Assessing The Impact of Digital Terrestrial Television Switchover Deployment On Broadcasting in Nigeria: A Study of Nigerian Television Authority, Enugu

• Author(s): Omeche A. A ; Nwonye Charles A ; Esimike H. C
• Paper ID: 1711371
• Page: 799-806
• Published Date: 16-10-2025
• Published In: Iconic Research And Engineering Journals
• Publisher: IRE Journals
• e-ISSN: 2456-8880
• Volume/Issue: Volume 9 Issue 4 October-2025

Abstract

This paper presents the review of deployment of digital terrestrial switchover from the old analog transmission which has lasted for over 6 decades in the country. Though the deployment of digital terrestrial transmission requires huge capital investments in terms of equipment and human resources but it provides huge benefits as shown in this review work. The digital switch over would provide the following benefits: Provision of clear video and audio signals, optimal and efficient utilization of the allocated bandwidth, provision of web based services, interaction between television stations and viewers and so many other benefits. Digital techniques, such as the Data Encryption Standard (DES), double DES, and triple DES give operators hope that they can secure their pay-per-view content and charge subscribers to generate revenue which was not possible with analog terrestrial transmission. Signals (video and audio) are produced in a studio where the conditions can be controlled and meet the high standard of requirements for productions with the best sound and picture quality. In the course of this work, nine locations were selected in Enugu, Nigeria, to measure the Signal strengths of both analog and digital television receptions using the set top boxes. It was observed that the signal quality for analog reception degraded badly over the same distances where the digital receptions were found to be of high quality in terms of received video and audio signals strength. Hence, from the studies carried out at the ten selected different locations in Enugu, it was discovered that under the same transmitter power of 3.5KW and carrier frequency of 625MHZ, that those locations with very poor analog signal receptions recorded high digital signal receptions provided that the received signal strength outweighs the receiver sensitivity. Owing to the benefits of the digital terrestrial television, its penetration in Enugu reached 90% mark within the first three years of deployment. However, after more than ten years of deployment, instead of the digital penetration hitting the expected 98% mark, it has rather declined to about 69% with more possibilities of further declining. This decline in digital penetration was as a result of so many factors like inadequate set top boxes, unresolved network issues affecting most of the set top boxes deployed, poor funding of the scheme that makes signal availability erratic, poor and insufficient programmes by the content providers which has resulted to excessive repetition of programmes. This programme repetition bores the viewers. Hence, this review work was carried out to identify the above mentioned challenges and proffer remedial measures so as to deepen the digital television transmission and equally cover rural areas which are yet to be captured by the scheme.

Keywords

Digital switch over, Terrestrial, Video, Sound, Transmitter and Television.

Citations

IRE Journals:
Omeche A. A , Nwonye Charles A , Esimike H. C "Assessing The Impact of Digital Terrestrial Television Switchover Deployment On Broadcasting in Nigeria: A Study of Nigerian Television Authority, Enugu" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals Volume 9 Issue 4 2025 Page 799-806

IEEE:
Omeche A. A , Nwonye Charles A , Esimike H. C "Assessing The Impact of Digital Terrestrial Television Switchover Deployment On Broadcasting in Nigeria: A Study of Nigerian Television Authority, Enugu" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals, 9(4)