Arcadia Premium TV, the forthcoming channel founded by Olamide Yousuph and Akintunde Marinho, is working on unique original titles with international partners.
Speaking with journalists at a roundtable event last week ahead of the channel’s June launch, Arcadia’s founders said the channel would tell engaging African stories by merging the digital and terrestrial worlds in order to create premium entertainment on both mobile and cable TV.
Marinho said: “We are producing 19 original titles that you have not seen anywhere else before and this is something that is very new. We have international content partners like Sony, Universal, HBO that we are in contact with to help with international content. However, the drive is to develop an inventory of original content from Africa, not just Nigeria. We are looking at content from South Africa, Ghana, Uganda and Kenya.”
Yousuph, Arcadia’s chief operating officer, added: “When it comes to collaborations, we are always open to it. There’s always going to be consistency in the quality of shows we air. Although we had to change the names of some of the shows we were airing on our web portal because they didn’t really fit television style, the theme and quality remains.”
Arcadia already has a varied catalogue across genres including fashion and lifestyle, movies, comedy, music and sports. Titles include Serious Banta, Kitchen Dash, My Hustle and Arcadia Live on the Red Carpet. It also aims to secure exclusive rights to internationally popular films.
Arcadia Premium TV will air on StarTimes channel 176.
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