Viewers from across Southern Africa will have an opportunity to watch the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) summit in Swaziland live after the pay television service provider decided to open the channel to the region.
Traditionally, being a national television station, Swazi TV—which broadcasts on channel 286—is only accessible on the MultiChoice platform in that country.
But the restriction has been waivered for the Sadc summit and it will be restored at the end of the summit tomorrow.
“On the 30th August 30 2016, at 05:30am CAT [Central African Time, Swazi TV channel 286 will be opened to DStv Premium, Compact+, Compact, Family and Access packages in Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
“The channel will close and revert to its original packaging on DStv in Swaziland only on the 31st August 2016 at 6:00pm CAT,” reads a statement issued on the development.
The live broadcasts of the summit start at 7am tomorrow and the live broadcast of the closing ceremony starts at noon on Wednesday and closes at 5pm.
The annual summit brings together Southern African heads of state and governments to deliberate on various issues ranging from economic development, peace and security and poverty alleviation through regional integration services founded on democratic principles and equitable and sustainable development.
MultiChoice Malawi sales and marketing manager Chimwemwe Nyirenda said the development is good for Malawians, saying apart from watching live, viewers can record the deliberations and use the recording for future reference.
