TNT to promote digital broadcasting in Cameroon

TNT is underway in Cameroon to play a decisive role in Cameroonian audiovisual takeoff, leading to the creation of a fabric of independent producers able to highlight the richness of the cultures of Cameroon and its capacity for innovation and creation.

The group composed of Analysys Mason firms, FTPA and Osiris Intelligence Stratégique (Osiris) came to submit its findings and recommendations to the Cameroonian government on the launch of digital terrestrial television (DTT).

These recommendations were presented in Yaounde on June 25, 2014, at a small Ministerial Committee chaired by the Secretary General of the Cameroonian Government, Louis Paul Motaze, the Minister of posts and Telecommunications and the Ministry of Communication.

The Government of Cameroon launched in September 2012 its migration strategy from analog to digital terrestrial broadcasting, and then created a national Committee for supervision of this migration called CAM - DTV. CAM - DTV is currently finalising the transition from analogue to DTT in Cameroon. Analysys Mason, FTPA and Osiris group has been mandated by the CAM – DTV to bring to Cameroon s government, strategic and legal support in terms of content in the context of this transition. This support is part of a more global context of reflections and initiatives undertaken by the CAM - DTV and the Cameroonian Government to rethink, modify and redefine the audiovisual landscape as a whole from an economic perspective. The work however focused mainly on the transition to DTT. Five public policy objectives have been cleared in order to guide the work of the Group and respond to the key issues of the CAM - DTV: broadcast DTT in clear accessible to all, the diversification of the television offer by multiplying the number of channels, the promotion and the development of the production of content at local and regional level, the involvement of the television industry in the implementation of the transition, finally protection and the development of the national television industry. For Luis Borrell, Partner at Analysys Mason and Project Director for the group, "Cameroon is one of the few countries of sub-Saharan Africa to have exceeded the purely technical aspects of the transition to DTT, with particular content and production at the heart of his thoughts, and more globally by placing citizens at the centre of the transformation and the audiovisual sector". Adding that, "this would appear to be an example for other African countries to follow, and we applaud the Government of Cameroon for this multidimensional vision." "By putting the content in the center of the reflections related to migration to DTT, the stakes are multiple and political decisions has taken many. '' We are delighted to have contributed to the reflections of the CAM - DTV while bringing a vision structured total audiovisual market and have thus been able to provide a box to strategic, economic and legal tools directly operational.The implementation of our recommendations will require many efforts and involvement on the part of the Government and the whole of the sector to achieve", explains Olivier Pascal, Manager at Analysys Mason and project manager for the group. "The transition to DTT should be an opportunity for Cameroon to re-appropriate its audiovisual space to express its plural and rich cultural identity", emphasizes Olivier Zegna-Rata, founder of Osiris.