TVAfrica was a pan-African television network founded in 1998 by former advertising executive Dave Kelly alongside sports broadcaster Berry Lambert. Domiciled in Mauritius and operating from South Africa, the network relayed up to 80% of its content to private television stations in sub-Saharan Africa and also licensed the broadcast of sporting events (excluding South Africa due to licensing regulations) to interested broadcasters. At its apex, the channel broadcast to as many as 26 countries (up to 40 in licensed sporting events), the majority of them English-speaking and French-speaking states. There were four separate versions, three in English and one in French.
Funding problems led to the liquidation of the channel in October 2003.
History Origins as Direct-to-Broadcast/Direct-to-Broadcaster Programming and African Broadcast Network TVAfrica was founded in 1997 Alt URL and started broadcasting in July 1998 (some sources say June 1998)"Think global, act local", Africa Film & TV Magazine, nº. 23, November 1999 – January 2000 from its operational base in South Africa. The founders were Barry Lambert and David Kelly, with funding provided by the Zephyr Management Group, the Africa Investment Group and the South Africa Enterprise Development Fund. Domiciled in Mauritius, the network's broadcasting facilities were located in South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast.
Initially it was a programme provider. Its programming division started off as dTb (Direct To Broadcast, some sources reported the name "Direct to Broadcaster Programming"),(1998, Jul 01). New TV service to go on air. Africa News Service whose concept was to buy free-to-air terrestrial rights of "quality programming" to attract viewers and advertisers. dTb had assisted in the upgrading of Joy TV, which used the frequencies of the second channel of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, in mid-1998, providing it with expansion to Bulawayo, up until that point the channel was only received in Harare."Joy TV signs deal with South Africa's dTb", Africa Film & TV Magazine, nº. 17, April–June 1998 TVAfrica's programming packages were sent to the widest number of commercial stations possible. Affiliates would benefit heavily from the advertising money brought in from the attractive programming. The company, under the corporate name Direct To Broadcaster Programming, started delivering its service on 1 July 1998.
The programming model was similar to the American television network format, with affiliates across the coverage area. The network started with affiliates in four countries, Botswana, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe before extending its reach to more than two dozen countries and over 40 affiliates. Uganda, one of the first affiliates, came from a reshaping of the line-up of Sanyu Television, Uganda's first privately owned television channel. Sanyu was joined by STV in Kenya, Joy TV in Zimbabwe and GBC TV in Botswana. Similar to other programming barter companies, its model involved programming offered for free, with the advertising revenue being shared between TVAfrica (international advertisers), the local broadcaster (three minutes of local commercials) and network spots being split during the 10 minutes per hour. Programming packages were compiled in Johannesburg and encoded to Intelsat in order to prevent piracy.
On 7 November 1998, Direct to Broadcaster Programming was renamed Africa Broadcast Network (no relation to the later syndicator African Broadcast Network). Later that month, ABN bought Sanyu TV from the Katto family,E-Readiness Assessment Report; Ministry of Works, Housing and Communications; Government of Uganda; page 157. for the sum of US$5.5 million, "a considerable amount of money" according to Lambert, compared to other affiliates at the time. The sale was finalized in April 1999. Negotiations had been underway since July 1998, but ABN wanted a takeover.Uganda/South Africa: Sanyu TV taken over by South African firm. (1999, Apr 13). BBC Monitoring Media The station changed its logo to a modified version of TVAfrica's bearing the STV initials. TVAfrica also managed STV in Kenya, whose coverage was initially limited to Nairobi and extended to Mombasa and Kisumu. Its control of STV led to a period of expansion during April 2000, becoming available in seven cities.TV Station Widens Coverage To Nakuru. (2000, Apr 06). Africa News Service
As TVAfrica At the end of 1999, all units of the company were now reportedly using the corporate name TVAfrica. It already had an agreement in place with Television Malawi, a state channel, which at the time had financial problems and limited equipment,Malawi Television planning to expand countrywide. (2000, Mar 31). BBC Monitoring Africa - Political and in early 2000, the Nigerian private channel Channels Television.Nigeria: Paper surveys state of private radio, TV. (2000, Mar 31). BBC Monitoring Media
TVAfrica quickly became successful, owing primarily to two factors, convenience and high quality entertainment."TVAfrica: domination of East Africa", Africa Film & TV Magazine, nº. 24, February–April 2000 Operations in East Africa were still branded as STV, but in 2000 a new generic name was considered for all of its operations.
The network stemmed out of a gradual process of liberalisation of television stations across the African continent in the 90s. Networks in individual markets were still touted as being propagandistic, leaning to their respective governments of the time, whereas the emerging private television sector was still facing heavy difficulties at the time, with many channels shutting down over time. In May 2000, it assisted in the creation of the Nigérien private channel Ténéré TV, delivering it with five hours of programming.
Quentin Green left e.tv where he had a job as sales and managing director and joined TVAfrica in April 2001.
TVAfrica also faced competition from another syndicator, the African Broadcast Network (ABN), domiciled in the United Kingdom, which tied in with state television channels in several countries.
Expansion 2001 was a year of growth for TVAfrica. The network signed an agreement with Ethiopia Television's second channel to carry the whole schedule, as well as signing further agreements with SBC in the Seychelles and MBC in Mauritius (the country where its parent was registered) while an agreement with Eri-TV was on the cards. The company estimated that only 0.8% of the continent had subscription television services (46 million viewers), yet its coverage thanks to separate sporting agreements was higher."Luring Africa's audiences", Africa Film & TV Magazine, nº. 31, November 2001 – January 2002 On 17 October 2001, Quentin Green, Chief Operating Officer of the network, sought for the creation of new terrestrial broadcasting partnerships, at the Broadcast World Africa in Johannesburg. Under this investment, TVAfrica sought to buy six to eight transmitters for satellite reception and giving coverage to 60 to 70% of a country's population."TV Africa invites partnership", Africa Film & TV Magazine, nº. 31, November 2001 – January 2002 The network had projected that by 2007, advertising on sub-Saharan African TV would increase from US$160 million to US$410 million, adjusting to factors such as increased access to television sets and liberalisation of media."African stories in production", Africa Film & TV Magazine, nº. 32, February–April 2002 It also invested 55% into the Desert Entertainment Group, owners of Desert TV, Namibia's first private television station, which was due to launch in June.Namibia: Report outlines plans for 'free-to-air' private television station. (2001, Mar 09). BBC Monitoring Africa - Political
The channel secured the exclusive rights to the African Cup of Nations starting from its 2002 edition in a deal that was valid until 2008."TVA Africa secured the sole right to broadcast the World Cup", Africa Film & TV Magazine, nº. 33, May–July 2002 In early 2002, it assisted in the financial rebound of Radio-Télévision Analamanga and started airing four hours of its French output per day. In April, it acquired CTV in Uganda and made STV the sole East African arm of the network.
The network boosted its potential viewership base upon purchasing the rights to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, having sold 90% of the potential sponsorship packages a month and a half ahead of the start of the tournament. The syndication formula had already become a win-win at the time. The network had paid $1.5 million for the rights in Nigeria alone.
TVAfrica moved to new premises in the Morningside suburb of Johannesburg on 17 May 2002, two weeks before the start of the World Cup. The new facilities cost US$1.8 million out of the US$22.5 million it had received in the first few months of 2002 alone, by developing the technological capabilities of the network to include two production studios, six editing facilities and four final control centres for the four feeds of the channel. The World Cup coverage was presented by South African sports journalist Louis Karpas from the new building, as well as an educational programme. The move also introduced a new version of the network's logo and a new slogan, "all round entertainment". Late in 2002, TVAfrica set up a new Namibian affiliate from scratch, partnering with local production company INTV, as well as holding 20% of the stocks of STV in Mozambique. Building on from the rebrand, the channel added two continuity announcers, George Munetsi Biza from Zimbabwe and Irene Ndlovu from Kenya."TVAfrica puts on a good face", Africa Film & TV Magazine, nº. 35, November 2002 – January 2003 On 1 September that year, TV3 became the new Ghanaian affiliate of the network, after Metro TV left it.Ghana: TV3 announces increase in transmission time. (2002, Sep 03). BBC Monitoring Africa - Political
Founder Barry Lambert left TVAfrica in 2002 to found LIM Africa, which in 2005 partnered with Setanta Sports to later set up an African version of the channel and licensing agreements with free-to-air broadcasters.
Following the outbreak of the First Ivorian Civil War, TVAfrica decided to close its regional office in Abidjan in November 2002.Cote d'Ivoire: Conséquence de la crise en Côte d'Ivoire : TV Africa quitte Abidjan, retrieved 21 February 2026 STV in Mozambique withdrew its affiliation agreement in early 2003 as the content didn't match local tastes.
Liquidation Africa Media Group, the parent company of the channel, decided to put TVAfrica up for liquidation on 1 October 2003. A number of alternative solutions to keep the network afloat were considered, but neither of the options was suitable for its economic climate, prompting the station to go off air and liquidate, as the operation didn't meet expectations at the long term. Dave Kelly still showed belief in the idea of such a network, but it was complicated, on the grounds that its US investors did not apply the capital properly. He and Quentin Green left the network owing to disagreements ahead of its liquidation.
One of the factors that led to the collapse of the network was its affiliation with smaller television stations, almost all of them commercial, in opposition to the dominating TV channels in many countries that were under government control.
Affiliates also blocked the network's commercial breaks in order to insert their own ones, blocking commercials for clients already booked by the network. This caused problems in the advertising scheme, disabling TVAfrica from billing its clients.