The Nigerian Entertainment Conference (NECLive), has joined its voice with other public spirited individuals within the entertainment and media industry to condemn the recent amendments to the Sixth Edition of the NBC Code which was announced on May 27, by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).
Henry Ekechukwu, conference coordinator, Nigerian Entertainment Conference (NECLive), in a statement said that the recent amendments will make content exclusivity illegal in Nigeria, while noting that adequate consultations with industry stakeholders were not carried out by NBC before the amendment was implemented.
According to him, “the new code also compels content sub-licensing, as it aims to forcefully regulate the prices at which content is sub-licensed by Pay TV operators and rights owners, regardless of whether they have recouped their investments or not.
“We strongly believe that government policies such as this will end up discouraging investment in local content production especially sports and entertainment, and adversely impacting the wider media business - a profitable industry projected by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to be worth an estimate of 4 Trillion Naira by 2024.
“Furthermore, the amended National Broadcasting Commission code will seriously hurt Nigeria’s economy, leading to job losses in the industry and loss of billions in taxes and other related fees levied by the Federal Government”.
Ekechukwu therefore called on the National Broadcasting Commission and the Federal Government to reconsider, and reverse this decision.
He urged them to direct their focus on creating policies that will empower as well as encourage the entertainment and media industry to exponentially thrive, and in turn create a favourable environment for the kind of economic growth that Nigeria desperately seeks.
