Alas, I was wrong. Two years on, the air waves are still closed and ZTV continues with its monopoly.However, with the prevalence of free-to-air satellite channel decoders like Wiztech and Philibao, the recent Zamps media house survey has revealed that the ZTV viewership has declined from slightly above a third to slightly below a quarter of the viewership. This is because ZTV alone cannot satisfy the diverse tastes of all viewers. There are those who would like a wholly religious channel, others would prefer a wholly musical channel, while yet others still would want a wholly movie station, sport or other special interest channels .This is the diversity of humanity which any civilised government should encourage. But not our Zanu PF leadership.And since Zanu PF is unwilling to open up the airwaves, there is scope for enterprising entrepreneurs to establish television and radio stations in neighbouring states and throughout the world. These would broadcast specifically to the Zimbabwean market through free-to-air channels since almost 50% of viewers use this mode. What would then be needed are offices and journalists in the country.Such stations can be at border towns such as Messina in South Africa, Manica in Mozambique, Francistown in Botswana or Livingstone in Zambia, or even in Johannesburg or London.Most of us now view Sabc 1 to 3, BTV, France 24, Iran’s Press TV, Ezekiel TV etc.Imagine if Ezekiel Guti of Zaoga-F would turn Ezekiel TV from being a wholly gospel channel into a national television station with news, sports, finance, business, music, entertainment etc and advertise it in the local media. Even ZTV itself, to counter declining viewership, should seriously consider the Sabc’s strategy of free-to-air broadcasting since ZTV licence payment is compulsory. Modern television buyers would buy TV sets complete with free-to-air Wiztech dishes but would not incur the additional expense of a very tall aerial for ZTV’s poor reception.
Stanlake Patsikemhandu, Harare.
