January 15, the date initially set as deadline by the Federal Government for switchover from the analogue format of broadcasting to the digital platform. Though the deadline is no more realistic, not many Nigerians know fully well what the whole thing is about.

Baba Bassey, an okada rider in Lagos who hails from Akwa Ibom, when asked how prepared he is for the digital switchover, exclaimed: "What is that?"

After explanations that from June 17 this year, he will no longer be able to see his usual TV stations unless he buys a set top box (decoder), he exclaimed:

"You mean we poor people can't watch TV anymore? That will be very bad! Where are the decoders? What type of decoders are you talking about? How much will it cost? Is it government that will sell to us, or we go and buy from places like Alaba (electronics market)?"

Wasiu, a vulcanizer, is not much in a better position than Baba Bassey, though he also had questions.

"Why do I need a decoder? In this country everything is always against the poor man. As it is, we just buy our TV sets, buy antennae, connect and tune. Then the stations, like AIT, Silverbird, Channels, LTV and the rest just come in. Are you saying that will no longer be possible?"

After reassurance that these will still be possible, but with decoders, pictures and sound will be clearer, and static will be a thing of the past, Wasiu relaxed, and disclosed that only last month, he started subscribing to a pay-TV service.

Baba Bassey, the motorcycle rider, and Wasiu the vulcaniser are examples of ordinary Nigerians who don't know what is going on regarding digital migration.

Even educated Nigerians are pretty much in the dark about it. Vince Akinale, a media operator said he had heard about it, and also read reports of it in some newspapers, but beyond that, not much of it makes sense to him. So also said Tunde McCarthy, a school teacher, and Adebayo Rotimi, an official of a federal parastatal.

Ms Juliet Omeruonye, a resident of Egbe and property dealer who counts media professionals and educators among her friends is also not aware of impending changes from analogue to digital broadcasting.

When told of what the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) will enforce, come June 17 this year, she simply said, "na waa oh!" Then she added:

"They are going to make money from this thing. It is all about money, you will see."

Asked to explain further, Ms Omeruonye said: "Don't you understand? Now that everyone who owns a TV set has to buy decoders, somebody will have to import them, and distribute for sale. Can you guess how many decoders the whole of Nigeria will need? Do you know the price they will set for it? I can bet you, some people are going to become multi-millionaires over this thing alone!"

Why digital format?

Unrelenting advances in technology, evident in so many areas of everyday life, is responsible for this. In the analogue format of broadcasting currently in use, whenever people switched on their TV and radio sets and searched for channels to view or listen to, often they come up with lots of static, accompanied by much noise. Frequencies allocated to stations need to have "buffers"to guard them against signal interference from other stations. Thus, Digital Terrestrial Transmission, DTT, technology came up as a way of making broadcast signals transmission and reception more efficient and precise in terms of clarity of audio and video.

It also ensures precision broadcasting. The only thing needed by the average man on the street for this is what is called a set-top box (STB). Call it decoder, if you like. Thus, from June 17, 2015, analogue signals will be switched off and nations worldwide are expected to be digital. In addition, with DTT, more stations can occupy the same frequencies than in the analogue format. Thus, a lot of frequency "space"can be freed for other uses, especially for broadband and related services.

Amana on set-top boxes

However, DigiTeam chairman, Engineer Amana, on the NTA programme referred to above, spoke further on set top boxes:

"Let me take the example of America that we are a bit familiar with; what happened then was that the government provided the basic coupons for poor families who cannot afford digital television sets or set-top boxes. The basic set-top box was about $40 when they transited in 2009. Each family was a given a coupon to buy two, amounting to $80.

"For Nigeria, what we have recommended is that from the available statistics we have 20 million (analogue) television sets in circulation and we feel that this is good market for any manufacturer to put up such business in Nigeria.

"It is a guaranteed market of 20 million; the economy of scale will bring down the prices if done locally. We recommended for incentives like giving them some tax holiday, customs duty-free for the equipment that will be used to manufacture locally. We are targeting a price tag of N2,500, which we feel should be affordable by Nigerians who have television already. So, we are not asking government to release money for subsidy or buy and give rather to create enabling environment to make it affordable. A family that can afford to buy a television set that costs over N10,000 should be able to afford a set-top box to enjoy the digital era".

Awareness issues

As can be seen from the foregone, many Nigerians are still unaware that they will need set-top boxes (STBs) in order to receive TV signals in the future. They also do not know why, and in addition, they do not know how much it will cost. Except segments of the population that can afford pay TV, the rest of the country is in the dark.

What is worse, the awareness problem had generated issues of its own, especially in the area of consumer protection. Despite the fact that government had opted for T-2, the broadcast regulator was indifferent as an operator, Star Times aggressively marketed T-1 boxes to unsuspecting members of the public at rock-bottom prices. For now, only pay-TV operators like Multichoice, Star Times, and others are on DTT platforms. Not many Nigerians, relative to the entire population are aware that Nigeria had opted for DTT-2 years ago.