The Director General, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Malam Ish’aq Kawu, has said that the 70 per cent local content stipulated for the Digital Broadcasting will create jobs for Nigerians.
Kawu, who said this on Monday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), declared that NBC will ensure that broadcasting stations air more of local content on digital televisions.
He added that unlike the analogue television that broadcast for only about 10 hours a day, digital television will run for 24 hours nonstop, hence the need for more contents.
“If television is to be 24 hours because that’s the way it is going to be in the new reality, you need the content and then the issue of creating new opportunity for young people.
“You can’t put colour but, any channel, without content will either have to sit-up and provide content in-house or buy from content providers.
“This is a very big opportunity for our teeming unemployed youths, they can set up small companies and be content providers by selling to stations,” he said.
Kawu, however, said that Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) was not set up to compete with Multichoice or Startimes which are Direct Television Home (DTH) and provide services directly to subscribers’ home for a pay.
He said that Nigerians would have access to at least 30 free channels that the free-box sold at subsidized price of N1,500 allows.
“All DTT will have to move to our platform as it is against the Nigeria’s laws to be a content provider as well as distributor.
“The likes of GOTv, Startimes will no longer be self-carrying platform and the rest will have to align.
“DTT is majorly to promote local contents in the country, this is a platform celebrating Nigeria, whatever content you have must be produced by Nigerians for Nigerians,” the DG added.
Kawu stressed that the free-box will also assist advertisers in placing their adverts in the television and during program of their choice through audience measurement.
“The box can help us measure audience watching a particular programme and come out with a demographic analysis of the segment of Nigerians watching particular programme.
“The station producing the programme can take the audience measurement to the advertisers as advertising money follows audiences, because in reality content providers do not sell air time, the actually sell audiences.
“Through audience measurement, you can know the demography of the audience that is watching a particular program,” Kawu said.
The DG said the digital switch over would be done in the six geopolitical zones with one town in each of the zone as a pilot project.
He added that the DSO was kicked off in Jos, then Abuja, Ilorin and Kaduna, remaining Osogbo, Enugu, Asaba and Gombe. (NAN)
