Nollywood Filmmaker Chris Ihidero And Film Journalist Oris Aigbokhaevbolo Critique New NBC Code
Filmmaker, scriptwriter and founder of PinPoint Media, Chris Ihidero in a chat with award winning journalist and film critic Oris Aigbokhaevbolo, expressed his concerns about the recent 6th amendment to the Nigeria Broadcasting Code and the possible impact on the media and broadcasting industry.
Chris has many years of experience in the Nigerian movie industry. He worked alongside the late filmmaker Amaka Igwe to direct and produce the very popular TV show, Fuji House of Commotion. In 2015, Oris Aigbokhaevbolo won the All Africa Music Award for Journalism. The two are stakeholders in the media and broadcasting industry in Nigeria.
The amendments though primarily targeted at media and broadcasting outfits like Netflix, Irokotv, DStv, Ebony Life TV and the like, will ultimately affect content producers, film makers and script writers like Chris Ihidero, who are co-players in the industry.
The amendments made by the National Broadcasting Commission to the Nigeria Broadcasting Code contain provisions that many industry practitioners think will adversely affect the way business is carried out in the media and broadcasting industry in Nigeria. These amendments affect PayTV, Cable TV, streaming services, and online media platforms.
Addressing the NBC’s intentions in implementing these amendments, which according to the Acting Director General of the Commission, Armstrong Idachaba, is the “protection and promotion of the local broadcast industry from monopolistic and anti-competitive behaviour”, Ihidero says, “I do not think the Irokos and the DStvs and the Netflix are perfect, I think there are many ways you need to regulate them. I don’t think they are perfect entities, they are business entities, they will always look out for their own interests. The NBC’s job is to make sure their interests don’t clash with the interests of Nigerians, where the interests of Nigerians are not ludicrous. Nobody has any right to premium content anywhere in the world, you pay for it.”
The filmmaker explaining how these amendments will affect him says “Because I am a content producer who needs to sign licensing deals with the Irokos and the DStvs and Netflix and everybody that is a content buyer. And who says my content won’t be the major thing across board next? And if the rules are already on ground, affecting what’s on ground now, they’ll definitely come for me.”
The amendment among other things, features three elements that have caused ripples of reactions among media and broadcasting practitioners in Nigeria. First, the NBC Code makes illegal the ownership of exclusive broadcasting rights in Nigeria. This means that no one can make any deals to have the sole right to broadcast any content in Nigeria.
The NBC also provides for the compulsory sub licensing of broadcasting rights, to persons, licensees and broadcasters, at commercially agreeable terms.
And finally the Code states that where the parties involved in a sub licensing deal are not able to come to “agreeable terms”, the NBC will determine what is appropriate cost in the situation.
This begs the question of whether the NBC is going beyond its jurisdiction as a regulator in determining what would be considered fair price between two broadcasters in a sub licensing deal.
Ihidero in his chat with Oris shared his view on NBC’s proposed involvement in these sub licensing deals, “NBC should be a regulator and a regulator alone. The NBC cannot be a participant. Yes, I can choose to sub-license but at a price determined by the person that wants me to sub-license to them. It’s a willing buyer, willing seller scenario, unlike what NBC wants to do. Which is that even if there’s a willing buyer, a willing seller, and a determined price, NBC still determines what the final cost will be.”
Practitioners have also condemned the NBC for not consulting with stakeholders in the industry before putting the amendments into motion.
Jason Njoku, CEO of video-on-demand movie platform iROKOtv, in a passionate tweet expressed his concerns about the amendments.
“Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) In making exclusivity illegal, compelling sub-licensing of content & regulating price, are effectively turning private enterprise into state property.. Interference Distorts Markets. If implemented this 100% destroys PayTV in Nigeria,” says Jason.
Organizers of NECLive, Nigeria’s largest annual gathering of entertainment and creative industry professionals beeeched the Commission to reconsider its decision in a statement released on June 23, 2020, “We hereby call on the National Broadcasting Commission and the Federal Government to reconsider, and reverse this decision. The focus at this time should be on creating policies that will empower as well as encourage the entertainment and media industry to exponentially thrive, thereby creating a favourable environment for the kind of economic growth that Nigeria desperately seeks.”
According to Chris, the NBC should have consulted not just people within the industry, but also neutral third parties to come up with its amendments, “They just need to consult widely and remember to consult people with skin in the game. While you may do what you want to do from the regulator’s point of view, you should also look from the people working in the industry’s point of view. And also have people who are neither regulators nor people working in the industry in the middle and have them help you understand the issues better.”
He concludes, “The first rule is, do no harm. If you can’t help, then do no harm. If the NBC finds that it cannot help, then it should do no harm. And what the NBC is trying to do will harm the industry, it will harm my industry. Because if the Irokos, and the DSTVs and Netflix get hit, guess what’s going to happen, they will stop putting money into the industry because they will not be able to extract maximum value from the value chain of their spend in the industry, so they will pull out. And then what will happen?”
