Minister co-opts BON to beat digital switchover deadline

As the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) set June deadline draws near for the countries within the ECOWAS sub-region to transit from analogue to digital broadcasting, the Minster of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed, has said co-opting the Broadcasting Organization of Nigeria (BON) members will help to beat the deadline.

The Minister made this known while speaking on Radio Nigeria in Abuja, monitored in Lagos recently, adding that with digitalization, BON members will be relieved of the burden of transition and signal distribution.

“If there is any industry or sector that is going to benefit it is BON in the sense that with digitalization today BON members will be relieved of the burden of transiting and signal distribution and they can now face content and their production. The alternative service providers will not only create wealth but also employ people.”

The Minister also used the opportunity to clear some of the issues concerning pay-view and preview content providers in the digital switchover.

“The NBC Code is clear on how each of these platforms will make their money. Pay view is supposed to make their money from subscription while preview should make their money from advertisement. If that is the position of the law it has to be implemented otherwise preview will die in the sense that the pay view is making money from subscription and at the same time most of the request for advert are given to them.

Commenting on the set-top-box, he said that the whole idea was to create jobs for the youth, and expressed delight that three of the registered set-top-box manufacturers are now functioning at full capacity in the country.

The Chairman of BON, Mr. John Momoh, said that they were at the ministry to suggest the need for a stakeholders meeting where a couple of issues affecting the industry could be discussed.

While relating some issues relating to the digital switch over, Momoh gave an assurance that the organization will not allow average Nigerian viewers to be short-changed in the process.

“Our main concern about the digital switchover is that it must be for the common good and it must be beneficial to Nigerian broadcasters, Nigerian viewers and, by extension, any other person that is watching us,” the Chairman stressed.
He added that there is the need to train engineers and broadcasters in the areas of content provision and signal distribution.