By Lukmon Oloyede.
President Muhammadu Buhari has assured that his administration will facilitate the building of a vibrant television and media economy in order to unleash the latent energy of the country’s key media and entertainment industry.
Represented in Lagos on Saturday by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed at the 35th anniversary of Silverbird Group, the President said: ”As part of providing this requisite environment, this administration will ensure a strict adherence to the plan to reach 100% digital TV penetration in Nigeria by 2016, up from 49% at the end of 2013. In other words, we pledge our commitment to building a vibrant TV and media economy for the benefit of all Nigerians.”
President Buhari said sub-Saharan Africa will have 46.46 million primary Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) homes by 2020, translating to 37.6 million Free To Air and 8.86 million pay TV, up from 9.27 million at the end of 2013 and 0.53 million at the end of 2010.
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“Nigeria will be the largest DTT nation in Africa in 2020, both for Free To Air – that is 9.07 million – and for pay, that is 3.59 million. As Silverbird seeks to deliver exceptional family entertainment to this important growth market, it will need to adjust its models to suit the market conditions to achieve the objective of maximizing the reach of the Silverbird Channel in the Nigerian market, and that it will have to do through a Free to Air model.
“The target markets for Free To Air are the 26-million-plus TV households, and the growth of DTT in Nigeria is accelerating much faster than the growth in the pay-TV market,” the President said.
Silverbird started in 1980 as a concert promotion company, bringing in foreign and local artistes to perform on the same stage in Nigeria. The company has now grown to become the number one media and entertainment firm that now owns radio and television stations as well as cinemas and malls across Nigeria.
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