Television broadcasting in Africa: Pioneering milestones

The television remains one of the most important medium worldwide for disseminating information and providing entertainment. It has overtime become one of the greatest gifts of electronics engineering to mankind. Although the history of television broadcasting in other parts of the world is widely known (Europe: In the year 1936, North America: In the year 1939), not much is known about the African experience. The first terrestrial television broadcast signals in Africa occurred on Saturday October 31, 1959 and belonged to the Western Nigeria Television Service (WNTS). This was a critical milestone in Television history and today Africa boasts of over 600 television stations (excluding repeater stations). This paper examines events that led to Nigeria being the first country to introduce television broadcasting in Africa, reasons why other prominent African countries failed to achieve this feat and looks at factors that contributed to the birth of the largest terrestrial television network in Africa : The Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) which presently boasts of 94 Television stations. We also examine pioneers in Colour Television broadcasting and Satellite Television broadcasting in Africa and conclude with an analysis of the effect Television has had on the emergence of Nollywood as the second largest movie industry in the world.