Joseph Hundah is M-Net's Operations Director for Sub-Saharan Africa. He is charged with meeting the needs of M-Net's audiences in Africa outside South Africa. He speaks about Big Brother, Channel O's 10th anniversary and how Ugandan filmmakers can be part of Africa's premier pay-TV service Dstv.

Why did I take Big Brother four years to return?

Big Brother is a very ambitious project. Whereas everyone would like it to happen frequently, various factors especially economic ones prevent us from doing so. We also try and reduce the hangover effect that comes with such shows in not doing them every year.

So returning the show had nothing to do with consolidating your audience with the impending arrival of a new pay-TV provider?

We did not even know the competition was coming when we thought about returning Big Brother. The truth is our audiences were pressurising us to return the show. We felt this year was the right time because this format takes a long time to put together. You have to get the right partnerships in place, which can take more than a year to put together.

Big Brother has been used as a study in human behaviour in some countries. Is that also the case here?

We run the show purely as entertainment unless someone else is doing his or her own research privately. It is one of M-Net's most expensive undertaking but it is also immensely popular in terms of statistics like website hits, video downloads, SMS strap line messages and votes. Big Brother Africa 2 statistics matched the Big Brother Africa 1 figures halfway through the show. You cannot dismiss a show that popular especially from a customer appreciative point of view.

Moralists here including the Minister of Ethics and Integrity have been talking down the show. What do you say to that?

I don't think it is proper to say M-Net promotes immorality. DStv has over 50 channels to choose from. Subscribers that choose to watch Big Brother do so because they enjoy it. I would expect those that do not like the show not to watch it. For those that feel that there are people exposed to the show that should not be watching it, our equipment comes with a parental control facility complete with a PIN (personal identification number) to restrict viewing. It all comes down to choice and all we are out to do is provide variety.

What is the case for shower hour? It looks like you are out to make nudity a mainstream lifestyle...

That would be like saying that we showed Terminator in order to promote violence as a lifestyle. When we acquired the Big Brother format, we decided to leave it the way it is. For me it is quite simple, if you do not enjoy shower hour, just turn off the TV. It is a choice our subscribers have. What baffles me is that Big Brother critics continue to complain but still keep their TV sets on.

How do you go about choosing the housemates because Nigeria and Kenya have complained that their housemates were not representative enough?

The selection process is not flawless and I say that not with a level of regret. Even presidential elections are not flawless. What we try and do is create a balance. Imagine if we had a house full of argumentative people. It would make the house dull because every single day would have the same content. We have to create a balance around gender, temperament, behavioural traits, looks and people's personas. We cannot have 12 good-looking people. There have to be some that are not good looking, some that are homely, lazy, calm and other that are temperamental. We then get a shortlist of four, which is narrowed down to two. It is here that we decide if we should have a girl instead of a guy from Uganda this time or if we should have a guy yet again from Malawi. This process lasts about four months.

Most of this season's housemates come from fractured families. Did you intend to draw attention to the disintegrating African family?

I was not aware about that. We audition adults and never ask about where they come from, what their parents do, whether they are from polygamous or single homes. I think it is just a coincidence that they are from such backgrounds. Our only concern is [the housemates'] religion because if you were to have a Muslim in the house, you would have to pay extra attention to the food in the house and Ramadan if they had to fast.

The show is supposed to be pan-African but there is an imbalance with seven countries from Southern Africa, three from East Africa and just two from West Africa...

To be honest with you it all comes down to business. We go for the countries in which we have big subscriber base because that can guarantee that people will be watching the show. That is why we have Kenya in there and not Rwanda where we have few subscribers. But we also balance things out in a way because our largest markets South Africa and Nigeria would have more than one housemate. It is the reason the voting works by way of a block vote and not individual votes. Otherwise South Africa and Nigeria would out vote all the other countries. We also feel 12 is the right housemate size although it can be pushed to 14.

The contestants are impressionable young people having a go at winning $100,000. Are they fully aware about the total loss of privacy that comes long before the show is over?

We make them fully aware that they may during their stay in the house have to shed off their clothes even if they may not realise it. We take them through a thorough briefing including the possibility that they may develop a romance in the house that may affect any they may have left outside the house. It is really up to them if they choose not to eat or take a bath but we warn them about their health and hygiene. However, if any of them get traumatised after the show, say in the event of heartbreak, we have psychologists to help out. We however go out of our way to get stable people by way of psychometric tests.

One of your goals is to develop African productions. How can Uganda get more visibility on the M-Net channels?

I had a meeting with local producers here and I explained to them that for us to sustain Africa Magic as a 24-hour channel, we need constant content. There is so much Nigerian content on the channel because their movie industry churns out up to 600 movies per annum. Kenya does an impressive 250 while Uganda does just 50-60. I am here to try and create this bubble around getting more content. I advised your filmmakers here to create an association that will make it easy for us to carry out skills sharing sessions.

Are there any plans to help budding filmmakers in Uganda like you did on the New Directions Africa initiative?

We are thinking about giving say $20, 000 to film students at regional universities and asking them to do a film. They would then enter a competition to choose a winner. Our plan is to promote production skills at the source.

Did you rest the Face of Africa modelling search contest owing to the furore over thin models?

Not at all! In fact there is a debate whether we should do it again next year. I would like for it to return and I hope my colleagues will support me. Regarding thin models, our competition was really about creating something for the international markets with a view to highlighting something positive about Africa.

What would you say to M-Net being a conduit for American cultural imperialism owing to the large number of foreign shows you air?

Well much as I know that we Africans are proud of our heritage we also love foreign content because we are part of the global village I guess. If Friends is enjoyed all over the world why can't it be enjoyed here? The popularity of Africa Magic shows we are still in touch with our heritage. But you should also know that it costs us the same amount of money to buy an episode of Oprah as it does to shoot one minute of an episode of Jacob's Cross. Creating local content is expensive and you need to know that America continues to be the biggest creator of TV content.

What are your thoughts on Channel O's 10th anniversary?

Channel O has been one of our success stories and what we did this year was to create Channel O Africa, which is different from what the people in South Africa watch. The play list here comprises 40 percent music videos from the rest of Africa, 10 percent South African and the rest comprises international hits. We realised that local music in most countries completely outsold international music it only makes sense that Channel O takes that direction. We know that not every African artiste can do a high quality music video but we would like our musicians to match the prolificacy of international artistes.

Is your recent highly billed award show supposed to replace the now defunct Kora awards?

The Koras had a format far different from ours. We have never thought about competing with or replacing them. The Koras had their flaws but our goal is to stimulate the production of high quality music videos.

As a Zimbabwean, what is your take on the mayhem in your homeland?

I am concerned but I must say the people in Zimbabwe are beautiful, hardworking and I hope we are able to resolve our issues soon so that the country moves forward. I contribute in my own way. My family still lives there- my dad, brothers and sisters. I make sure they are well taken care of. I do not feel guilty about being away. It is okay to go out there and make a living for yourself. The world is now more global.

Tell us about your family...

My wife and I have been married 10 years. We moved to South Africa in 1992. We have two kids aged six and three and have been living in Nigeria for two years.