Côte Ouest Enters Production Business

ABIDJAN: Africa's Côte Ouest is expanding its operations with the launch of a new production arm.

The first project to come from the new venture is Africa Zapping, a compilation of three-minute extracts from various TV channels in French-speaking Africa depicting the social, media and political life characteristics of Francophone Africa. Its first co-production is Saburi, a detective series conceived by Côte Ouest and Dv8 Films for SABC2.

Mike Dearham, the senior VP of Côte Ouest, said: “These are exciting times for Côte Ouest and the African TV sector in general. For the first time in the continents history of television, we are witnessing an unstoppable combination of technical push and commercial pull. Therefore the production and distribution plan for Saburi and the other Côte Ouest productions will be responsive to this important shift.

"Given the fantastic growth in the African media sector, our decision to move into production was a natural progression. The Côte Ouest production strategy aims to deliver a variety of pan-African audio-visual products intended for global distribution across a variety of traditional and digital platforms. In turn, leveraging the best human, creative and technical resources across African regions and countries is the cornerstone of our strategy.
 
"Our production plan is also mindful of the increasing digital presence in Africa, therefore all Côte Ouest productions will be created in TV, mobile and online formats.”