The National Communications Authority (NCA) has selected eight entities for the award of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) free to air programme channel authorization in Ghana.
Four of the entities are for national coverage whilst the remaining four are for regional coverage.
Those selected for national coverage are the Multimedia Group, Kessben Television, Mobile Zone Limited and Notice Board Limited which has been ranked from first to fourth respectively by the NCA.
Those for regional coverage are Royal Image Broadcasting Limited for Ashanti, OTV Broadcasting Limited for Greater Accra, Kyirfo Multimedia Broadcasting Limited for Northern and Tony D. Company Limited for Volta.
A statement issued by the NCA explained that the selection was made after evaluation of the applications received on 30th January, 2017 for the award of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) Free-To-Air (FTA) Programme Channel Authorisation.
It said the NCA received a total of 12 applications for national coverage and four applications for regional coverage in the Ashanti, Greater Accra, Northern and Volta regions.
It said the applicants were assessed in four categories namely, Programming Philosophy, Legal Organisation, Technical Capabilities and Financial Capabilities and that as part of the evaluation process, applicants made documentary and oral submissions between February 15, 2017 and February 21, 2017.
The NCA explained that successful applicants have a period of 60 days to validate their Provisional Authorisations by paying the requisite Authorisation fees.
It said an opportunity has been offered to unsuccessful applicants to apply for any of the regions for which no applications were received.
Ghana signed the Geneva 2006 (GE06) Agreement establishing the digital terrestrial broadcasting plan in the bands 174 – 230 MHz and 470 – 862 MHz at the Regional Radiocommunications Conference (RRC-06).
The agreement requires signatory countries including Ghana to migrate from analogue television broadcasting to a digital TV platform by 17th June 2015 (UHF band) and 17th June 2020 (VHF) band.
The application of digital techniques to television broadcasting results in several advantages over analogue including the following:
• Better picture quality, clearer sound, introduction of new services and more interactivity including electronic programme guide (EPG) for television viewers.
• A higher number of television programme channels and choice for the viewer.
• Reduced operational cost for broadcasters.
• Efficient use of spectrum as digital broadcasting technology enables transmission of more TV stations.
• The radio frequency (RF) spectrum used for terrestrial television is considered a scarce and finite natural resource. This makes it necessary to judiciously manage the spectrum both technically and economically for national interest. Economic benefits from the spectrum availability after the switch from analogue to digital transmission is known as the digital dividend.
The National Communications Authority (NCA) has selected eight entities for the award of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) free to air programme channel authorization in Ghana.
Four of the entities are for national coverage whilst the remaining four are for regional coverage.
Those selected for national coverage are the Multimedia Group, Kessben Television, Mobile Zone Limited and Notice Board Limited which has been ranked from first to fourth respectively by the NCA.
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