M-NET SECURES DEAL WITH PANA TV TO STREAM CONTENT ONLINE

M-Net – the multi-channel Pan-African content provider – has today announced that it has signed a deal with PANA TV, one of the leading online TV services for African content. M-Net has licensed over 1,000 hours of content to stream on the PanaTV.com platform.

PANA TV has picked up a variety of content from M-Net’s diverse portfolio across drama, documentaries, lifestyle and kids’ programming as well as a selection of short films. Highlights include: award-winning documentary Playing the Enemy (1×60’); epic drama series’ The Wild (208×24’) and Jacobs Cross (105×48’); and series one and two of lifestyle show Cooking with Siba (39×24’), fronted by Sibahle Mtongana, one of South Africa’s most renowned food editors.

It has also acquired a vast array of popular Nollywood films – formally known as the Nigerian video feature film industry – which is Africa’s largest movie industry in terms of the number of movies produced per year.

Mandy Roger, Head of Sales, Acquisition and Business Development, M-Net said: “At M-Net we look to work with forward-thinking partners who reflect our ethos in promoting African content to new audiences, and PANA TV is a prime example of this. It is a company that is at the forefront of the online content industry and has grown into one of the fastest growing internet platforms. In making this content digitally accessible we are able to reach international audiences – showcasing the quality of African TV and film production to the global audience and challenging preconceptions. We look forward to building on our relationship with PANA TV to grow African content’s global footprint in the digital space.”

Daniel Ogbonna, Founder, PANA TV adds: “The partnership with M-Net, one of the largest television networks in Africa, gives us a broader content base that helps us in showcasing the talent in Africa. This is indeed, a fantastic partnership as we unpack the African story to the world.”

In October 1986 the face of South African television changed forever when Electronic Media Network (M-Net) launched the country’s first terrestrial pay-television channel. As broadcasting technology has developed over the years, M-Net has evolved from its analogue broadcast beginnings into a multi-channel Pan-African content-provider, delivering top programming on a variety of platforms. M-Net has become renowned for its diverse programming and ground-breaking television content, featuring a mix of international series and movies with high-quality local programming.

In recent years, M-Net has embraced new technology and has continued to be a pioneer in content development for new platforms. With the 2006 launch of DStv mobile – a digital video broadcast of live TV channels to enabled mobile phones – and M-Mobile, which provides 3G content on-demand to mobile phones, M-Net and its channels started to venture down new broadcast avenues. Since December 2007, M-Net viewers on DStv have also been able to enjoy the benefits of Catch-up TV with the launch of DStv on Demand, a free video-on-demand service to PVR and PC. From 2008, M-Net has produced a number of local shows for DStv’s High Definition channels.