GTV has announced two parallel investment initiatives which will further fuel its redefinition of the pay-TV market in sub-Saharan Africa.
Firstly, an additional $35 million of external funding has been secured, bringing the total capital invested into the GTV business so far to almost $200 million. With further investment over the coming months this makes GTV one of the biggest investments in the history of African media. Consumer demand and belief in GTV and its world class services has resulted in the company becoming Africa’s fastest growing pay-television service according to a research report by Balancing Act.
Secondarily, following the announcement by the Gateway Group (of which GTV is a subsidiary) of its conditional agreement to sell its telecommunications businesses to the Vodacom Group, the African mobile operator; the shareholders have re-affirmed their commitment to continued investment in the expansion of the pay-TV business. This is a tremendous vote of confidence and commitment from the shareholders in the development and prospects for the GTV business over the long-term.
Julian McIntyre, Founder and Managing Director of GTV, said, “Following Gateway’s tremendous success in African telecommunications, we believe that the media industry and, in particular, pay-television, represents the next great investment opportunity on the continent. We have demonstrated our commitment to GTV with almost $200 million of investment to-date and following the extraordinary success since launch, we are committed to further long-term financing”.
GTV started operating in Botswana last year and so far it is receiving a significant number of subscriptions.