CC image courtesy of CIA WFB.
A new privately-owned free-to-air satellite television station started broadcasting in Zimbabwe this week with the aim of airing independent reporting during the election period in the country.
This follows the scrambling of the three South African Broadcasting Corporation’s (SABC) channels’ signal by Sentech, which were previously available through Zimbabwean free-to-air decoders.
News24 quoted Temba Hove, a spokesperson for 1st TV, as saying the new TV station will broadcast “impartial, factual news to the people of Zimbabwe as well as popular soap operas and comedies”.
The media in Zimbabwe has, for many years, been controlled by state-owned outlets, which favour president Robert Mugabe and his Zimbabwean African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF).
Given this, Hove said 1st TV is a platform for “all people to express their views”.
“33 years after independence it is high time that the people get what they demand and deserve in respect to their right to information,” said Hove.
Hove, who was a former producer and presenter for the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC), runs 1st TV together with Andrew Chadwick, who previously worked for prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe’s rival.
Without 1st TV, Zimbabwe’s only source of broadcasted information comes from the ZBC, which also owns four radio stations.
The two prior independent TV stations Zimbabwe had were launched in the mid 90’s, but have since gone off air due to a lack of funding.
