ITS, NTA Star Sign MoU on Digital Broadcasting

Olawale Ajimotokan

The Integrated Television Services (ITS) and NTA-Star yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the provision of digital broadcasting content to over 30 million television households in Nigeria.

The agreement was signed by the Chief Financial Officer of NTA-Star, Mr. Brolaleyn Linying Nan, who represented the CEO of NTA-Star and the General Manager of ITS, Sadeeq Musa, who signed on behalf of his organisation.

The MoU now effectively makes ITS the signal distributor on the structure of NTA-Star with the obligation to carry latter’s Pay TV content on its digital terrestrial television (DTT) platform.

The DG Director General, National Broadcasting Commission, Malam Balarabe Shehu Ilelah said following the agreement, Nigeria was expected to within a couple of months, switch-off analogue transmission in the FCT and the six states already switched on and begin to harness the full potentials of a digital economy.

He noted that the agreement would tackle the challenge of having a simultaneous national roll out with at least 70 per cent signal penetration and coverage of the Nigeria’s territorial boundaries.

ITS and NTA-Star would work towards building the requisite broadcast infrastructure that ensures a seamless digital switch over across the country through DTT as well as introduce and adopt a simulcrypt technique to integrate Free TV contents and NTA-Star contents (Pay TV) using DTT equipment across the country.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed commended the efforts of both ITS and NTA-Star, the NBC as well as the Ministerial Task Force on DSO for successfully midwifing the MoU, which tallied with government’s White Paper on transition from analogue to digital terrestrial broadcasting in Nigeria.

He said the agreement would lay the foundation for a working relationship between the two entities to drive the rollout of the DSO in the country which has stalled since the pilot launch in Jos, in 2016.

The minister added that the MoU would also open the floodgates for channels to be licenced by NBC, thereby creating jobs and enhancing television experience with quality and compelling content.