The 12th General Assembly of the African Broadcasting Union was held from March 25 to 29, 2019, in the city of Marrakech.
With the central theme of "New media and their influence on the African audiovisual industry," the event brought together African audiovisual professionals and representatives to discuss, in particular, the role of regulators in the process of migration from analog to digital and to invite each African country to commit to this transition.
From analog to digital
Despite the proliferation of digital content and social media content, content publishers on the African continent, and around the world, still struggle to benefit from infrastructure that would allow them to take advantage of the transition from analog to digital. This transition would stimulate the audiovisual industry in Africa and contribute to the economic development of countries. According to the Assembly, multinational groups, including GAFA, have a stranglehold on the web, so African states need to organize themselves within the UAR to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by digital technology.
The African Cup of Nations
The issue of broadcasting rights for the next African Cup of Nations was also the focus of attention. It should be noted that last February, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) launched a call for tenders for the TV broadcasting rights for the 2019 African Cup of Nations in order to determine which company will have exclusive rights to market the competition's free-to-air TV rights for sub-Saharan Africa. For this edition, the UAR has also been mandated to participate on behalf of its members in the process of marketing the TV rights. At this stage, the results of the call for tenders have not been announced.
The UAR General Assembly urged CAF and its Executive Committee to "support the African communication renewal embodied by the UAR and to ensure Africa's full maturity through the management of authentically African competitions, i.e., those organized by Africans, for Africans, and whose broadcasting rights would be managed by Africans."
Emedia Invest, a new private player to join the UAR
The General Assembly also formalized the membership of the Senegalese media group Emedia Invest, launched in September 2018. The group now includes the Emedia.sn website, iRadio (90.3 FM), and a television channel (iTV) in the testing phase, launched in February and available on channel 15 of DTT.
Grégoire Ndjaka reappointed as head of the AUB
Following the Assembly, the term of office of the Director General of the AUB, Grégoire Ndjaka, was also exceptionally renewed for a period of four years, starting on January 1, 2020.
See also: Interview with Grégoire Ndjaka, Director General of the African Broadcasting Union