Are TV Stations Milking Independent Producers?

As TV stations and independent programme producers battle over who foots the bill for airtime, Blessing Nwobodo speaks to stakeholders on a way out for a threatened media industry.

Felix Ezekwem of the marketing directorate of Nigerian Television Authority is direct in explaining why television stations insist on pre-payment before airing independent programmes. “Independent producers have tried to ruin us in the past. They come to us with their programmes, we source for adverts and sponsorships for them and they go behind our backs to collect the money from the advertising agencies leaving us with nothing, knowing fully that airtime is our major source of survival.”
Oddly, this is confirmed by an independent producer who requests that his name be left out of print. According to him, this development is caused by the behaviour of some top rate independent producers. He says: “I remember the pains it took me to get my programme running on air. I was refused a 50-50 partnership by my friend in one of the TV stations. After narrating his ordeal with one of the top producers in the entertainment industry, I couldn’t help but sympathize with him. Some of the producers rather than pay the stations their own share of the bargain when the money starts coming in, pull out their programmes and move to other stations. As it is now, the fate of the upcoming producers is better left in the hands of God.”
However, there is the question of why independent producers should pay for airtime when ordinarily the TV stations are major beneficiaries from the works of independent producers. A good station is known for the quality of content aired. In Nigeria, most good contents are not a franchise of the TV station but rather that of independent producers.
Global standards require TV stations to commission programmes that suit their styles and source for producers that meet such specifications. Greg Odutayo, CEO, Royal Roots Communication Network Ltd, speaking to M2 on telephone while on a trip outside Nigeria, discloses: “When I told them here that we pay in Nigeria to air programmes, they were surprised. The job of the commissioning editor in TV stations is to find programmes that will benefit the station and its target audience and work out modalities with the producer who is paid to do the job. However, if a producer uses his funds to produce a programme for a TV station, he is paid back the money. Unfortunately, some African countries like Ghana have also adopted the same style as us.”
In line with Odutayo’s statement, Adeolu Olanihun, Head of Programmes, MiTV, explains that ordinarily TV stations should buy rights of programme from the producer. But because of the peculiar nature of the local broadcast industry, upholding international best practices will ruin business for TV stations in Nigeria. In his words: “The TV stations have their own challenges. Abroad, people pay-per-view to watch programmes on TV. Introduce it here and you will freeze out of the market. Secondly, you also have the problem of getting adverts from brand owners who prefer to take their adverts to media buying agencies. This is a big challenge for the industry. Most times some of these agencies can owe for as long as six months. If we can address some of these fundamental problems, everybody will smile home to the bank.”
The job of a marketing manager of a TV station involves sourcing for adverts and sponsorships for programmes on the station but overtime, the bulk of this job has been taken over by independent producers who are also saddled with the challenges of producing the programme and getting funds to pay for airtime. “Apart from worrying on how to get funds to produce and pay for airtime, the TV stations also expect us to source for adverts and sponsorships leaving their jobs completely to us. Go to some of the stations, you will find their marketing teams lying idle doing nothing,” laments Jibe Ologeh, Producer of the programmes, Health Monitor and Youth Scholar.
However, Ezekwem maintains that TV stations are the ones sourcing for sponsorships and advert placements. He counters, “We are always on our feet working tirelessly to get adverts and sponsorships for programmes. However, we have a problem of too many middlemen who we need to pass through to get these adverts.”
He also claims that TV stations have enough programmes but yield to independent producers for mutual interests. “It is not as if we don’t have our programmes. We are only offering the independent producers a platform to air their programmes.”
Jimoh Raheem, Marketing Manager, NTA 10, proffers another reason for the station’s stance. “Gone are the days when government used to give us subventions. Now we are on our own and you know what that means. Whether a producer has a sponsor or not, he pays for airtime; but if he has a sponsor it makes it easier for him.”
Meanwhile, independent producers have made several calls to stakeholders in the industry to help address the issue which they say, if not checked, will kill creativity. “If I don’t have to worry about funding, adverts, sponsorship and paying for air time, I will have all the time to make different programmes for different stations and this will largely pay off in the long run especially as we await digitalization,” Ologeh points out, adding that the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation is already looking into the matter.
It seems that the NBC may not adjudicate on the matter any time soon, based on feelers from the regulatory body. According to Ijeoma Theo-Obodo, the corporation’s Assistant Chief Public Affairs Officer, “The NBC is basically concerned with television stations and the contents they put on air but we equally advice that stations should do the right thing like is obtainable elsewhere. After all, it will pay them in the long run to have a list of their own franchise programmes.”
While waiting on the NBC to translate its counsel into action by encouraging international best practices, media consumers hope that the corporation will act quickly and decisively to encourage creativity and entrepreneurship.