AfricaCom 2017: John Momoh Challenges Broadcasters To Explore Global Trends

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Channels Media Group, Mr John Momoh, has challenged mainstream broadcasters to become more inclusive, embrace new technology, and … Continue reading AfricaCom 2017: John Momoh Challenges Broadcasters To Explore Global Trends


John Momoh

John Momoh

The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Channels Media Group, Mr John Momoh, has challenged mainstream broadcasters to become more inclusive, embrace new technology, and build talent networks.

He made the call on Tuesday at the 2017 AfricaCom Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, where players in Africa’s media and technology industry met to discuss the continent’s tech realities as well as the challenges and opportunities they present.

“The local has become global and global, local. The responsibility of the broadcaster has increased immensely, meaning that we must now be very progressive and proactive in meeting the challenges of this responsibilities,” Mr Momoh, who was the Keynote Speaker at the event, said.

He spoke on the topic ‘New Thinking, Respect And Vision For Professional Broadcasting’, stressing that service and not content is now king.

Mr Momoh is also hopeful that broadcasters and other industry players at the conference will seize the opportunity it provides to “explore new ways of doing business and create opportunities for effective professional collaborations”.

“It has become such a small world and we can seize the opportunity of what technology presents to us and use it as a leverage for all broadcasters,” he added.

The Editor-In-Chief of Stuff Magazine, Mr Toby Shapshak, on his part, highlighted Africa’s increasing influence and potential.

“Africa, as you know, is the fastest growing region in the world, second only in size to Asia, and there are still challenges and massive opportunities,” he said.

Also, at the event, a panel of broadcasting experts looked at the role and challenges of public broadcasting in an evolving African digital landscape.

“Public service broadcasting has been behaving like subsistence farmers where you produce for your own consumption,” a former Chief Executive Officer of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Mr Phil Molefe, said.

According to him, the challenge facing broadcasting doubles as an opportunity.

“The opportunity is (that) we must create top quality, compelling content that can travel, that can be distributed, (and) that can be exported,” Mr Molefe said.

As part of efforts to encourage professional collaboration, Mr Joel Churcher of BBC Worldwide told participants at the conference that his organisation has found ways to protect programmers.

“Essentially, if you are a young production company and you come to a public broadcaster with an idea, you keep that idea if it is broadcast under the pact agreement,” he said.

The AfricaCom Conference is one of Africa’s largest telecoms, media and technology gatherings. It is said to be the place to shape Africa’s digital future.