A Kenyan company unveils TV decorder in Dar es Salaam

TELEVISION viewers in the country will now have the opportunity to make a wider choice on the variety of the TV channels they wish to visit following the launching of the most powerful and the cheapest TV decorder popularly known as ZUKU in Tanzania. The product which was unveiled early this week by Wananchi Group from the Republic of Kenya, is a pay TV satellite service that offers over 60 TV channels found worldwide at an affordable price. It has already started operarting through agents stationed in the country. The initial installation charges plus fees and the costs for paying technicians will be totaled at Tsh. 92,000, then afterwards, a customer will continue paying a normal monthly fee for the broadband charges of Tsh. 20,000. Zuku TV offers a wide selection of entertainment channels covering news, sports, movies, documentaries and musics. These includes various third party channels such as BBC, MTV Base, Setanta sports, MGM Movies just to name but a few. According to the Chairman of Mwananchi Group, Ali Mufuruki, the provider also offers many of its own tailor made channels such as Zuku Africa airing African content, Zuku life airing documentaries, modern consumer fresh, innovative and affordable options for entertainment and communmication.

Mwananchi Group CEO, Richard Bernalist elaborating a point to journalists {not in picture}on how the Zuku TV brand he had just inaugurated for his company will be beneficial to TV users in the country. On his right he is flanked by the company's Chairman Ali Mufuruki.

He says, there are currently three commercial products under Zuku namely, Zuku TV {DTH satellite TV covering 12 countries within East and Central Africa}, Zuku triple play which is a bundle cable offering of TV high speed broadcast and VoIP, and Zuku Biz the company's own cable. Echoing his sentiments, Wananchi Group CEO, Richard Bernalist explained that Zuku was uniquely positioned in this market as a truly dedicated East African service made by Africans for Africa. “In the ten countries we are targeting, Zuku pay TV penetration is presently at less than 1 percent and there is a need for affordable quality content which is suitable for the entire family” he said early this week. In early this year, Wananchi Group raised $57.5 million in growth from a group of international investors which is going towards supporting the roll out of Satellite services in 10 countries. Zuku TV is expected to provide numerous employment and business opportunities to Tanzanians through its distribution network.
The Wananchi Group company is the leading provider of cable and internet services in Eastern Africa region which was established in 2007. As the African leading provider of “triple play” with a cable network passing 40,000 kenyan homes, the company is positioned to become the premier media operator in the region. Zuku TV meets the obligation of the Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) that requires all Television broadcast services to migrate from analogue to digital by 2012.