NTA History and Ownership is packaged to give you information on the popular Nigerian broadcaster whose major focus is on News about happenings across the nation, Cultural Discourse, Politics, and Education. As the NTA is undeniably a household name of one of the oldest TV channels across the Nigerian landscape, we aim to look into its history and ownership.
NTA History and Ownership.
NTA History
The first television station in Nigeria, the Western Nigerian Government Broadcasting Corporation {WNTV}, which later became NTA, began broadcasting on 31 October 1959. Its first Chairman was Olapade Obisesan, a lawyer trained in the United Kingdom and the son of Akinpelu Obisesan, an Ibadan socialite and first president of the Cooperative Bank of Nigeria.
Following the need to create more broadcasting media across the regions whereby the people can be duly informed, the Radio-Television Kaduna/Radio Kaduna Television was established. Based in Kaduna and operated by the Broadcasting Company of Northern Nigeria, RKTV could provide coverage for the central northern states and also opened new stations on Zaria in July 1962 and on Kano in February 1963. In 1977, it was re-branded NTV-Kaduna.
Just with same energy, another Tv was established in April 1962. The Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, NBC, was established as a federal government-owned service based in the city of Lagos. NBC was meant to broadcast to the southwestern states.
In 1972, another television station emerged in Port Harcourt. It was called the MidWest TV. It was also run by the state government in Benin.
Two years after that, the Benue-Plateau Television Corporation (BPTV) was established in 1974 with headquarters in Jos. It was the first television station to launch regular/permanent colour broadcasts in Africa. The colour test transmissions began on 1 October 1975. BPTV was later re-branded as NTV-Jos.
By May 1977, all the state television broadcasters listed above had been merged and re-branded as Nigerian Television (NTV) and owned by the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA.
NTA was eventually founded in 1977. But shortly before then it was named the Nigerian Television.
NTA History and Ownership.
Who is the Owner of NTA.
No single individual could stake any claim of ownership of this awesomely popular TV station; NTA is a Nigerian government-owned commercial broadcaster and public corporation which is managed and controlled only by the government.
Since inception, its management has been headed by the chairmanship of Olapade Obisesan, who had been its first Chairman. Obisesan is a lawyer who’s trained in the United Kingdom. He is the son of Akinpelu Obisesan, an Ibadan socialite and first president of the Cooperative Bank of Nigeria.
Vincent Maduka, a former engineer, was the General Manager.
NTA Headquarters and Location
It was based in Ibadan, making it the first broadcast station in tropical Africa, although more northern parts of Africa already had television stations.
Today, the NTA runs the largest television network in Nigeria with stations in several parts of the country. It is widely viewed as the “authentic voice” of the Nigerian government. It is reaching and covering about 75% of the Nigerian population.
NTA History and Ownership.
