BROADCAST, FILM AND MUSIC AFRICA: SuperSport Head of Africa promises an electrifying presentation at broadcasters and film-makers gathering in Nairobi

When Nairobi hosts the largest gathering of broadcasters, content developers, animators and film-makers at the Broadcast, Film and Music Africa (BFMA) conference next month, Gary Rathbone, Head of Africa for SuperSport ,will be packing his bags from the channel’s Nairobi hub. He will be leaving the payTV network to pursue new initiatives in African sports broadcasting. 

But not before he shares his immense experience in sports broadcasting at the conference. 

SuperSport’s Head of Africa Gary Rathbone and AITEC Africa’s Events Director Ryan Moroney address the media when Gary’s confirmed participation in the BFMA conference.

Mr. Rathbone is behind the heavy foray of SuperSport into local football broadcasting which has changed the face of grassroots African football. He confirmed participation at the conference, to be held over 10-11 July  in Nairobi, Kenya,joining over 60 prominent film- makers,broadcasters and analysts who will be making presentations to over 400 conferenceparticipants.

“Gary’s participation in the event will provide a special new focus on sports content- which continues to have such high  commercial value broadcasters,” said Ryan Moroney, AITEC’s Events Director. Gary’s illustrious sports broadcasting career spans over   20 years and has taken him to many countries and brought him many crowns. For instance, he has been a member of the Confederation of African Football awards selection committee and in 2007 was given anaward for best sports TV feature at the Journalists of the Year Award for a film he did  on how football was helping reconciliation in Rwanda. “Sports and especially football is a lifestyle. Broadcasters need to think about models of sports broadcasting that bear this in mind,” says Gary.

This year’s BFMA conference targets attendance of  established media personalities various genres and industries, including music in a synergistic effort to brings together film-makers, broadcasters and content developers from across the continent to thrash out issues that bedevil their industry. 

Nairobi has been host to at three previous conferences in the series. Discussions lined up at the conference includes talks on the changing dynamics of big screen cinema in Africa (“Is it dead or just in coma?”), film making, content development and distribution and future broadcasting models across the continent with special regard to pay TV, mobile, the internet and  free to air (FTA) TV.

Researchers and pollsters will also champion interesting debates on media with reports of listenership expected. Ipsos Synovate’s Joe Otin who heads Research & Monitoring  will make a presentation titled “Trends by genres: news, sports, films, TV series, educational, animation, ducumentaries, games, kid games- what works and what makes money?”. Prominent media houses expected at the conference include the BBC , Africa 24 TV of France, DStv and Zuku.

UNESCO has also confirmed participation in the event, with Jaco du Toit, its Communication and Information Advisor in Kenya,  making a presentation on “Digital archive initiatives: Keeping a memory of African history and culture which film-makers can re-use».