19 Apr Federal Govt Announces Switchover Dates For Digital TV In Lagos, Kano, Others
The Federal Government has announced the dates to roll out the switchover from analogue to digital in Lagos, Kano, and three other states.
The Digital Switchover (DSO) will commence in the five states between April and August, and continue in the remaining states thereafter.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, disclosed this when he led members of the Ministerial Task Force on DSO on an advocacy visit to Lagos State’s Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Saturday.
He said that the government had launched the switchover in Jos, the Plateau State capital on April 30, 2016, as well as four more states –Kwara, Kaduna, Enugu and Osun– and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Mohammed explained: “We are now moving rapidly to cover the remaining 31 states. We are kick-starting the new rollout here in Lagos State on April 29, 2021.
“Kano State follows on June 3, 2021, Rivers State on July 8, 2021, Yobe State on July 15, 2021, and Gombe State on August 12, 2021, with more states slated thereafter.”
He explained that the decision to transition from analogue to digital television followed a treaty signed on June 16, 2016, at the Regional Radiocommunication Conference (RRC-06) in Geneva, Switzerland, to usher in “all-digital” terrestrial broadcast services for sound and television by a target date of June 17, 2015.
Mohammed added that this was aimed at creating a more equitable, just, and people-centred information society that would connect underserved populations and remote communities, thereby bridging the digital divide.
He stated that analogue broadcasting was no longer an efficient technology as it could only provide a limited choice of programming due to its restricted bandwidth.
The Minister noted that the same transmission channel used to broadcast a single analogue programme could carry a multiplex of up to 20 digital programmes of equivalent quality.
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