Showing posts with label Cable TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cable TV. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Hollywood Film Distributor, Vision Films Inc Refuses To Pay Commission on "Eagle Wings" To Nigerian Agent

Hollywood Film Distributor, Vision Films Inc Refuses To Pay Commission on "Eagle Wings" To Nigerian Agent


Lise Romanoff, the Managing Director and CEO of Vision Films Inc, California, USA is presently in dispute with Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima, an international agent for film and TV acquisition and distribution over her refusal to pay him the finder's fees and commission on the multiple award winning, Nigerian war film, "Eagle Wings" she acquired through him in 2022.
"She acquired the film after I pitched the film to her for acquisition."



Michael Chima, who is the Publisher and Editor of the NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series, a publication on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry said that Lise Romanoff threatened to terminate the global distribution contract with the filmmaker, Paul Apel Papel if he insisted on requesting for his finder's fee and commission for the film widely  distributed on VODs and cable TV channels. 
The "Eagle Wings" on the war on the Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists in northern Nigeria has been showing on M-NET cable TV channels on DStv and streaming on Showmax of the MultiChoice Group, Africa's biggest multimedia entertainment company.

Lise Romanoff said there was no  agreement between Vision Films and Michael Chima. But he dismissed her statement.
"If she did not have any agreement with me, then why did she send me the contract agreement before it was signed by the filmmaker, Paul Apel Papel in the first quarter of 2022 and later sent me the updates on the global distribution of the film she acquired through me? And Vision Films sent me the latest update by email yesterday."

All discussions and transactions between Lise Romanoff and Michael Chima have been by emails without any formal contracts; from the theatrical release of "The American King" in Nigeria by the Silverbird Film Distribution through the recommendation of Michael Chima and she paid him for the publicity and also paid him commission on the box office revenue in July, 2022. She also paid him a minimum guarantee for recommending her to Wiflix, a VOD streaming service based in the Netherlands that is currently streaming several movies distributed by Vision Films Inc.
Therefore, Michael Chima has insisted that his finder's fee and commission on the global distribution of the "Eagle Wings" must be paid as Vision Films paid him for getting them the theatrical release of "The American King" in Nigeria and acquisition of the  rights for the streaming of a catalog of their content by Wiflix. 

Lise Romanoff, the Managing Director and CEO of Vision Films Inc,  California, United States of America, is a member of The Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA).



Tuesday, April 25, 2023

NTA Can Launch Cable TV Network within 12 Months

The Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) can launch a cable TV network within 12 months to compete with MultiChoice of South Africa and StarTimes of China.

Majority of Nigerians cannot afford the increasing subscriptions to the cable TV networks in Africa's most populous country of over 220 million people.

The solution is having a Nigerian owned cable TV network with subscriptions affordable to majority of people in Nigeria.


NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series

The first and the best book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry published since 2013.





Thursday, January 19, 2023

High Cost of Data is Still a Big Challenge for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and other Streaming Services in Africa

High Cost of Data is Still a Big Challenge for Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and other Streaming Services in Africa

The cost of 1GB of data, enough for one hour of video streaming, is between $1.50 and $30 in Africa.

Subscribers spend more on data than subscription fees for Netflix and Amazon Prime Video on the continent. Showmax of the MultiChoice Group is Available to all the millions of subscribers to DStv, but majority of the populations in African countries cannot afford DStv. 

The cost of data can be reduced by all the telecoms in Africa with fast internet connection. 10GB should not cost more than $1 which is between N500 and N750 in the current exchange rate of the USD to the Naira in Nigeria, the largest market on the continent. 

My suggestion is Netflix and Amazon Prime Video should also be available offline on cable TV channels to attract everyone who can afford to pay the subscription to the cable TV channels for only $2 monthly.

What matters most in entertainment are four things I call QAAA:

1. Quality of the content

2. Availability of the content

3. Accessibility to the content

4. Affordability of the content.

The content must be of good Quality; Available, Accessible and Affordable.

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,
International content development and marketing consultant.
@Vuulr Program Partner
@Cinewav Affiliate Partner

#1 On Top 20 Movies for the Valentine



 Available on https://wi-flix.com/


Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Nollywood Must Stop Producing Many Crappy Movies

Nollywood Must Stop Producing Many Crappy Movies

The popularity of the phenomenon of Nollywood was based on overproduction of cheap home videos widely distributed and pirated in Nigeria and neighbouring countries in West Africa from VHS tapes to DVDs on the streets before the launching of cable TV channels between 2001 and 2004 and then uploaded by several authorized and unauthtorized people on YouTube from 2005 ; followed by the launching of Ibaka TV and iROKOtv in 2011.

The proliferation of low budget home videos in Nigeria made Nollywood the second largest producer of movies in the world after the Bollywood of India;  making news headlines all over the world and attracting both International vendors and investors. 

The biggest video streaming services in the world led by Netflix and Amazon are now competing for the best of the film and TV productions in Nollywood which compelled the producers to improve the quality of their movies to satisfy the criteria for international acquisition and distribution. But quantity is still the focus of the majority of producers and the production of substandard movies is doing more harm than good to the sustainable development of Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry.

The productions of cheap movies have left the few cable TV channels and streaming services saturated with movies which subsequently reduced the market value of Nigerian movies in comparison to South African, South Korean, Mexican and Indian movies in international acquisition and distribution. 

The frequency of productions in Nigeria is increasing the crappy movies in both Nollywood and Kannywood that I am ashamed to watch many of the movies with even top A-List actors. 
Did the highly esteemed actors read the screenplays before acting their idiotic roles? Or the temptations of being paid hundreds of thousands of naira made them to skip and waive professional standards?

We have submissions of hundreds of Nigerian movies and yet international buyers can only accept less than 20 movies every quarter. 

Many producers are now selling their movies for less than the costs of the productions. 

Is it not embarrassing to spend more than N3 million naira to produce a movie in Lagos, Asaba or Kano and you end up selling it for less than N500, 000 for two years on a local TV channel?
The local TV stations are now rejecting many movies, because they are saturated with dozens of movies and series submitted to them.
The local TV stations don't need to produce original movies and series, because they are cheaper to acquire from hundreds of unsolicited movies and series sent to them. 

It is not good to produce more than 1, 000 movies every year, but we can only count the best on our fingertips.


- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
Publisher/Editor, 
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR® Series,
Tuesday, July 12, 2022.
247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter


Buy books by Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima on 

https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima


Sunday, May 22, 2022

Eagle Wings, The Best War Film on the War on Terrorists in Africa


Eagle Wings, The Best War Film on the War on Terrorists in Africa

The film from writer/director Paul Apel Papel was shot entirely on location in Nigeria and is one of Vision's emerging catalog from prolific filmmakers in the region. Eagle Wings depicts the on-going devastating regional conflicts of insurgents, their pervasive mistrust of the government, and the mission of those who try to diffuse the war against all odds. The production value of aerial fighter jet scenes as well as ground combat, add to the realistic and epic scope of the film.

Synopsis: As insurgents overtake territories and kill civilians, the Nigerian Air Force is called in to bring peace to the area. When a recently married commander is lost behind enemy lines, his brothers-in-arms swear to his wife they will bring him home safely. The rescue mission leads them into a war-torn area and directly into a terrorist stronghold where loyalties are put to the test.


Eagle Wings on the following ONLINE VOD PLATFORMS:

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/eagle-wings/id1614927647?ls=1

Shortened link: https://apple.co/3LotpP7

Amazon (VOD): https://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Wings-Enyinna-Nwigwe/dp/B09XFHGCVJ/ref=sr_1_15?crid=3UM6V458SPKJ5&keywords=eagle+wings+movie&qid=1652804146&sprefix=eagle%2Caps%2C1974&sr=8-15

Shortened link: https://amzn.to/3G0NLwL

Vudu: https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/Eagle-Wings/2005431

Shortened link: https://bit.ly/3Njob8z

GooglePlay: https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/Eagle_Wings?id=12411645C10325CAMV (will be live soon!)

Shortened link: https://bit.ly/3FRiQ64

YouTube: 

Shortened link: 

Hoopla: https://www.hoopladigital.com/title/14964760

Shortened link: https://bit.ly/3wkbKnk

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/eaglewings

Shortened link: https://bit.ly/3FXeuKz

Also showing on cable TV channels in America.




Monday, March 7, 2022

Mary Remmy Njoku, The African Queen of Content

 The African Queen of Content

Mrs. Mary Remmy Njoku’s creative work so far has led ROK to produce more than 540 movies and 25 original TV series.

She founded ROK Studios, a leading African film and television studio and production house based in Lagos, Nigeria. It has produced over 540 films and 25 original TV series, including Festac Town, Single Ladies, Body language, Losing Control and Husbands of Lagos since its launch.

Njoku launched ROK on Sky, a network airing across the UK in 2016. She also launched ROK on DSTV, a network airing across Africa, in the same year.

She was nominated for The Futures Awards and EbonyLife Prize for Screen Producer in 2017.

In April 2018, ROK Studios launched two new channels, ROK2 and ROK3, to meet the growing demand of ROK on DSTV.

She produced the movie Nwanyioma in 2018, where her role required her to completely shave her head.

In 2019, Njoku oversaw the acquisition of ROK to CANAL+, the largest international deal to-date for a Nollywood brand.


Sunday, July 25, 2021

Netflix Needs To Partner with MTN andd Airtel To Increase Subscribers in Nigeria

Netflix Needs To Partner with MTN andd Airtel To Increase Subscribers in Nigeria

Nigeria has about 101 million mobile internet users on the GSM networks in Africa's most populous country with the largest economy. But the high cost of data for viewing videos online is making the leading video streaming services to be out of reach for majority of the teeming population who prefer to subscribe to cable TV services. 

There are an estimated 15 million subscribers of cable TV networks in Nigeria with 10 millon of them shared by Multichoice and StarTimes.

MultiChoice streams satellite TV to between 4.5 million and 6 million Nigerian subscribers from the database reports of the cable TV subscribers in the country.

In Nigeria, satellite TV reception was the choice for 11.8 million households in 2019, a 23% increase compared to 2017, and a further 4.7 million in Ghana, up by 19% from 2017.
The study also highlighted that High Definition (HD) TV sets are becoming increasingly popular, already present in approximately 50% of Ghanaian and Nigerian TV homes.

Paying less than N3, 000 to subscribe to Netflix is not expensive, but including the costs for internet data have discouraged majority of people in Nigeria.

The following analysis on data usage is useful.
"Data consumption is different from speed. If you have a fast connection, that doesn't necessarily mean you use a lot of data per month. However, services like video streaming adapt to the available speed, so having a fast connection often does increase your data usage (and video quality), even if your habits don't change.

Streaming video:
Video uploads and downloads:
If you download a movie rather than streaming it or if you upload one to YouTube or Vimeo, the data consumption is similar, and it's always based on the full quality of the movie. If you make a video on your phone, you probably aren't creating HD quality or running for streaming video. The data consumption will depend on the quality of the video you receive. If you have a slow connection, most providers will adjust the quality so you won't have to pause for buffering too often. High-definition video can run as high in bandwidth consumption as 8 megabits (1 megabyte) a second. That's 60 megabytes a minute, if your connection is fast enough to handle it. A two-hour movie, at that rate, will consume 7.2 gigabytes. That's an upper bound, and usually it will be less, but a feature movie is a lot of data no matter what.

Video uploads and downloads:
If you download a movie rather than streaming it, or if you upload one to YouTube or Vimeo, the data consumption is similar, and it's always based on the full quality of the movie. If you make a video on your phone, you probably aren't creating HD quality or running for hours. Still, if you upload a lot, it will add up hours. Still, if you upload a lot, it will add up."

Netflix has partnerships with Telkom and Vodacom in South Africa and these deals have increased the subscriptions to the video streaming service. A similar partnership with MTN and Airtel in Nigeria will attract the millions of the middle class subscribers of the GSM networks in the country so include subscription to Netflix in their monthly budget.


- By EKENYERENGOZI Michael Chima,
Publisher/Editor, 
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series 
247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter
https://mobile.twitter.com/247nigeria
https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima

Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Nollywood is Not Hollywood

#movietheaters

#cinema

#movies

#moviegoers

#Hollywood

@theacademy

@amctheatres

Having a cinema is one thing; attracting moviegoers to the cinema is another thing.

- Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

Nigerian film distributors and exhibitors banking on the followers of the A-List actors on Instagram and Facebook has not attracted majority of them.to the movies they featured in. Because, many the actors buy followers, views and likes and majority of the  followers are not going to the cinemas to spend N4000 to watch a movie that they can watch later on #Netflix with a subscription that is not up to N3000 monthly, including hundreds of other movies and series.

70% of the #Nollywood movies playing in the cinemas in Nigeria are actually teleplays without cinematic quality. 

Dramatic scenes are often mistaken for cinematic scenes in Nollywood. And actors having a  shouting match in a scene is not an #Oscar performance, but may be good enough for an #emmy . Nollywood is not Hollywood.🤩

Frankly speaking, Nollywood movies are best viewed on @netflix, @showmaxonline and cable TV channels.

- Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima.

Saturday, July 10, 2021

The Scarcity of Film Curators and Hairstylists in Nollywood

Elizabeth Banks (left, as Effie Trinket) and Ve Neill (right, makeup artist) on the set of The Hunger Games. Photo by Murray Close. Courtesy of Lionsgate.http://academyartunews.com/newspaper/2016/06/celebrity_makeupart.html.

"The study of film criticism comes before the study of film curation."

- Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima.

You cannot be a film curator without the knowledge, experience or expertise in film criticism. 

Film schools in Nigeria must teach film curation or programming, because of the scarcity of professional film curators or programmers in the Nigerian film industry.

The lack of this can be seen in the substandard selections of movies and TV series on cable TV channels and public TV channels in Nigeria, especially in the selection of Yoruba movies and series of low quality and the most annoying subtitles by half-educated translators or subtitlers whose poor knowledge of English grammar either makes you laugh or upsets you. 

Another widespread common erroneous practice in #Nolllywood and #Kannywood is the fact that many of the filmmakers don't know that a makeup artist is different from an hairstylist. And there must be an hairstylist as there must be a makeup artist for every film or TV production. There is a hairstyle for every character in a drama or comedy.


There is Film Hairstyling for Storytelling and should be included in the top courses in film schools in Nigeria.

 

- Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,

Publisher/Editor,

NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series,

247 Nigeria @247nigeria on  #Twitter


Sunday, December 6, 2020

INSIDE DOCUMENTARY: A New Channel For Documentary Films

 Inside Documentary: A New Channel For Documentary Films with special preference for documentaries of undocumented incidents, events, people, places, wildlife, and untold stories of natural and unnatural occurrences and true life experiences on earth and in outer space.


I am going to launch INSIDE DOCUMENTARY, a TV channel exclusively for documentary films. 

INSIDE DOCUMENTARY  channel will show both full length and short documentaries; showcase documentary filmmakers with interviews with the filmmakers and crews; documentary film festivals; documentary film awards; documentary film locations; premières and screenings of documentary films in Nigeria and other countries.

I welcome collaborations.  partnerships and sponsorships for the production, distribution and broadcast of documentaries on the INSIDE DOCUMENTARY Channel on.cable TV on OTT streaming platforms.

- By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima,
The CEO,
International Digital Post Network Limited
Publisher/Editor,
NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series
247 Nigeria (@247nigeria) / Twitter
https://mobile.twitter.com/247nigeria
https://www.amazon.com/author/ekenyerengozimichaelchima
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelchimaeyerengozi
Tel: +2347066379246

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Pay-TV Subscriptions to Triple to 4 Million by Year-End 2015


Infinity TV is a popular Pay-TV service in Nigeria.

24 Jan 2011 22:30 Africa/Lagos


AME Pay-TV Subscriptions to Triple to 4 Million by Year-End 2015, Pyramid Finds

PR Newswire

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 24, 2011

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As operators find ways to circumvent current barriers in AME's pay-TV market, subscriptions are expected to triple over the next five years, reaching 4 million. This represents an 11 percent CAGR in pay-TV subscriptions through 2015, the highest in the world, according to a new report from Pyramid Research (www.pyr.com).

New Market Dynamics Bode Well for Spike in Pay-TV Adoption analyzes the growth potential for pay-TV services in AME, highlighting the main obstacles to pay-TV adoption in the region and pointing out the key market developments that would enable more aggressive growth than we are currently projecting. The report then looks in detail at pay-TV markets in Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa, each representing different stages of pay-TV market development, and at efforts in each market to overcome obstacles.

Download an excerpt of this report: http://www.pyramidresearch.com/downloads.htm?id=5&sc=PRN012411_INSAME2.10

Purchase this report online: http://www.pyramidresearch.com/store/ins_ame_101220.htm?sc=PRN012411_INSAME2.10

AME's market dynamics are changing and the picture of pay-TV in the region in the coming years leaves room for optimism. "Over the next five years, as regulatory changes introduce more competition into the sector and technology platforms advance, Pyramid expects the region to begin to overcome the many obstacles that have inhibited its growth in the past, specifically the high cost and limited reach of pay-TV platforms," says Mehdi Ben Said, Senior Analyst at Pyramid.

Currently, there are several barriers preventing even greater growth than Pyramid projects. "These include limited competition, lack of content, and a weak platform on which to provide pay-TV services over existing last-mile infrastructure. The adoption of new alternatives in certain countries is a sign that the market is trying follow new paths for growth," notes Ben Said. The rise in per-capita GDP will have an immediate and positive impact on the pay-TV market in the region, helped along by the success and pan-regional expansion of the AME's largest mobile operators.

Furthermore, with strong growth in mobile subscriptions, many mobile operators will enter the market through alliances with DTH providers, marking a significant and positive change in the pay-TV landscape. "The lack of fixed infrastructure and the dominance of mobile access in most African countries constitute a huge opportunity for mobile operators to become the main pay-TV providers in Africa in the long term," he indicates. "Although mobile networks in many countries may not be video-ready, we recommend that mobile operators look carefully at launching packages in conjunction with DTH operators in the near term in order to develop brand recognition in the segment."

New Market Dynamics Bode Well for Spike in Pay-TV Adoption is part of Pyramid Research's Global Telecom Insider report series. Download an excerpt of this report here: http://www.pyramidresearch.com/downloads.htm?id=5&sc=PRN012411_INSAME2.10. This report is priced at $595 and can be purchased online (http://www.pyramidresearch.com/store/ins_ame_101220.htm?sc=PRN012411_INSAME2.10)or by contacting info@pyr.com.

CONTACT: Jennifer Baker, +1-617-871-1910, jbaker@pyr.com

SOURCE Pyramid Research

CONTACT: Jennifer Baker, +1-617-871-1910, jbaker@pyr.com

Web Site: http://www.pyr.com/