Lagos state has officially transited from analogue to digital Television.
This is even as Federal Government announced that with the launch in Lagos, analogue broadcasting would be switched off in the state in the next six months.
Speaking at the official launch of Digital switch over, Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said the switch-on of Lagos is unique and epochal, because it marks the first time that the DSO project would be beaming 60 choice channels to television households.
He said this is not by accident as Lagos is Nigeria’s creative hub, hence it is important to harness the creative talents that abound in the state through this project.
He said that the DSO provides us with a great platform to key into the Lagos Smart City Project, which seeks to use technology to enhance service delivery in all spheres of life, stressing that the DSO is not just about high fidelity sound and picture, it is about creating jobs, especially for our teeming youth, stimulating local content and empowering channel owners.
The Minister said that though it took the digital television train over three years to
arrive in Lagos State, from its last stop in Osun State, the train is now ready to move faster.
He said the DSO train has now changed from narrow gauge to standard gauge, meaning it will move faster to cover 13 states across the country this year alone in the second phase of the DSO rollout, which started in Lagos.
Lai Mohammed said that the democratization of digital television in Nigeria, which is what DSO is about, fits into the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari for a digital economy in the country, stressing that Mr. President’s vision is that of national technological development driven by Nigeria’s very vibrant and creative young people; who are among the most dynamic in Africa and indeed the world.
While the DSO television platform, branded as FreeTV, offers its viewers about 60 digital channels, including sports, music, movies, and news, it also provides Value Added Services, such as enforcement & Collection of TV Licenses, Premium PayTV channels, Push Video on Demand, Information Services and audience Measurement.
“As we switch-on digital television in Lagos State, we have over 1 million Set-Top-Boxes ready. The good news is that the Set-Top-Boxes are locally manufactured, hence more boxes are getting set to be released by the factories located across the country.” he added.
