e-Botswana to go national

BOTSWANA

By John Churu, Gaborone, Botswana

e-Botswana, the country’s only private television station, will be beamed throughout the country in the not so distant future.

The station manager at e-Botswana, Dave Coles, told biztechafrica.com that at the moment, they are working on putting finishing touches, and will be set for broadcasting.

Asked how far the station has gone with its national spread efforts, Coles said: “We are in the final stages. What we need to do now is to apply to the National Broadcasting Board for a national license. We have already put some money and we are currently working on a business case to see the project through.”

He said the team is excited about the prospects of going national and they will leave no stone unturned to get Batswana talking about the approach of the second nationally available television station.

Currently the station is limited to Gaborone and its surrounding areas, with a coverage of about 100 kilometres radius of the capital city. However, as the station moves towards national coverage, the initial idea is also to start with the country’s major cities then branch to other places as the viewership grows.

Another exciting development to come from e-Botswana is the introduction of a local news slot which will take the place of the current eNews Africa bulletin which is broadcast from South Africa etv’s studios in South Africa.

According to the station manager, this will bring “balanced news bulletin which will give a healthy balance to news items on the station.”