By Natasha Justin
The move by Zimbabwe Broadcasting Cooperation (ZBC) to introduce subscriptions to replace the ZBC licences has been welcomed by many.
Zbc is a primary source of news for the Zimbabweans; however it has been discredited by many nationals as being biased with too much state interference.
People had been paying for the general possession of television and radio sets which angered many who were not interested in the broadcasters programming which they deemed unentertaining.
Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister, Jonathan Moyo highlighted that viewers would nolonger be bothered by ZBC inspectors at their doors as ZBC will soon replace the viewers and listeners licence with the encryption of its signals.
The Zimbabwe all Media Survey (ZAMPS) 2014 results showed that, overall TV viewership dropped from 66 to 59 per cent in urban areas and to 41 from 49 per cent in rural areas.
“Watchers of satellite TV remained static at 23 per cent in rural areas but dropped to 60 per cent from 70 percent in urban areas. ZBC Channel 2 garners 26 percent of national viewership from 32 per cent”, according to the ZAMPS report.
The decrease in percentage of television viewership shows that the ZBC programming is not in demand, therefore encrypting of signals is unrealistic unless there is improvement in the programming.
Subscription is put up on something that is in demand, for instance the DSTV that is at 60 percent subscription in the country.
People subscribe to satellite television because it offers better programs that are highly educating, informing and entertaining than the state controlled ZBC.
Interviewing people in the streets of Harare on whether they would subscribe to ZBC or not showed that the subscription move by ZBC has been received with mixed feelings by the public.
“I will never pay for ZBC subscription because of poor service delivery. Their programming isn’t entertaing at all,” said one Nkosi Ndlovhu
Nkosi went on to advise the ZBC to give other independant channels a chance as this will increase viewership of local content.
Farai Chikasha, a Mabvuku resident said that he was willing to subscribe to ZBC if the subscription fee was reasonable and if there was an improvement in picture quality.
“ I love some of the programs on ZBC especially the current affairs, but the poor picture quality on the screen makes it unenjoyable to watch,”said Farai.
Most youngsters were of the view that to increase viewership, ZBC had to keep up on the entertainment scene, showcasing reality shows and new television shows that they follow on Dstv.
“I’d let my parents subscribe Dstv because I can watch dramas 24/7 especially the Telemundo series, unlike on ZTV where they show movies at odd hours and ,what’s more appealing to the dstv subscription is that ZTV and other radio channels are available on the channels list” said one teenage girl who identified herself as Tariro Mupeza.
