South African media company Sabido, the holding company of locally based television station e.tv, has acquired 49% of Gaborone Broadcasting Company (GBC), e.tv said in a statement on Friday.
Fifty-one percent of GBC was held by Mike Klinck, a Botswana banker, who acquired the station four years ago.
Klinck welcomed Sabido’s investment as a breakthrough for GBC, adding: ”This is a fantastic development for the broadcasting industry in Botswana.”
When it launched 19 years ago, GBC was Botswana’s first television channel. It covered Gaborone and the surrounding areas, reaching a population of approximately 450 000. Its estimated active viewership was 160 000 and it broadcast a mix of sitcoms, dramas, sport and factual programming.
GBC had exclusive free-to-air rights for Botswana to the Uefa Champions League football tournament.
Sabido’s involvement would provide GBC with access to e.tv’s inventory of movies, dramas and sports programmes, the statement added.
e.tv had been operating in South Africa since 1998. It is the country’s only private, commercial free-to-air television channel with a daily viewership of 10,6-million. — Sapa