The private channel Medi 1 TV, which until now has offered generalist programming, will become a news and discussion channel from 2016. In an interview with the Medias24 website its CEO, Abbas Azzouzi, detailed the reasons this reorientation.
“Since the Arab Spring, several mainstream news channels have lost their lustre. Moroccan, North African and African viewers have become confused,” he explains. “From this, rises the need for a media which has a different take of African events.”
The Medi 1 schedule will now offer news continuously from 8:00am to 6:00pm, with magazine programmes and discussions outside these hours. Already focused on international markets, the channel will strengthen its position by opening local bureaux in Tunisia, the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Cameroon and the Gabon, but also in Paris, Madrid and Milan, recruiting 60 additional journalists.
Medi 1 is now also aiming at the 25-35 age-group, who are not at present part of its core target. They will do this by using digital and interactivity tools.
Created in 2006 on an initiative by the French government, Medi 1 TV became a 100% private channel in 2014. Its two majority shareholders are Nekst Investments and Steed Media, specialized investment companies in the media sector and both based in the UAE.
Sources : Medias24, Maglor, Télé Satellite
