Maisha Magic: M-Net’s new TV brand that will focus on the East Africa market

M-Net has launched Maisha Magic a new TV brand that will focus on the East Africa market and specially tailored to tell the African stories in East Africa.

M-Net Regional Director Mr. Michael Ndetei said that Mnet has been building steadily on its investment in the East African market, centralized in Kenya but with outreach across the region. We have recognized that whilst the Africa Magic brand has come to represent a powerful philosophy about pan-African cohesion, there is definitely great potential for a customized East Africa television brand.

Mr. Michael Ndetei said that, “We have always believed that East African talent, East African stories are as vital and as compelling as those found anywhere else in Africa. This is a fact proven by the success of East African content at the first two Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards. Now with our studio fully functioning, the Africa Magic Original Films project underway producing made for TV titles and our flagship show Mashariki Mix well established, we are ready to launch Maisha Magic, both the channel and the brand.”

The Maisha Magic will feature on local content and seek to tell African stories that happen along the East Africa and it will produce 56 original films in East Africa in a single year come 1 September 2014.

Mr. Michael Ndetei said that “About 85% of the programmes will be shown in Kenya so that we build on the economy and also build on the capacity to produce more films in the country.

The Maisha Magic channel will be screened 24/7 to DStv Premium, Compact Plus and Compact subscribers on channel 161. It will be predominantly be made up of East African content, though the channel will also include some international programming that has resonance with East African audiences, such as Latin American telenovelas, dubbed into English.

Ndetei said that “Our research demonstrated clearly that our audiences want home-grown entertainment, interspersed with very specific kinds of international content, so we’re working on getting that balance right to ensure that this is in fact a channel made in East Africa, for East Africans, to meet East African tastes.”

The programming on the Maisha Magic channel will encompass multiple genres including sitcom, telenovelas, reality, drama and music. Highlights to look out for include comedy shows Mr & Mrs Singh and Mazagazaga and Comedy Club Uganda hosted by Anne Kansii me; the dramas Rush and The Trendo Sisters; the music Wakilisha and Beyond the Beat; the Mexican soaps A Love to Remember and Loving You Is All I Want as well as recent hits such as Kona and Noose of Gold.

The Maisha Magic channel will also be home for all daily highlight programs from Big Brother Africa 9, plus all the live Sunday eviction shows. Further, given that the Maisha Magic channel is East African focused and will be compiled in East Africa, the major benefit is that its scheduling will be harnessed to maximize the prime-time viewing patterns of its audience, while offering the region’s advertisers a targeted channel opportunity for talking to the market.

In addition to the Maisha Magic channel, the Maisha Magic brand will also be entrenched on September 24th when AfricaMagic Swahili officially becomes Maisha Magic Swahili. Simultaneously, the AfricaMagic Original Films initiative which produced 56 movies in East Africa recently will transform into Maisha Magic Original films intiative under whose banner a massive 60 more films will be produced before the end of the year.

Mr. Ndetei stated that “Now with the new dispensation taking place in the country, M-Net is focused in growing the East African market and already enjoys positive relationships with the film, TV and the media community across the region in order for professionals and visionaries to have and continue to collaborate with is us to establish this existing new brand. Together we are emphatically saying that Maisha Magic is here and it is here to stay!”