At the annual Africa Forum, held in Cape Town this year, Samsung Africa announced plans to join forces with satellite operator SES to provide free to air digital satellite TV channels for six countries in Africa.

The Korean company said it would provide access to 60 free to air channels (30 in English and 30 in French) via an in-built in satellite decoder in its TV models.

Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Ghana will be the first countries to benefit from the partnership, intended to help drive digitisation across the African continent.  It will commence with the first six nations by August 2012, with other channels and further countries coming online at a later date.

Announcing the Samsung LED TV Free Satellite initiative at its annual Africa Forum event in Cape Town, Samsung stated its intention to launch the  new free satellite service.

“Our cooperation will not only help to improve access to digital content for African consumers but it will also encourage African broadcasters to launch more content. In servicing more than 40 African countries, we are well aware of the huge demand for more and higher quality TV services. The opportunity lies in providing an increasingly sophisticated African viewership with a significantly increased number of TV channels – a first for many African countries,” said Christoph Limmer, senior director of marketing development and marketing, Africa, SES.

“The opportunity lies in providing a growing sophisticated African viewership with a significantly increased number of TV channels – a first for many African countries.”

Samsung’s LED TV SurgeSafe+ technology will be used for the television sets, to protect against humidity, lightening and electricity surges suffered in Africa.

Samsung Africa CEO, KK Pak said:  “In order to produce quality and affordable products, we require a technology breakthrough. Products for Africa need to be superior in order to withstand the African conditions — they have to be durable, work efficiently and be reliable”.

Dae Hee Kim, regional product manager, Samsung Africa, added: “The large investment by Samsung into the development of these products so that they remain affordable and competitive within the market, while not compromising quality and performance, is a key indicator of our commitment to meeting the demands of the African people.”

The CEO, later stressed on Samsung’s collaboration strategy, outlines the company’s plan on commitment to African business and government.

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