Nigerian Vice-President Namadi Sambo on Thursday in Abuja commissioned the StarTimes pay television of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA)

Representing President Goodluck Jonathan, Namadi Sambo said that the project marks the transition from analogue transmission to digital transmission in Nigeria.

Namadi noted the crucial role the pay television would play in repositioning the image of Nigeria at home and abroad, especially at this time that Nigeria was embarking on a rebranding programme and called on Nigerians to support the initiative.

According to him, the new television project is in a better position to showcase Nigeria’s rich cultures and image abroad.

He commended the NTA and its Chinese partners for making the Pay TV channels affordable, since according to him, the monthly charge by the private pay channels in the country could be used to pay for 10 families in the new Pay TV.

The Pay TV would operate over 38 channels with an archival system to store and retrieve information for up to 1000 years.

Nigerian television has gone digital with the help of startimes, ahead of the 2015 deadline set for African countries to migrate to digital transmission from analogue transmission by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

The services of the station could only be received in Abuja, Kano and Lagos for now and would soon be extended to more cities in Nigeria.

Imagine a decoder for as low as N9, 000 and subcription for N1 000, This is hope for many Nigerians

Its like Startimes is gradually heading for the place of the DEAD. I recharged my startimes only for me not to pick signal again. I am told that my Antenna(the same i have been using before) is the problem and I was told to get a yagi antenna which i bought from their office in Kubwa-Abuja for 2,500 Naira with the cables, yet the system keeps telling me NO-Signal most times and when it wll work, it scrambles, Seems problems with their transmission and when i call their customer care, they told me no problem. I met more than 10 customers in their office with the same complain. Startimes is dying gradually, I guess the operators dont even know they have any problems. I wonder if someone will act on time.