Why the FG is committed to meeting broadcast digitization deadline – Minister

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said
the Federal Government’s determination to meeting the June 2017
deadline for the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting is
borne out of the attendant benefits of such migration.

The Minister made this known in Abuja on Tuesday while declaring open
the 2016 AFRICAST with the theme “Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting:
Financing Quality Content”

“The digitization of broadcasting offers Nigeria a lot of
opportunities. The benefits are multifaceted and very far-reaching –
in the areas of economics, politics, education, entertainment, science
and technology and several other ways. Many have said that the impact
of digitization on television will be revolutionary and I cannot agree
less. With digitization, the TV industry in Nigeria will be able to
raise over 1 billion dollars in one year. Also, digitization will
increase the number of the current 450 TV stations in Nigeria,” he
said.

Alhaji Mohammed explained that the Federal Government’s idea of
Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) is one in which there is free
digital TV service called FreeTV – based on Freeview rather than
requiring pay TV subscriptions and that the government is providing
support to ensure that the FreeTV Set-Top-Boxes, also called decoders,
are affordable at a retail price of N1,500.

He said with the Digital Switch Over, Nollywood will have a safe and
profitable distribution channel direct to 24 million TV homes through
the Set-Top Boxes with no piracy risk, which will generate $250m per
annum of extra income for Nollywood.

The Minister said the digitization of the technology of broadcasting,
which brought about a paradigm shift in the industry, requires
broadcasters to be dynamic, embrace various platforms for diverse
content and adapt to new tools with continuous access to content
throughout their business.

“The evolution of new broadcast platforms is threatening traditional
broadcast platforms and channels. The reality though is that the
motivation apparently is that as broadcasters engage new platforms,
the market opportunities are increasing, providing new revenue
streams,” he said.

The Minister therefore urged regulators of broadcasting in Africa to
begin to envisage and appropriate the larger implications of the
emergence of multiple platforms by ensuring that the media continues
to serve its peoples in terms of security, economic well-being and
technological advancement.

AFRICAST, which was introduced in 1996 by the National Broadcasting
Commission (NBC), the broadcast regulator in Nigeria, is the platform
on which broadcast issues as they relate to Africa are discussed every
two years by professionals, academics and policy makers.

It is also a platform for manufacturers of broadcast equipment and
publishers of content who are targeting the emerging African market.