$26M SET-UP BOXES FOR NIGERIA DSO
Over 600,000 set-up boxes have been procured so far in preparation for Digital Switch-Over DSO of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).
The Director General of Nigeria’s broadcast regulator NBC, Alhaji Modibbo Kawu who disclosed this in Ilorin said that the DSO would be implemented in phases across the country because of its huge cost.
The NBC boss named the six states involved in the first phase of the DSO as Kwara in the North-Central, Osun (South-West), Gombe (North-East), Kaduna (North-West), Enugu (South-East) and Delta (South-South) representing the geo political zones of Nigeria.
Alhaji Modibbo Kawu added that when the DSO took off in Jos last year, the city moved from watching between three and four television channels to immediately watching 15 channels while in Abuja 30 channels are now available.
Under the DSO regime, 75 percent of all the content of television in Nigeria will be locally sourced thereby creating the opportunity for Nigerian producers to generate content and create employment. This is among other multi-faceted opportunities digital broadcasting will bring to Nigeria.
The set-top boxes, which initially are being subsidised to cost 1,500 Naira renewable every year, will eventually be market-driven.
