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Nigeria: Daar Stirs More Competition in the Dstv Sector
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Vanguard (Lagos)
OPINION
7 May 2008
Posted to the web 7 May 2008
Okoh Aihe
Lagos
Frontline private broadcaster, Daar Communications is set to stir exciting competition in the Digital Satellite TV, DSTV, sector before the end of month, May 25, 2008, to be specific.
DSTV, previously appropriated by former monopoly, Multichoice, as trade name is the technology of beaming digital TV signals through the satellite in orbit and received directly in homes in a direct-to-home, DTH, process.
However, it will be a test-run for the first month, according to Daar chairman, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi. But the company is doing this in an amazing way, planning to put a staggering forty channels on the Daar platform for a start.
This is phenomenal especially when weighed against the background that most of the operators across the world that have to do the business would always start with one or more channels, but always not more than five because of the cost and the technicalities involved.
He wants to put out a whopping 50, 000 decoders in record time. The operation requires a lot of money, a lot of technology and manpower deployment, and a ring of local and international relationships. But speaking to Vanguard exclusively in his office midnight Sunday, Dokpesi explained that his organization was ready in nearly all the areas as it is doing local and international recruiting of staff that will handle the various departments.
"The manpower is ready. We have been able draw manpower from the various parts of the world, and the Federal Ministry of Internal Affairs has been gracious enough to grant us good expatriate quote which we have almost exhausted," Dokpesi told.
Interestingly, content is the blood that runs in the vessel of the DSTV technology, which explains why operators around the world want premium contents that are referred to as business drivers.
The broadcaster who in the last one month has gone round two major trade shows, MIPTV in Cannes shopping for premium contents, and NAB at Vegas putting finishing touches to technology, told us that he has a fair dose of technology that will fascinate the Nigerian viewers.
Working basically with nine sub genres, DaarSat, the tentative trade name, has what is now called the foundation channels in DTH which include BBC, Al Jazeera, Fox News, National Geographic, MTV, Discovery and a host of others. DaarSat has lots of children programmes.
"At one point we literally bought up the entire library of four companies who specialise only in children programming," he said. "The game is about to start," he said, "and we will see how the sector plays out in the next few days."
"We are having 40 channels for a start and we are going to be broadcasting in high definition, HD, and standard definition, SD, format. The equipment are on ground and currently being integrated by a number of engineers from the US, Israel and Poland.
Being about the only global broadcaster from Nigeria, Dokpesi is not very strange to the terrain he is plunging into. This explains why his major strength will derive from his local operations and international programming handled by his staff.
Already, MovieStar, programmed for him by Mr. Don Pedro Obaseki is said to be creating waves in the UK. The news channels are being currently structured to hit that standard where it will be globally acceptable.
For a start DaarSat will uplink from Lagos, Accra, Nairobi, Johannesburg, London and New York.
This brought Dokpesi to the vision of the DaarSat platform, to project the African story positively across the world. However this will come in a diverse bouquet of rich news, entertainment, documentaries, business news and lots of sports.
For instance, from within AIT will come AIT News, AIT Moviestar, AIT Sports 1, 2, 3, and African Business Channel. A lot of emphasis will also be placed on international sports - Football, Tennis and Athletics, among others. The Daar chairman informed that lots of agreements are being signed and purchases made.
"By the time we roll out the public will see very clearly that a lot of work has been done not only in content but also in terms of quality. But I must also add that our competitors have been trying to make life very expensive for us but even with that we are going to give the package at an affordable price," Dokpesi promised.
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He was quick to point out however, that current development efforts are taking place even while final details are still being sorted in the Daar Communications Offer which recently closed at the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
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