A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF IMPACT OF DIGITAL BROADCASTING ON ELECTRONIC MEDIA

CHAPTER ONE

1.1  BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

On June 16, 2006, a resolution on digitalization for broadcasters in Europe, Africa and Middle East as well as the Islamic Republic of Iran was reached in Geneva, Switzerland at an international conference organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). A deadline of 17th June,2015 was agreed upon for the effective take off of digitalization of the broadcast media. As part of the resolution, the ITU deadline refers to the digitalization of TV Broadcasting only, while that of Radio was not determined yet. Furthermore, the ITU agreement allows for an additional five years to 2020 for many African countries including Nigeria. Accordingly, representatives of 120 countries including Nigeria adopted and signed the digitalization treaty.