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| DG NBC, Emeka Mba at Africast 2014 |
AFRICAST 2014 with the theme: Digital Broadcast Content: Production, Sourcing and Delivery, is
the tenth edition of the biennial conference of Africa Broadcasters which premiered
in October, 1996. AFRICAST 2014 is very unique as it heralds the final drive towards
Digital terrestrial television switchover in Nigeria and the world.The
conference therefore provided a solid platform for stakeholders in Africa’s
broadcasting scene to converge and exchange ideas on content creation and
explore the possibilities offered by the new and emerging technologies.
The opening ceremony which was declared open by the
Secretary to the Federal Government of Nigeria(SGF), Mr. Pius Anyim
Pius,representedbyDr Ferdinand Agu, Senior Special Assistant, Research and
Development, Presidency,attracted
dignitaries and broadcast experts from around the world.In attendance were the Chairman
House Committee on Information,Hon Umar BubaJubril, Chairman of the NBC Board,
Prof. Herbert Onye Orji and other Board Members; Commissioners of Information
andformer Directors General of the National Broadcasting Commission. Others
were the Directors General of sisterregulatory agencies and Chief Executives of
government and private broadcast stations in Nigeria as well as other broadcast
experts from around the world.
AFRICAST 2014 attracted 930 participantsand 58 exhibitors
cutting across the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, China, Singapore, South
Africa, Ghana and Nigeria.
The conference also featured two Master Classes on
Investigative Journalism and Digital Production.
In recognition of the importance of content in the drive for
a successful digital environment, the conference had 14 presentations taken in
five plenary sessions with the following sub themes:
·
Crossing the Digitisation Bridges
chaired byAlhaji Ibrahim Buba of New Age Media
·
Alternative Approaches chaired by
Alhaji Ibrahim Buba of New Age Media
·
Contents Productions and Sourcing
Roundtable chaired by Mr Sola Omole, DG NTA
·
Content Management in a Digital Era
chaired by Dr.LadanSalihu, DG FRCN
·
Imperatives of the Digital Era chaired
by Mr O. Mac Emakpore, former Director, Monitoring, National Broadcasting
Commission
·
Make We Change the World: How the
Digitisation of Nigeria’s Music can help bridge the Digital Divide chaired byDr.
Karen Wilson-AmaEchefu, University of Calabar.
The following professionals presented papers:
·
Engr. Amana, Chairman Digiteam Nigeria
who was represented by Engr. TundeAdegbola – Confronting the DSO Challenges:
The Nigerian Experience
·
Barr. Olivia Dazyam, Commissioner of
Information and Communication, Plateau State – Confronting the DSO Challenges:
Report from Pilot State.
·
Fred Martenson, Mediator UK –
Confronting the DSO Challenges: Experiences from Other Lands
·
Mr. Wen Jiang Tao, President, Startimes
Research Worldwide – Ecosystems of Startimes Media Services.
·
Theodore Asampong, South Africa – The
Role of Satellite in Digitisation
·
AdesinaAdekore, Vancouver, Canada –
International Investment Hurdles in Africa: Nigerian Broadcast Industry as a
case study model
·
Gerard
AmengerIgyor, Millersville, USA – Digital Broadcast Content: Paradigm
Shift in African Radio Content Regulation
·
Mr Gregory Odutayo, R2TV, Lagos –
Delivering Content: Starting a Channel in the Digital Era
·
GeirBjorndal, Verimatrix, USA –
Cardless Security –The Solution for Wireless Market in a digital Era. Chris
Ehindero - Content as King: The Context of the Kingdom
·
Don Pedro Obaseki PhD – New Media:
Prospects and Challenges of IPTV Broadcast in Nigeria
·
Lindsey Oliver, CEO, Africa Media
Distribution, UKContent Expo and the Content Exchange:
·
Delivering Content: A Producer’s Dilema
– Mal. SaniMu’azu
·
Chief Tony Okoroji, President, COSON
–Right Issues in a Digital Era
There were extensive deliberations on
the presentations.
Emphasis
·
It
was emphasized that in the digital era, content is king. All advancement in broadcast technologies are
intended to deliver quality content to the audience who was described by some
as queen who must be pleased or the kingdom whose interest is paramount.
·
The
National Broadcasting Commission is working
towards establishing a two hundred billion Naira broadcasting fund for Nigeria
which will be used to fund content generation and acquisition in the country,
provide grant and revolving loans to stakeholders for capacity building.
Observations
(a)
The Nigeria Broadcasting industry is in
the middle of a dramatic transformation
(b)
That majority of Nigerians currently
access only free to air (FTA) and this is likely to continue. Pay TV is projected to hit 25% of TV HH by
2017.
(c)
Current quality of TV offering is below
expectation very insignificant local/youth or family oriented programming
(d)
Current advertising market is not able
to support increased FTA offering alone.
(e)
Current TV offering also do not
adequately reflect wide diversity of communities in Nigeria
(f)
Current analogue operators must be
involved in developing future DTT, and assuage their fears.
(g)
There is increased concern that current
TV market, especially as regards pay TV is not competitive enough.
(h)
Digitization is not just disruptive,
but more fundamentally, an evolutionary process, which will continue to impact
business models as technologies evolve and become more common place.
(i)
Government support and massive public
awareness campaign are very crucial for the success of the digital switchover
as attested to at the pilot switchover in Jos.
(j)
That Analogue Switch off is vastly
challenging and more complex with potentials for chaos.
(k)
Although the switchover date for
Nigeria is 1st January, 2015,afour-phased switch off timeline
planned before the date is being implemented for Nigeria.
(l)
Broadcast regulators of all ECOWAS
member states have developed and harmonized the followings:
(1)
A common minimum transmission standards
for all
ECOWAS countries
(2)
A common minimum standard for
Set-Top-Boxes.
(m) The
selection of the 2nd signal distributor has been concluded.
(n)
The process of selecting Set-Top-Box
manufacturers is in the final stages and all potential Set-Top-Box
manufacturers are ready to go.
(o)
The Jos flag-off has been concluded and
one of the signal distributors has deployed a digital television transmission
network that covers the whole of Plateau State.
(p)
Finance and investment are crucial to
digital migration as funding of the whole digitization process is still a major
challenge.
Funds are required to:-
(1)
Implement the planned enlightenment
campaign programmes.
(2)
Implement the planned series of
training workshops for broadcast personnel.
(3)
Upgrade the public broadcasters’
facilities for the transition.
(4)
Upgrade the broadcast training
institutions (as recommended in the PAC report and adopted in the white paper)
to cope with the needs of digital broadcasting.
(q)
If the current content is what existing
licensed broadcasters are offering, they are ready for digitization. All they would need do is move their
programmes from their analogue transmitter to the signal distributor.
(r)
Digital Broadcasting offers more
options which current broadcasters are yet to explore for better service to
viewers e.g electronic programme guide (EPG), multiple language delivery,
sub-titling (Audio video).
(s)
Every investor wants a credible
regulator that will protect the investment through strong regulation.
(t)
Pricing is an important consideration
in content distribution in Africa
(u)
Programme commissioning in Nigeria is
often slanted in favour of propaganda and documentary materials to the disadvantage
of children, environmental and other
important social issues.
Resolutions
(1) That
the broadcaster should deliberately create unique contents that are relevant to
the Nigerian audience.
(2) That
our values should be protected by the NBC by ensuring that producers are
enabled to produce local programmes instead of relying heavily on cheap foreign
programmes.
(3) Broadcast
businesses should have comprehensive business plan.
(4) The
NBC should weed out the many mediocre in the broadcasting industry to allow
investors deal with qualified professionals.
(5) The
history about broadcasting in Nigeria should be rewritten to correct bad
antecedents.
(6) Broadcasters
should have good financial records which are regularly audited.
(7)
There is need for government backing
for the entire process.
(8)
Digitization should be seen as a
business and not as government programme
(9)
Integrity of the stakeholders, people
involved should be credible to attract foreign investment.
(10) Public
radio should not be competing with private radios. Public broadcasting should be well funded for
all the social services it is expected to offer.
(11) There
should be less stringent regulation to allow Commercial radio broadcastersto give
the audience what they need.
(12) Some
sections of the Code considered as impediment to commercial broadcasting should
be expunged.
(13) NBC
should ensure that the 70 – 30 local/foreign content dichotomy for terrestrial
broadcasters is fully respected.
(14) Channel
owners should have a clear vision of what they want to do as one channel cannot
satisfy every spectrum of the society.
(15) Urgent
steps should be taken to make Set-Top-Box available to ensure smooth switch
over process.
(16) Content producers should explore the great potentials of
digital production equipment and multiple sales points which the digital era
has opened up to market their programmes.
(17) Producers should explore content available in everyday life
and people, showcasing the uniqueness that makes us a people.
(18) Market research and audience analysis should form the
indices for choice of content production.
(19) Collaborations and partnerships between producers are
needful to explore the broadcast market which is limitless.
(20)
African producers must get right the
technical quality in programme production in order to compete in the
International market.
(21) Social media should be explored in the marketing of
producers’ content.
(22) Broadcasters should place value and respect the rights of
content producers.
(23) The possibilities of having remittance directly from the NBC
the right owners should be explored to elicit trust in the collective right
system
(24) There should be a wholistic approach to the issue of rights
protection across all media platforms
(25) Rights owners should cooperate with the collective society
to ensure a united and effective approach to rights management
(26) Broad stakeholders’ involvement, deep collaboration between
and among all important key players, especially existing analogue broadcasters,
governments and regulators as well as advertisers and content owners
(27) Agreements reached between producers and content users must
be respected
(28) Necessary pressure should be put on the National Assembly to
do what they should do to accelerate the digitization process
(29) Though artistes sometimes offer their work freely, it does
not mean that it should not be paid for eventually.
(30) We should not disconnect culture from music as African music
and dance are very unique and should not be neglected rather the production and
propagation should be enhanced.
(31) Satellite and IPTV should be explored as useful complements
to DTT services in achieving digital migration and content delivery.
The
Role of the NBC
The role of
National Broadcasting Commission as
the regulator of broadcasting in Nigeria is to effectively manage the change
that comes with digitization while ensuring that existing players are not
unfairly treated and that fresh investments and new innovations come into the
broadcasting landscape.
Thank you.
RAPPORTEURS
Mrs. Stella Erhunmwunsee
Mrs. Gloria Makinde
Mr. Mathew Okoduwa
Mrs. Susan Obi
Mrs. Clementine Usman-Wamba
Dr. Anthony Ajibade
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