BBC World Service delivers free minute bulletins in Nigeria

BBC World Service delivers free minute bulletins in Nigeria

26 June 2020

BBC World Service delivers free minute bulletins in Nigeria

BBC World Service is partnering with MTN Nigeria to deliver BBC News Minute bulletins, free of charge to subscribers of the MyMTN App in English, Hausa, Igbo, Pidgin and Yoruba.

This is the first time an international news organisation will feature in the MyMTN App. BBC News Minute is the BBC’s 60-second news round-up that keeps audiences across different demographics up to date with what is trending and shared on social media as well as the latest local and global news – updated at regular intervals 24 hours a day seven days a week. It will showcase the latest news in sport, tech, entertainment, science and more to the BBC’s number one audience in Africa – Nigeria.

Audiences will be able to enjoy on demand BBC News Minute at various intervals during the day and night.

The partnership will serve Hausa, Igbo, Pidgin and Yoruba audience looking for curated short form news and bring BBC Minute in local languages to the fingertips of customers in Nigeria.

With the increase in fake news across Nigeria and the African media landscape this partnership will ensure that MTN customers receive accurate and verified news from the BBC.

MTN Nigeria is Africa’s largest provider of communications services, connecting over 64 million people in communities across the country with each other and the world. It has established an active community on the myMTN app with over four million monthly active users.

Oluwatoyosi Ogunseye, Head of West Africa Languages, BBC World Service says: “This partnership with MTN is at the core of the BBC’s commitment to reaching audiences wherever they may be. It is one of the ways in which the BBC is demonstrating its commitment to Nigeria and we are thrilled about this new engagement with young audiences in this country.”

Also speaking on the partnership, Chief Digital Officer, MTN Nigeria, Srinivas Rao says: “We are proud of this partnership. It is one of the ways we offer young Nigerians more channels to consume relevant information. In an era where fake news spread easily especially through social media, credible platforms like this make a lot of difference.”

Kolawole Oyeyemi, General Manager, Customer Experience, says: “It is also a demonstration of our passion to deliver the best customer experience possible to our customers who use myMTN App, so they have relevant and authentic news they can use on the go, completely free of charge.”

Mary Lusiba, Head of African Business Development, BBC World Service, says: “This exciting deal will raise brand and awareness of BBC World Service for young consumers. It will build on the well established reputation of the BBC for quality news and information and reach out to a new generation of Nigerians. The launch is timely as content will also update audiences on the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa.”

Nigeria plans major shake-up of broadcasting sector

Nigeria plans major shake-up of broadcasting sector

16 January 2020

Nigeria plans major shake-up of broadcasting sector

Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed (pictured), has plans to invigorate the country’s broadcasting sector. In a statement issued on 9 January, the Minister said that the National Broadcasting Commission is to “immediately implement measures aimed at re-positioning the broadcast industry with a view to sanitizing the industry, creating jobs, promoting local content, boosting the advert industry and bringing the broadcast industry up to par with the best practices from around the world.”

The moves follow the submission of a report to the Minister by a Committee which was established to look at how to re-position the broadcasting industry in Nigeria. New regulations are now likely that will mean 70% of all broadcasters’ output must originate locally, helping, according to the Minister, to empower local producers, increase the standard of locally-produced content and create jobs.

There is to be greater policing of music by broadcasters, designed to ensure that illegal, unpaid use of musical works is stamped out.

Advertising is to be locally produced or where this is not possible, a charge levied to fund the development of local expertise in production.

One of the most interesting announcements concerns sports rights. Exclusivity is to be banned in Nigeria, with a new regulation that compels broadcasters and exclusive licensees of sports rights to share the rights. This will affect Multichoice, the South African-based satellite operator that has pan-African rights for many high-profile sports. Multichoice’s ownerships of the rights has prevented competitors from carrying lucrative sports on local platforms and networks and which has hampered the development of profitable broadcasting across many African territories.

”This regulation prevents the misuse of monopoly or market power or anti-competitive and unfair practices by a foreign or local broadcaster to suppress other local broadcaster in the television and radio markets, having removed exclusivity from all content in Nigeria and mandated the sharing of all content upon the payment of commercially viable fees,” the Minister said.

BBC and Channels Television launch first co-production: Gist Nigeria

BBC and Channels Television launch first co-production: Gist Nigeria

23 April 2019

BBC and Nigeria’s Channels Television launched a new current affairs programme called Gist Nigeria on April 17 that is broadcast on the Lagos-headquartered Channels TV.

Airing at 9pm, the studio based show focuses on the stories behind the news, with original storytelling and audience interaction via @GistNigeriaTV and its studio in Lagos.

Made by Channels Television and the BBC in Nigeria, this programme will be a weekly half hour for viewers in Nigeria, and is also screened on partner stations in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Gist Nigeria offers in-depth reporting, focusing on the stories behind the news, its impact and how it affects the audience. It features analysis, studio discussions and hard-hitting interviews around the key issues that matter to Nigerians and West Africa. The programme will also feature stories covered by a selection of the BBC’s African services.

Broadcast from Channels Television’s new studios in Lagos, the programme will be produced to the same high standards of journalism and production that audiences around the world expect from the BBC and Channels Television.

Coverage of news will never be the same as the show’s talented duo, Wale Fakile and Ajoke Lijadu-Ulohotse aim to bring a new perspective to a younger audience.

Kingsley Uranta, Channels Television Assistant General Manager, Operations, says: “We look forward to our viewers enjoying the best of television programme production, crafted in the cherished tradition of Channels Television which is anchored on truth, balance, fairness and integrity. Of equal importance is showcasing the giant strides of our people around the world as well as highlighting those issues that demand attention on our journey to a better society.”

Nisha Kapur, BBC Commissioning Editor, Africa, says: “This partnership between the BBC and Nigeria’s leading TV channel goes beyond news coverage. It will tap into conversations going on in the country and track successful Nigerians living abroad. As we report and analyse regional and global news stories, Gist Nigeria wants to be free of clichés often associated with the news coverage of Africa. The programme will deliver BBC journalism in a dynamic and engaging style, based on our long-standing principles of independence, accuracy and unbiased reporting.”

Gist Nigeria will feature the following segments each week:

  • Social Story
    Exploring and showcasing what is trending on social media
  • *360*
    Comparing and examining how the issues raised are resolved in other countries
  • Check Me Out
    Featuring successful and inspirational stories of Nigerians in the diaspora.

The new co-production will air live on Channels Television in Nigeria and will also be available on Channels24 in the UK via Freesat and Sky.

DW and Channels TV in major co-operation deal

DW and Channels TV in major co-operation deal

22 July 2015

Deutsche Welle and Channels TV have agreed on a partnership that DW’s Director General Peter Limbourg said the deal further demonstrates the long tradition of showing a positive view of Africa.

The collaboration was announced in Lagos on 17 July at Channels TV headquarters. Speaking at the event, Limbourg said the coverage on Channels TV by DW correspondents at the German Stock Exchange in Frankfurt will bring economic information not only about Germany but also about Europe to Nigeria.

“Channels is a great station and a perfect partner for us. Working together means having concrete projects,” Limbourg said. Channels is one of Nigeria’s largest television networks. Limbourg said the partnership will expand to other shows such as Africa on the Move – a programme that showcases ordinary people seeking to make positive changes to their environment. “We at Deutsche Welle think that we have to report the great things that happen in Africa, especially in Nigeria. We will like to bring another African picture into the discussion,” Limbourg said.

The head of Germany’s international broadcaster said the collaboration would include input from both sides. “We don’t want to have a one-sided picture of Africa. I am even more convinced to do more of these kinds of things,” Limbourg said. Under the partnership, journalists from Channels TV will benefit from DW training.

Solid partnership

John Momoh, CEO of Channels TV, said the relationship with Deutsche Welle looks like it was “made in heaven.” He said the whole idea is to be able to tell African stories to wider societies, specifically to Europe and then to the rest of the world.

“This is part of our strategy to tell the African story, especially that of Nigeria, from the African perspective so that we do not leave this key element of definition of who we are, what we do and why, to other people to tell on our behalf,” Momoh said.

He said the partnership will enable Channels television “to take the lead in covering Nigeria and the rest of the African continent.”

Boason Omofaye, head of business news at Channel TV, is particularly pleased about having the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on his programme. “As someone who has covered the financial market for the last 26 years, it will be nice to see the Frankfurt Stock Exchange live on Channels Television,” Omofaye said.

He said their newly-launched partnership is strategically important from the economic and business perspective, given that Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa while Germany is Europe’s largest. “For Nigerians in Germany, for Germans in Nigeria, who are interested in terms of buying stocks, buying Nigerian bonds, investing in Nigerian government treasury bills, the partnership brings something new to the table,” Omofaye said.

The collaboration with Channels TV is the latest move by Deutsche Welle to further strengthen its presence in Africa.

BBC Hausa launches TV programming on Nigeria’s Capital TV and satellite channel Adom TV

8 September 2014

In a first for international broadcasters, BBC World Service has announced the launch of TV programming in Hausa.  BBC Hausa’s 10-minute TV news bulletins will now bring the BBC’s coverage of regional and international news to viewers of Nigeria’s Capital TV (Kaduna) as well as the West African satellite TV channel, Adom TV (on the Multi TV platform).  The Monday to Friday prime-time programme will also be streamed live on the website bbchausa.com.

 

Controller of Languages, BBC World Service, Liliane Landor says:  “We are proud to be the first among international broadcasters to launch TV content in Hausa. It’s another landmark as we continue our move towards new, digital platforms.  BBC Hausa’s trusted, engaging radio and online content and its quick, innovative response to the explosion of mobile media and social networks has maintained its huge popularity in Nigeria and across West Africa.  The new TV bulletins will further broaden BBC Hausa’s appeal to audiences – on TV and online – and reinforce the BBC’s presence on the African media arena.”

 

The newBBC Hausa TV programming adds to the BBC Hausa content available on radio, online and via mobile devices, currently reaching around 19.9 million people every week.  BBC Hausa Editor, Mansur Liman, says:  “We hope this ground-breaking launch will further expand and diversify our audience base in the region via rebroadcasting TV channels and among the audiences that come to us via bbchausa.com.”

 

Commenting on her new role, the lead presenter of the BBC Hausa TV news bulletins, Aichatou Moussa, says: “It is a new and exciting challenge which I am looking forward to.  With the launch of the BBC Hausa fast-paced, vibrant TV news bulletins, we are getting even closer to our audiences who will join us to live the news story with the BBC.”

 

The programme’s second presenter, Elhadji Diori Coulibaly, adds: “Having worked on the radio and online platforms, I am really excited to have such an excellent opportunity now to connect with our audiences on TV.”

 

As part of BBC Hausa’s pioneering move towards digital platforms, its website bbchausa.com was among the very first non-English African sites made available to users on mobile devices using Responsive Design technology.  With over 96% of the traffic to bbchausa.com coming to its mobile version, BBC Hausa operates on a ‘mobile-first’ basis, with its website content optimised to be viewed on mobile devices.

BBC Hausa is part of BBC World Service.  (Source: BBC press release)