Nairobi — GTV - a pay TV service to be launched next month - has done market research that shows how important television is to East Africans.

Focus groups in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have shown that the majority of viewers watch television at least one hour every day. Others do so for as many as four hours. They said reasons for watching TV are entertainment, information, education and to avoid boredom. Favourite programmes are news, sports, especially football, and soap operas.

TV is so important in their lives that when asked to express in words what they would feel terrible, lonely and sad. For respondents, a life without TV would mean positive and negative things.

They would go home late, change lifestyle and would not want visitors at home. Others would sleep early. However, some respondents said they would become more accessible and outgoing and stop being couch potatoes!

The research also brought out national differences. For most Kenyans, television is comforting. Of the three East African countries, Ugandans were most likely to use TV as a child minder. Many Tanzanians thought of TV as a 'friend' and were prepared to pay the most for quality television programming.

Less than one per cent of households which own TV sets in Sub-Saharan Africa subscribe to pay-TV services compared to 15 per cent in Eastern Europe, 36 per cent in Western Europe and 93 per cent in North America.

In Kenya, of the 2.2 million households with television sets, only 23,100 subscribe to satellite service. Research bears out the under-performance.

African Media Development Initiative: Kenya Report, 2007, says: "Growth in Kenya's TV sector has been slight in the past five years. Meanwhile, satellite subscriber numbers have not shown any great growth, with monthly subscription cost beyond the means of most. TV in Kenya faces challenges of financing, low quality production and presentation and lack of local content."

GTV will have a different approach to satellite pay-TV. Viewers will have access to major international channels as well as GTV's own. Programming will include news, sports, movies, music and religious content. Among GTV's channels will be G Prime, an exciting entertainment and movie channel, and G Sports, showing live sports.

GTV will offer African content. With an innovative model that champions consumer demand, GTV is redefining the pay-TV market and home entertainment. It will significantly reduce entry prices and boost customer service.

It will be a choice for people previously limited to national free-to-air television.

Julian McIntyre, the founder of GTV, says: "The African market has been artificially constrained by monopoly pricing and non-relevant content. Consumers want to watch the latest high quality television programming that combines international and local content at an affordable price. Whether for sports, entertainment, news or education, GTV will ensure quality content is accessible to many rather than a select few."

GTV is a new Pan-African pay-TV service delivering choice, quality and innovation. It will have a phased rollout across sub-Saharan Africa. The service is provided by Gateway Broadcasting Services, a subsidiary of Gateway Communications.

Gateway Communications is the leading provider of communications services to telecoms operators and corporations in Africa.

The direct-to-home, satellite-based service will deliver high quality digital reception across the continent. An advanced and efficient delivery platform will substantially reduce the cost of set-up for customers.

The writer is a senior consultant with Africapractice