UTV Takes Over Kumasi

Residents of Kumasi and other parts of the Ashanti region are reported to have developed an addiction for the newly-established United Television (UTV), a free-to-air private television station with nationwide coverage. For some months now UTV is reported to have become the most popular station in Kumasi and its environs but the station�s popularity soared after it started transmitting live news in Twi some three weeks ago. The station has also used its local movies to capture residents in the region, especially because most of the movies it shows are newly released movies unlike other stations that show old movies. Even its foreign movies are the newest on television with some yet to reach African cinemas. UTV is from the stables of the Despite Group of Companies, proud operators of Neat FM, Peace FM, www.peacefmonline.com, Okay FM, and Hello FM and is currently operating on test transmission in the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Central and Eastern regions while transmission equipment are being fixed in the other regions to give it a national coverage. The station brings some hope and air of freshness to television viewers because it is entering the television industry at a time complaints are on the increase that local television stations have become boring and relatively not interesting as compared to other countries. Located in the famous Ship House that houses Okay FM and Peace FM at Abeka Junction in Accra, UTV has already started raising eyebrows and its unrivaled clarity seems to have won the hearts of many. It is an HD station with ultramodern state-of-the-art equipment. News-One checks show that UTV would not be an all-English speaking television station but would target an audience that cuts across all classes of Ghanaians. Its medium of communication would therefore be Akan-dominated, followed by English and a little bit of Ga and Ewe. �We are not bringing radio on TV. UTV would operate as a separate company with its own set of programmes totally different from what goes on at Peace, Okay or Hello FMs but of course there are some faces and voices that would alternate between their respective radio stations and the television station. We want to give Ghanaians a local content television station that is handled with the professionalism that meets international standards. We are not going to be like any other station, we would be unique in our own way and endear ourselves to the hearts and minds of our viewers,� a source told News-One.