The Challenges Facing Nigeria Television in Switching to Digital Broadcasting in Nigeria
Chapter One
Objectives of Study
- To examine if the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting has an impact on the broadcast industry in Nigeria.
- To know the challenges that the transition from analog to digital poses for the broadcast station in Nigeria.
- To examine whether digital broadcasting service in the country has enhanced broadcast production.
- To study the importance that digitalization will bring to broadcast audience.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Conceptual Framework
The word, digital, denotes “a process or device that operates by processing information that is supplied and stored in the form of a series of binary digits” Robinson (2004: p.373). Corroborating, Okpanachi (2008, p.4) says: Digital radio is the pure digital transmission medium that improves the sound quality of radio broadcasts, virtually eliminating static, hiss, pops and fades and offers data display capabilities on receivers and opens up opportunity for multicasting: Broadcasting multiple high-quality channels on each frequency. In the same vein, digitization of video signals according to Baran (2010, p.227) “reduces their sizes; therefore, more information can be carried over phone wires and stored.” Corroborating, Hanson (2005, p.241) states: Just as sound recording has moved to digital formats with CDs and MP3 files, so is television in the process of going from analogue technology of Farnsworth and Zworykin to the computerized digital technology. There are two distinct digital formats. High-definition television (HDTV) is a wide screen format and features an ultra clear high resolution picture with superior sound… The other digital format is standard digital television, TV, which will make it possible to broadcast up to six channels on the same frequency space that now carries only one channel. The above submissions represent the attributes of the digital concepts. They also form opinion for the advantageous need of the process of digitization. That is to say, that the digital technology is paramount in today’s broadcasting. That is why Dominick (2009, p.233) says “the traditional broadcast television industry is in a state of change”. Also Dominick (2009, p.157) states: “Hoping to capitalize on the public’s increasing awareness of high-definition television (HDTV) the radio industry is introducing HD radio, a digital service that generally improves the signal quality of terrestrial radio stations.” HD radio has the ability to enhance FM station to produce sound as good as CD. It can also make AM station sounds as good as current FM station. And the signals are static free. The notion here is that digital signals in broadcasting are superb, that they can be compressed to make one single radio station to broadcast more than one programme at a time. Talking about Television, digital television (DTV) offers many advantages. The pictures are clearer with better sound quality. It also enhances the “rectangle-ness” of the screen (16:9 aspect ratios) unlike the traditional TV which is square (4:3 aspect ratios). Furthermore, the possibility of transmitting on a super-resolution hi-def TV is enhanced by digitization of TV signals. As a footnote to the power of digital technology, Rodman (2006, p.236) submits: Audience fragmentation has encouraged the development of digital radio which can increase format selections… In traditional analogue radio, an electronic waveform represents the sound on a carrier wave. Such a waveform carries static and easily corrupted. In digital radio, transmitted sounds are assigned numbers (digits) that take up less air space than analogue waves… Digital signals can also result in crisp, clear signal. Observers have it that the difference between traditional analogue broadcasting and digital broadcasting resembles thedisparity existing between AM and FM signal qualities. These outstanding qualities of digital broadcasting prompted the world through its regulator, the ITU, to make moves towards digitizing all broadcast outfits in the world. A pact was reached; and Nigerian was, and still is, part of the deal to digitize. Having noted the intricacies of digital technology as it relates to broadcasting, a brief incursion into the historical background of the process will suffice here. According to Mishkind (2009, p.2), experiments on High Definition Television started in the late 1940s but the first digital broadcasts were transmitted in November 1, 1998. The transmission saw about 42 TV stations around the United States air live digital signals of the launch of the space shuttle discovery (Hanson 2005, p. 242; Encarta 2008, p.1). This motivation led to other directives. As Mishkind (2009, p.4) puts it: In its desire to generate more money by auctioning spectrum space, Congress directed the FCC to move all television to digital transmissions, effective February 17, 2009. Stores were forbidden to sell TVs without an ATSC tuner in it after July 2005. The date was later moved to June 12, 2009. As it stands now, the United States has fully transited to digital broadcasting. “Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) first started to be developed in Germany” in 1981 (Wiki 2010, p. 2). But the BBC started broadcasting digital radio in 1995 making it the first organization to build a digital network in the UK. The digital trend is being observed by many countries because none wants to be left behind. The bid to transit from analogue to digital necessitated the different deadlines chosen by different countries. According to Ocholi (2009, p.1), “Nigeria officially started the digitization of its broadcast industry in December 2007, following President Yar’Adua’s approval” However, the digitization programme commenced in Abuja on June 3, 2008 in response to a meeting of stakeholders in the industry. In order to enhance the achievement of the target, the Presidential Action Committee (PAC) on the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting was set up on October 13, 2008 (Udeorah; 2009, p.7). It was this committee that set June 17, 2002 as switchover date in Nigeria. In this regard, most of the broadcasting stations in the country started making efforts to meet the deadline. It is worthy of note that many countries responded to the 2015/2020 deadlines fixed by International Telecommunication Union, ITU, (Aihe; 2008, p.2.). For emphasis, the switchover deadlines of selected countries are shown in table 1. It is believed that after all the countries must have observed their individual deadlines, the broadcasting audience would start enjoying quality signals. They would also have the options of multiple channels from a particular station.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to the challenges facing Nigeria television in switching to digital broadcasting in Nigeria
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items or things. The researcher is interested in getting information the challenges facing Nigeria television in switching to digital broadcasting in Nigeria. 200 staff of NBC, Abuja were selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain the challenges facing Nigeria television in switching to digital broadcasting in Nigeria. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of the challenges facing Nigeria television in switching to digital broadcasting in Nigeria Summary
This study was on the challenges facing Nigeria television in switching to digital broadcasting in Nigeria. Three objectives were raised which included: To examine if the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting have an impact on broadcast industry in Nigeria, To know the challenges that transition from analog to digital poses for the broadcast station in Nigeria, to examine whether digital broadcasting service in the country has enhanced broadcast production and to study the importance that digitalization will bring to broadcast audience. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of ministry of education, Abuja. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made director, administrative staff, senior staffs and junior staff were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
The International Telecommunication Union, set 2015 as date broadcasting will become entirely digitized. Following that deadline, Nigeria, through its broadcast regulators, NBC, set June 2012 as the nation’s switchover date. This development caused the raising of several issues, both locally and internationally. Many benefits have been identified with digital technology. It has been ascertained that digital TV offers clearer picture and sound. It also enables multiple channel reception. More so, the signals are less prone to distortion. The gains are countless. However, the digitization process is faced with some challenges. The masses are not all aware of what the process is about. The financial burden is too involving both for the broadcasters and the audience. Further, the political climate in Nigeria poses fear on whether the deadline could actually be met. Nevertheless, Nigeria cannot be said to be lagging behind when its deadline is compared to those of even more advanced countries like Australia and the countries of Europe. Therefore, if the policies are religiously followed; if governments come to the aid of the parties involved by way of funding and subsidy, then the road to the digitization shall be smooth. In addition, awareness creation would go step further to enhance the process. Moreover, government should find a lasting solution to the power problem. Digitization and power outage are not compatible. Nigeria as the giant of Africa should emulate the policy implementation approaches of other “dwarfs” of Africa like Ghana. There is a need to move forward, especially digitally
Recommendation
- A massive awareness campaign should be launched in Nigeria to properly inform the people about the digital switchover. The Nigerian Broadcast Commission should champion the campaign.
- Television stations in Nigeria should start the process of acquiring relevant and current digital equipment to enable them fully migrate to digital broadcasting.
- All television stations in Nigeria should as a matter of urgency commence the training and retraining of their staff to herald enhanced skills in the operations of digital equipment.
- The Nigerian government must as a function of necessity address and restore normalcy in power supply. The government must ensure there is regular power supply in the country. This will enable the broadcast stations to maximally utilize the digital equipment to transmit digital contents to the audience
References
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