Concerns as Television Goes Digital

By June, all pay TV channels in the country plan to go digital. But as operators and the regulator prepare for this long-awaited switchover, there are concerns centered around the fact that such switchover in some countries on the continent has been characterised by anti-competition that undermines service quality, writes ADEDEJI ADEMIGBUJI. 

Nigeria’s pay TV market players are leaving

no stone unturned to go digital by June, six months ahead of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) December 31 deadline. This is also coming a year and one month ahead of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) deadline. The
other players in the non pay TV categories are, however, working with the NBC deadline.

The Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Emeka Mba, at the weekend when he featured on the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum, said early this year, the pilot digital switchover was started in Jos, the Plateau State capital.

Mba said: “We started that process in Jos, we saw the state governor, Jonah Jang, and we have the full support of the state, full support of all the broadcasters in Plateau State both public and private media, NTA and all the free to air television stations and privately-owned ones. We launched a committee which has all the elements, all the stakeholders involved.”

Mba said the complete digitalisation of broadcasting, involving pay TV and non pay TV, would be achieved June next year.

He explained why the digitalisation must go on no matter the challenge. He said: “Imagine that today the NTA signal that you are watching in Abuja, only that one channel on an analogue capacity uses an amount of spectrum on the UFH band by eight mega heads.

“With digital compression, we can actually switch up to twenty channels into that space that NTA is occupying today. In other words, you can have up to 20 NTAs in the space NTA occupies today.

“So, it’s not just a question of quantity but also quality because digital-based signal will have crisp (pictures), the picture will be sharper and you will have the opportunity to do digital sound and so many other applications.”

Mba said digitisation implies that some Nigerians who have analogue TV would not receive the signal as their television sets were not compatible with the new system.

The NBC chief said with digital TV, Nigerians could know what would come next on the TV and could easily monitor what children watch on the screen.

The pay TV concerns

But there are fears the players might step on one another’s toes as a result of their strategic advantages. The pay TV environment across sub-Saharan Africa has grown massively in the last two decades with some interesting drama between market leaders and followers. The industry has transited from a monopolistic market to a competitive environment where new entrants confront the hitherto unchecked dominance of South Africa’s MultiChoice brands, Dstv and GOtv- a low-end market offering.

The expansion of the market in terms of content supply, distribution networks as well as deployment of technology to create value proposition for the market, despite market challenges, has made it to draw attention of more players.

However, with digital migration set to empower market followers against the market dominance by Multi-choice brands, which has continued to innovate to keep its market share across the continent, unauthorised licence, interference of competitor signals, which leads to poor service quality, illegal termination of subscribers when their airtime has not expired has continued to characterise competition in some African countries, such as Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Rwanda which switched over to the digital platform last year.

For instance in Rwanda, the Chinese-owned pay TV, StarTimes, had said competitors have made it difficult for its subscribers to enjoy quality service after they went digital last year. The StarTimes Chief Executive Officer in Rwanda, Mr. Hans Huo, alleged that since Kigali and its environs went digital last year, the subscribers’ experience had been terrible just as it became a headache for the pay TV service provider.

“GOtv came into the market without testing their equipment which is why we are facing these problems,” he lamented.

Although the GOtv’s Communications Officer, Mr. Kim Kizito, reportedly declined to comment on the allegation, Huo noted that the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) also failed to address the issue, leaving StarTimes frustrated. Also, a major consumer burst happened in Zimbabwe after GOtv reportedly shut down, causing an upset to subscribers who are screaming on the Facebook page of the pay TV.

In addition, the Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (MACRA), mid-last year reportedly issued a warning to Multichoice (Malawi) Limited for launching GOtv without a valid licence. Its Minister of Information and Civic Education, Mr. Moses Kunkuyu, said: “What I have on my desk is that GOtv was stopped from rolling out because there are irregularities with its licensing.”

MACRA published the warning for a week in what it said was against Section 54 (3) of the Malawi Communications Act. Dated June 7, last year and signed by the Director-General, MACRA, Mr. Charles Nsaliwa, the statement reads: “The Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority hereby issues a warning to Multichoice (Malawi) Limited for launch of GOtv Services without authorisation and licence contrary to Section 46 of the Communications Act.”

He stated that the warning followed a meeting that was held at MACRA offices on April 23, last year between MACRA and Multichoice officials where the dominant pay TV brand acknowledged that they did not follow both the law and procedures in launching GOtv.

Also, last year, media report in Nigeria raised issues against GOtv that it was not authorised to operate in the market. However, NBC’s Head of Public Affairs, Mrs. Maimuna Jimada said this was not true. She said the pay TV has the licence to operate in Nigeria. She said Detail Nigeria Ltd, owners of GOtv and Multichoice, have upgraded their licence, which allows them to operate on both mobile and terrestrial.

“Detail Nig Ltd has licence to do Multipoint Multimedia Distribution System (MMDS) and DVB (H) – Digital Video Broadcast (Handheld). Dititeam Nigeria has the mandate to advise the government on licensing. DVBT is the technology while DVBH is the licensing type. In the case of Detail Nigeria Ltd, they have deployed the DVB-T2 technology, which has the capability of DVBH and DTT,” she said.

Mrs. Jimada, however, said she was not aware of any scheming by Detail Nigeria. “I am not aware of any such plans,” she said.

But, a source claimed otherwise. “How can a licence for Mobile Frequency for Handheld devices be upgraded to operate terrestrial? Since the NBC gave one licence to NTA as national carrier for Digital terrestrial Television for Digital Migration in 2015, the ploy of Multichoice is using the mobile frequency to operate a DVB T2 decoder that functions with a mobile frequency to run their DTT business, which is illegal (DTT which they don’t have a licence for) on the same platform with licensed NTA STAR TV,” the source told The Nation.

But the PR Manager, GOtv Nigeria, Efe Obiomah, said the problem in Zimbabwe was due to a shareholding dispute and not digital switch-over challenges.

Shareholders have jointly and individually been in discussions with the relevant authorities to resolve the situation. Unfortunately, this is something beyond our control. However, we will continue to engage the relevant authorities in order to have the GOtv signal restored as soon as possible. GOtv is a legal business and has met all the legal requirements in the various countries that we operate in. The GOtv service is a viable and sustainable service and there are no other countries in which there are any issues with regard to this service. GOtv has been successfully launched in nine countries, and has enjoyed tremendous customer support,” she said.

Obiomah added that GOtv does not terminate its customers illegally. “The issue is that GOtv is a relatively new product and what we have realised is that some of our subscribers haven’t fully understood the product features and the way our decoders function. Subscribers will normally get disconnected when their subscriptions fall due. However, a lot of subscribers are not aware of the dates their subscription fall due and accuse us of illegal termination,” she noted.

She also said GOtv has joined the digital TV revolution. “It is delivered to homes in Nigeria via the use of the latest DVB-T2 technology, which guarantees a one-off migration to the digital age. This means that when the analogue-switch off happens, our subscribers will not require a new decoder.”

However, she complained that despite all the accusations against Gotv, the pay TV signal was also interrupted last August, as a result of a third party transmitting on its frequency, hence, causing apathy among customers of the brand before it was later resolved.

“It was due to a third party operator transmitting on our frequency but the issue has since been resolved and GOtv subscribers have been enjoying uninterrupted service since then,” she addedd.

Meanwhile, NBC has been urged to check all anti-competition practices from players.

“The message is that from the experience in other African countries, NBC should check the excesses of the market leader, such that customers’ complaints will be addressed; quality service will be assured while big players should not be allowed to trample upon the signal of market followers in an attempt to drive market share away from competitors,” a Chief Executive Officer of Lima Pay TV Marketing, Mr. Leo Adelugba said.

With the growing strength of new entrants, CONSAT, from the stable of Continental Broadcasting Service (CBS); MyTv, and StarTimes, can Multichoice survive some of the new threats in the race for digital switchover? Industry players believe survival in the market milieu lies on quality service and prompt customer care.

Are non pay TV ready

for the switch?

The Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON has promised to meet the switchover deadline. It appealed to the Federal Government to establish a fund to enhance a seamless digital transition programme.

Its Chairman, Malam Abubakar Jijiwa, said government’s encouragement would assist broadcast outfits meet the 2015 deadline.

He said: “The challenges in the broadcasting sector are becoming more complex as we move closer to the switch over date of 2015. We, therefore, want to call for a marshal plan to assist broadcast stations with the needed funds to actualise our goal of transiting seamlessly by 2015. We are not saying government should give subvention to stations. It should be a loan with a generous repayment arrangement so that our members can have access to funds to address all grey areas ahead of the switch over date.’’

Minister of Information Labaran Maku, who was represented at a forum by the Permanent Secretary, Mrs Folashade Esan, urged all players in the broadcast sector to endeavour to ensure that the transition was hitch-free and beneficial to all.

The Deputy Chairman, Senate Committee on Information, Senator Bello Tukur, said the National Assembly would support successful transition from analogue to digital broadcasting.

For the Deputy Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Information, Victor Ogene, said the House would give legislative backing to the digitalisation.