Nigeria: Nigerians'll Access 100-250 TV Channels By 2010
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Vanguard (Lagos)
8 August 2008
Posted to the web 8 August 2008
Chinyere Amalu
The Nigeria Communication Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) Limited and DIGITAL Broadcasting Limited have reached an agreement to enable the 36 states of the federation access 100-250 television stations with clear signals within the next 18 months.
Speaking at the signing ceremony between the two parties, the Managing Director of NIGCOMSAT Limited, Mr. Ahmed Rufai, said that with the unified common platform to be provided with the services of the two companies, an average Nigeria will have the cause to smile.
His words, "The unified platform will provide clear signals to everybody. There will be content of over 100-250 channels with clear signals all over the country.
"The joint venture between the two parties is a profitable one, because DTH and paid TV is quite different from what we use to have. So majority of Nigerians, especially those in the rural areas will access all these channels".
Also speaking, the Managing Director of the Digital Broadcasting Limited, Mr. Shola Ajay, said both parties would make sure that various infrastructure will be positioned within 18 months starting from nine (9) states.
"NIGCOMSAT will operate from the up steam while DIGITCH operates from the down stream. Nigeria is about to unleash its own culture on other continents in terms of broadcasting services. This is a dream that has come to reality.
"One of the key issue is the commonality of decoders. One decoder can access more than 100-250 TV stations. For those villages that have not received signals, they will start to receive it soon. For broadcasters, it will be cleaner signals, but for Paid TV they will use one decoder."
"We are starting with 9 states. Give us 18 months and we will cover the whole country. We will re-train the engineers we have at the state in broadcasting services. We will also engage the service of over 30 engineers from Nigeria", he explained.
On the gains of the joint venture, Ajayi said, "The solution-based joint venture between NIGCOMSAT and DIGITECH takes cognisance of the fact that service of this magnitude will both be costly infrastructureally, and elaborate in the real intention of all Nigerian broadcasters to take advantage of this service.
"The intent of this joint venture is also to redress the long-term damage to Nigerian broadcasting environment created by years of technological dumping and inconsistent approach to signal and content distribution by practitioners."
"Both NIGCOMSAT and DIGITECH have long recognized the importance of changing the lives of ordinary people by getting information to them, getting information from them, about them, resulting in both organizations actively looking for ways of actualising this".
He also pointed out that the joint venture would ensure that existing broadcasters and prospective new pay TV and licensed Free to Air operators had access to DIGITECH's facilities and those of its overseas partner such as TELEMEDIA.
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"The specific purpose would be to significantly lower the entry cost for few broadcasting practitioners. A key element of this joint venture is also to ensure that technical infrastructure is not a deterrent to broadcast practitioners", said he.
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