Broadcasting
StarTimes Focuses on Local Content Collaboration Across Africa
In the early 2022, StarTimes keeps collaborating with local content owners and producers across Africa, with gaining new projects in Nigeria and Kenya.
In Nigeria, as part of the commitment to grow the local film industry, StarTimes is partnering with the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) on content production, with a view to tapping into the vast deposit of original African stories yet untold.
Reaffirming StarTimes commitment to deeper investment in Nollywood, StarTimes CEO, Alex Jian, said the collaboration is very crucial with the growing demand for quality local content by Nollywood aficionados.
“When StarTimes entered the market about twelve years, our mandate was to provide digital-TV to every home. The reception was huge for us. However, at a time, we had more foreign content. Over the years, the standard of Nollywood has improved and so also, is the market.
“This brought about the need to satisfy this growing appetite for Nollywood. Thus, our new brand vision is to balance our content offering. We know AGN stands for the larger Nollywood market. StarTimes is glad to cooperate with you to bring significant impact to Nollywood as well as grow and ensure that filmmakers have value for their productions.”
Commending the management of StarTimes for its contributions to the broadcast industry, the President of AGN, Ejezie Emeka Rollas, said the partnership will open a new window to a different form of entertainment that Nollywood Actors have been doing over the years.
“The partnership will effectively help us to further attract more viewers with our proposed entertainment content as we have full insights into the industry. Actors Guild of Nigeria is all about entertainment as members are major influencers with millions of fans and followers around the world. Our goal is to activate the potentials of entertainment as soft power strategy for paradigm change especially in Africa for positive attitudinal change,” he said.
In Kenya, regional Marketing Director Mr Aldrine Nsubuga, speaking when the company unveiled NIA – a new premium local drama and one of the first highlights of this year’s investment, noted that the local drama NIA is set to captivate subscribers, with the company having invested heavily in research, cast, and production quality to ensure the programme stands out in the market once it premieres.
“Our premium local drama, NIA, which is our first local production investment this year, will set the tone for our commitment to providing our subscribers with high-quality local entertainment.” Mr Nsubuga stated.
Mr Myke Mwai, StarTimes content director, said that the pay-television broadcaster is planning to cooperate with more content creators this year as they want to utilise their experience to explore new local content genres that would appeal to subscribers.
“We intend to reach out to a larger number of local content creators, which will give us an advantage in generating distinct genres that subscribers will readily relate to as they speak to their daily lives, while also ensuring that the content is appropriate for the entire family,” Mwai explained.
“This is our first assignment with StarTimes, and we are ecstatic that our efforts have been recognised by a pay television platform, demonstrating that local content producers have matured.” Mr Daudi Anguka, CEO of AR Film Productions, stated.
“We are optimistic that NIA will be a top-rated drama given the efforts that have been put into the final product, and we look forward to additional contacts with the broadcaster.”
Rembo TV is available in three East African countries: Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, providing an enviable platform to market Kenyan productions across the region and is available on both terrestrial and satellite platforms and is available across all StarTimes bouquet options.
Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) has announced the postponement of its maiden annual Public Relations, Reputation, Ideas, Concepts and Excellence (PRICE) Awards and Prizes to January 25, 2026.
NIPR
The event, earlier scheduled for December 7, 2025, was deferred to accommodate stakeholders whose observance of Christmas festivities had commenced earlier than expected.
Chairman of the Organising Committee, Mr. Israel Opayemi, urged stakeholders to note the new date and prepare to participate in the ceremony.
He said the awards would motivate professionals, practitioners and scholars, while enhancing Nigeria’s global competitiveness in the public relations ecosystem and strengthening brand equity for all stakeholders.
Opayemi reaffirmed the Committee’s commitment to delivering a best-in-class award administration and ceremony, describing the PRICE Awards as a credible and enduring platform to identify, celebrate and elevate outstanding individuals, campaigns and organisations shaping the public relations landscape across sectors.
The development of the PRICE Awards peaked in September 2025 when the NIPR President and Chairman, Council, Dr. Ike Neliaku, inaugurated a 12-man committee to organise the maiden edition. The inauguration followed the Council’s adoption of the report of a technical team tasked with establishing the awards.
Netflix has announced a landmark agreement to acquire Warner Bros. and HBO Max in a transaction valued at $82.7 billion, a move analysts say will reshape the global entertainment industry.
Netflix
The deal, which includes Warner Bros.’ film and television studios, HBO, HBO Max, and Warner Bros. Games, was unanimously approved by the boards of both companies. Under the terms, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) shareholders will receive $23.25 in cash and $4.50 in Netflix shares for each WBD share.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos described the acquisition as “a defining moment” for the streaming giant, noting that the company intends to maintain Warner Bros.’ current operations while expanding its production capacity.
“By combining Warner Bros.’ incredible library of shows and movies with Netflix’s culture-defining titles, we can give audiences more of what they love and help define the next century of storytelling,” Sarandos said.
The transaction is expected to close within 12 to 18 months, following the planned spin-off of WBD’s TV networks division, Discovery Global, in 2026. Netflix projects annual cost savings of $2–3 billion by the third year after completion and expects the deal to be accretive to earnings per share by year two.
Industry groups, including the Directors Guild of America and Cinema United, have raised concerns about the impact on movie theaters, while regulators are expected to scrutinize the deal over antitrust issues. Netflix has pledged to continue supporting theatrical releases, with Warner Bros.’ cinema commitments running through 2029.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav hailed the agreement, saying it “combines two of the greatest storytelling companies in the world to bring to even more people the entertainment they love.”
Observers note that the acquisition comes 15 years after former Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes dismissed Netflix as “the Albanian army,” underscoring the dramatic shift in the entertainment landscape.
A major shake‑up rocks viewers and subscribers of DSTV/GOTV as many channels are set to shut down and be removed on January 1, 2026.
The trigger for the upcoming shut‑down is a breakdown in negotiations between the owners of multiple global channels and the pay‑TV operator.
As of December 2025, the deal between Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and DStv/GOtv has expired and the two parties have not reached a renewal agreement.
Without a new carriage/distribution agreement, the channels belonging to WBD risk being pulled off the DStv/GOtv line‑up.
This is the most significant content cutback the service has seen in years.
The affected channels are:
Discovery Channel
TLC
Cartoonito
Cartoon Network
CNN International
Food Network
The Travel Channel
TNT
Investigation Discovery
Real Time
HGTV
Discovery Family
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