CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Technological advancement in communication technologies has continued to eulogize
television as a powerful medium of mass communication. Interestingly, television
programme span around the circuits of human endeavour including politics, culture and
education.

Udeajah (2004, p.7) affirm this when he notes that:
We all know in truth broadcasting has become an indispensable form
for the practice of politics and governance in all modern nation states.
The reasons are quite simple. No other medium can deliver as large
and instantaneous an audience to the politicians or government as
broadcasting can. It is also the belief all over the world that
broadcasting is an eminently persuasive medium; omnipresent in
people‟s homes, working places even in transit. It is akin to a second
skin through which most people stay in touch with their immediate
environment and the world at large.
It is therefore in recognition of this that the federal government in 1992 deregulates
the broadcasting industry. What hitherto was the exclusive of the government become open
for all Nigerians; this marked a turning point in the history of television broadcasting in
Nigeria.

The first television station in Nigeria was (WNTV) in 1959, this was followed by the
Eastern Nigerian Broadcasting Service in 1960 and the Broadcasting Corporation of Northern
Nigeria (BCNN) and then to the era of deregulation.

Supposedly, private television stations emerged. They includes: African Independent
Television (AIT), MINAJSystem Station Obosi, Silver bird Communications, Unity TV
Communication, Chrone TV Choffaan Communication etc.
Commending the federal government DecreeN0. 38 of 1992 on the deregulation
broadcasting sector, Okenwa (2000, p.53) stated thus:

The year 1992 marked a critical turning point in the development of
the broadcast media Nigeria. It came with policies that were to
revolutionalize the media industry through allowing private
participation in ownership of the electronic media.
The deregulation of broadcasting in Nigeria widened the scope of programming,
performance scheduling as well as scope of competition.