Nickelodeon Expands in Africa

JOHANNESBURG: Beginning today, Nickelodeon is being distributed to 36 more countries in Central, East and West Africa on the DStv platform, following a deal between MTV Networks Africa and MultiChoice Africa.

Nickelodeon will be available on the DStv Premium, Compact Plus, Compact, Family and Access bouquets. The service was launched in July 2008 in southern Africa and will now reach 3 million households across sub-Saharan Africa and will be broadcast in 47 countries across the African continent.

“We are delighted to expand Nickelodeon’s ‘orange’ footprint to a new fan base in Central, Eastern and Western Africa with our partners at DStv,” said Alex Okosi, the senior VP and managing director of MTV Networks Africa. “We are confident that Nickelodeon will become a firm favorite with kids and parents in these regions.”

“Nickelodeon’s core values of fun, playfulness and innovation, along with our ‘putting kids first’ philosophy and top quality content resonates with kids and their families all over the world. We are looking forward to spreading the word and creating even more fans across sub-Saharan Africa,” added Andy Goodhand, the senior VP of Nickelodeon’s emerging markets at VIMN. “Our new partnership with DStv means audiences across the continent will have the opportunity to connect with our much-loved characters, such as iconic animated superstars SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer and live-action hit shows Victorious and iCarly.”

Collins Khumalo, the president of MultiChoice Africa, commented, “We are pleased to make the Nickelodeon channel available to our subscribers across the continent on several different bouquets. This serves to further diversify our already strong lineup of youth focused channels. I am confident the channel will bring hours of fun, family entertainment to our audiences.”