Embattled pay-television provider TopTV has managed to bolster its bouquet offering slightly with the reinstatement of one of the channels it had to discontinue last year.
TopTV says, following successful negotiations with the channel operator of One Music, the channel that broadcast African and international hit music videos with a focus on Nigerian talent (channel 506) was reinstated yesterday.
One Music, which TopTV says attracted a large base of loyal followers since it launched in May 2010, was discontinued in November last year, when its operator, HiMedia, was placed under liquidation. Hi Nolly (channel 120), which aired specially selected movies from the Nollywood film industry, was also summarily discontinued. At the time, TopTV said it would explore alternatives to fill the slots, but could not indicate a time frame for this.
Last month, the pay-TV operator said it was set to lose another of its “hugely popular” third-party channels, Current TV (channel 406), following the channel's carriage agreement with BSkyB in the UK not being renewed. The channel features commentary and information programming, including real-life documentaries.
TopTV said the blow to its bouquet was beyond its control and that the company's content team was “under a lot of pressure” to find replacement channels and reinforce its offering.
“[We are] currently finalising negotiations to sign up a separate channel to replace Hi Nolly [and are] confident that an announcement regarding the replacement channel will be made shortly,” says TopTV.
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