A Federal High Court in Abuja has issued an interim injunction preventing the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) from intervening in or terminating the contract for Nigeria’s transition from analogue to digital terrestrial television, pending the hearing of a motion on notice before the court.
The High Court, presided over by Honourable Justice Mustapha Adamu, has, by his ruling on Motion Exparte in suit NO FCT/HC/CV/442/2024 between Nigeria Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and 1OR and Set-Top Box Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, restrained all the parties from taking any further action, interfering, or doing anything concerning the matter.
In arguing the motion ex parte for the defendants, Dr. Ruben Atabo prayed for an order of the court to restrain NBC from interfering with or terminating the contract relating to the transition from analogue to digital terrestrial television in Nigeria pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit before the court.
The claimants also sought an order stopping NBC from advertising the bid for a licence to transit from analogue to digital terrestrial television.
Furthermore, the claimants want the court to stop the granting of licences to any company or individual to manufacture set-top boxes for the transition of switching from analogue to digital until their case is fully disposed of.
Applicants in the suit are incorporated trustees of the Association of Licenced Set Top Boxes Manufacturers of Nigeria, Gospell Digital Technology Ltd., Digitune Media Technologies, I-Box Engineering, Trefonics Electronics, and Tve-RLG Limited.
The grounds upon which their application is predicated are that NBC initiated a policy of switch-off from analogue to digital terrestrial television in Nigeria in 2012 and that they were granted licenses to participate in the program upon payment of N50 million to NBC.
They asserted that they were to be given two years of exclusive rights to recoup their investment from the date of the switch off by NBC.
Claimants stated that they were authorised to manufacture one million set-top boxes specifically designed to switch off analogue to digital terrestrial television in Nigeria.
They, however, claimed that on August 22, 2024, the Director General of NBC issued a press statement with the Executive Vice Chairman of the National Communication Commission that the federal government has approved the sum of ten billion for the take-off of the switch from digital to analogue.
They alleged that the NBC Director General announced the jettisoning of the set-top boxes they manufactured in favour of hybrid Android DTH set-top boxes with data connectivity functionalities, thereby terminating their subsisting contract.
Given the ruling of the injunction, NBC is retrained from changing from the original approved Federal Government White Paper on Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) switch over to any other new plan.
More so, NBC is restrained from changing the existing STB specifications as approved by the Digiteam and from licensing any new STB manufacturers or issuing new STB-type approval certificates.
Furthermore, NBC is restrained from advertising or issuing invitations for tender for the acquisition or supply of set-top boxes in Nigeria for the DSO until the determination of the case.
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