Nigeria Sets Final June 17 Date for Digital TV Transition After 17-Year Delay
Nigeria’s Federal Government has officially fixed June 17, 2026, as the launch date for the country’s long-delayed Digital Switch Over (DSO), ending analogue television broadcasting and moving the country to a fully digital transmission system.
Information and National Orientation Minister Mohammed Idris made the announcement during a facility tour of Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited (NigComSat) headquarters in Abuja.
“You recall that for many years, Nigerians have been grappling with this idea of the DSO, the digital switchover, removing our transmissions from analogue to digital. Now this has happened, and it is ready to be commissioned by the 17th of June this year,” Idris said.
The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), working alongside NigComSat, confirmed that while the national launch of the digital broadcasting framework is set for June 17, the final analogue switch-off nationwide is scheduled for December 31, 2028.
Under the NBC’s “Big Picture” strategy, the DSO framework will adopt a converged broadcasting architecture combining Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite delivery, Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), and Internet Protocol (IP)-based distribution.
The platform is expected to offer around 100 channels and HD broadcasting at launch. It will also integrate audience analytics and mobile viewing platforms.
For broadcasters and advertisers, the transition introduces improved audience measurement tools, allowing for more granular insights into viewing patterns and advertising performance.
On affordability, open-standard DVB-S2 decoders are already available in the Nigerian market at prices ranging between ₦15,000 and ₦25,000, with the government considering targeted subsidy schemes and voucher programmes to support low-income households during the transition.
The freed-up analogue spectrum, known as the digital dividend, can be repurposed for mobile broadband services, a prospect that has long attracted interest from Nigeria’s telecommunications industry.
Nigeria first committed to the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) 2015 deadline for African nations to migrate to digital broadcasting, making this week’s confirmation more than a decade overdue.
A National DSO Stakeholder Meeting is to be convened within 30 days after the June 17 launch to finalise implementation details and deepen industry collaboration.
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