By Abiodun Adebola
Breaking away from the norm, the management changed the usual course of annual celebration by celebrating the achievements and establishment of the Hip TV on cable 41 days earlier than its first anniversary.
Interestingly, as Hip TV on cable TV celebrated its 324days of establishment, the urban and lifestyle station broadcasts to the rest of the world via Channel 324 on cable, DSTV.
Top Nigerian celebrities led by 9ice, Reminisce, Baba Dee, Dammy Krane, Shaydee, Sound Sultan, Eva Alordiah, JJC and Shank trooped into the Ogundana Street, Allen Avenue, Ikeja office of the TV station to celebrate with the management and staff.
A star studded after party that took place at AY’s newly opened lounge, MVP in Lekki, Phase 1, heightened the celebration.
From programmes like ‘Lyrics on the go’ to ‘Street Vibes,’ Hip TV has won the heart of many Nigerian youths and audience giving other platforms a run for their money.
The channel is known and respected for entertainment news on the go, incisive and exclusive interviews, red and carpet moments amongst others with over 26 exciting programmes that cuts across almost any topic under music and lifestyle umbrella.
Founded by Ayo Animashaun and launched in July 2007 as a music programme syndicated across several terrestrial platforms in Nigeria, the emergence of HipTv as a 24 hour channel on DSTV (in over 40 countries in Africa) and GoTV platforms (in Nigeria), has placed the brand ahead of its stiff competitors.
According to a statement from the entertainment outfit, ‘This landmark, marks Hiptv’s anniversary and acts as a pathway for more success. ‘
For Ayo Animashaun, kicking off Hip TV on cable station is a necessary move after syndicating the productions on terrestrial TVs in 2years.
‘What platform would you rather be on? Cable TV is the biggest platform you can be as far as TV is concerned, and it is the next level of production and we are proud and happy that we are where everybody wants to be. But the reality is that not everybody is going to be on cable TV and we find ourselves there, so we are lucky and that’s not to say we don’t deserve it. We have put in a lot of hard work; we are still working very hard. What we want to do as a journalist and an entrepreneur is let our voice be heard. When our voice is heard on the street, we are happy. When our voice is heard in our cities, we are happy, how much more when we become the voice of the continent. We are happy Africans will be watching HipTV all over the continent,’ he said.
Maintaining that the outfit is strictly an entertainment oriented station, the CEO of Smooth Operations stressed that the TV station operates with its own benchmark
‘We have never done gossips. We do news. We report hard news. Maybe because it’s entertainment news and as such can also be classified as soft news but there is a thin line between the two. But we will be doing serious news mixed with soft news and not gossip. If the platform of Hiptv is this huge and we keep selling African content to Africans; Nigeria is still part of Africa,’ he said.
In his conclusion, ‘Passion to excel and do something big are the drives behind the success of the cable station in the last 324days.’
