Last night, K24 re-branded and took colours almost similar to their chief rival Citizen TV.
The re-brand had been planned for many months, but as many believe, it would have been impossible without Kenyatta’s money. The Kenyatta family acquired Mediamax (the parent company of K24, Kameme FM and People Newspaper) some years back. Through the media company, they then acquired Meru Fm and Milele FM.
However, it is at K24 where most of the money has gone.
last year, the station re-branded but failed to shake the industry. Not even their 32 inch, 42 inch touchscreen attracted viewers for 2 straight days. Towards the end of the year, the station was hit with news that the man who brought them the few traffic they got, Jeff Koinange, had been offered $1 million to resign. At first, it looked like a bad dream, but reality hit them a few months later when Jeff dropped his resignation letter and took up his new job at Arise TV.
A few weeks later, we heard that there was a ‘monetary injection’ at K24 and that SK Macharia would be left on his knees. The rumours turned out to be true. Tens of Citizen TV staff were poached by the new kid in town, but we’re yet to see whether SK will fall. The most talented anchors, reporters and technical staff were given salary increments to leave their stations, and leave they did. Tom Mboya and Belinda Obura are reportedly earning Sh1 million and Sh 800,000 respectively. In total, K24 poached over 30 people from various stations, though Citizen TV produced over 80% of these.
So, next time you see that advert of Citizen TV looking for anchors, don’t wonder why.
Among the new journalists at K24 are:
Belinda Obura
Tom Mboya
Geoffrey Wachira
Frank Macharia
Janet Chapia
Job Mwaura
Handas Ihachi
Duncan Khaemba
Ann Ngugi
Purity Mwambia
Rashid ronald
Chris thairu
Jimmy Gathu
Zawadi mdibo
Ali mtenzi
This time round, K24 did a full re-launch, and not only the news studio re-branding. They have new shows such as Maisha, which will be airing on Monday nights, Joto on Sunday night, and Naijasinema every weekday.
And then everyone wonders why SK Macharia supported Raila Odinga instead of ‘mundu wa nyumba’ Uhuru Kenyatta.
By the look of things, Uhuru‘s K24 may kick him out of business.
© nairobiwire.com
