Ruling party acquires private TV station

It is now official – that one of the main TV stations, Channel Ten has been acquired by the ruling party – CCM.

CCM chairperson John Pombe Magufuli declared “whoever visits African Media Group should know that he/she is at a media owned by Chama Cha Mapinduzi.”

Magufuli who also doubles as President of the United Republic provided Channel Ten with TZS 200 million to buy equipment to facilitate it to broaden its reach for everyone to view its transmissions.

CCM marked its 42th anniversary on February 5, 2019.

The acquisition of African Media Groupd which also has radio stations ,fulfills the party’s long standing ambition of owning a television.

The time of the acquisition is also logistically paramount as there are local government elections this year and general elections where President Magufuli will definitely stand for re-election will be held next year.

The acquisition is also seen by observers to give ccm an edge over other contenders as there is already the state broadcaster TBC , Party newspaper Uhuru and state dailies – Daily News and Habari Leo all tilting towards CCM.

This scenario further shrinks the level of the political play ground, the observers noted.

This leaves, Independent Television (ITV) , Clouds TV, Star TV and Azam TV – all private networks to offer a balanced coverage.