Media practitioner queries collection of TV tax by LGs

Collection of television tax by various local governments has been queried, as a media practitioner says that the third tier of government does not contribute to TV broadcasting in Nigeria to justify the collection of TV tax by them.

In Nigeria, local governments collect all sorts of taxes including TV tax, which many TV owners perhaps do not pay, but the CEO of ACC Broadcast Multimedia, operator of WawooTV, Don Pedro Obaseki, says instead the TV tax should go to Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) or any other agency involved in the broadcast process.

Though the TV tax in states vary, but Obaseki, who is organising a workshop on the ‘business of broadcasting in post-digital migration in Nigeria’ later this month, suggests that the TV tax could be added on the decoders for the TV sets under digital migration.

Obaseki, who puts all TV sets in Nigeria to about 48 million, says “it is easier to put the tax on the decoders. It is better it is integrated at the beginning, which will make the collection easy.”

On the impact of digital migration expected to take effect by June this year, Obaseki believes it will create job opportunities in the broadcasting industry as the system will ignite content creation by individuals and organisations for the industry.

Meanwhile, TV stations are jostling to create more channels for different programmes as the nation gets closer to the switch over date. Unlike the present era, when all programmes are lumped under one channel, under the migration, programmes like motoring, technology, agriculture and politics may have their separate channels in the same station.

Obasaki says he has concluded arrangements for the upcoming workshop that will discuss the impact of post-digital migration as he has lined up a number of speakers that will take on different topics.

Some of the stakeholders lined up to speak at the forum include Emeka Mba, the director-general of National Broadcasting Commission, who will speak on ‘Broadcast and the advertiser in an era of digitisation,’ while Don Petro Obaseki will speak on ‘The business of broadcasting in the digital terrestrial broadcast eco-system in Nigeria: the big losers and the big winners.’

Obaseki says since the commencement of radio broadcasting service in 1932 in Nigeria (as empire service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the establishment in 1959 of Western Nigerian Television (WNTV), the 2015 digital migration of electronic broadcasting will arguably be the singularly most radical and drastic overhaul of broadcasting in Nigeria.

He says the migration will definitely affect the entire value chain from broadcast origination, programming, advertising and home viewership dynamics.

The forum, put together in collaboration with ACC Broadcast Multimedia Limited, is with the objective to educate the Nigerian advertisers on the scope, effects, challenges and opportunities inherent in the planned but mandatory migration of the broadcast industry from analogue to digital spectrum.

“In 2015, after the migration, the broadcast will change the way Nigerians consume electronic media and that will affect advertising. This will have significant effect in the way we buy and consume media. The forum is therefore to make all stakeholders in the eco-system prepare for the era,” Kachi Onubogu, a member of ADVAN and commercial director of Promasidor, says while unveiling plans for the two-day forum billed for January 22 and 23, 2015.

By June 17, 2015, the world will switch off analogue broadcasting and switch on digital broadcast technololgy. Presently, Nigeria is broadcasting with analogue technology and what this means is that it has constricted broadcasting spectrum spaces and has not allowed more broadcasting channels.

When countries switch over to digital broadcasting, it is expected to create more frequency spectrums, which means more TV and radio channels for broadcasting and communication activities that government can auction. It will also provide sharper pictures and clearer sounds. Spectrum is the space used to distribute all mobile telephony, internet, broadcasting, satellite and mobile technology. Without spectrum, there will be no wireless technology.

The digital switch-over is a global issue in accordance with the Geneva agreement signed by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) member countries in 2006. The implication therefore for Nigeria perhaps still operating analogue by June 17, 2015, is that digital signals from neighbouring countries that met the deadline will interfere with Nigeria’s broadcasting and communication signals, thereby making it difficult for security and other broadcasting messages.