The Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture procurement oversight adjudication recently approved an arts and culture unit request to award tenders of a supplies contract for procurement of local TV content for the channel at a total cost of P14,397,602. The tenders were approved for award following an Open Domestic Bidding tendering process.
The tenders’ scope of work includes Animation, Documentary, Entertainment, Fillers, Game Shows, Lifestyle Magazine Shows, Mini Series, Drama, Reality, and Talk Shows. From the P14 million, the highest amount awarded is P936,000, allocated to Rebound Investments (Pty) Ltd and Lenswood (Pty) Ltd each for the provision of 2D Animation and Drama content respectively, while the lowest amount is awarded to Mount Merry Holdings (Pty) Ltd at P64,000 for Fillers. Now!TV, a youth-focused homegrown channel launched in 2019, was set up to provide entertainment, empower the youth of Botswana, and grow the local film and television industry.
The channel has been accessible on the DStv platform on Channel 290. In the past, it has been said that the channel requires P200 million to be in a position to acquire content from local production houses. This multi-million pula tender comes less than five months after government launched three new channels at the state-owned television broadcaster in a move towards revitalising the creative industry. While the P14 million is way short of what was required, this has been said to still be a great boost for local creatives.
There has been an outcry from the creative sector over the lack of local content on local screens, but now industry players believe this could be key to unlocking the potential of the creative sector in the film, music, and television space. Serial entrepreneur with business interests in music, entertainment, film, and multimedia, Seabelo Modibe said this has the potential to motivate greatness. “It’s a good thing. It will motivate greatness. I mean, it will inspire greatness from those aspiring to get into the industry.
TV is a huge industry,” he said. The creative sector or arts and culture, as it is also called, has been hailed as a potential billion pula industry after government identified the sector could significantly add value to economic diversification and job creation.
