Emeka-led NBC partners MIPCOM for better entertainment content as Africast begins tomorrow

R-L:DG NBC, Emeka Mba and Maduegbuna at the event

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has announced a major working relationship that it reckons would revolutionalise the entertainment and broadcast environments in Nigeria. Speaking at a recent meeting with stakeholders in Lagos, Mr. Emeka Mba, director general of the NBC revealed the commission’s readiness to work with MIPCOM, a TV and entertainment market, essentially a content forum for co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing entertainment content.

MIPCOM provides the people involved in the TV, film, digital and audiovisual content, production and distribution industry a market and networking forum to discover future trends and trade content rights on a global level. It normally lasts four days.

Mba who emphasised the importance of Nigeria being part of MIPCOM and hosting Africast-which comes up between October 21 and 23 in Abuja- said every stakeholder must take advantage of the opportunities that come with digitization even as the transition date to digital broadcasting gets closer.

 

Maintaining that the future is digital, he amplified the need for content in the process, giving this as the reason the NBC fashioned certain policies to promote better content. He observed also that content has ecologically changed the broadcast industry. According to him, though the country has started the adventure with Africast, there is a need to take it higher by also focusing on the business of creating content.

   For him, this is why Nigeria’s participation at MIPCOM is important because being the biggest market for content, stakeholders in the content creation sector in Nigeria need to get close and be part of MIPCOM.

Mba stated that Africast 2014 is coming at a crucial time for the broadcast industry as the country switches over from analogue to digital terrestrial television broadcasting and works towards the grant of content provider and signal distributor licenses.

  “We need to work together to realize the vision and a more dynamic industry. The idea of having the Nigeria stand at the Cannes Film Festival is critical because we need to join the global discussion and learn how these things are done professionally besides having the connection. We do have a vision about what the future of television in Nigeria should be but that can only be achieved through collective efforts and not by NBC alone,” Mba argued.

According to him, Nigeria could better monetized its content production and be the audio-visual hub of the continent, as there is no other African country with a better potential.

 The NBC, he said, really wants to reposition Africast as a reference point for the best of equipment and a destination for content every year, so that producers can find a market for their works.

   “I believe that Nigeria is the hub of creative industry in Africa, what is missing is how to make money from it.”

   He enjoined practitioners to be open-minded, as it will change the way business is done in the sector.

Managing Director of Multichoice Nigeria, John Ugbe spoke in the same vein. He said that content is very important in the sector because any one can hold a camera, but it is what is done with the camera that matters. He adduced as reason for his company’s support for Nigeria’s participation at MIPCOM and the hosting of Africast.    

   With the target date of January 1, 2015 of digitisation, the NBC boss maintained that content will play a crucial, driving role in the success of a digital broadcasting environment as indicated by the theme: Digital Broadcasting Content: Production, Sourcing and Delivery.   

   “Leveraging on the past success of Africast, we are planning a bigger and better Africast 2014. It promises to be a must attend event as broadcasting industry leaders from across the globe will be converging in Abuja to cross-pollinate ideas and explore the opportunities for the success of digitization.

   “The positive response and feedback from all our past editions of Africast has inspired us to make Africast 2014 bigger and much more successful. With Africa trailing the rest of the world in digitization process, there needs to be acceleration in the process for Africa to attain digital singularity with other advanced countries.”

   According to him, it is against this backdrop that the theme for this year was chosen hoping that the deliberations at the conference will proffer ways and solutions that would enable Africa make significant progress to meet the ITU deadline of June 17, 2015.