The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, has said the federal government will roll out the Digital Switch Over (DSO) in Lagos state on April 29, 2021, which could create one million jobs in the three years.
 
The minister who led the Ministerial Taskforce of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture on DSO on a courtesy visit to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said the DSO would lead to the creation of jobs in the manufacturing of Set Top Box or decoder manufacturing, TV production, film production, distribution such as the supply of STBs, TVs and Dongles for the internet as well as TV and online advertising.
 
“The same transmission channel used to broadcast a single analogue programme could carry a multiplex of up to 20 digital programmes of equivalent quality and that explains why the DSO television platform, branded as FreeTV, offers its viewers about 60 digital channels, including sports, music, movies, and news,” he explained…
 
More details through:
https://dailytrust.com/fg-to-launch-digital-switchover-in-lagos
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A 34-year-old member of one of the biggest evangelical churches in Nigeria, Zoe Odunayo, faced a challenge one Saturday as she planned to participate in a healing service the church was streaming. It was going to be a three-hour service, which meant she would need to stream the service with her limited data bundle. The most she had bought from MTN on data was N2000 for 4.5GB.
 
“My only option was to go and participate from one of the viewing centres the church set up around my location,” Odunlaye said.  The church estimated that over 3.4 billion people would stream the three-day service from around the world, with Nigeria contributing over 10 million of the total viewers…
 
More details through:
https://businessday.ng/life-arts/article/nigerias-streaming-industry-booms-but-data-cost-slows-growth/

The federal government has announced the rollout of the digital switch-over in four more states, two years after it was launched in six states. The switch-over, DSO, is meant to transform the television broadcasting system across the country from the current analogue to digital mode. The first rollout was launched in Jos (April 30, 2016), Abuja ( December 22, 2016), Ilorin (December 20, 2017), Kaduna (December 22, 2017),  Enugu ( February 12, 2018), and Osogbo (February 23, 2018)…
 
More details through:
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/business/business-news/448264-fg-begins-second-phase-of-digital-tv-switch-over-in-lagos-kano-others.html

Spotify, the world’s most popular global online audio streaming subscription service, has been launched in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. With a worldwide community of more than 345 million monthly active listeners, Spotify will offer a world-class audio listening and music discovery experience to listeners. According to a statement from the company, the Spotify service is available for free or with an upgrade to Spotify Premium, a subscription service that offers an ad-free music listening experience.
 
“Spotify launches in Nigeria with its unrivalled mix of features that have made it the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription service, including more than 70 million international and local songs, 2.2 million podcasts, and over 4 billion playlists.
 
The platform offers everyday new music and podcast discovery, algorithmic recommendations personalised to each listener’s audio taste, and the freedom to engage Spotify across a wide range of devices and app integrations with Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, Samsung, Tinder, Google Maps, Nike, and more,” the company stated…
 
More details through:
https://www.newtelegraphng.com/spotify-lands-in-nigeria-ghana-others/
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Spotify said on Monday it would nearly double its market presence by launching in 85 new markets in the next few days, making the music streaming service available to more than a billion people around the world.
 
While Spotify is the leader in music streaming, entry in new countries across Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America would significantly increase the gap with its rivals, Apple Music and Amazon Music.
 
“Together these markets represent more than a billion people, with nearly half of them already using the internet,” said Chief Premium Business Officer Alex Norstrom. “Some of the places we’re going like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nigeria have the fastest growing internet populations in the world…
 
More details through:
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2AM22N
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Despite recent challenges leading to a hike in the cost of subscriptions by pay- TV operators, Nigeria has been projected to be the largest pay- TV market with 11 million subscribers by 2026. According to the latest forecast by Digital TV Research, the country will be driving rapid growth in the African pay-TV market, which is projected to have 51 million subscribers in the next five years. According to the report, South Africa will be second in Africa with nine million subscribers.
 
The African market which had 34 million subscribers at the end of 2020 is projected to add almost 17 million pay-TV subscribers between 2021 and 2026 to hit the 51 million mark. Speaking on the report, Principal Analyst at Digital TV Research, Simon Murray, said: “Multichoice had 15.51 million subs across satellite TV platform DStv and DTT platform GOtv by end- 2020. This total will grow to 19.67 million by 2026, with a marked slowdown of satellite TV growth.”
 
“China-based StarTimes/ StarSat will enjoy the most impressive growth: from 10.11 million subscriptions at the end of 2020 to 16.86 million by 2026. France’s Vivendi had 5.41 million subscriptions to its Canal Plus satellite TV platform and Easy TV by end- 2020, which will climb to 7.90 million by 2026…
 
More details through:
https://www.newtelegraphng.com/report-nigeria-to-lead-africas-pay-tv-with-11m-subscribers/
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MTN Nigeria has announced a new partnership with uduX, Nigeria’s first domestically launched music streaming service, which offers users access to high-quality audio and HD music videos. The partnership will see MTN subscribers gain access to discounted data bundles for accessing content and streaming unlimited music on the uduX app.
 
Chief Digital Officer, MTN Nigeria, Srinivas Rao, described the partnership as reinforcing the company’s Good Together mantra, which advocates collaboration as a way to foster growth in different sectors of the economy. “Our young customers are passionate about music.
 
That is why we have consistently supported the development of the local music industry. We’ve partnered with uduX because we believe in their capacity to deliver high-quality, curated music from around the world, and contribute immensely to the continued growth of the music industry in Nigeria…
 
More details through:
https://www.newtelegraphng.com/mtn-udux-partner-on-music-content/
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While the global audiences are looking forward to Nollywood, the Nigerian movie industry, overtaking the Indian movie industry after surpassing America’s Hollywood in production, the quantity of movies produced annually by Nollywood has declined heavily in recent times…
 
More details through:
https://businessday.ng/exclusives/article/nigeria-declines-in-volume-of-movie-production-soars-in-quality/
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A partnership announced today by Google and the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation seeks to help the Nigerian tourism sector recover and grow in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
Google and the NTDC are partnering to provide training for small businesses, digital skills initiatives for individuals and the launch of a new Google Arts & Culture collection called ‘Tour Nigeria’.
 
Google Arts & Culture has worked with the NTDC over a number of months to create an online exhibition of imagery, stories and commentary highlighting some of Nigeria’s beautiful, hidden gems – from the Awhum Caves of Enugu, to the Farin Ruwa falls of Nasarawa, the Osun Osogbo sacred grove of Osun state, and the Wikki Warm spring of Bauchi state. The project also features stories and photos from some of the most colourful cultural festivals in the country including the Yauri Rigata Festival, and the Kano Durbar Festival…
 
More details through:
https://thenationonlineng.net/google-and-nigerian-tourism-development-corporation-partner-to-support-tourism-industry/
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Netflix Inc. became the world’s largest subscription-streaming service by flooding the market with popular content that’s cheaper than the competition.
 
Yet five years after it arrived in Africa, the U.S. company is struggling to grow beyond the wealthiest segment of the population, held back by poverty, piracy and limited access to broadband. In a continent of more than a billion people, the service has 1.4 million subscribers, according to Digital TV Research. That compares with almost 20 million customers signed up to African pay-TV company MultiChoice Group Ltd.
 
An important battleground is Nigeria, sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest economy and the heart of its TV industry. The rapid expansion of 4G mobile networks gives streaming services a new channel to reach audiences -- as long as they’re able to pay…
 
More details through:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-29/netflix-bets-on-mobile-content-blitz-to-strengthen-africa-grip
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