Nigeria Building Africa’s Biggest Free To Air TV Platform – Minister

Nigeria is building what will be Africa’s biggest and most lucrative
Free To Air Television platform, with the ongoing transition from
analogue to digital television in the country, the Minister of
Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said.

”With over 24 million TV households, and being the capital of African
creativity in Music and Film, I am now more than
convinced that we will also become the capital of Television in Africa
within the next few years,” the Minister said at the launch of the
digital television in Osogbo, Osun State, on Friday.

He said everyone, including mobile phone companies, advertisers,
content producers, electronic manufacturers, Nollywood and State
Government, stands to benefit from the transition.

Alhaji Mohammed said mobile phone companies should leverage on the set
top boxes that give owners access to the free television channels to
get data to the 24 million TV households in the country, adding:
”With the boxes we have introduced, your data can be taken into every
home in Nigeria for use in consuming video.”

He said the transition will also benefit advertisers, noting: ”We are
finally going to be able to bring all those 180 million eyeballs to
the doorsteps of your product, with the technology that will make it
easier for you to target identified customers and make every Naira you
spend on advertising worth its while.”

The Minister said content producers will no longer pay to get their
content aired, but will instead be paid, thanks to myriad of channels
and a well-managed Audience Measurement System.

He urged Electronics Manufacturers to, through the massive sale of
television sets, decoders and dongles, provide jobs for Nigerians and
become exporters of the appliances to the rest of Africa.

”To Nollywood, your movies can now be sold directly to all homes in
Nigeria without the need of a VCD, DVD or even the Internet, using the
DSO platform to market and sell films,” Alhaji Mohammed said, while
also advising state governments to take advantage of the Digital
Switch Over (DSO) platform to engage residents, disseminate
information and for job creation in both the production and
distribution sectors.

With the DSO launch in Osogbo, Osun State, digital television has now
been rolled out in five states and the Federal Capital Territory
(FCT).

The DSO was formally launched in Jos, Plateau State, in April 2016,
followed by the FCT, Kwara, Kaduna and Enugu States.