With kung fu speed, digital TV takes on a continent

Martial arts programming a big hit in Kenya, as Chinese TV network moves into Africa

Beijing-based StarTimes Group has seen rapid growth since it brought its digital television programming to Africa in 2007 - most strikingly in Kenya, where programs now reach 90 percent of the population.

Since meeting the International Telecommunication Union deadline set for digital migration, StarTimes has contributed greatly to Kenya's ability to complete the switchover, said Zhang Junqi, CEO of StarTimes Media (Kenya).

In Africa, three countries supported by StarTimes - Tanzania, Kenya and Rwanda - have met the deadline to complete their switchovers, Zhang said, adding that Uganda is also catching up.

Aiming to lead the development of digital television in Africa, StarTimes has long been focusing on affordable and enjoyable programming.

The KungFu Channel, for example, has been popular in the African audience ever since it was launched. As a historical and cultural heritage, kung fu is not only popular with Chinese people but also is the most-talked-about topic with audiences in Africa.

"Strongly influenced by the KungFu Channel, Kenyans young or old know about Chinese kung fu," Zhang said. "They even mistakenly think that every Chinese person knows kung fu."

With their fondness for the martial art, Kenyans established the Shaolin KungFu Wushu Association of Kenya in 2009. The association consists of six clubs, each with 30 to 40 students.

"That is one of the reasons we chose Kenya as the site to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the launch of the KungFu Channel," Zhang said.

Zhang said StarTimes has more than 1 million subscribers to its digital terrestrial television, or DTT, service and more than 100,000 subscribers to direct-to-home services in Kenya.

Keeping service to the African people in mind, StarTimes provides a set of comprehensive services that include program content, signal coverage, operations management and client services to satisfy the needs of its audiences, Zhang said.

Since its creation in July 2012, StarTimes Media (Kenya) has set up 22 public business halls, a call center and a door-to-door service team with more than 100 employees in the country.

It also created many job opportunities for the local people. "Among the 700 employees in Kenya, 97 percent are locals," Zhang said. "But this is still far from our target. We want to provide better content and better service to the people."

He said the company plans to set up a production base in Kenya. Once that's in operation, a translation and dubbing team from Beijing will come in.

To date, the company has set up its own sales channels that include supermarkets, channel providers and big clients such as hotels. It has developed its own management software, a survey decoder system and a network operation control system, Zhang said.

It now provides TV programs in nine categories of news, entertainment, film and TV, sports, children, music, fashion and religion. All are broadcast in eight languages, including English, French, Portuguese, Chinese and Kiswahili.

panzhongming@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 10/21/2016 page29)