A former National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) acting Director-General (DG), Mr. Bayo Atoyebi, has declared that the National Broadcasting Code has contained provisions on exclusivity since 2003.
Atoyebi, a member of the NBC Board, stated this in Abuja last week while responding to questions at a press conference held by the Board.
The press conference was addressed by the Board Chairman, Alhaji Ikra Aliyu Bilbis, who declared the revision of the code as illegality carried out by Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture.
While responding to a question on the claim of acting NBC DG, Armstrong Idachaba, that the proposed ban on content exclusivity will address content monopoly, Atoyebi said the National Broadcasting Code has contained provisions on exclusivity and monopoly since 2003.
He defined exclusivity as the means by which copyright permission is granted for anybody who acquires a commodity to use it exclusively, describing it as “the stock in which content and intellectual property are traded”.
In 2003, he said the NBC observed that exclusivity could breed monopoly and worked on its code to discourage the latter.
“By this, we mean if you go to acquire broadcasts rights like those of LaLiga for satellite broadcast or for radio, you can only use the one you have. You cannot acquire the rest and simply horde them, stopping others from using them,” he said.
He explained that NBC approved the regulation to prohibit the hoarding of programmes in 2003 in the third amendment to the code.
“If you check the 4th Code, you will find in Sections 1: 16 or 1: 18 where the NBC recognized exclusivity as a means by which one can protect intellectual property.
“However, there is a caveat, which precludes anybody from using it as a monopoly.
“So, if I buy the rights for satellite broadcast, I cannot go and buy the rights for radio and prevent RayPower from using it. I cannot go and buy the match highlights which is for everyone.
“One notices that if the EPL is going on in England, some of the games are not broadcast live on matchdays to ensure that people still go to the stadium and watch so that the EPL continues to make revenue,” said Atoyebi.
In reference to the unbundling of football rights, he said Nigeria used to be in the same basket as the rest of Africa, but it is now separate.
“It took an erstwhile minister and the NBC to go and effect this change. There was a caveat attached though, that if a Ghanaian or Gambian were to emerge as the highest bidder, they were obligated to sell to him irrespective of whether or not he is a Nigerian.
“The challenge for us has been that our broadcast licensees have not been able to pool their resources to go and purchase these rights by competing fairly in the industry,” said Atoyebi.
