African Television (AFTV), a European TV channel about Africa founded in 2012 by pastor Larry Omodia, is set to start operations in Nigeria later this year.
The Netherlands-based TV station, which has already spread to African countries such as Uganda, Cameroon and South Africa, will next enter the Nigerian market, even though this has proved difficult compared with other countries, the company said.
Omodia, the company’s CEO, said: “Suffice it to say that God’s time is always the best and when God says the time is right for you to do something, that’s when you get it done and that’s why we’re finally coming into the Nigerian market now.”
Although Omodia is currently based in Europe, AFTV is represented in Nigeria by David Lucas, director of operations for AFTV Nigeria, and IfeChukwude Martyns-Etunum, technical director at AFTV Nigeria.
The TV station will begin broadcasting in Nigeria later in the year on one of the cable TV platforms.
Omodia says the channel is all about challenging negative images and perceptions of Africa.
“If we do not promote ourselves no one will do it for us. We owe it to our motherland to tell her true stories. Western media can only tell from one perspective,” said Omodia.
“We are here to showcase the entire beauty of this continent. Our job at AFTV is to penetrate the homes across the globe with beautiful African content.”
In Europe, AFTV operates a bouquet of channels including AFTV, AFCC (cooking), AFFC (fashion) and AFMC (movies), over IPTV via its own set-top box. It claims 4.8 million viewers in Europe and 25.6 million globally.
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