K24, the television station owned by Mediamax Network Ltd, relaunches tomorrow Wednesday December 9th at 7pm as it tries to paw for more eyeballs in the highly competitive broadcast industry.
The relaunch will be anchored by a blend of new and old newscasters and the introduction of fresh programming, including – curiously – a reality show hosted by socialite Vera Sidika, which is being primed at Longonot Place to be earthshaking for its adult content.
The 7pm and 9m news presentation has been remodeled to have more insight and analysis. The Swahili 7pm bulletin will be anchored by Frank Wambugu and Isabellah Mwagodi for news (habari), Zawadi Mudibo for business (biashara), while Torome Tirike will handle sports (michezo).
Noteworthy here is the introduction of a full business bulletin in Kiswahili. Weekend Swahili will be steered by Mwanaisha Chidzuga, formerly of KTN, and Juma Balo, who was poached from KBC.
Socialite Vera Sidika will host a reality TV show on K24.
See also: How Ksh480m loss led to shake-up at K24
The English 9pm bulletin will be delivered by Erick Njoka, Michelle Morgan and Richard Kagoe. “New programmes are being introduced to appeal to more viewers,” said someone familiar with the preparations.
Launched eight years ago, K24 has been struggling to find space at the high table in a media industry dominated by the big three – Citizen, KTN and NTV, in that order. It started as CNN-type all-news station before expanding into other programmes after that model failed to hold in Kenya’s small news market.
Media analysts say the station requires an urban-oriented programming that will win it audiences in major towns, especially in Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret and Nakuru which has the most concentration of viewers.
Read: Shock as K24 and Milele FM fire top presenters
Jeff Koinange, the former CNN reporter who became K24’s brand ambassador, left the station and ended his then popular Capital Talk show after it failed to attract the much-needed ad revenues. He now hosts a live talkshow on KTN.
The station relaunched in 2013 and poached high profile presenters from Citizen and KTN but that, too, did not work. The station guzzles Ksh64 million per month but brings in an average of only Ksh20 million in a good month, according to company figures, meaning it records an operating loss of Ksh40 million every month. Per year, the stations guzzles Ksh480 million without a return on the investment.
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This relaunch will be closely watched as it comes hot on the heels of a massive retrenchment that pushed out a number of journalists. Coming as it does ahead of the 2017 elections, it is likely to elicit defensive reactions from its rivals which would cancel out any of its gains.
