THE ZBC has announced the re-birth of Joy TV in the first quarter of 2019, declaring that the development is testimony that the national broadcaster is open to any partnerships, as long as they are mutually beneficial.
Starting next week, Joy TV Incorporated will be going around Zimbabwe meeting content producers and spreading the good tidings.
31 May 2002 saw one of the main attractions on national television, Joy TV, going off air. With its demise, went erstwhile popular programmes such as Sunset Beach.
Zimbabwe’s only ever privately owned broadcasting station, Joy TV, started in July 1998, closed down on 31 May 2002, bringing down the curtain on Zimbabwe’s botched experiment with broadcasting diversity and carrying the same dream down with it.
Telecoms mogul James Makamba’s family have a controlling stake in the TV station.
Joy TV closed down after a lease agreement it had with the Zimbabwe
Broadcasting Corporation was cancelled on the grounds that it violated the
Broadcasting Services Act, which was enacted in 2001. Joy TV was leasing ZBC’s second station generally known as TV 2.
However, with the coming in of the new dispensation, all this is set to change for the better.
ZBC CEO, Mr Patrick Mavhura said brighter days are coming.
This recent partnership, which will most certainly complement ZBC’s programming, comes at a time when ZBC is preparing for digital switch over and will see that national broadcaster introducing additional 6 television channels. Set to be launched within the first quarter of 2019, Joy TV will run as a 24 hour family entertainment channel that will air local and foreign content. The channel will air a wide variety of genres that will include but not limited to current affairs programming, sitcoms, series, movies, reality shows, talk shows, game shows, travel and tourism and wildlife among others,” said Mr Mavhura.
Joy TV Incorporated representative, Kushinga Makamba said there is a bottomless pit of talent in Zimbabwe just waiting to be tapped to provide 24-hour riveting entertainment on the small screen.
The short but eventful life of Joy TV faced stern challenges especially
direct interference from the government. This manifested itself in a
“direct” order for the station to drop the BBC news bulletin it broadcast
everyday.
Joy TV was also never to allowed to flight local news except
musicals and apolitical documentaries. The reliance of the station on the
ZBC for transmission was largely as seen as having contributed to its failure
to survive as the government could cut it off at any time. It remains to be seen how it will fare this time, since the arrangement is more or less the same as before.
The closure of Joy TV strengthened the calls for the licensing of other players to enter the broadcasting industry. MISA-Zimbabwe viewed the Broadcasting Act itself as needing major amendments if private players were to survive in the industry.
The government has largely ignored the calls to amend the Act, which
virtually makes it impossible for private players to enter the industry. No foreign investment is allowed into the broadcasting industry and would-be
broadcasters would be required to stick to a strictly defined programme
content among many blemishes of the act.
— ZBC News on line