SOLID leadership is crucial when attempting to make impactful strides in the competitive and constantly evolving world of television.
And that is where Hannelie Bekker took up the mantle as the new MD of Fox International Channels (FIC) Africa. She pioneers with her wealth of experience (more than two decades, actually) and great understanding when it comes to content acquisition, viewing habits of consumers and the important talking points where TV is concerned.
Bekker took up her position at the beginning of November.
While the journey has been challenging (but in a positive light), it has been immensely exciting for her, too.
Her résumé is impressive to say the least.
Bekker’s most important schooling started at the SABC at the age of 21. She also worked independently, but still retained her foothold in the broadcast media sector. And she is a member of the US Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Before taking up her post here, she was the MD of Wananchi Programming Limited, which operated in Kenya, for four years.
She says: “I have been in the industry a long time. I have learnt a lot. As you know, I started my career at the SABC. So the foundation of what I knew about television comes from the SABC. I really started at the best time at the public broadcaster. After a while, I started doing some international acquisitions. That was my first big role. Long story short, that evolved into SABC3 and I was an international programme buyer. That was my first experience of commercial television. And I learnt about the relationship between programming and audiences.
“In a way, what you are selling isn’t content. What you are selling is audiences because you are trying to attract the biggest possible audiences to sell to advertisers. I bought things like Sex and the City, Oz, Ally McBeal, Frasier and Mad About You. It gave me a schooling in buying and commercial television.”
Back to more recent times, she adds: “In Kenya, I worked with a pay TV operator. There I learnt how it works when you are working with a range of channels and you want to attract subscribers to your platform. Now I’ve jumped the fence from being at a broadcaster to being a channel provider.
“I think the reason I have been brought into this role is to say, ‘look these channels have been put into the market, people are aware of them, but now, from a content and position point of view, it is time to kick into a different gear’. And that is what I do.”
Fox, Fox Crime, Fox Movies, FX, National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo Wild, National Geographic Gold, Fox Sports and Fox Sports 2 as well as Baby TV, are the channels that she is now responsible for.
At a recent launch, the new Fox logo was unveiled along with plans on taking the channel forward – and stamping out those throwback series like Magnum P.I.
In fact, they have procured The Strain, a vampire-themed series by Guillermo del Toro, Empire with Taraji P Henson and Terrence Howard in the lead, Wayward Pines by M Night Shyamalan and starring Matt Dillon, and Tyrant, which is a drama centred on family dynamics and politics in the Middle East.
Two fresh, uproarious comedies are also on the bill: Fresh off the Boat and You’re the Worst (from the producer of Orange is the New Black and Weeds).
Backstrom, a darkly humorous crime drama with Rainn Wilson (The Office) and from the creator of Bones, and Legends, a procedural drama with Sean Bean, have been earmarked for Fox Crime.
She adds: “I’m a programming person at heart. So my job is to make these channels real destinations for viewers.”
She realises that, irrespective of how viewers are consuming their entertainment fix, the appetite for stories is never going to be reduced.
Bekker points out: “Fox as a brand take content seriously and see it as their currency and what gives them relevance in the world. My appointment couldn’t have come at a better time. And the content couldn’t be better. So there is definitely a bit of serendipity there.”
At the moment they are still in talks with DStv on getting some of the shows onto Catch Up.
And there are plans afoot to invest in more local content – particularly in the reality genre, in South Africa.
They are also looking at scripted dramas. But that is a longterm objective.
Bekker comments: “When we as Fox do local content, it has to be distinctly local. It has to fit in with the bold, cutting-edge content we deliver. As our Fox president once said: ‘If content is king, then the brand is the castle’. It clarifies our relationship with viewers and the affinity we want to build on.”