Broadcasting
Africast Tasks Nigeria on Digitisation
“For this historic change to be achieved on the African continent, all segments of the African society from Broadcasters, Political/Policy Leaders, Manufacturers, Program producers, and the Viewers must be actively involved.”
This statement was the pivot of a paper Prof. Gerard A. Igyor of Millersville University of Pennsylvania delivered at the 2008 Africast Conference and Exhibitions themed: Digitisation and the Challenges of Broadcasting.
“For political/Policy makers, they would have to back their legislation with budgetary allocations just as Great Britain is spending $400 million over a seven-year period to educate 60 million citizens about its digital transition,” he said. Adding: “African governments may consider borrowing a leaf from the United States of America where Congress set aside $1.5 billion for a massive coupon program to help analogue-dependent viewers buy converter boxes to equip their TVs to receive digital signals.”
He said to make this switchover journey smoothly to all segments of the society, African governments cannot abandon viewers to make it through when over 98% of African households rely solely on analogue TV and that as many as that 98% of the sets may require set-top boxes.
He said broadcasters will meet four major challenges in this journey to digitisation namely: promotion of digital television, upgrade, new licences and multi-channel availability; charging the broadcast industry and Governments to publicize, enlighten and create various ways to make the consumers know about the digital conversion, even as he attributed the slow diffusion of digital technology in some countries to lack of knowledge about the technology.
“Digital technology for the production, transmission and reception of television is clearly superior to analogue, and the eventual complete transition to digital throughout Europe and indeed the world, seems inevitable,” Igyor said.
He said an increase in the number of channels will boost demand for television programs and attractive content will become highly valued asset but that the African broadcaster faces another challenge that comes with an increase in the number of competing channels, which would bring about a reduction in the size of the average audience for each program broadcast.
“As average audience members decline, the programming cost per audience member will increase and without a corresponding increase in advertising revenues, the average profit of television channels will be greatly reduced – in other words, the licencing of channels to new broadcasters will introduce new rivals, increase competition for revenue and pose a greater financial threat to existing broadcasters,” he informed.
In his conclusions, Igyor enjoined African governments to subsidize the prices of the set-top boxes to make the transition to digital less difficult for their citizens, adding that part of the funds from the sale of the frequencies should be used for this purpose.
Similarly, he said that set-top boxes are not the ultimate answer. “Governments only recommend that option now because it is cheaper, but it would come to a time when set-top boxes would be totally fazed out – that is, when more people begin to acquire digital televisions.”
He said Consumers will experience full digital impact with only digital TVs and not with set-top box supported ones.
More importantly, he charged African governments to prohibit the importation of analogue television sets into their countries otherwise; their places would become dumping grounds for obsolete and useless electronic products.
Netflix has announced a landmark agreement to acquire Warner Bros. and HBO Max in a transaction valued at $82.7 billion, a move analysts say will reshape the global entertainment industry.
Netflix
The deal, which includes Warner Bros.’ film and television studios, HBO, HBO Max, and Warner Bros. Games, was unanimously approved by the boards of both companies. Under the terms, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) shareholders will receive $23.25 in cash and $4.50 in Netflix shares for each WBD share.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos described the acquisition as “a defining moment” for the streaming giant, noting that the company intends to maintain Warner Bros.’ current operations while expanding its production capacity.
“By combining Warner Bros.’ incredible library of shows and movies with Netflix’s culture-defining titles, we can give audiences more of what they love and help define the next century of storytelling,” Sarandos said.
The transaction is expected to close within 12 to 18 months, following the planned spin-off of WBD’s TV networks division, Discovery Global, in 2026. Netflix projects annual cost savings of $2–3 billion by the third year after completion and expects the deal to be accretive to earnings per share by year two.
Industry groups, including the Directors Guild of America and Cinema United, have raised concerns about the impact on movie theaters, while regulators are expected to scrutinize the deal over antitrust issues. Netflix has pledged to continue supporting theatrical releases, with Warner Bros.’ cinema commitments running through 2029.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav hailed the agreement, saying it “combines two of the greatest storytelling companies in the world to bring to even more people the entertainment they love.”
Observers note that the acquisition comes 15 years after former Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes dismissed Netflix as “the Albanian army,” underscoring the dramatic shift in the entertainment landscape.
A major shake‑up rocks viewers and subscribers of DSTV/GOTV as many channels are set to shut down and be removed on January 1, 2026.
The trigger for the upcoming shut‑down is a breakdown in negotiations between the owners of multiple global channels and the pay‑TV operator.
As of December 2025, the deal between Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and DStv/GOtv has expired and the two parties have not reached a renewal agreement.
Without a new carriage/distribution agreement, the channels belonging to WBD risk being pulled off the DStv/GOtv line‑up.
This is the most significant content cutback the service has seen in years.
The affected channels are:
Discovery Channel
TLC
Cartoonito
Cartoon Network
CNN International
Food Network
The Travel Channel
TNT
Investigation Discovery
Real Time
HGTV
Discovery Family
Paramount Africa is officially shutting down at the end of December 2025, drawing the curtain on more than two decades of operations in South Africa and Nigeria.
The company, which once reached over 100 million viewers across 52 African territories, confirmed it will close its doors as part of a massive global restructuring at its parent company, Paramount Global.
This is the same Paramount Africa behind channels like BET, MTV, MTV Base, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and more.
Its digital footprint has also been significant, with millions of monthly page views, social media engagements, and content partnerships across Africa.
But despite that scale, rising costs and a global strategic reset have caught up with the business.
Paramount’s retrenchment has been building for months.
Earlier this year, plans to launch a standalone Paramount+ app in South Africa were quietly shelved.
Then in August, the company said its content would remain available only via DStv and Showmax.
And last month, MultiChoice confirmed that BET Africa and MTV Base will disappear from DStv and GOtv on January 1, 2026, as Paramount Africa winds down entirely.
The shutdown is tied to aggressive cost-cutting after Paramount’s merger with Skydance. The company is targeting a 15% reduction in global staff and $3 billion in savings.
International divisions, including Africa, have taken the hardest hit as the business pivots away from linear TV and doubles down on a more streamlined streaming-first model.
At the same time, the global media landscape is being shaken by Warner Bros. Discovery’s chaotic auction. Netflix, Paramount, and Comcast have all submitted fresh bids for WBD, with some offers reportedly focusing on the studios-and-streaming division, home to HBO, HBO Max, DC, and Warner Bros. Pictures.
Analysts say the crown jewel bundle could go for as much as $70 billion, a deal that would reshape Hollywood and accelerate the decline of traditional TV.
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