Channel S broadcasts from half empty office

MANZINI – Channel Swazi Television station now beams pictures to viewers from an office at the Manzini Mall.

The broadcasting studio which used to have high technology equipment is no more and has been replaced with only one computer.

The station is now mobile in the literal sense but not the TV mobile synonymous with Swazi TV’s Outside Broadcasting unit (OB).

Broadcasting material is saved on a flash disc or mobile drive and taken to Nkoyoyo where it is uploaded to a server.

The server then transmits the information to Johannesburg via satellites and it is beamed back to the country to be accessed by the station’s viewers.

The size of the office where he operates the station from in Manzini is estimated to be four metres square and he has a staff complement of less than 10 people.

Station Director Qhawe Mamba explained that the stations operations were not overly affected by this new arrangement.

He said he resolved to work in this manner to scale down on costs associated with broadcasting.

He says the station does not have its own transmitters and the ones that are being used now are being rented from South Africa.

When the Times SUNDAY visited him at his station this week, he was found with Pastor Jabulani Ncongwane sitting in a virtually empty office.

The set up was humble and the office which acts as the station’s control room was also empty save for a few chairs that were scattered about.

Qhawe was in high spirits and he spoke of his woes with Central Bank and his friend Sipho Makhabane.

Details of discussions on the above subjects will not be revealed for now because they are yet to be tested.

Mamba claims not to have a personal bank account.

The business also does not have an operating bank account.

Mamba says he has been operating the station this way for a while.

"We adopted this measure after the station equipment was threatened by the people who wanted to attach it," he said.

When asked how he managed to survive and operate a television station without these necessities he said, "I am a survivor and a strong man."

He was optimistic that his situation would pass and he would soon be back doing normal and proper business.

Mamba said he was having a hard time because there were two court cases pending against him. These are the civil and criminal cases that pertaining to the alleged pyramid scheme that went down with millions of Emalangeni from clients.

Mamba said he was not exactly broke but the attachment of some of his property by deputy sheriffs had left a dent on his finances.

"I believe that I am still liquid. Even though they took some of my properties that included a fleet of cars and houses, I still manage to make ends meets with the little that is left," he said.

Mamba proudly showed off a Mercedes Benz SLK sedan which he said was one of his fastest vehicles.

He bought it recently.

He revealed that among the prized vehicles he lost was a Mercedes sedan, a Land Rover Discovery and the trendy BMW 7 series he bought after the 40/40 national celebrations.

Comments

THIS ONE GOES TO YOU NTFULINI. IM VERY SAD ABOUT THE WAY THE PRESS EXPOSES YOUR TV STATION .ANYWAY THATS THE MEDIA FOR YOU. BUT I KNOW THAT STATION IS HERE TO STAY AND BY NEXT YEAR WE WIL BE BROADCASTING ON FULL HD ON DSTV ONLY LOCAL DRAMAS N DOCUMENTARIES. BEING IN THE SAME INDUSTRY WE AT DIGITALCUE TV MZANSI GIVE YOU ALL THE SUPPORT.WE WILL SUPPLY CH.S WITH QUALITY PROGRAMS.VIVA !! CHANNEL SWAZI. DC TV.JOZI
Oct 24, 2010, 16:33 pm, Ray magagula (digitalcuetv@yahoo.com)

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