History of NTA
INTRODUCTION: History of NTA is very dynamic as what is known today as Nigerian Television Authority came into being in May 1977 through Decree 24 of 1977 which had retroactive effect from April 1976. By the Decree, all existing 12 regional television Stations established in the country between October 1959 and 1974 came under the Umbrella of the NTA which became the only body empowered to take TV Broadcasting in Nigeria (NTA, 2013).
In 1976, Television and indeed Plateau State TV metamorphosed from black and white to colour. Funding of the Stations became a responsibility of the Federal Government and networking of News commenced via Domestic Satellite from April 1976. NTA has maintained a systematic growth through the years from 12 Stations at inception in 1977. NTA as of today, boasts of about 100 stations, with a presence in every State Capital and almost Senatorial Districts.
NTA Partnership and Networking
In 2010, NTA entered a partnership with Startimes International in the area of Terrestrial Digital Transmission to fast track the graduation to Digital Broadcasting ahead of the 2015 global deadline given by the International Telecommunications Union for all Television transmission in the world to digitize (NTA, 2013).
The partnership is also for the purpose of increasing the revenue base of the Authority. There are currently NTA News 24, NTA Sports 24, NTA Knowledge, NTA Hausa, NTA Igbo, NTA Yoruba, and NTA Entertainment, NTA Sport etc on NTA/Startimes bouquets. NTA/Startimes is a subscription-pay TV that uses a decoder for access to its signal.
