Tag Archives: NBCUniversal

Real Housewives head to Nairobi, Pretoria

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The Real Housewives of Cape Town

NBCUniversal-owned reality format The Real Housewives is set to expand into two more African cities, Nairobi in Keyna and Pretoria in South Africa.

In Pretoria, the 14-part series is being produced and filmed by independent production company Provoco, while filming will commence on the Nairobi version in September under Kenyan production house Young Rich Television.

The latest editions of the franchise come via a partnership between South Africa-based pay TV company MultiChoice and US studio NBCUniversal, part of cable giant Comcast Communications.

Local versions of the format, which centres on a group of powerful and affluent women in a certain location, have successfully debuted in fellow African cities Johannesburg, Durban, Lagos and, most recently, Cape Town.

Ana Langenberg, senior VP of format sales and productions at NBCUniversal Formats, said: “We are so proud to build on the continued success of The Real Housewives franchises across Africa.

“The way each version faithfully embodies the spirit of the city, people and rich cultures it showcases connects with audiences across the region and the diaspora. It was such a magical moment to bring our production partners together with MultiChoice for our summit in Cape Town to connect, collaborate and map out more versions we can add to the family.”

Nomsa Philiso, executive head of content at MultiChoice’s content arm, MNet Channels, added: “The Real Housewives franchise is proving to be very popular with our diverse audiences. This has allowed us to continuously expand and increase to different territories as we operate across Africa. This may be a global franchise, but our spin is authentically African. Leeping up with our viewers’ tastes and preferences is important, and The Real Housewives franchise meets our audience’s needs.”

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Brainstorm’s Chitate launches streamer

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Zimbabwean-born producer, writer and director Eddie Chitate has launched a streaming platform through his production company Brainstorm Entertainment.

Eddie Chitate

NoFTV focuses on urban youth culture across the African continent and aims to provide a platform that brings together east, west, north and southern African entertainment and current affairs on one platform as well as being the one-stop-shop for everything cool and hip about Africa.

Chitate said the new service fills a gap in the market. “NoFTV allows creatives and entrepreneurs to maximise their potential and ideas as well as giving them ownership,” he said.

“No more being at the mercy of the traditional broadcasters. It’s an all-encompassing entertainment platform and on it we will have TV shows, films, news, politics, documentaries, merchandise, music – pretty much everything important to the youth of Africa. We will partner with young creatives to give them a platform to showcase their talent.

“African entertainment is showing some growth and especially West African entertainers have managed to crack the code and be relevant across the globe. We need to produce more documentaries that tell our [black African] stories from our point of view, not what we’ve been fed by our past colonisers for the last few decades.”

Chitate launched Brainstorm Entertainment in South Africa and has produced film and television shows for both local and international markets. The first feature film he produced was Killing of Wendy (titled Divas in the US).

Through his leadership at Brainstorm, he has negotiated a licence deal with Vibe Media for sub-Saharan Africa and with NBCUniversal to be the first African producer to create original African shows for E! channel 124 on DStv

Chitate produced E! VIP, Africa’s version of E! True Hollywood Story, and collaborated with Forbes Africa to compile the first entertainment Who’s Who list, and was also the creator and executive producer of Diamond In The Ruff, a modelling reality series for Mzansi Magic.

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