The folks at Wananchi Group are giving Kenyans yet another reason to subscibe to their Pay-TV brand Zuku. Yes, for the next five years, Zuku will be the only network through which to watch any and all rugby matches under the ambit of the Kenya Rugby Union (KRU). The Ksh. 250 Million broadcast partnership deal announced by KRU today will see Zuku exclusively air all the key local rugby events including Safaricom Sevens, the Bamburi Rugby Super Series, the Kenya Cup, the Elgon Cup, International Mombasa Sevens and the National Sevens Circuits until the 2017/2018 season. Zuku have also pledged airtime for promotion of the game, its partners and events.
This is a win-win situation for both parties in the deal. The partnership injects some much needed financial support for Kenyan rugby which may be put into further developing the senior squads and exposing young new talent to bolster our already strong 7s squad and the 15s squad which is fresh from emerging winners of the Confederation of African Rugby tournament. Zuku’s intention to be there for the long-haul in the struggle for subscribers with Multichoice’s DStv has also been exposed. Hopefully, the promise of high-definition rugby action throughout the next five years will cause a spike in subscriptions so that both parties in this deal can do the happy dance.
Speaking of dances, the azonto phenomenon looks like finally making its way into local studios. So far, no local artist has released an all-out azonto track, some elements of the genre can be detected in a few newly released gospel tracks, the most direct example being a music video by Dee called Victory Dance (or this other one, but not so much). The trend with most azonto-based or azonto-inspired songs is that many fail to answer the question of which came first between the song and the dance. Unfortunately, Victory Dance is not an exception. Watch it below:
In other news, Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Tecno have released a promo video for their flagship high end smartphone, the Phantom, featuring news presenter and voice over artist Johntone Mwakazi. The bizzare and poorly done video depicts Mwakazi reciting a creepy monologue about the phone dressed in a in weird gown-cloak combo that looks like it was borrowed from a 700 year old vampire’s wardrobe. Well, if the aim of this video is to creep the hell out of everyone, then Tecno have REALLY succeeded. As far as actually promoting the phone goes, at least people are talking about it either way. The common consensus on social media is that this is Johnstone Mwakazi at his worst. So far, neither Tecno nor Mwakazi has come out to explain the release of the promo in its current state. Watch the promo below: