It was all rosy when it was launched in August last year; the promise was that the TV was going to be an answer to the very famous Africa Magic.
It was a chance for East African content to get a platform after years of fighting for space with Nigeria’s powerhouse but that wasn’t all, officials at Multichoice promised that this was a chance for the rest of Africa to get a taste of the east.
How wrong we were to even believe that – for starters, unlike Africa Magic that has primarily spread a Naija gospel across the continent, Maisha Magic was only available to East African viewers, well and a section of South East.
To tell us that the TV is now closing simply because it didn’t become as famous as it was sought to be is a scape goat. Maisha Magic had a life span of more than 100 years but at the look of things, it was created to last less than two months.
It was one of those things these guys did to get the east of Africa off their backs – to be specific; they wanted Uganda to stop making noise.
Thus started this humongous project with a bait of producing 56 East African movies, only to turn around and do 56 Kenyan films.
But that’s not the problem, Multichoice notes that they had to come to a 'difficult' decision to close the channel because it is not popular – have they tried to make it popular?
It was a station that was meant to touch the heartstrings of East African TV lovers of local content; I guess it would have been prudent enough to avail it to them.
E! was never popular before it was availed on the compact, Access and Family bouquets in 2009, has Multichoice even tried this out? Your statistics are clear, East Africa doesn't have that many premium subscribers but then you try to sell them a premium channel, are you nuts?
Having a local content channel absent on basic affordable Access and Family bouquets or even GO tv is equivalent to Haruna Mubiru staging a one million concert at Serena and later going on to wonder why his Old Taxi Park fan base didn’t show up.
You didn’t expect a religious fan of Tendo Sisters to pay for compact at shs100,000/= , that’s rent and shs160,000/= for Compact Plus is salary for many.
It’s absurd but Multichoice conned us into believing that this Maisha Magic thing was real yet indeed they wanted it off air ASAP, think about it, are six months only it takes for them to consider a product a flop?
And why on earth did they never avail it to its core audience? Multichoice has over twenty African channels on its platform; surprisingly Africa Magic World, Hausa, Yoruba, Hip TV and Sound City are all available on all bouquets and the only one that all East Africa can relate to, Maisha Magic is not.
Looks like Multichoice believes East Africa has more people that understand Yoruba than English.
Even the press note that was released was all vague, in fact it made everything clear, East Africa was a ploy used to market a Kenyan industry, for instance, much as the English version of the TV is being pulled down, the Kiswahilli sister is staying put and then this excerpt from the press release; “M-Net however emphasizes that they will remain firmly committed to the Kenyan market and will ensure that it continues to support film makers by showcasing their talent on other M-Net channels. The film and television industry in Kenya will continue to be supported by M-Net’s investment in channels made in Africa for Africa, thus ensuring that they assist Kenya in playing a role in the growth and future of African television and film on the continent."
To sum this up, this Maisha Magic thing was a scam, we were duped.
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