Time that DStv invested seriously in local content

Arts Focus, Raisedon Baya
DStv was in the news recently, after getting a mention by Reserve Bank Governor, Dr John Mangudya, in his National Monetary Policy Statement. The good thing is that the mention was not for wrong doing but for recording a whopping $206 million dollars in revenue through electronic transactions for the period July-December 2016. To raise $206 million dollars in six months, anywhere in Africa is no child’s play.

However, while delivering his speech the Reserve Bank governor could not hide his shock and displeasure at the figures. His shock and outright annoyance was aptly portrayed when he chose to warn the nation against what he thought was ‘‘. . . spending more foreign exchange on DStv subscriptions than on raw materials to produce cooking oil, for example, is not only counter-productive but illogical . . .”

Rather than get angry, the governor and those concerned with the economy of this country should be rushing and even jumping over each other in an effort to find out why people are spending their hard-earned dollars paying for DStv subscriptions instead of investing in the production of basic goods or other “better” things.

They should be asking why, in terms of the ranking of the transactions and national priority did DStv subscriptions come only second to fuel purchases which accounted for $222 million.

I had mixed feelings on the news, especially on how much DStv was making in Zimbabwe. I was happy and sad at the same time. Happy that the figures were actually proof enough of the importance of education and entertainment in our country/society. Education and entertainment being obviously what DStv is providing through its various channels.

Happy also because the figures were silently pointing to the fact that television, if properly managed, is actually an industry that can compete with any industry in terms of revenue generation. Content in television is basically art. (Those who continue to look down upon entertainment as a viable industry should be thinking again after getting these DStv figures.)

And I was sad, very sad, because I knew the $206 million was money that was going out of the country every six months and obviously not being ploughed back into our own economy. There is a need to have a good chunk of that money being ploughed back into the Zimbabwean film and television sector. There must be a way that DStv is encouraged by law to support local content producers.

Call it protectionism or what but there must be a law that ensures local content producers will not starve to death while so much money is being paid for content in this country.

Ploughing back part of the money will only help the local film and television sector grow. It is a public secret that DStv puts millions of rands into the South African film and television industry every year. This generosity must also cascade to Zimbabwe. Now that we know how much DStv is taking from Zimbabwe the company must be seen to take a lead in developing local content producers. Doing otherwise would be tantamount to exploitation of the Zimbabwean people.

If DStv is making in excess of $30 million every month the big question is: How much is our Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) making from local viewership? If they are not making anything, why is that so? Hopes are high that digitisation will open more avenues to more players, and ZBC will also improve its content and programming to compete favourably out there.