Channel O is a South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n-based music channel which first started transmission in the early nineties. Its main concept is African music in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 and the diaspora

Diaspora

A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...

. Over the years, this music channel has made household names of its presenters such as Mimi, Nonhle, KB, Miss Candy.

Channel O can be accessed via DSTV, a satellite pay tv service for pan-African households. The channel broadcasts a variety of music such as Kwaito

Kwaito

Kwaito is a music genre that emerged in Johannesburg, South Africa, during the 1990s. It is a variant of house music featuring the use of African sounds and samples. Typically at a slower tempo range than other styles of house music, Kwaito often contains catchy melodic and percussive loop samples,...

, Mbhaqanga, Gospel (African and International), Hip hop

Hip hop

Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...

, and many other genres. It is also shown in the mornings on Magicworld

Magicworld

Magicworld is a general entertainment channel produced for Dstv by MNET Series.-History:When Mnet's Open Time Prime Time block was closed they sought a new service to keep viewership of the popular programs in the block up. To do this they would need to be affordable to all families in order to do...

.

It also holds the annual Channel O Music Video Awards

Channel O Music Video Awards

Channel O Music Video Awards, also known as Spirit of Africa Music Video Awards are Pan-African music awards organised by South Africa -based Channel O television channel. The awards were first held in 2003 under the name Reel Music Video Awards. Since 2005 the awards have been held annually...

ceremony where artists are awarded for their outstanding contribution to music.

Interactive

The channel is well known for its interactive programming, most notably O-boma, later Oboma Express and Youg, Gifted and African. On weekends it also broadcasts another interactive show The 411 where you can see yourself and your messages on TV. It has a lot of video walls with viewers choosing the playlist.

Video Walls

Its main video wall is O Express(originally Hit Train). A lot of others are genre specific like: pop, Rock, RnB, Gospel, Ladies Only, Kings and also x vs. x where two singers' music videos are shown in an hour. It has a video wall without add breaks called Heatwave which broadcasts between 1500 to 1600 daily. There are also walls for viewers choice and also countdowns. When the Channel O MVAs take place, prior to it they will have walls only about the nominated performances.

Basement

This is where music videos are mixed. The DJ's mix the songs especially for the show. It is quite popular and a new version of the show broadcasts called Lower Level with only fresh music.