Broadcasting
FG grants TSTV Tax Relief
The Federal Government has granted a 3-year tax relief to the newly inaugurated Pay TV operator in the country, TStv Africa, as well as tax free dividends to all investors in the company.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, announced this in Abuja at a dinner to mark the official unveiling of the new company.
TStv Africa is a wholly owned Nigerian Pay TV operator with refined offerings of novel Unclassified Pay Per View subscription and complimentary internet services.
Mohammed, who performed the official unveiling of the new company and its products, said the tax reliefs were in line with the Pioneer Status recently granted to the Creative Industry by the federal government.
The minister congratulated Dr Bright Echefu, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company, and his team for liberalising and breaking the monopoly of Pay TV in the country.
“The important thing about what Echefu has done today is that he has redefined the pay per view television industry and from today that industry will never remain the same again.
“What he has done is to democratise the media and entertainment industry and make it possible for even a peasant farmer to have access to the best entertainment and news in the world.
“It is a great opportunity for me to be the one to unveil TStv because just like a Nigerian made history by crashing the cost of telephony in Nigeria, I am glad that another Nigerian is now coming forward to crash the cost of Pay TV,” he said.
The minister commended the courage of the investor for coming from the Diaspora to invest in his country and for believing in the government’s seriousness about diversifying the economy.
He said the company had also demonstrated that government alone could not do all things but needed the participation and synergy of the private sector.
“I want to assure that this administration will continue to assist you and other investors in creating the enabling environment for businesses to grow,” he said.
The minister said that the government was aware of the huge contributions of the creative industry to the nation’s economy and would continue to support the sector.
However, he identified contents and the lack of objective audience measurement as major challenges that had retarded the growth of TV and advertising industries in the country.
“With the liberalisation of the industry, content has become very key because content determines which channels are being watched and which are not.
“Another major challenge is how to get an accurate measurement of which channel is being watched and which is not.
“Kenya and South Africa are about one third of our population but they do much better in TV and radio advertisement than us because of their robust audience measurement,” he said.
The minister announced that the National Broadcasting Commission and his ministry would organise a workshop on Nov. 28 to address the challenge of audience measurement.
Earlier, Echefu said that TStv Africa, which had gone through a lot of challenges, was birth to liberalise PayTV in the country, make it affordable to every Nigerian with added values.
He said for the first time, Nigerians could now enjoy Pay Per View because with TStv, “subscription runs as you watch and it has the facility to pause your subscription when you travel”.
Echefu said that TStv for a start has 70 premium channels model with the cheapest pay-TV in Africa with maximum subscription fee of N3,000 only.
He said as a fully Nigerian brand with consideration for the masses, TStv is not classified and it has a model that accommodate subscription as low as N200 as N500 for a period of time.
The CEO said TStv came with PVR (Personal Video Recorder) Decoder which allowed viewers greater control over their viewing experience with functions like pause, rewind, forward, save and record of programmes of interest.
Echefu said that once you subscribe to TStv, you will also get complimentary internet service, enabled Wi-Fi, as well as video calls and video conferencing services.
“It has an array of amazing TV channels with premium entertainment, educative programmes that cut across all genres.
“The genres included news, music, general entertainment, documentary, movies, religious, sports, health, kids, fashion and lifestyle that better define the uniqueness of Nigeria’s diverse culture and traditional values,” he said.
Broadcasting
Northern Broadcasters Sue Arewa 24, 7 Others over Licensing
Board of Trustees of the Northern Broadcast Media Owners Association (NBMOA) has filed a lawsuit against the broadcast company Arewa 24 Limited and seven other entities, alleging they are operating without proper licenses.
The case, set for hearing before Justice Omotosho at the Federal High Court in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), lists the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation, the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON), the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Council (FCCPC), MIPAN, MultiChoice, StarTimes, and ADVAN as defendants.
In a statement issued in Abuja, Alhaji (Dr.) Ahmed Tijjani Ramalan, chairman of the NBMOA Board of Trustees, highlighted concerns that the unlicensed operations of the defendants pose a threat to Nigeria’s established legal and competitive media landscape, impacting media owners and audiences nationwide.
Ramalan stated, “Our objective is to ensure a fair, regulated media environment in line with established broadcasting standards, while maintaining a commitment to the rule of law.”
The NBMOA affirmed its commitment to lawful broadcasting standards and noted that it would refrain from further public comments until the legal proceedings are concluded to respect the judicial process.
Stakeholders in Nigeria’s broadcasting industry are closely watching the case, as its outcome could have significant implications for media regulation and licensing across the country
Broadcasting
Africa’s AI Transformation: Unlocking Potential and Driving Progress
By Matt Brittin, President of Google Europe, the Middle East and Africa
AI has the potential to drive progress and prosperity across the world. But nowhere is this more apparent than on the African continent. The next decade is set to be Africa’s digital decade – with emerging technologies like AI and the Cloud set to significantly accelerate the continent’s development, and over half the population accessing the Internet for the first time. Simply, AI presents an opportunity too significant to ignore for Africa.
Google is proud to be at the forefront of this transformation, but we’re prouder still of those driving this change. Across the region, African entrepreneurs, nonprofits and organisations are using innovation to solve complex challenges.
Earlier this week I visited Jacaranda Health in Nairobi, who are working to reduce Kenya’s high maternal death rate by using AI to ensure expectant and new moms get the care and information they need. Then there was AirQo, tackling the huge public health problem that is pollution by using AI to track and predict pollution – including in Lagos city.
And in the past few days, I’ve been fortunate enough to explore Nigeria with our Nigerian-born Head of Google Africa, Alex Okosi, and our wonderful local team of Nigerian experts. We’ve had inspiring conversations with business leaders already at the forefront of their industries and explored how to leverage the power of AI to scale their businesses. We also engaged with startups like Towntalk, Farmspeak, and BetaLife, who are using AI to solve some of Nigeria’s biggest challenges.
But AI’s opportunity can only be realised when everyone is included. This week, to help unlock the benefits of the digital economy to everyone, our Speech team in partnership with Google researchers in Accra, launched Voice Search, talk-to-type and voice input on Translate for 15 more African languages – enabling 300 million more Africans the freedom to interact with the web and communicate with their friends and family in the way that comes most naturally to many people: their voice. This includes Nigerian native languages Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo and Nigerian Pidgin, and is another great example of AI built with Africans for Africans.
We believe AI has a pivotal role to play in developing Nigeria’s tech ecosystem. For Africa to fulfil its potential as an AI leader, we need to invest in the skills and knowledge base of local talent. That’s why we’ve backed several initiatives to boost AI skills among developers, individuals and businesses in Nigeria and beyond.
Our Google Career Certificates are enabling Nigerians to develop work-readiness in skills like AI, cybersecurity, digital marketing and programming languages like Python and SQL. Meanwhile, skills-based initiatives like our Hustle Academy provide AI-focused training for small and medium-sized businesses in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.
And this week, we’ve announced an additional $5.8 million in funding to support foundational AI and cybersecurity training across these countries. That includes $1.5 million for Data Science Nigeria, who will train unemployed and at risk Nigerians in foundational digital and technology – while Raspberry Pi will also work with Data Science Nigeria to roll out AI literacy for Kenyan and Nigerian youth.
To further inspire the next generation, we are launching a program to train 25,000 educators, equipping them with the knowledge and resources to bring AI education to 125,000 students across Nigeria. By fostering an understanding of AI’s potential among young people, we can inspire them toward sustainable future jobs and empower them to shape a better future for themselves and their communities.
This progress is underpinned by infrastructure. In late 2022, our Equiano subsea fibre-optic cable launched in Lagos – providing a new generation of Nigerians with greater connectivity to expand their horizons. Technology alone is not the answer to everything, but it can provide the foundation that enables the next generation of African businesses to thrive. Ultimately, technology is the means by which we can improve lives.
If we measure this progress numerically, AI is a bet worth taking. For every $1 invested in Sub-Saharan Africa’s digital economy, we can generate $2 in economic value by 2030. For some nations, like Nigeria, the growth will be even greater, with an $8 return for every $1 invested.
But beyond the numbers are the stories of the lives we can transform. For every student at the start of their journey, or the budding entrepreneur with a great idea, investment truly matters. We can empower individuals with the knowledge to understand the digital tools at their fingertips. And just as importantly, we can inspire a mindset shift – a renewed belief in the power of education and skills to shape a better future.
We’re proud to have seen this development up close. Our commitment to the digital transformation of the continent began in 2007 with the opening of our first office in Nairobi, Kenya, where we later announced the launch of our Product Development Center in 2022. And in 2018, we opened an AI research centre in Accra, Ghana, where our teams on the ground explore how AI can be used to solve problems in Africa and beyond.
Collaboration is key, and we’ve worked to foster partnerships and develop programmes with institutions and innovators across Africa. By enabling governments and businesses to integrate technologies like AI into the way they operate, we believe we can improve efficiency and bridge divides.
But this is not just a Google story – it’s a true African success story in the making. AI is not something to be imposed on Africa from the top-down, but rather, built from the bottom-up. It’s about collaboration, partnerships, and putting local entrepreneurial talent in the driving seat.
The task now is to ensure that all Africans benefit from these technological breakthroughs – and to use AI responsibly and equitably. Africa is no stranger to leveraging technology for the greater good. African innovators have pioneered technology like mobile money systems – starting with M-Pesa in Kenya – that have influenced financial inclusion and the way the world does business.
So there is nowhere better placed than Africa to ensure the future of AI is in good hands. And if we succeed, it’s not just Africa that will benefit – but the whole world.
Broadcasting
Fire Razes 3 Radio Stations in Abia
Three radio stations lost their electronic broadcasting equipment worth millions on Saturday night in Aba, Abia state, when they were gutted by fire.
The affected radio stations were Enyimba 94.3 FM, Rose 101.9 FM and Legend 98.3 FM which were all located in the same building located o on the PZ axis of Aba-Owerri Road.
But for the intervention of the officials of the Abia State Fire Service, the fire may have spread to other buildings within the vicinity.
No life was lost in the raging inferno.
According to The Nation, a personnel of the Abia State Fire Service, who pleaded anonymity, called on owners of big factories and companies to procure fire extinguishers and hydrants to help assist manage and attack fire during such incident.
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