Minister Meets Key Players in UK Digital TV Switch Over, Says Nigeria Will Not Fail

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has

assured that Nigeria will

leave no stone unturned in its quest to achieve a successful Digital

TV Switch Over that will

yield technological dividends far beyond imagination.

The Minister gave the assurance in London on Thursday, at the end of

his two-day interactions

with key players in the successful UK Digital TV programme, including

the country’s Communication

Regulator Ofcom, which created the regulatory structures that enabled

the Digital TV Switch Over.

The Minister, who also met officials of leading public service

broadcaster BBC to understand its

central role in supporting the development of Digital TV in the UK,

said all concerned would work

relentlessly to meet the June 2017 deadline for Digital Switch Over

(DSO) in Nigeria.

”The Digital Switch Over in the UK spanned about five years (2008 to

2012). Nigeria has a much

shorter time to achieve the same feat. But we will harness all the

available expertise to ensure a ‘

successful and history-making switch over,” Alhaji Mohammed said.

The Minister also visited Digital UK and Freeview to draw lessons from

the UK’s Digital Switch Over

programme and to learn about the development of Freeview and the

factors which have contributed

to its long-running success as the Digital Terrestrial TV service that

serves 75% of UK homes.

He rounded off his meetings with officials of the UK’s sole signal

distributor Arqiva to understand how

the UK’s TV infrastructure was developed and operated, learn about

Arqiva’s role in Digital TV Switch

Over programme, and how it completed the conversion of its TV network

from analogue to digital in

the years 2008 to 2012.

Under a two-day intensive programme that ended on Thursday, the

Minister led to the meetings a delegation

that included the Director-General of the National Broadcasting

Commission (NBC), Mr. Is’haq Modibbo Kawu,

and other officials of the Commission; the Director-General of the

Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria

(FRCN), Mr. Mansur Liman, and officials of the Content Aggregator CCNL.