Mubanga’s report made me sit up. He presented an excellent piece on the visit to Sweden by the parliamentary committee on information. We are used to seeing such kind of reports in the English version.
When I am watching Innocent on Smooth Talk and he tells me he is going for a commercial break. I should however still tune in for other interesting items, I am almost 99.9 per cent sure that will happen. To be told the same thing on the news desk, that I am not really sure.
Brian Mulamba is confident and knowledgeable on matters of sport he just needs to slow down when reading sports news.
May we please have people from the Nyanja section take time to instruct other colleges on the pronunciation of N’cwala.
Graphics work is slowly improving except on the main news. Sometimes we can see the text clearly but at times it’s not neatly done.
MUVI TV
Since I am a Christian, I will talk about the Bible. It instructs us to forgive 70×70 but humanly speaking; we forgive once and usually not the second time for the same mistake. MUVI TV has on several occasions referred to Ndola Central Hospital as General hospital.
Another unforgivable offence is bringing the news late and not apologise.
That happened last Sunday. Their prime news came 10 minutes late and there was no apology.
Anonymous
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