Moroccan Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Othman El Ferdaous, recently announced on Al Aoula evening news programme, Morocco’s public broadcaster, that a new public broadcasting hub would be created, combining the Société Nationale de Radiodiffusion et de Télévision (SNRT), Soread 2M and Medi1TV.
According to Média24, “the government plans to position SNRT as a holding company for all public channels (25 radio and TV channels) and both private channels, Medi 1 TV and Medi 1 radio. A sort of “Maroc Television” […]. Each of the three main channels / brands of the future hub will specialize in a particular field.”
According to the minister, this strategy for developing this new public broadcasting hub by 2024 will modernise and improve the quality of national production, notably creating a continuous news channel on the model of CNews or CNN. A new video-on-demand platform will also replace the Aflam TV channel, ensuring the broadcasting offer is digitalised. The minister also mentioned the creation of “a broadcasting acceleration zone” to bring the broadcasting industry, cinema and the video game sector closer together. The hope is that this talent incubator will attract Moroccan talent from abroad, thus making domestic productions more competitive for export. The aim of this mega-audiovisual hub is to counter the various challenges the channels are facing, including competition from foreign channels, GAFA platforms, which capture the vast majority of advertising revenues, the changing viewing habits of young people, and increasingly connected Moroccan homes.
For more information about broadcasting news in Morocco, click here.
Sources: medias24.com, le360.ma, maroc-diplomatique.net, lopinion.ma
