International cable and streaming network The Africa Channel has picked up hundreds of Nollywood films from Canal+ Group-owned Nigerian prodco Rok Studios.
Narendra Reddy
The deal was closed by distributor Thema, also part of Canal+, and will include current films and plus hundreds of hours of Nollywood releases from 2015 to 2020.
More than 370 premium titles, including The Secretary, Ovy’s Voice, Picture Perfect, Dear Mummy B and A Woman’s Scorn, will be offered by The Africa Channel in North America and the Caribbean, while most of the content will also be available on SVoD service Demand Africa and free, ad-supported streaming platforms globally.
Narendra Reddy, executive VP and general manager of The Africa Channel, said: “We are delighted to partner with Rok Studios to bring North American audiences this expanded selection of content from Nollywood – the second-largest movie industry in the world. Canal + and Thema TV’s commitment to presenting multicultural content to global audiences aligns with our own, and this is a first step in building an expanded relationship with one of the pre-eminent media companies in the world.”
The Africa Channel and Demand Africa showcase the African continent’s leading English-language television series, specials, documentaries, feature films, music, biographies, cultural and historical content.
ROK founder Mary Njoku and Canal+ International CEO Jacques du Puy tell Content Nigeria about this week’s deal bringing ROK under the wing of the French group.
Jacques du Puy
The recent acquisition of major African film studio and international TV network ROK by French audiovisual firm Canal+ Group is a move that is geared towards strengthening the latter’s content production reach across Africa.
The deal sees Nollywood broadcaster and production studio ROK change hands for an undisclosed sum while ROK’s former owner, SVoD company Iroko Partners, takes full ownership of Francophone African SVoD platform Iroko+, which was previously a joint venture with Canal+.
Content Nigeria caught up with ROK founder Mary Njoku and Jacques du Puy, CEO of Canal+ International, to learned about the motives behind this new partnership.
Elated about the acquisition, du Puy says: “We are happy to welcome Mary Remy Njoku in the Canal+ family. We are glad to expand our activities in Africa to content production. We are proud to strengthen our channel portfolio with the popular and successful ROK channels, that will sit alongside their French sisters, Nollywood TV and Nollywood Epic.”
“I am delighted and proud,” adds Njoku, who is married to Iroko founder and CEO Jason Njoku. “The acquisition of ROK by Canal+ is a great milestone for our business and Nollywood as a whole. We are taking Nollywood to new audiences and that has always been the goal, to take our authentic African stories and share them with the world.”
Du Puy notes that the creation of Nollywood TV began some time ago. “We created Nollywood TV in 2013 after the acquisition of a Nollywood movie package from Africa Magic, part of the MultiChoice Group.
“This content immediately proved to be one of the most relevant in French-speaking Africa, and we had to partner with Iroko to ensure a regular and high-quality supply to Nollywood TV. We also sporadically bought Nollywood series from other producers in Nigeria and recently acquired a small package of premium movies to offer Canal+ subscribers in Africa a Nollywood festival on our premium channel this August.
“We have been acquiring content from Iroko ever since 2013 to feed Nollywood TV. Mary and Jason are not only partners but they are also friends now. We then invested in Iroko in 2015, becoming one of the main shareholders. There is already a long history between Canal+ and Iroko. And ROK Studios is just the largest and more successful producer and aggregator in Nigeria and Ghana,” he adds.
With this week’s deal a landmark accomplishment for the four-year-old start-up, Mary Njoku elaborates on what has propelled the success of the studio so far.
“The fans and lovers of Nollywood across the world motivate us to constantly create quality content. Nollywood fans have a voracious appetite for new content; this is why so many Nollywood films are produced each year.
“However, it is a difficult balance to maintain and develop quality at scale. I had always felt that there was a need for a studio that empowered young people to put their skills to work and create the content that we now see on our ROK, ROK2 and ROK3 channels in Africa and the UK. Now, with the fact we are working even closer with Canal+, we can take this content into French-speaking Africa and eventually the rest of the world.
“Our teams across Accra, Lagos and London cannot be left out of our success story as we all work hand in hand to make ROK story a success,” she adds.
According to both du Puy and Njoku, the deal includes the production studio as well as the four ROK-branded, English-language channels that currently air on African pay TV platforms DStv and GOtv and in the UK on Sky. Canal+ channel distribution subsidiary Thema will oversee the distribution of these channels, adding to its own Nollywood TV and Nollywood Epic channels.
Continuing her leadership role as the director general of ROK Productions, Njoku believes the content that will now be produced will be of higher quality. “With this partnership, we now have the resources to create higher-budget movies,” she says. “Our budgets are typically fairly modest, so get ready to see different types of content across all ROK platforms, including animated content – content that will cut across English- and French-speaking Africa.
“ROK will receive more resources to create content without the loss of our creative freedom. It was very important for us to retain creative rights as this is the main reason for ROK’s success today. We will develop Nollywood in French-speaking Africa and globally through Canal+’s Africa and global channels. Surely this will open more doors to other untapped parts of Africa that need to be reached. However, essentially, it will be more of the same, just at an even faster pace.”
Du Puy thinks the quality of Nollywood movies out there can be enhanced. “Talent is there and Nollywood movies are already very popular,” he says. “But it is true that the audience is more and more demanding, so the quality will progressively enhance because ROK has the unique capacity to detect, select and grow the best and newest talents in Nigeria or Ghana. In addition, we are planning to invest in technical equipment that could be lent to our associated producers.”
Both executives are preparing head-on for any challenges that may arise from this partnership. According to Njoku: “With every partnership comes challenges. However, we hope to resolve all issues amicably and as quickly as possible. We’ve been working alongside Canal+ for nearly five years now so we know how the other works, where our strengths lie, and how to get the best out of one another.”
“We first need to consolidate the leadership position of ROK Studios and go on growing the audience of the ROK channels. Then we would love to explore African kids content, which is very rare at the moment in Africa, and try to bring the Nollywood expertise to French-speaking Africa and to grow the production of daily series there,” du Puy adds.
Strengthening its position as content provider and giving it access to the entire Nollywood value chain, the deal will see Thema working with ROK as well as engage in the distribution of third-party Nollywood content to digital operators across the world; produce and distribute four channels under the ROK brand broadcasted in English-speaking Africa and the UK.
Looking forward to serving fans with more content across all platforms, Njoku says: “ROK will produce thousands of more hours of Nollywood content to deliver movies and original TV series for Canal+ Group’s audiences in French-speaking Africa. As part of the acquisition, Canal+ Group will continue to collaborate with Iroko, with non-exclusive content distribution of ROK content via the Iroko SVoD app.”
The deal, as well as moves by SVoD giants like Netflix to commission more African content for its platform, shows it’s not just African countries that are enjoying Nollywood films and TV series.
African pay TV provider MultiChoice will next week launch two more channels from Nollywood producer ROK Studios on its TV platforms DStv and GOtv.
Mary Njoku
ROK 2 will air on DSTV channel 169 and GOtv channel 17, while ROK 3 will air on DSTV channel 164 and GOtv channel 18. In Ghana, ROK 3 will be available on channel 118 and in Uganda on channel 318.
Both the new channels will go live on April 5 and air original content that is intended to appeal to a pan-African audience.
ROK 2 will air indigenous Africa films and TV drama series while ROK 3 will carry a mix of movies and music, with a focus on Ghanaian movies. These will include Agya Fakye Me, Ama Pooley, Born Again, Coach Krakye and Ye Obi Dea Yie and West African music that will air daily from 23.00.
The channels will join ROK, the studio’s first channel that launched on DStv in 2016.
According to Mary Njoku, CEO of ROK, the launch of the channels will help showcase Nollywood and Ghanaian stories to a greater audience. “Great storytelling is at the core of everything ROK does. So we are really delighted to be launching two new TV channels on DStv and GOtv,” she said.
“Everything we do as a film studio has passion and intensity behind it. We ensure beautiful, thrilling and, ultimately, entertaining African stories, which are brought to life with improving production standards. What we achieved with ROK has resonated with audiences around the continent, allowing us to build on our success and bring even more brilliant Nollywood and Ghanaian stories, direct to our loyal fans on DStv.”
Martin Mabutho, general manager of sales and marketing at MultiChoice Nigeria, said: “It is such a great pleasure to be launching these two new ROK channels on both our platforms.
“Our aim is to find content that resonates with our customers and, more, we have realised that our customers love home-grown stories and watching local talent. Adding these two channels speaks to just that. Providing a platform to our African storytellers and celebrating local talent and productions is part of our DNA and what we aim to deliver to our customers for years to come.”
In 2016, the Nollywood studio launched its ROK channel launched on DStv, three years after it first launched on Sky. ROK is a TV channel created by the eponymous Lagos-based film studio known for its original TV series and Nollywood movies, such as Husbands of Lagos and Single Ladies.
With this week’s deal a landmark accomplishment for the four-year-old start-up, Mary Njoku elaborates on what has propelled the success of the studio so far.
