Finally A An African Tv Channel To Be Proud Of

I stumbled on this TV Channel (http://www.theafricachannel.co.uk/aboutus.php)on SKY yesterday and I was so glad that some African has finally decided to put a well organized, high quality TV channel on air. The likes of BEN, OBE , Passion and AIT (broadcasting as Creative TV) need to learn from these people who are definitely professionals. For a very long time now these channels have portrayed Nigeria as a country full of inept TV producers and Directors.

What is so great about the TV channel?

Content, quality of productions is comparable to anything you will see on main stream channels. The signals are clearer which tells me the bandwidth they are using is more than that of Ben or Passion or AIT. Their promos are excellent, voice overs are just fantastic, the soaps I saw were high quality. The camera angles are very good and the pictures have been treated, the only one that was a bit so-so was a Nigerian soap called "Jacobs Cross". I think they might be using Beta SP right through and not DV like the other African channels. These guys are professionals and I just wish we in Naija can up our game.

On the basis of what I saw last night, I can say the other channels have their work cut out

the soaps I saw were high quality. The camera angles are very good and the pictures have been treated,

Hmmm. TV stations do not choose camera angles for shows they carry.

the only one that was a bit so-so was a Nigerian soap called "Jacobs Cross"

(1) "So so" in what respect? Picture quality or story quality?
(2) How come the only show you remember is the "so so" one?

Content, quality of productions is comparable to anything you will see on main stream channels. The signals are clearer which tells me the bandwidth they are using is more than that of Ben or Passion or AIT. Their promos are excellent, voice overs are just fantastic

Hmmm. Congrats.

you are wrong a well run TV station should have standards as to the quality of things they air, they should be able to state the standard, for instance there are stations that will not air any thing that is not produced with Digibeta or Beta SP. With Nigerian TV stations anything goes as long as you pay for the air time, a well run channel should not be selling air time. You cannot buy air time from BBC, ITV or Channel 5 (UK channels). They will only allow spot commercials and they will tell you what format it should be. If you film something on VHS they will not air it and you cannot pay them to go and cover an event like they do with Naija TV channels

Channel 4 in the UK have a policy that all content for Dispatches a news programme must be shot with PD150 / 170 to achieve the grainy look, they will not accept a story if you shoot in digibeta, they will make this clear before they pay you, if you do anything diffrent you be in breach of contract. TV stations commission programmes and that commission is based on clearly stated standards so to that extent they control everything that airs on their channel. Exceptions are NEWS breaking events that are shot on mobiles or low quality cameras. With Nigerian TV stations they will expect you to produce your programme at your own expense and then pay them to air it! Well run TV stations dont work that way, Ben, passion, AIT and OBE have simply carried over this philosophy and this is why most of their programmes have come up short.

Jacobs cross was so-so because I think it was a DV 25 format (it was most likely filmed with a DSR 400 or something similar) and if you run it back to back with something shot on Digi Beta, the difference becomes 7 up (clear) So no it wasnt the story quality it was picture and sound quality.

Actually, I don't think you can see the difference between DV25 and Digibeta in a normal broadcast. Don't forget that the broadcast is compressed digitally using MPEG2 which is more lossy than both DV25 and Digibeta. The only difference you are seeing, if not entirely of your imagination - is the quality of the camera used, lighting, etc. Another important fact: most Nigerian shows are shot in the HDV format and not DV25. Jacob's cross is a big budget show so I don't see why they would settle for a DV camcorder after paying through their noses for everything else. Cheers!

I try not to get into arguments, you clearly don’t know what you are talking about here, I am not just interested in broadcasting, I run a broadcast companies both in UK and Nigeria and I have built TV and Radio stations from scratch this is what we do day in day out, we installed a 10 channel automated play-out system at SoundCity (the largest implementation in Nigeria) they also bought the first set of HDV cameras from us, they paid before the cameras where even released!  Apart from this I have years experience in broadcasting, my company in the UK produced all the foreign contents for  AM Express until about 18 months ago when we stopped because of falling standards, it was the same reason I turned down programme requests from BEN and OBE. I am only doing this (running my mouth off ) just to help educate others out  there in the industry nothing more, there is nothing we cannot do if we apply ourselves.  Anybody in the industry out there that wants an impartial advice is more than welcome to contact me directly or go to any of  our clients like Tunde Kelani, Patrick Oke,  DJ Tee, Julius Agwu, Soundcity, Channels just to name a few. Ok here goes.

Are you seriously suggesting that there is no difference in quality between DV and Digibeta or Beta SP? I have a lot of clients like you who make wrong assumptions about formats. Most of the HD cameras they use in Nigeria are the low end ones, they are mostly ZI or JVC GY-HD251CHE. (collectively they are known as HDV. There is another class called  HD Broadcast cameras which can cost about £40,000 for just the camera head, I am not aware of any production outfit that uses these in Nigeria) Secondly, most of them film in DV because the cameras are dual formats. There is NO TV STATION IN NIGERIA THAT AIRS IN HD (I have put some leading TV stations in Nigeria with their formats below, if you think I am wrong about any of them please say so)

Some  independent producers film in HD, edit in HD but when it comes to transmission they step it down to DV so at the end of the day there is no much difference between them and a person who films with a PD170 or a DSR 250! Some of them have realised this now and they just simply shoot in DV and no longer buy HD tapes which cost more. DV cameras like the DSR 400 or 450 are more expensive than HD cameras like z1s, most soaps in Nigeria are shot on DSR 250 / 400/ 450 or the new 530s. This is because they have interchangeable lens and some of the lens are actually more expensive than a Z1 (The replacement for this will be the Z7E and it will have interchangeable lens) What is the point of filming in HD when you cannot transmit in HD? I always ask my clients this anytime they come rushing to buy HD. Even the UK has only got a handful of HD channels, Nigeria is still  along long way away from HD transmission.

I have no interest in trading insults on line with anybody but you said … The only difference you are seeing, if not entirely of your imagination - is the quality of the camera used, lighting, etc.  Another important fact: most Nigerian shows are shot in the HDV format and not DV25…. You come across as confused. On one hand you say you cant see the difference between DV and digibeta then you say “ …quality of camera…” Are cameras not based on formats? You have DV cameras and you have Digibeta, HDCAM, XDCAM or U-Matic (outdated) VHS cameras etc. If you film and output anything in DV and I film and output anything in Digibeta or Beta SP,  the difference will be glaring just like if I film and out put anything in VHS and put it beside DV. Jacobs creek appeared low quality because it was put against a higher format, of course lighting does matter.

When you say Jacobs Cross is a big budget show, you are talking from your limited context of Nigeria. You need to put it in perspective, film budgets in Nigeria are peanuts compared to what obtains in the western world. Just to give you an example the Presenter of “Have I got News for you is paid £50,000 PER EPISODE, this is even small compared to what US TV stations pay, but that is almost N17 Million per quarter for just one presenter. The most expensive talk show in Nigeria today is Moments with Mo and I know what the equipment cost because we supplied and installed them! So your big budget in Naija might just be cab fare for production crew elsewhere!


NTA = DV
AIT = DV
SILVERBIRD = DV
Channels = DV
SOUNDCITY= SDI
Multichoice= Digibeta (not 100% sure)

Always at your service pbsfax@gmail.com