Econet Media, the entertainment subsidiary of African telecoms group Econet Wireless recently announced the conclusion of a deal that will see it take over Viasat 1 a Ghanaian free-to-air terrestrial channel.
Viasat 1 is owned by a Swedish digital entertainment outfit that also has control of Modern African Productions and a majority stake in Trace Africa.
Under the deal, Econet Media assumes ownership of Viasat 1 and Modern African Productions through the acquisition of all MTG assets in Ghana as well as MAP’s broadcasting operations in Ghana and Nigeria. MTG is also offloading a Tanzanian station to Econet with the deal set to be approved in early 2017.
The Econet/MTG deal comes just after Econet Media was given the green light to acquire Wava Broadcasting Station (WBS TV) in Uganda by the country’s Communications Commission and the Uganda Broadcasting Council after a licence bid placed earlier this year.
Econet Media will initiate a rebranding of stations Viasat 1 and WBS to Kwesé Free Sports and they will become the latest African channels – now in 19 countries – to have 24/7 delivery of Kwesé sports content. Econet Media is also retaining staff in these acquisitions.
Source; TechZim
